Back To The Blues

On 2 December 2016, The Rolling Stones will release Blue & Lonesome, their first studio album in over a decade. The band’s return to the blues took just three days to record but it’s been over fifty years in the making. ‘Blue & Lonesome’ takes the band back to their roots and their passion for the blues, which has always been at the heart and soul of The Rolling Stones.

The album was recorded in December last year at British Grove Studios in West London, close to where it all began for the band at The Ealing Club and Richmond’s Crawdaddy.

Their approach to the album was that it should be spontaneous and played live in the studio without overdubs. Mick, Keith, Charlie and Ronnie were joined by their long time touring sidemen Darryl Jones (bass), Chuck Leavell (keyboards) and Matt Clifford (keyboards) and, for two of the twelve tracks, by old friend Eric Clapton, who happened to be in the next studio making his own album.

Blue & Lonesome sees the Rolling Stones tipping their hats to their early days as a blues band when they played the music of Jimmy Reed, Willie Dixon, Eddie Taylor, Little Walter and Howlin’ Wolf – artists whose songs are featured on this album.

Keith has long said that he wants ‘He passed it on’ written on his gravestone. Well, Blue & Lonesome does just that; it’s an album for the 21st century, one that’s bathed in the blues, but one that has a modernity about it. The Rolling Stones are the embodiment of modern day blues, with heartfelt intensity they attest to why this music is timeless.

“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.” Don Was, Co-Producer of ‘Blue & Lonesome’

Produced by Don Was and The Glimmer Twins, ‘Blue & Lonesome’ will be available in various formats
CD
Digital Download
Double heavyweight vinyl in a gatefold sleeve with album download card
Deluxe edition including CD album, 75-page mini-book about the making of the album and band postcard prints.
It is available for pre-order worldwide.

1. Just Your Fool (Walter Jacobs)
The original was written and recorded by Little Walter in December 1960 and released on the Checker label, a subsidiary of Chess Records. It was not a hit on the Billboard R & B charts
2. Commit A Crime (Chester Burnett)
The original was written and recorded by Howlin’ Wolf on 11 April 1966. It was essentially a new version of a song called, ‘I’m Leaving You’ that was first recorded in September 1958 and released as Chess Records. Neither track was a hit on the Billboard R & B charts
3. Blue And Lonesome (Walter Jacobs)
The original was written and recorded by Little Walter on 12 August 1959. Released on Checker Records, coupled with ‘Mean Ol Frisco’. It was not a hit on the Billboard R & B charts
4. All Of Your Love (Samuel Maghett)
The original was written and recorded by Magic Sam in Chicago in 1967 and released on the album, West Side Soul on the Delmark label. Magic Sam originally recorded a version of the song in 1957 as ‘All Your Love’ for the Cobra label. It was not a hit on the Billboard R & B charts
5. I Gotta Go (Walter Jacobs)
Written and recorded by Little Walter on 28 April 1955, it was released as the b-side of a Checker single, coupled with ‘Roller Coaster’. The a-side made the Billboard R&B chart on 9 July 1955 and peaked at No.6
6. Everybody Knows About My Good Thing (Miles Grayson & Lermon Horton)
Recorded by Little Johnny Taylor in 1971 it made No.9 on the Billboard R & B chart and No.60 on the Hot 100 at the end of the same year. It became the title track of Little Johnny Taylor’s 1972 album on Ronn Records.
7. Ride ‘Em On Down (Eddie Taylor)
Written and recorded by Eddie Taylor’s in Chicago on 5 December 1955 for the Vee-Jay label. It was not a hit on the Billboard R & B charts
8. Hate To See You Go (Walter Jacobs)
Witten and recorded on 12 August 1955 by Little Walter and His Jukes for the Checker label as the b-side of ‘Too Late’. It was not a hit on the Billboard R & B chart.
9. Hoo Doo Blues (Otis Hicks & Jerry West)
Recorded by Lightnin’ Slim in Crowley, Louisiana 1958 for the Excello label it was not a hit on the Billboard charts
10. Little Rain (Ewart. G.Abner Jr. and Jimmy Reed)
Jimmy Reed recorded this on 9 January 1957 in Chicago for the Vee-Jay label. It wa the a-side of a single with ‘Honey Where You Going’ on the flip side. ‘Little Rain made No.7 on the Billboard R&B charts in April 1957.
11. Just Like I Treat You (Willie Dixon)
Written by Willie Dixon and recorded by Howlin’ Wolf in December 1961, it was released on Chess Records coupled with ‘I Ain’t Superstitious’ in April 1962. It failed to make the Billboard R & B chart.
12. I Can’t Quit You Baby (Willie Dixon)
Written by Willie Dixon and recorded by Otis Rush at his very first session in Chicago in 1956 for the Cobra label. It made No.6 on the Billboard R & B chart in October 1956.

Format: UK English