The Rolling Stones are close to completing a follow-up to ‘Hackney Diamonds’.
Sir Mick Jagger and co will release their first studio album comprising new material since 2005’s ‘A Bigger Bang’ on October 20, but they were having so much fun in the studio that they’ve nearly finished another record.
Speaking on the Canadian podcast ‘Q with Tom Power’, Mick said: “This won’t be the last album. We are two-thirds through the next one.”
Elsewhere, Mick, 80, revealed the band’s collaboration with former rival Sir Paul McCartney, 81, was unexpected.
He shared: “Paul was in LA when we were recording and he was supposed to work with Andy one week.
“Andy had said, ‘I am working on this record and I will be on it for six months if I do nothing else.
“Andy said, ‘Why don’t we get Paul to come in?’. We suggested he played on this tune, and he really rocked it. We were all in a room together.
“It seemed so natural and Paul was so relaxed and he enjoyed it. John [Lennon] was a close friend of mine and he was so acerbic.
“Paul is a different kind of personality. We don’t see each other that much but we do text.”
The new record will feature late drummer and original member Charlie Watts – who died from cancer aged 80 in August 2021 – on two tracks, with replacement Steve Jordan playing on the other 10.
On the song ‘Live By The Sword’, the trio – also including Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood – are backed by both Charlie and former bassist Bill Wyman, reuniting the original rhythm section of The Rolling Stones. The second song featuring Charlie is ‘Mess It Up’.
Discussing how Charlie’s absence affected the band, guitarist Keith, 79, said at a special event at Hackney Empire in London, hosted by Jimmy Fallon earlier this month: “Ever since Charlie’s gone it’s different, of course, he’s number four, he’s missing. Of course he’s missed, incredibly. But thanks to Charlie Watts we have Steve Jordan – who was Charlie’s recommendation should anything happen to him, Steve Jordan is your man.
“It would have been a lot harder without Charlie’s blessing.”
Addressing Charlie’s musical contribution, Mick added: “There’s 12 tracks on the album. Most are with Steve, but two are tracks we recorded in 2019 with Charlie. We used two of the tracks that we recorded with Charlie before.
“Bill played on one track, so we have the original Rolling Stones rhythm section on one track.”
Ronnie, 76, also confirmed that Lady Gaga appears on the album, duetting with Mick on ‘Sweet Sound Of Heaven’.
Stevie Wonder is also rumoured to feature.
So far, the lead single ‘Angry’ has been released.
Mick insisted that he and his bandmates are very proud of the record and wouldn’t have released it unless they loved it themselves.
The iconic frontman said: “I don’t want to be big-headed, but we wouldn’t have put this album out if we hadn’t really liked it. We said we had to make a record we really love ourselves.
“We are quite pleased with it, we are not big-headed about it, but we hope you all like it.”
