The new album Bridges To Babylon

The new Stones album will be titled "Bridges To Babylon". The cover will be some sort of a lion, see photo. Previous working titles of the album have been "Flip the Switch" and "Blessed Poison". There will be an initial release of five hundred thousand copies of Bridges To Babylon. These will be made up of very, very special artwork, and once they are gone, they are gone...

The new Stones album titled Bridges To Babylon will be released on Monday Sept. 29 in Europe, and on Tuesday Sept. 30 in America. This is perfect timing for the tour start on Sept. 23, and a 4 weeks delay from previous plans.

Anybody Seen My Baby is the title of the new single. It's produced by Dust Brothers, a mid tempo with a chorus having a bigger radio station hit potential than for a long time. Release date is mid September. Then there will be two more single releases, and all of the singles will include versions with non-album tracks.

Mick and Keith did some song writing in Barbados, and they also brought in old and new material. Recordings have taken place in Los Angeles, Hollywood area, at Ocean Way Recording Studio, on 6050 Sunset Boulevard, for most parts of April and May of 1997. The recordings had a short break in late March, when Don Was left to Europe for a week, to promote his new album. By April/May, they have been back in studio. Charlie Watts has been more involved in producing this album than ever before.

The album was finally mastered on August 11, and the final track listing was not finished until the very day of the press conference on August 18, according to Virgin. You will notice that Keith has got 3 - three - songs on the new album! This is the final track listing of the new album Bridges To Babylon:

1 Flip The Switch (fast rocker)

2 Anybody Seen My Baby (great ballad, great guitars)

3 Low Down (mid tempo)

4 Already Over Me (live in studio - bluesy ballad)

5 Gunface (with Danny Saber)

6 You Don't Have To Mean It (Keith vocals, great reggae track)

7 Out Of Control (with Danny Saber - Fingrprint File of the ´90´s)

8 Saint Of Me (The Dust Brothers, Mick - just great!)

9 Might As Well Get Juiced (The Dust Brothers, Mick)

10 Always Suffering (country ballad)

11 Too Tight (rocker)

12 Thief In The Night (Keith vocals)

13 How Can I Stop (Keith ballad)

These tracks did not make it for the album, but may show up as bonus tracks on single releases: "Any Way You Look at It" and "Ever Changing World".

The first take of the ballad Already Over Me, as produced with Babyface was scrapped, because Mick did not like the way it was looped. But then they recorded the track live in the studio with Don Was.

Yes, indeed, it seems they have had a wonderful time in studio, Charlie and Keith have both been heavily involved, and it looks like we will get another masterpiece from the greatest rock'n'roll band in the world!

Q Magazine August issue is bringing some more details about the new Stones album and tour, with details about the Dust Brothers and Babyface.

NME with great Mick Jagger interview! The best and most detailed interview so far about the new Stones album Bridges to Babylon is to be found on the NME Web Site. Mick talks about working with the new album, Dust Brothers, why they scrapped the Babyface track "Already Over Me". At the moment, Mick is listening to DJ Kool. He say he likes the new Oasis single, having just seen it on the telly, and express his thoughts on Liam and Noel.

For this new album, the Rolling Stones have been experimenting with many new producers and guest players. Even the bass guitar is altered with several different musicians, with Darryl Jones playing on only three tracks. Among the many other musicians to appear on "Bridges to Babylon" are Waddy Wachtel, Jim Keltner, Wayne Shorter, Kenny Aronoff, Benmont Tench, Blondie Chaplin, Billy Preston and Me'Shell Ndegeocello.

These are the producers involved in the tracks of the album: The Dust Brothers, Don Was, The Glimmer Twins and Rob Fraboni. Babyface was involved in the album's recording sessions early on but didn't make it to the final release.

Graphic artist Stefan Sagmeister has ben designing the album package for "Bridges To Babylon". Sagmeister is known for the very special packaging of David Byrne's latest album, "Feelings".

The lion in the desert, as you may see in this magazine, will be on the album, and is also a central piece of the new stage set. The first five hundred thousand production copies of the new album will be a special production version with an enhanced lion painting on the cover. When these are gone, they will be back to standard production versions.

New Keith Richards album in Oct.

Keith Richards will release his new album titled Wingless Angels in October, few weeks after the Stones album release. The Wingless Sessions were recorded in the fall of 1995 in Jamaica. This is not a traditional Winos release, but rather an experiment in Rastafarian music, originally not planned for any release at all. The release is on Keith Richards' new own label Mindless Records, distributed by Island.

Stone Country

Due to be released the same week as the new Rolling Stones album, i.e. on Sept 22/23, is a country music album titled Stone Country. George Jones is doing Time Is On My Side, Nanci Griffith does No Expectations, and other tracks includes Wild Horses, Honky Tonk Women, by artists such as The Tractors, Travis Tritt, Rodney Crowell and Ronnie Milsap.

Energy to light up a town!

The New York Post had an insert on the upcoming Stones tour and album, and they had some brilliant Keith Richards quotes: - "Moneywise, we haven't had to work for years. But it's for the pleasure of the music, pride, the quest of the Holy Grail". - "This band's got more energy than half the world put together. We could light up a town, baby."

Blues Brothers 2000

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards is said to be taking part in an all-star jam session in Toronto on Aug. 23, to be done for the Blues Brothers 2000 film. Other artists in the film, that may take part in the jam, are B.B. King, Junior Wells, Sam Moore, Wilson Pickett, and Taj Mahal.