Tell Me :
Talk
Perhaps it should be read "I was working on it quite recently, before being involved with the launching of Exhibitionism in NY".
+1
I am the first to cringe at many of Keith's pronouncements, but he is probably talking about hearing their music for the first time on US Armed Forces Radio, or something like that. It was probably quite some time after developing an interest in the music before he actually saw an album cover.
Don't forget that the whole reason he was so excited to see his old friend Mick Jagger on that train platform was because the only way to get those albums back then was to mail order them from the United States. On top of that, they had to have been tremendously expensive if you were an English working class kid.
You are so right Matt!!
Jeroen
Some people have to relax and listen to some Keef and Wingless Angels stuff!
Start with 'Bright your soul':
[youtu.be]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-11-19 12:55 by KRiffhard.
Yep!
Very relaxing indeed
-------------------
Keep On Rolling
I prefer 'Anyway you look at it'...better than a sleeping pill.
This is not true. Chess had had their records issued in the UK on London and later by Pye since the mid fifties.
Chuck Berry singles: [www.45cat.com]
Chuck Berry albums: [www.45worlds.com]
"As we say in England, it can get a bit trainspottery"
I doubt blues records were as readily available, but whatever, I'm just going by what Mick and Keith said. That will teach me, especially after learning that the commonly-told story of Brian noticing a Muddy Waters record on the floor couldn't possibly have happened that way. I guess the trail of BS starts pretty far back.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-11-21 03:28 by blivet.
Agreed, even if distributed to UK, it doesn't mean they were found easily or readily available. I've also read that they had to go thru mail order to get most of the records they wanted back then (not sure if that applied to Chuck Berry).
If a record was on catalogue it could easily be ordered from your local record shop assuming they didn't have it in stock anyway.
Of the Chess artists, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf all had albums released in the UK in the fifties and early sixties.
"As we say in England, it can get a bit trainspottery"
To 2 songs?
Rod
Not discounting that in any way ... we're just commenting how we've read Mick/Keith state they had to order the albums via mail order from the States.
Also just because you could order, doesn't mean they were aware of it. I myself spent many hours chasing down albums as a youth, without considering that I could possibly order them...
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-11-22 07:20 by LeonidP.
Many thanks mpj
PS: do you know something about original material? Good stuff?!
Hi Georgelicks, do you know if
they went in studio on June of this year?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-11-22 10:54 by KRiffhard.
For our new issue (on sale today in the UK), Uncut were blessed with a level of access to the Stones that’s unprecedented in recent times.
Come with Michael Bonner to Boston, then, as he spends a very special night with the Stones, and finds them looking resolutely ahead, even as they revisit the blues influences of their youth. Keith has had compliments from Dylan about his new trainers. Mick has loads of new songs. Ron loves being used as “the conduit”. And Charlie is thinking about Brian Jones, and how he would have loved this 23rd Stones studio album. “You can’t celebrate the future,” as the sage Keith Richards puts it; his timing, as ever, impeccable. “You’ve got to look forward and hope there is one!”
[www.uncut.co.uk]
Michael Bonner is invited to spend an all-access night in Boston with The Rolling Stones, to discuss their new album, Blue & Lonesome, Mick Jagger‘s new songs and Keith Richards‘ Dylan-approved trainers.
“Blues purists?” says Keith. “I’ve always had a problem with those cats.”
[www.uncut.co.uk]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-11-22 22:49 by Cristiano Radtke.
The Telegraph gives 5 stars to Blue and Lonesome:
Blue & Lonesome is the album any Rolling Stones fan would have wished for – review
Evergreen: The Rolling Stones perform in Cuba earlier this year CREDIT: REX FEATURES
By Neil McCormick, music critic
22 NOVEMBER 2016 • 12:19PM
The Rolling Stones have got the blues. I wonder what took them so long? This is the album any Stones fan could have wished for, on which the Glimmer Twins gleam again.
