The Rolling Stones have officially announced the December 2 release of Blue & Lonesome, their first-ever all-blues album. The new set is their first studio album since 2005’s A Bigger Bang. Blue & Lonesome will be available on CD, vinyl, in digital formats and as a deluxe boxed set. Pre-orders are available now here.
The full track listing for the 12-song album is below. All of the songs are covers of vintage blues tunes originally recorded between 1955-71. Of the dozen tracks, several were originally cut by artists who recorded for Chicago’s Chess Records; four of them alone come from the discography of Little Walter, a harmonica player and vocalist who recorded for the Chess subsidiary Checker Records.
The deluxe box contains a 75-page mini-book about the making of the album and band postcard prints.
The band has posted a one-minute snippet of the leadoff track, “Just Your Fool,” originally recorded by Little Walter in 1960. You can listen to it here.
The complete version of “Just Your Fool” is available for listening at Spotify.
The album features, of course, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood, with longtime Stones touring bassist Darryl Jones and keyboardist Chuck Leavell contributing, as well as keyboardist Matt Clifford.
Eric Clapton, who was recording in an adjacent studio, stopped in during the Stones sessions and guests on the tracks “Everybody Knows About My Good Thing” and “I Can’t Quit You Baby.”
The Glimmer Twins (aka Jagger and Richards) co-produced the album along with Don Was. It was recorded last December in London over a three-day period, reportedly without using any overdubs.
Related: The Stones are set to perform at this month’s Desert Trip concerts in the California desert
Blue & Lonesome track listing (original artist and year in parentheses)
1. Just Your Fool (Little Walter, 1960)
2. Commit A Crime (Howlin’ Wolf, 1966)
3. Blue And Lonesome (Little Walter, 1959)
4. All Of Your Love (Magic Sam, 1967)
5. I Gotta Go (Little Walter, 1955)
6. Everybody Knows About My Good Thing Little Johnny Taylor, 1971) (featuring Eric Clapton)
7. Ride ‘Em On Down (Eddie Taylor, 1955)
8. Hate To See You Go (Little Walter, 1955)
9. Hoo Doo Blues (Lightnin’ Slim, 1958)
10. Little Rain (Jimmy Reed, 1957)
11. Just Like I Treat You (Howlin’ Wolf,1961)
12. I Can’t Quit You Baby“ (Otis Rush, 1956) (featuring Eric Clapton)
In the album announcement, producer Was notes: “This album is manifest testament to the purity of their love for making music, and the blues is, for the Stones, the fountainhead of everything they do.”
Related: The Stones bring Howlin’ Wolf to American TV in 1965
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2 Comments
Long OVERDUE!!
First Stones album that I have been genuinely excited about in decades!