Stone Alone (Deluxe Edition)

Bill Wyman's second album was, like his first (Monkey Grip), not at all much like the Rolling Stones, even as it drew from some of the same influences. While it was similar to Monkey Grip in its good-time reworking of a stew of R&B/New Orleans/pop influences (with a dab of mid-'70s funk/reggae/disco), however, it likewise couldn't mask Wyman's shortcomings as a lead vocalist, which were simply inadequate to carry the duties of a frontman. As a greater problem, his songwriting was yet less distinguished than it had been the first time around. It ended up sounding very much like the product of first-rate players (with guests including Joe Walsh, Dr. John, Ron Wood, Al Kooper, Nicky Hopkins, and Jim Keltner) performing material by an artist who had little of interest to say. The 2006 expanded edition on Castle added historical liner notes and six bonus tracks, two of which were merely the mixes used for two of the songs ("A Quarter to Three" and "Apache Woman") on singles. The other four bonus cuts were actually recorded in August 1974 a few weeks before the Stone Alone sessions, including the funk-bluesy instrumental "High Flying Bird" (which is no relation to the great Billy Edd Wheeler song of the same name that was covered by numerous '60s folk-rock artists); another rather tedious R&B/rock instrumental, "Back to School Again"; "Can't Put Your Picture Down," an unfinished-sounding number that sounds like Billy Preston funk-soul-rock as sung by a rural British squire; and "Love Is Such a Wonderful Thing," in which Wyman exercises his bent for silly pastiches of lyrical clichés.