It is a swaggering, heartfelt blast of dense, deft blues rock, with Charlie Watts swinging on the back beat, Keith Richards spilling slippery chords and magic licks, and Mick Jagger wailing on the blues harp like the last lonely survivor of an apocalyptic flood on the Mississippi delta. Even Ronnie Wood keeps his end up, breaking out crusty riffs and sputtering leads that mesh and weave with Richards’s ever-shifting rhythm guitar, combining in a thick, pliable electric groove that is uniquely the Stones' own.
It is amazing they haven’t made this album before. Holed up in Mark Knopfler’s British Grove studios last December to start work on original material, they warmed up with an old blues cover and just kept going. Knocking out one old favourite after another, they recorded enough for a whole album in just three days.
It is the Stones's first album to completely comprise cover versions. Even their 1964 debut had a trio of originals (some credited to the pseudonymous Nanker Phelge because Jagger and Richards weren’t ready to call themselves songwriters). But this has to be viewed as an overdue act of love, not a retreat to safe harbours.
Being aficionados of the genre, choices are eclectic and immaculate, off the beaten path but straight down the blues line. They rip up Howling Wolf’s Commit A Crime, breathe steamy vigour into Memphis Slim’s Blue and Lonesome and play Magic Sam’s All Of Your Love as if they are down on their knees begging for one last chance at happiness.
There is no attempt to slavishly recreate original arrangements, the modus operandi seems to be to get the chord changes down and then play the damn thing for the sheer thrill of it. And it is a thrill because there are not many bands left who could actually do what they do in a modern studio: just set up, face each other and play with such connection and commitment that the record is essentially a performance so alive to the music it needs no adornment or improvement.
It would be wrong to say that Jagger is a revelation, because we all know what he can do, but it is a pleasure to hear him do it so well. Richards has always loved Jagger’s harmonica playing and here it is almost the featured item, with the singer taking everything he has learned from Little Walter, Howlin’ Wolf and Jimmy Reed and applying it with instinct and emotion. It is as if, unburdened by the self-consciousness that can inhabit his attempts to keep up with the kids, the frontman is free to just enjoy himself.
Jagger has never had a lovely voice, but his phrasing and delivery, his sheer commitment and bravery in going for notes he has absolutely no right to reach is perfectly glorious. He conjures up a dirty, growling old shaman on Otis Hicks's sleazy Hoo Doo Blues whilst on Buddy Johnson’s Just Your Fool, the 73-year-old singer sounds like exactly like the rocking young rooster of yore, only now he’s kicking it with a band of veteran’s utterly at ease and in charge of the material (ably supported in the studio by longstanding live touring members Darryl Jones on bass and Chuck Leavell on keyboards).
If you have seen the Stones on recent tours, you will know they are playing better than at any time since their Seventies glory. The truth is they have never really been outstanding virtuosos but they have the secret to locking tight as a unit and keeping things shifting.
This selection of covers allows them to just do what they do so well and not overthink it. That said, when Eric Clapton guests on two tracks (because he just happened to be mixing in the same studio complex), his nimble, sensitive playing really does switch things up a gear.
Their raw take on Little Johnny Taylor’s Everybody Knows About My Good Thing is sensational, while Clapton’s soloing on Willie Dixon’s I Can’t Quit You Baby ends with the band breaking out in spontaneous applause. Perennial new boy Ronnie Wood might be getting a bit nervous about job security. The Stones have shown they are not averse to changing the line-up, and he has only been with them 41 years.
Hopefully this will serve as a palette cleanser for the album of originals the Stones are still threatening to eventually deliver. But that would have to go some way to beat Blue And Lonesome for sheer pleasure. It may not be the kind of definitive album statement that will rock the music world to its foundations but it more than demonstrate that the world’s greatest and longest serving rock band have still got what it takes.
The Rolling Stones: Blue and Lonesome is out on December 2
[www.telegraph.co.uk]
Keith has trainers??
Talk about your favorite band.
For information about how to use this forum please check out forum help and policies.
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
Cristiano Radtke
()
Date: November 18, 2016 22:49
Quote
KRiffhardQuote
Cristiano Radtke
The Rolling Stones Share Update on That Other New Album
11/17/2016 by Joe Lynch
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
The Rolling Stones, from left, Ronnie Wood, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts attend the opening night party for "Exhibitionism" at Industria on Nov. 15, 2016 in New York.
