I don't understand this as a return to the band, but just as joining them for recording which is nice.
Among the more famous bassists of the Stones, Bill was always my favorite; ahead of Keith, Ron, Mick (T) and - of course - Darryl.
And contrary to conventional wisdom, Bill
is not a sparse player!
He actually plays all over on a lot of songs (and somewhat detached from the rest of the band), but in a way that is unobtrusive, he's in his own little world. There is also little repetition in his playing, he changes his bass lines from verse to verse and sometimes even goes on extended bass solos, unperturbed by what the other guys are doing.
He also avoids thirds (and when he plays them, he's unafraid to play a major third while the guitarists are riffing a minor third as in Dancing With Mr D
), but he's not a real root noter either, he has a strong penchant for fifths and minor sevenths. He's also
not obsessed with perfection,
gifted sloppiness is fine for him (and the Stones). As he once said about the Stones "
we wobble, most bands don't do that".
None of this is a knock, he's an integral part of the Stones' 60ies and 70ies sound. Ever since I've concentrated more on his style due to playing in a Stones cover band, I've really grown to (re)appreciate him. He's actually more a stylist like JAE or Jack Bruce than a conventional bassist.
Darryl can of course play circles around him (and execute them with perfection),
but he could also play many of his lines in Bon Jovi songs and you wouldn't notice the difference. To be fair: When he first played with the Stones at the recommendation of Charlie Watts, he initially stuck close to the Bill Wyman style but was admonished for that by Jagger: "
Don't play it like Bill did, play it like you would!"
