"The Rolling Stones" Thread

[Rikk]

Darryl Jones was on tour. Bass is handled by Richards, Wood, and Watt.

I guess the Ringo playing on the new Stones album rumors weren't true. (Maybe that particular track is one of the ones Mick mentioned they recorded but were holding back for the next LP?)

Giles Martin said that he had to really talk Ringo into doing drums for the upcoming Beatles song, NOW AND THEN. Ringo didn't want to do it at first but finally gave in.

They still haven't announced what the final Beatles song is meant for or when it's coming out. I keep hearing the rumors that it's part of a remixed RED and BLUE albums set...but I really don't like that. Who needs another freaking compilation?

I was hoping the new song would be used for maybe an updated BEATLES ANTHOLOGY project. The documentary is great but really needs to be redone in HD. And a new version of the albums with more outtakes and the new song would be better than just getting the RED and BLUE albums again.

[FORD]

I'm not sure about Ringo's involvement at all, but apparently Paul recorded two songs with the Stones. Only one of them will be on this album though, so hopefully the other one will come out at a later date... though hopefully not another 18 years, because obviously Time AIN'T On Their Side anymore.

There's an article all about the new album and all the guest appearances over at RollingStone.com. Too much to copy/paste here.

As far as the "new" Beatles song goes, this is the third song that originated from the demo John Lennon recorded in the late 70s. The original plan was to have it on the third Anthology volume, just like "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love" started the other two. But the source tape for John's vocals was problematic.. as cassette tapes often are, and they gave up halfway through. I haven't heard the song yet, but from what McCartney says, they were able to fix the problems with John's vocal track using AI. Which would have to be the most useful application I've heard of with that technology, so far. (as opposed to all the fake AI generated music videos on YouTube)

Not sure how far along they were before they originally stopped working on it, so the real question is... will George Harrison be on the track at all? He obviously wouldn't be on any 2023 sessions, but if he recorded guitar tracks back in 1994, I would hope they were left in.

And like you, I'm not interested in a reissue of the Red/Blue greatest hits albums. I didn't buy them ever, not even the original colored vinyl versions in the 1970s.

[Rikk]

I'm not sure about Ringo's involvement at all, but apparently Paul recorded two songs with the Stones. Only one of them will be on this album though, so hopefully the other one will come out at a later date... though hopefully not another 18 years, because obviously Time AIN'T On Their Side anymore.

Yeah, I sure agree with you, Ford. If they're going to finish a follow-up, they'd better NOT take their time. (Mick says they're 75% done with the next album.)

As far as the "new" Beatles song goes, this is the third song that originated from the demo John Lennon recorded in the late 70s. The original plan was to have it on the third Anthology volume, just like "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love" started the other two. But the source tape for John's vocals was problematic.. as cassette tapes often are, and they gave up halfway through. I haven't heard the song yet, but from what McCartney says, they were able to fix the problems with John's vocal track using AI. Which would have to be the most useful application I've heard of with that technology, so far. (as opposed to all the fake AI generated music videos on YouTube)

Not sure how far along they were before they originally stopped working on it, so the real question is... will George Harrison be on the track at all? He obviously wouldn't be on any 2023 sessions, but if he recorded guitar tracks back in 1994, I would hope they were left in.

I read some info from a few supposedly inside sources about NOW AND THEN.

George is on the new song. He did some basic guitar (they made it sure sound like some rhythm parts, maybe some slide but they didn't clarify) back in 1995 (before they decided to work on REAL LOVE) over the demo and they are using it. ALSO...the backing vocals are George, John & Paul. How did they do that? This might piss some people off, but I think it's kosher. They took all the "ahhs" from the multi-track of BECAUSE and simply transposed them digitally and used them in select parts of the new song for certain chords. Some people may doubt the legitimacy of this method...but real bands have done this very thing when working on new songs to achieve a certain sound. SO...I'm ok with that.