The Rolling Stones, still going strong after 54 years, are set to release their all-covers album of blues classics and deep cuts, Blue & Lonesome, on Dec. 2.
While a new Rolling Stones album in 2016 might seem like a small miracle in its own right (their previous LP was 2005's A Bigger Bang), there's actually yet another new Rolling Stones album on the horizon…albeit, a very distant horizon.
The Stones started working on new, original material during the Blue & Lonesome sessions, but ended up veering off on a blues tangent almost immediately.
"The reason we hit into the blues stuff was we were in a new studio and in new rooms, it always takes a while to adjust to sounds," Keith Richards tells Billboard at the opening party for the New York edition of their career retrospective Exhibitionism. "So I said to Ronnie [Wood] and Mick [Jagger], 'Let's just hit into the blues,' something we're all familiar with to get the sound together. It came together so quickly and so well, suddenly Mick said, 'Well in that case, let's do this Howlin' Wolf song,' and one led to another and before we knew it we had an album without any intention of doing it."
"That's what we were working on when we decided to cut these blues songs," guitarist Ronnie Wood tells Billboard of the unfinished originals. "The blues songs that we played we hit it once or twice maximum and cut it, so we had an album in two or three days. The new material will take a while to sit and reshape."
As for when the always-busy Stones might get back together to finish that album of originals, Mick Jagger tells Billboard it could be a while, but it's on the docket. "I was working on it quite recently. We've got a long way to go, but I think it sounds really great and I'm looking forward to carrying on with that."
When asked if the Stones might return to the new songs in 2017, Jagger says, "Yeah, I hope so"; Wood also predicts "next year" will see them back in the studio.
Richards, however, is slightly less optimistic about when it might see the light of day: "Well, man, you know, I'm not Nostradamus," he laughs.
[www.billboard.com]
"I was..."
Perhaps it should be read "I was working on it quite recently, before being involved with the launching of Exhibitionism in NY".
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
maumau
()
Date: November 18, 2016 23:14
Quote
KRiffhardQuote
mattstones
I don't find anything offensive about Keith's comments. It is not racist at all.
This over the top political correctness is exactly what people around the world are getting totally sick and tired of.
You're right Matt.
+1
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
LeonidP
()
Date: November 19, 2016 00:00
Quote
KRiffhardQuote
mattstones
I don't find anything offensive about Keith's comments. It is not racist at all.
This over the top political correctness is exactly what people around the world are getting totally sick and tired of.
You're right Matt.
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
blivet
()
Date: November 19, 2016 00:28
Quote
hopkins
He didn't know 'what color these people were' when he was a kid because the artists weren't right there on the front cover of most every album he ever had. It's complicated.
I am the first to cringe at many of Keith's pronouncements, but he is probably talking about hearing their music for the first time on US Armed Forces Radio, or something like that. It was probably quite some time after developing an interest in the music before he actually saw an album cover.
Don't forget that the whole reason he was so excited to see his old friend Mick Jagger on that train platform was because the only way to get those albums back then was to mail order them from the United States. On top of that, they had to have been tremendously expensive if you were an English working class kid.
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
Aquamarine
()
Date: November 19, 2016 00:59
And pictures often weren't on album covers. See Robert Johnson, for just one.
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
RipThisBone
()
Date: November 19, 2016 03:25
.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2016-11-19 12:07 by RipThisBone.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2016-11-19 12:07 by RipThisBone.
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
runrudolph
()
Date: November 19, 2016 12:35
Quote
KRiffhardQuote
mattstones
I don't find anything offensive about Keith's comments. It is not racist at all.
This over the top political correctness is exactly what people around the world are getting totally sick and tired of.
You're right Matt.
You are so right Matt!!
Jeroen
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
KRiffhard
()
Date: November 19, 2016 12:46
Quote
corriecasQuote
KRiffhardQuote
mattstones
I don't find anything offensive about Keith's comments. It is not racist at all.
