Am I being harsh here, but it seems to me that over the years the Stones have been significantly more "cagey" than other artists when it comes to their next project, tour etc. For a long time it seems Stones fans, more than others, spend loads of time speculating on this front as (official) news is so scarce. I suspect,in fairness,this is in no small part due to the tension between the Glimmer's that has been a feature for many years?

Maybe the paucity of new product in recent years makes it seem that way. If I had it my way, they would release an album and tour every year or so, and we wouldn't have much time to speculate, but I guess they haven't been a full-time band for a long time.

Well, as a Pearl Jam fan I can say that it's not JUST the Stones. Pearl Jam are very cagey with their information too. Just about everything is treated like a state secret.

I was amused before the EXILE reissue and the Stones were promoting it first in English magazines, Mick was trying to pass off all the songs on the new disc as purely old outtakes with no overdubs. And MOJO had done their homework and said to Mick, "There's no way you didn't do some overdubbing. Here's some documentation." And Mick sort of hedged. And then when Mick subsequently did American press—because the cat was now out of the bag—he said, "I could lie to you, but in fact we did some recent overdubs." The only reason he was being so honest to the American press is because he'd already been caught fibbing to the English press!

So the Stones were being secretive before the EXILE reissue hoping people would think it was all original stuff. (I personally didn't care one way or the other.)

From a PR standpoint they probably should have admitted from the start about the new overdubs; then they really could have waved like a big flag that Mick Taylor had rejoined the Stones after decades, rather than it being presented as a sort of footnote.