Like you said, Ford, it's AI but only in a useful-application mode...it's NOT being used to create music never recorded by the dead musicians. It's really John & George singing "ahh"...and the AI is also simply being used to bring out the clarity of John's lead vocal.

I've heard NOW AND THEN (not the new version but John's demo). It's actually a pretty cool song. It's more melancholy than FREE AS A BIRD or REAL LOVE.

Paul really had a personal connection to this song (and was pissed that George eventually rejected it) because the very last thing John said to him the last time Paul & John spoke on the phone in 1980 was, "Think of me...now and then...old friend."

The day after John was murdered, Paul & Yoko spoke on the phone. Both have confirmed that they spoke and that she assured Paul, "You know, he said things in the press sometimes, Paul, but he really did love you very much."

So, this song meant a lot to Paul (NOT that the song is actually about Paul...just his connection to it) and he's wanted to finish it for years.

The song also has Ringo's new drums and Giles Martin put strings on it too. (I'd actually rather NOT have strings on it...that reminds me too much of Spector's LET IT BE work...but George Martin would do them too.)

I'm optimistic. One final Beatles song? Cool!

And like you, I'm not interested in a reissue of the Red/Blue greatest hits albums. I didn't buy them ever, not even the original colored vinyl versions in the 1970s.

Me neither. I was born after the RED and BLUE albums. I give no shit about them.

Giles Martin already did a really good job with the re-do of the "1" album in 2015. He did remixes of every song on the album (or remasters of the early songs that don't have multitracks available...i.e. SHE LOVES YOU, etc.) and included two Blu-Rays with all their videos and surround mixes.

We don't need remixes of all the songs from the RED/BLUE albums. Who cares? Who is this supposed to appeal to? People who were teenagers in the 1970s?

This year, people were expecting the RUBBER SOUL box set. The other sets have been really good. There's a ton of material waiting to be heard from the RUBBER SOUL era.

OR...they could finally do an HD re-edit of the BEATLES ANTHOLOGY film. All the interviews Paul, George & Ringo did for the doc back in the 1990s were shot on film. They used some of George's (in HD) in the LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD doc. They could do an HD re-edit (with more footage and scenes) of the epic documentary...and then maybe re-release the original ANTHOLOGY albums in a box set with an extra disc's worth of material, including the new song (now opening ANTHOLOGY 3, since that one didn't get a "new" song).

Just my opinion...but it sounds like you feel similarly, Ford.

[FORD]

[Von Halen]

I really like that song. Wow.

[Rikk]

Best new fucking Stones song in many years. Seriously, this would not have sounded out of place on STICKY FINGERS or EXILE. Great song.

[Kristy]

I really like that song. Wow.

The Stones doing Justin Bieber. I'm not surprised.

[Rikk]

The Stones doing Justin Bieber. I'm not surprised.

I was waiting for your comment...but hoping (against hope) that you would say something original.

[Kristy]

There is nothing original about a Justin Bieber album.

[FORD]

There's nothing remotely "Justin Bieber" about that song. It's vintage fucking Stones. Now if you wanted to make that argument about the first single "Angry"... yeah, that one had a little bit of a pro-tools overproduced vibe to it.

I really hope Sweet Sounds of Heaven is a better indication of what the album sounds like.

[Rikk]

There's nothing remotely "Justin Bieber" about that song. It's vintage fucking Stones. Now if you wanted to make that argument about the first single "Angry"... yeah, that one had a little bit of a pro-tools overproduced vibe to it.

I really hope Sweet Sounds of Heaven is a better indication of what the album sounds like.

Doesn't it just feel...good...knowing The Stones are still capable of producing something that reminds us of why this band was so great?

[Kristy]

There's nothing remotely "Justin Bieber" about that song. It's vintage fucking Stones.

Wow. "Vintage" for sounding EXACTLY LIKE Justin Bieber. Keep on lying to yourself - like how your Huskies are going to win a National title.