This over the top political correctness is exactly what people around the world are getting totally sick and tired of.
You're right Matt.
You are so right Matt!!
Jeroen
Some people have to relax and listen to some Keef and Wingless Angels stuff!
Start with 'Bright your soul':
[youtu.be]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-11-19 12:55 by KRiffhard.
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
RipThisBone
()
Date: November 19, 2016 12:48
Quote
corriecasQuote
KRiffhardQuote
mattstones
I don't find anything offensive about Keith's comments. It is not racist at all.
This over the top political correctness is exactly what people around the world are getting totally sick and tired of.
You're right Matt.
You are so right Matt!!
Jeroen
Yep!
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
Rolling Hansie
()
Date: November 19, 2016 13:05
Quote
KRiffhard
Some people have to relax and listen to some Keef and Wingless Angels stuff
Very relaxing indeed
-------------------
Keep On Rolling
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
ouroux58
()
Date: November 19, 2016 22:03
Right, if you don't want to take pills to sleep, you can start to listen the Wingless Angels tracks, after the first one, bingo, you sleep!Quote
Rolling HansieQuote
KRiffhard
Some people have to relax and listen to some Keef and Wingless Angels stuff
Very relaxing indeed
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
KRiffhard
()
Date: November 20, 2016 00:03
Quote
ouroux58Right, if you don't want to take pills to sleep, you can start to listen the Wingless Angels tracks, after the first one, bingo, you sleep!Quote
Rolling HansieQuote
KRiffhard
Some people have to relax and listen to some Keef and Wingless Angels stuff
Very relaxing indeed
I prefer 'Anyway you look at it'...better than a sleeping pill.
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
Deltics
()
Date: November 20, 2016 23:35
Quote
blivet
Don't forget that the whole reason he was so excited to see his old friend Mick Jagger on that train platform was because the only way to get those albums back then was to mail order them from the United States. On top of that, they had to have been tremendously expensive if you were an English working class kid.
This is not true. Chess had had their records issued in the UK on London and later by Pye since the mid fifties.
Chuck Berry singles: [www.45cat.com]
Chuck Berry albums: [www.45worlds.com]
"As we say in England, it can get a bit trainspottery"
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
blivet
()
Date: November 21, 2016 01:18
Quote
DelticsQuote
blivet
Don't forget that the whole reason he was so excited to see his old friend Mick Jagger on that train platform was because the only way to get those albums back then was to mail order them from the United States. On top of that, they had to have been tremendously expensive if you were an English working class kid.
This is not true. Chess had had their records issued in the UK on London and later by Pye since the mid fifties.
Chuck Berry singles: [www.45cat.com]
Chuck Berry albums: [www.45worlds.com]
I doubt blues records were as readily available, but whatever, I'm just going by what Mick and Keith said. That will teach me, especially after learning that the commonly-told story of Brian noticing a Muddy Waters record on the floor couldn't possibly have happened that way. I guess the trail of BS starts pretty far back.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-11-21 03:28 by blivet.
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
Cristiano Radtke
()
Date: November 21, 2016 16:45
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
Maindefender
()
Date: November 21, 2016 16:58
<Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
LeonidP
()
Date: November 21, 2016 19:38
Quote
blivetQuote
DelticsQuote
blivet
Don't forget that the whole reason he was so excited to see his old friend Mick Jagger on that train platform was because the only way to get those albums back then was to mail order them from the United States. On top of that, they had to have been tremendously expensive if you were an English working class kid.
This is not true. Chess had had their records issued in the UK on London and later by Pye since the mid fifties.
Chuck Berry singles: [www.45cat.com]
Chuck Berry albums: [www.45worlds.com]
I doubt blues records were as readily available, but whatever, I'm just going by what Mick and Keith said. That will teach me, especially after learning that the commonly-told story of Brian noticing a Muddy Waters record on the floor couldn't possibly have happened that way. I guess the trail of BS starts pretty far back.
Agreed, even if distributed to UK, it doesn't mean they were found easily or readily available. I've also read that they had to go thru mail order to get most of the records they wanted back then (not sure if that applied to Chuck Berry).
