Wandering Spirit (album)

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Professional reviews
Wandering Spirit

Studio album by Mick Jagger
Released	8 February 1993
Recorded	February - September 1992
Genre	Rock
Length	54:05
Label	Atlantic
Producer(s)	Rick Rubin and Mick Jagger
All Music Guide link Rolling Stone Not Rated link
Mick Jagger chronology
Primitive Cool (1987)	Wandering Spirit (1993)	Goddess in the Doorway (2001)

Wandering Spirit is the third solo album by Mick Jagger and was released in 1993. As his first - and only, as it turned out - album of the 1990s, Jagger aimed to reintroduce himself as a solo artist in a musical climate vastly changed from what had witnessed the release of his first two projects, She's the Boss and Primitive Cool.

Following the successful comeback of The Rolling Stones' 1989 Steel Wheels - which saw the end of Jagger and Keith Richards' well-publicised feud, Jagger began routining new material for what would become Wandering Spirit in January 1992 and, after acquiring Rick Rubin as co-producer, recorded the album over the course of seven months until September in Los Angeles - simultaneously as Richards was making Main Offender.

Jagger would keep the celebrity guests to a minimum on Wandering Spirit, only having Lenny Kravitz as a vocalist on his cover of Bill Withers' "Use Me" and bassist Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers on three tracks.

Following the end of The Rolling Stones' Sony Music contract and their signing to Virgin Records, Jagger elected to sign with Atlantic Records to distribute what would be his only album with the label.

Released in February 1993 - with "Sweet Thing" as lead single, Wandering Spirit was commercially successful, reaching #12 in the UK and #11 in the US, going gold there. Critical reaction was very strong, noting Jagger's abandonment of slick synthesizers in favor of an incisive and lean guitar sound.

Contemporary reviewers tend to consider Wandering Spirit a high point of Jagger's latter-day career achievements and are generally polarized between it and his 2001 follow-up, Goddess in the Doorway, as his best solo album.

[edit] Track listing

All songs by Mick Jagger, except where noted.

"Wired All Night" – 4:05
"Sweet Thing" – 4:19
"Out Of Focus" – 4:36
"Don't Tear Me Up" – 4:11
"Put Me In The Trash" (Mick Jagger/Jimmy Rip) – 3:35
"Use Me" (Bill Withers) – 4:28
- Features Lenny Kravitz on co-lead vocal
"Evening Gown" – 3:33
"Mother Of A Man" – 4:18
"Think" (Lowman Pauling) – 2:59
"Wandering Spirit" (Mick Jagger/Jimmy Rip) – 4:18
"Hang On To Me Tonight" – 4:37
"I've Been Lonely For So Long" – 3:29
- Tracks 3, 6 and 12 feature Flea on bass
"Angel In My Heart" – 3:24
"Handsome Molly" (Traditional) – 2:06