I really hope Sweet Sounds of Heaven is a better indication of what the album sounds like.

Like regurgitated shit? 18 years, people 18 years.

[Kristy]

this band was so great?

1971 was 52 years ago, Boomer.

[Von Halen]

The problem with Kristy is (s)he has no soul. The brain is a pile of drug riddled mush, and the soul was never there to begin with.

[Rikk]

"Vintage" for sounding EXACTLY LIKE Justin Bieber.

Seriously, how do you know "EXACTLY" what Justin Bieber sounds like?

I couldn't even name you one of his fucking songs.

[Rikk]

The second song released from this album is great.

It has very much a SHINE A LIGHT-sorta vibe (I mean the song from EXILE, not the mediocre concert film Scorsese released some years back).

It also reminds me of an excellent song from the deluxe EXILE set called FOLLOWING THE RIVER. This was another gospel ballad the band recorded for EXILE but never did vocals for. I figure it didn't make EXILE because they already had two gospel ballads in SHINE A LIGHT and LET IT LOOSE. But when FOLLOWING THE RIVER was released in 2010, I loved it. And still do. That whole EXILE outtakes album was really good (actually, much better than the SOME GIRLS outtakes album...they picked all the wrong outtakes for that SOME GIRLS outtake set...I bet Ford would agree with me on this point).

This song also features Stevie Wonder on keyboards...and the Lady Gaga part I thought would turn me off. But it didn't. Her vocals have a kind of GIMME SHELTER vibe.

[FORD]

I liked the Some Girls outtakes disc, but they probably used too many country songs. Ironic since much of the original album was about as close to punk as the Stones ever got. And I still like the original 1977 demo of "No Spare Parts" better than the 2011 overdubbed version

[Rikk]

I liked the Some Girls outtakes disc, but they probably used too many country songs. Ironic since much of the original album was about as close to punk as the Stones ever got. And I still like the original 1977 demo of "No Spare Parts" better than the 2011 overdubbed version.

I totally agree.

It wasn't a bad album...but it's very homogenized. It just doesn't reflect the sound of most of those sessions. And I've heard plenty of SOME GIRLS outtakes that are better choices than the ones they picked for that album.

And yeah, the original NO SPARE PARTS is just...better. Less polished but better. (I think that cool lead guitar, which sounds slightly out of tune, was mixed out on the official version.)

[Kristy]

The problem with Kristy is (s)he has no soul. The brain is a pile of drug riddled mush, and the soul was never there to begin with.

Remember kids, this is coming from Von. A (wo)man is praises Kid Rock

[Kristy]

Seriously, how do you know "EXACTLY" what Justin Bieber sounds like?

I couldn't even name you one of his fucking songs.

Easy:

[Rikk]

Easy:

OK...that's fucking hilarious. (Almost as good as the Harry/Meghan episode from last year.)

[Von Halen]

Seriously, how do you know "EXACTLY" what Justin Bieber sounds like?

I couldn't even name you one of his fucking songs.

It's hilarious. (S)he is the only one on here that knows what a Justin Beiber song sounds like. But I'll tell you what. If that motherfucker made songs like this new Stones song, everybody on here would know his work. Instead of making little girly boys like Kristy's assholes tingle, he'd be making women's pussies wet!

[Kristy]

But I'll tell you what. If that motherfucker made songs like this new Stones song, everybody on here would know his work. Instead of making little girly boys like Kristy's assholes tingle, he'd be making women's pussies wet!

Gossip

https://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/s...e-of-poontang/

[Rikk]

Gossip

https://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/s...e-of-poontang/

Where do you find these articles? Did you have this bookmarked for your personal connection? What the living fuck?