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
franzk
()
Date: November 21, 2016 20:04
I wonder if the Stones played any of Blue & Lonesome tracks live before. And I don't mean Desert Trip shows, I mean 62-63 club shows.
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
Deltics
()
Date: November 21, 2016 20:35
Quote
LeonidPQuote
blivetQuote
DelticsQuote
blivet
Don't forget that the whole reason he was so excited to see his old friend Mick Jagger on that train platform was because the only way to get those albums back then was to mail order them from the United States. On top of that, they had to have been tremendously expensive if you were an English working class kid.
This is not true. Chess had had their records issued in the UK on London and later by Pye since the mid fifties.
Chuck Berry singles: [www.45cat.com]
Chuck Berry albums: [www.45worlds.com]
I doubt blues records were as readily available, but whatever, I'm just going by what Mick and Keith said. That will teach me, especially after learning that the commonly-told story of Brian noticing a Muddy Waters record on the floor couldn't possibly have happened that way. I guess the trail of BS starts pretty far back.
Agreed, even if distributed to UK, it doesn't mean they were found easily or readily available. I've also read that they had to go thru mail order to get most of the records they wanted back then (not sure if that applied to Chuck Berry).
If a record was on catalogue it could easily be ordered from your local record shop assuming they didn't have it in stock anyway.
Of the Chess artists, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf all had albums released in the UK in the fifties and early sixties.
"As we say in England, it can get a bit trainspottery"
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
ThumpinJackFlash
()
Date: November 22, 2016 02:45
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
mpj200
()
Date: November 22, 2016 03:42
If you like blues, it's one of the best Stones records in decades. I can't stop listening.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2016-11-22 03:46 by mpj200.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2016-11-22 03:46 by mpj200.
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
bitusa2012
()
Date: November 22, 2016 05:13
Quote
mpj200
If you like blues, it's one of the best Stones records in decades. I can't stop listening.
To 2 songs?
Rod
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
LeonidP
()
Date: November 22, 2016 07:13
Quote
DelticsQuote
LeonidPQuote
blivetQuote
DelticsQuote
blivet
Don't forget that the whole reason he was so excited to see his old friend Mick Jagger on that train platform was because the only way to get those albums back then was to mail order them from the United States. On top of that, they had to have been tremendously expensive if you were an English working class kid.
This is not true. Chess had had their records issued in the UK on London and later by Pye since the mid fifties.
Chuck Berry singles: [www.45cat.com]
Chuck Berry albums: [www.45worlds.com]
I doubt blues records were as readily available, but whatever, I'm just going by what Mick and Keith said. That will teach me, especially after learning that the commonly-told story of Brian noticing a Muddy Waters record on the floor couldn't possibly have happened that way. I guess the trail of BS starts pretty far back.
Agreed, even if distributed to UK, it doesn't mean they were found easily or readily available. I've also read that they had to go thru mail order to get most of the records they wanted back then (not sure if that applied to Chuck Berry).
If a record was on catalogue it could easily be ordered from your local record shop assuming they didn't have it in stock anyway.
Of the Chess artists, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf all had albums released in the UK in the fifties and early sixties.
Not discounting that in any way ... we're just commenting how we've read Mick/Keith state they had to order the albums via mail order from the States.
Also just because you could order, doesn't mean they were aware of it. I myself spent many hours chasing down albums as a youth, without considering that I could possibly order them...
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-11-22 07:20 by LeonidP.
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
KRiffhard
()
Date: November 22, 2016 07:46
Quote
mpj200
If you like blues, it's one of the best Stones records in decades. I can't stop listening.
Many thanks mpj
PS: do you know something about original material? Good stuff?!
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
KRiffhard
()
Date: November 22, 2016 10:51
Quote
georgelicksQuote
mailexile67
@Georgelicks
Do you think they'll make a new studio album of originals in May/June with the beginning of European Tour?!?
As far I know, they were 10 days on the studio on December 2015 (the blues album was already done on the first week) and another 10 days on April of this year.
About 6-7 original songs were done on this sessions, but nothing else since then.
