Stones Back with a “Bang”
The birth of the universe was a pretty big deal–but not as important as the first new Rolling Stones record in eight years.
The Bigger Bang, the band’s first studio effort since 1997’s Bridges to Babylon, is set for release Sept. 6 in the United States, Virgin Records announced Tuesday–which not so coincidentally is Mick Jagger’s 62nd birthday.
The new disc will bow a day earlier overseas.
In addition to the lead single, “Streets of Love,” the album includes two Keith Richards-sung tunes; “This Place Is Empty” and “Infamy.”
Among the 16 cuts Bang are: “Rough Justice,” “Back of My Hand,” “Laugh, I Nearly Died” and “Oh No, Not You Again,” which the Stones previewed in May at New York’s Juilliard School after announcing their forthcoming world tour.
One track earning some prerelease controversy is “Sweet Neo-Con,” which apparently takes aim at the Bush administration and its strong-armed foreign policy.
Don Was, who produced the band’s previous two studio sets, Bridges to Babylon and 1994’s Voodoo Lounge, was behind the board for Bang. The eight-year lapse between studio albums is the longest in the band’s 43-year history, although the Stones did issue the live album No Security in 1998 and the greatest-hits compilation Forty Licks in 2002.
Bang was recorded during late 2004 and early 2005 in France. Drummer Charlie Watts, who spent much of last year receiving treatment for throat cancer, played on all the tracks. (He’s fully recovered and will tour with the band.) Although early reports suggested longtime guitarist Ron Wood was missing from many of the recording sessions, a press release Tuesday confirmed Wood was indeed a part of Bang.
The Stones have been working out the new material in an empty airplane hangar in Toronto in advance of their 35-date North American tour (now dubbed the Bigger Bang Tour), which launches Aug. 21 at Boston’s Fenway Park. Rumors have been circulating that the Stones may play a warm-up club date or two in advance of their official tour kickoff, most likely in Toronto or New York.
The North American road show will feature rotating A-list opening acts, including Beck, Black Eyed Peas, Maroon 5, John Mayer, Pearl Jam and Joss Stone. According to Virgin, fans have already snapped up 97 percent of all tickets currently available for sale.
The band will hit most of the rest of the world next year.
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