[Rikk]

OK...this review makes me REALLY excited about the new Stones album. I haven't been this excited about a new Stones album in so long. I remember being really excited for VOODOO LOUNGE...and, in retrospect, that album was...ok. But it certainly didn't live up to the hype. BUT...after hearing the absolutely amazing new song, Sweet Sounds of Heaven (which I remember Von, Ford & myself creaming over...it has a real EXILE vibe to it), I have truly high hopes for this LP. It would be so damn sweet to get a new Stones album this month that actually captures the vibe of what made so many of us love this band so fucking much...


THE ROLLING STONES - Hackney Diamonds Album Review
Ultimate Classic Rock
https://ultimateclassicrock.com/roll...ncer=hindsight

The last time the Rolling Stones released a proper studio album, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were still a year or two away from retirement age, celebrated expanded reissues of Exile on Main St. and Sticky Fingers weren't even being discussed and, most significantly, original drummer Charlie Watts was still alive. A Bigger Bang arrived in 2005 with a revitalized band linking their gloried past to a new future, and the Stones built on its momentum with several tours, repackaging of their classic records and enough nostalgia to remind everybody that they used to be the greatest band around.

Their 2016 album Blue & Lonesome managed a glance back even further, all the way to their original dues-paying club days, with a set of blues covers first made famous by their earliest heroes. It's the best they sounded on record in decades. Hackney Diamonds, only their second album of original material this century, finds the Rolling Stones at a curious stage in their long career: with both nothing and, for the first time in decades, something to prove.

And they step up for the occasion, delivering their most committed set of songs and performances in years. Starting strong with "Angry" – a blender whirl of classic Stones signposts – and continuing through to the LP-closing acoustic "Rolling Stone Blues," Hackney Diamonds is the rare occurrence of a veteran band embracing its legacy with new determination. The Rolling Stones aren't doing anything new here, but there's a surprising amount of vitality to almost everything they do.

Producer Andrew Watt – who has worked with Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop and Eddie Vedder in recent years – never gets in the way of the songs, while still infusing tracks with nods to the band's storied past. There's Sticky Fingers-like sax in "Get Close," a snarling, punk-inspired Some Girls-era vocal from Mick Jagger in "Bite My Head Off" and "Dreamy Skies," a Beggars Banquet throwback featuring Keith Richards on acoustic slide. Hackney Diamonds sounds like a half-century's worth of classic Stones music distilled into 50 exhilarating minutes.

The album comes with a bigger guest list than usual: Elton John, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder and original bassist Bill Wyman show up in some capacity throughout. The late Watts appears on a couple of tracks that were started before his 2021 death. Steve Jordan, the Stones' touring drummer and Richards' longtime solo sideman, ably fills in for the rest. But it's the songs that will immediately fucking grab you. Even the ballads are uniformly solid: "Depending on You" and "Driving Me Too Hard" absorb country influences; "Sweet Sounds of Heaven" builds over seven and a half minutes, recalling a Let It Bleed castoff with Lady Gaga channeling Merry Clayton. Maybe it's the renewal of their fighting spirit, or perhaps they realize that because it took nearly two decades to get here, this could be their last album. Whatever the reason, Hackney Diamonds finds the Rolling Stones sublimely reclaiming a crown they relinquished long ago.

[twonabomber]

Rolling Stone has an early review, also

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/m...ew-1234837336/

It’s 2023, and the Rolling Stones Have Made a Record You’ll Want to Play More Than Once — Seriously
They haven't sounded this on top of their game in about half a century

Not counting their blues covers record from 2016, the last time the Rolling Stones bequeathed us with an album of fresh material was during George W. Bush’s presidency. That record, 2006’s A Bigger Bang, was feisty but not especially memorable, and in the nearly two decades since, maybe even the Stones started to wonder if we needed another record by them. If they were going to drag themselves (and us) through the process again, and after such a long gap, they also must have known they’d have to make it worth everyone’s while. Shockingly, they have. A collection of bangers (old-school division) that nobody in their right mind had a right to expect in 2023, Hackney Diamonds (out Oct. 20) isn’t just another new Stones album, but a vibrant and cohesive record — the first Stones album in ages you’ll want to crank more than once before filing away.