As we see, recording in a studio is not a priority for the Stones and they have much work to do to get an album out in 9 months from now.
Hi Georgelicks, do you know if
they went in studio on June of this year?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-11-22 10:54 by KRiffhard.
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
Cristiano Radtke
()
Date: November 22, 2016 14:45
For our new issue (on sale today in the UK), Uncut were blessed with a level of access to the Stones that’s unprecedented in recent times.
Come with Michael Bonner to Boston, then, as he spends a very special night with the Stones, and finds them looking resolutely ahead, even as they revisit the blues influences of their youth. Keith has had compliments from Dylan about his new trainers. Mick has loads of new songs. Ron loves being used as “the conduit”. And Charlie is thinking about Brian Jones, and how he would have loved this 23rd Stones studio album. “You can’t celebrate the future,” as the sage Keith Richards puts it; his timing, as ever, impeccable. “You’ve got to look forward and hope there is one!”
[www.uncut.co.uk]
Michael Bonner is invited to spend an all-access night in Boston with The Rolling Stones, to discuss their new album, Blue & Lonesome, Mick Jagger‘s new songs and Keith Richards‘ Dylan-approved trainers.
“Blues purists?” says Keith. “I’ve always had a problem with those cats.”
[www.uncut.co.uk]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-11-22 22:49 by Cristiano Radtke.
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
Cristiano Radtke
()
Date: November 22, 2016 15:01
Quote
mpj200
If you like blues, it's one of the best Stones records in decades. I can't stop listening.
The Telegraph gives 5 stars to Blue and Lonesome:
Blue & Lonesome is the album any Rolling Stones fan would have wished for – review
Evergreen: The Rolling Stones perform in Cuba earlier this year CREDIT: REX FEATURES
By Neil McCormick, music critic
22 NOVEMBER 2016 • 12:19PM
The Rolling Stones have got the blues. I wonder what took them so long? This is the album any Stones fan could have wished for, on which the Glimmer Twins gleam again.
It is a swaggering, heartfelt blast of dense, deft blues rock, with Charlie Watts swinging on the back beat, Keith Richards spilling slippery chords and magic licks, and Mick Jagger wailing on the blues harp like the last lonely survivor of an apocalyptic flood on the Mississippi delta. Even Ronnie Wood keeps his end up, breaking out crusty riffs and sputtering leads that mesh and weave with Richards’s ever-shifting rhythm guitar, combining in a thick, pliable electric groove that is uniquely the Stones' own.
It is amazing they haven’t made this album before. Holed up in Mark Knopfler’s British Grove studios last December to start work on original material, they warmed up with an old blues cover and just kept going. Knocking out one old favourite after another, they recorded enough for a whole album in just three days.
It is the Stones's first album to completely comprise cover versions. Even their 1964 debut had a trio of originals (some credited to the pseudonymous Nanker Phelge because Jagger and Richards weren’t ready to call themselves songwriters). But this has to be viewed as an overdue act of love, not a retreat to safe harbours.
Being aficionados of the genre, choices are eclectic and immaculate, off the beaten path but straight down the blues line. They rip up Howling Wolf’s Commit A Crime, breathe steamy vigour into Memphis Slim’s Blue and Lonesome and play Magic Sam’s All Of Your Love as if they are down on their knees begging for one last chance at happiness.
There is no attempt to slavishly recreate original arrangements, the modus operandi seems to be to get the chord changes down and then play the damn thing for the sheer thrill of it. And it is a thrill because there are not many bands left who could actually do what they do in a modern studio: just set up, face each other and play with such connection and commitment that the record is essentially a performance so alive to the music it needs no adornment or improvement.
It would be wrong to say that Jagger is a revelation, because we all know what he can do, but it is a pleasure to hear him do it so well. Richards has always loved Jagger’s harmonica playing and here it is almost the featured item, with the singer taking everything he has learned from Little Walter, Howlin’ Wolf and Jimmy Reed and applying it with instinct and emotion. It is as if, unburdened by the self-consciousness that can inhabit his attempts to keep up with the kids, the frontman is free to just enjoy himself.
Jagger has never had a lovely voice, but his phrasing and delivery, his sheer commitment and bravery in going for notes he has absolutely no right to reach is perfectly glorious. He conjures up a dirty, growling old shaman on Otis Hicks's sleazy Hoo Doo Blues whilst on Buddy Johnson’s Just Your Fool, the 73-year-old singer sounds like exactly like the rocking young rooster of yore, only now he’s kicking it with a band of veteran’s utterly at ease and in charge of the material (ably supported in the studio by longstanding live touring members Darryl Jones on bass and Chuck Leavell on keyboards).
If you have seen the Stones on recent tours, you will know they are playing better than at any time since their Seventies glory. The truth is they have never really been outstanding virtuosos but they have the secret to locking tight as a unit and keeping things shifting.
This selection of covers allows them to just do what they do so well and not overthink it. That said, when Eric Clapton guests on two tracks (because he just happened to be mixing in the same studio complex), his nimble, sensitive playing really does switch things up a gear.
Their raw take on Little Johnny Taylor’s Everybody Knows About My Good Thing is sensational, while Clapton’s soloing on Willie Dixon’s I Can’t Quit You Baby ends with the band breaking out in spontaneous applause. Perennial new boy Ronnie Wood might be getting a bit nervous about job security. The Stones have shown they are not averse to changing the line-up, and he has only been with them 41 years.
Hopefully this will serve as a palette cleanser for the album of originals the Stones are still threatening to eventually deliver. But that would have to go some way to beat Blue And Lonesome for sheer pleasure. It may not be the kind of definitive album statement that will rock the music world to its foundations but it more than demonstrate that the world’s greatest and longest serving rock band have still got what it takes.
The Rolling Stones: Blue and Lonesome is out on December 2
[www.telegraph.co.uk]
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
Maindefender
()
Date: November 22, 2016 15:14
Quote
Cristiano Radtke
For our new issue (on sale today in the UK), Uncut were blessed with a level of access to the Stones that’s unprecedented in recent times.
Come with Michael Bonner to Boston, then, as he spends a very special night with the Stones, and finds them looking resolutely ahead, even as they revisit the blues influences of their youth. Keith has had compliments from Dylan about his new trainers. Mick has loads of new songs. Ron loves being used as “the conduit”. And Charlie is thinking about Brian Jones, and how he would have loved this 23rd Stones studio album. “You can’t celebrate the future,” as the sage Keith Richards puts it; his timing, as ever, impeccable. “You’ve got to look forward and hope there is one!”
[www.uncut.co.uk]
Michael Bonner is invited to spend an all-access night in Boston with The Rolling Stones, to discuss their new album, Blue & Lonesome, Mick Jagger‘s new songs and Keith Richards‘ Dylan-approved trainers.
“Blues purists?” says Keith. “I’ve always had a problem with those cats.”
[www.uncut.co.uk]
Keith has trainers??
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
DandelionPowderman
()
Date: November 22, 2016 15:20
Great! Thanks for posting, Cristiano
Re: The Rolling Stones new blues album "Blue & Lonesome" due out Dec 2
Posted by:
powerage78
()
Date: November 22, 2016 15:20
Ah ah ah. What does this man drink ?
***
I'm just a Bad Boy Boogie
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2016-11-22 15:28 by powerage78.
Quote
Cristiano RadtkeQuote
mpj200
If you like blues, it's one of the best Stones records in decades. I can't stop listening.
By Neil McCormick, music critic
22 NOVEMBER 2016 • 12:19PM
If you have seen the Stones on recent tours, you will know they are playing better than at any time since their Seventies glory.
[www.telegraph.co.uk]
***
I'm just a Bad Boy Boogie
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2016-11-22 15:28 by powerage78.
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.
Online Users
a bigger nut , BeastyBurdeny , daspyknows , dhinkle555 , keefgotsoul , mariano , rogerriffin , rstoned , TW2019
Guests:
1606
Record Number of Users:
206
on June 1, 2022 23:50
Record Number of Guests:
9627
on January 2, 2024 23:10