Whether it’s a first-time Stones producer (Andrew Watt), bits of technological wizardry, or simply a desire to remind us why we cared about them in the first place, they haven’t sounded this brisk and focused in what feels like a half century. Keith Richards’ and Ron Wood’s guitars are crisp and uncluttered, with most of the slovenly strumming of the past banished. Depending on the song, Mick Jagger sounds snappish, peeved, needy, or insouciant, with lyrics and a more pronounced British accent to match: In the sputtery single “Angry,” he spits out, “It hasn’t rained in a month, the river’s run dry/We haven’t made love, and I wanna know why.” Not exactly rock poetry, true, but he also hasn’t sounded this engaged with the songs since the heyday of the cassette. “Depending on You” could have been one of those draggy ballads that have made their way onto later Stones albums, but Jagger wails as if he wants the whole world to hear him.

When all of those elements come together, a fountain of musical youth miraculously emerges. Toward the end of “Live by the Sword,” one of two tracks they made with drummer Charlie Watts before his passing in 2021, Jagger snarls as the guitars tear it up around him, and you’d hardly think it was the 21st century. With Watt burnishing their sound just enough, songs that could have easily been rote feel revitalized. “Mess It Up” finds Jagger awkwardly trying to connect with anyone under 30 who’s barely heard of the Stones: “You share my photos with all your friends/You put them out there, it don’t make no sense,” he grouses, then complains about his lover stealing his “codes.” (Dude, we think the term is “passwords,” unless you have access to a nuclear arsenal and you’re not telling us.) But the combination of his swooping delivery and Watts’ percussive swing elevates the song, which has a slippery dance-music kick to it. It’s also representative of the way that some of these songs balance Jagger’s popism and Richards’ rockism in a more seamless way than on records like Bridges to Babylon.

Steve Jordan, the longtime X-Pensive Winos member who has taken Watts’ place on the road, plays on the majority of the record. Jordan hits his kit harder than Watts ever did, but his contributions aren’t as jarring as they could have been. The album’s most ambitious track, “Sweet Sounds of Heaven,” throws everything against the wall: a gradually swelling honky-tonk-gospel arrangement, Jagger ruminating on people going hungry and satisfying his own material thirst, Stevie Wonder rolling along on piano, and Lady Gaga whooping it up for added fervor. Even Richards rouses himself. Ever since his Some Girls highlight “Before They Make Me Run,” his requisite solo cut on every Stones album has felt increasingly slight. But “Tell Me Straight,” which builds on a shadowy, skeletal riff that wouldn’t have been out of place on a Nineties grunge record, is as taut as the rest of the album, and he too sounds invested in every word, avoiding the slurry delivery of the past.

What you won’t find much of here is the late-in-life introspection heard on recent records by some of the Stones’ peers. We’ve arrived at a fascinating period in rock history, when aging boomer rockers aren’t just dragging themselves onstage but continuing to write songs — uncharted territory for them and us. In a first for that generation, we get to hear what‘s on the minds of Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, or Judy Collins as they approach or enter their eighties — in songs that confront mortality, look back over tumultuous lives or recent history, and occasionally rant about the state of the planet or politics.

Here and there on Hackney Diamonds, Jagger indulges in contemplative moments of his own. “The streets I used to walk on are full of broken glass/And everywhere I’m looking, there’s memories of the past,” he sings in “Whole Wide World,” which welds zig-zagging guitar parts with lyrics meant to buck us up during troubled times. Looking to get away from it all in the country shuffle “Dreamy Skies,” he longs for an old AM radio and a Hank Williams record.

Those expressions are about as deep as it gets. Jagger is still partial to songs with choruses like “I wanna get close to you” or “You’ll think I’ll mess it up for you.” It feels like a bit of a lost opportunity: Don’t you want to know what’s going on in Jagger’s head? Instead, in “Bite Your Head Off,” which feels like a grumpier-old-men update of “Get Off My Cloud,” he rages, “Ain’t on a leash/Well, I ain’t on a chain/You think I’m your bitch/I’m fucking with your brain.” (He seems more natural singing, “If you wanna get rich, better sit on the board,” in “Live by the Sword.”)

But with a relatively unobtrusive Paul McCartney contributing bass, “Bite Your Head Off” winds up a kicky musical spitball, and the Richards and Wood rave-up at the end is the best sort of sonic roller-coaster ride. The album’s closer — Jagger and Richards alone, playing Muddy Waters’ “Rollin’ Stone,” here called “Rolling Stone Blues” — has a palpable and obvious full-circle feel to it. But maybe they’re right. Whether this is their last album or not, maybe songs like “Bite Your Head Off” are the way we want to remember them, and rock itself.

[twonabomber]

Keith Richards interview on the Howard Stern Show tomorrow. Hopefully he's on longer than Jagger was, which might have been a half-hour.

They're doing all kinds of press. Jagger was on Sirius with ex-MTV's Mark Goodman on Classic Rewind. I see various things popping up on my YouTube too.

[Von Halen]

Keith Richards interview on the Howard Stern Show tomorrow. Hopefully he's on longer than Jagger was, which might have been a half-hour.

They're doing all kinds of press. Jagger was on Sirius with ex-MTV's Mark Goodman on Classic Rewind. I see various things popping up on my YouTube too.

Good interview. Keith is a cool motherfucker.

[FORD]

[FORD]

[FORD]

[Nitro Express]

Good interview. Keith is a cool motherfucker.

Anyone who is an old fuck and climbs a coconut tree and falls out of it is cool.

[FORD]

[Nitro Express]

I went down to Utah to ski and ran into one of my former school teachers. He’s an old fuck but he was still skiing and having fun. I know not everyone has the gift of good genes but I have a lot of respect for old people who still love life and stay fit. 50 years ago if you said Mick Jagger would be a good role model people would laugh. But he’s showing how it’s done. Take care of yourself. Get off your ass and get some exercise. Have fun! Yeah man. Get shot crawling out a lover’s window at 90.

[Rikk]

Anyone who is an old fuck and climbs a coconut tree and falls out of it is cool.

Especially since he was coking out at the time...

[Rikk]

I went down to Utah to ski and ran into one of my former school teachers. He’s an old fuck but he was still skiing and having fun. I know not everyone has the gift of good genes but I have a lot of respect for old people who still love life and stay fit. 50 years ago if you said Mick Jagger would be a good role model people would laugh. But he’s showing how it’s done. Take care of yourself. Get off your ass and get some exercise. Have fun! Yeah man. Get shot crawling out a lover’s window at 90.

Shit, Mick's Dad is over 100 and he's still alive. That could mean there will still be Stones releases of some sort when we're all VERY old.

[twonabomber]

People are complaining that the interview was pre-recorded. So what? Like Keith was gonna get up and be in the studio before 9 am.

I think Stern was off this week, listened Monday and there were some bits I had heard already.

[Kristy]

Well, well, well...

I see slave FORD finally posted a sensible vid that explain how limeys are thieves. Here we have that cobweb faced Richards talking about limey crimes but also how he stole one of Muddy Waters best tunes. It just makes you sick, doesn't it?

[FORD]

He didn't steal the tune. He just used the name for his band. This ain't Jimmy Page we're talking about. Besides Muddy was totally cool with the Stones....

[Kristy]

Let the record stand that slave FORD is an enabler of limey crimes.

Of course the Stones stole from Muddy Waters as much as they did say, Buddy Holly. Limeys have no originality of their own. Maybe just maybe the Stone gave proper songwriting credits but they are thieves and now they are openly displaying it