How many days does it take Rolling Stones to make an album?
The Rolling Stones initially went into the studio to create original rock music, but after rehearsing blues songs to flex their musical muscles, they took an unintended path. They recorded an entire blues album, and it only took them three days. “It was really quick, super quick. It was really fun to do something that fast. And you didn’t really have time to analyze and think and overdub,” Mick Jagger said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “I didn’t know if it was any good ... it was just too fast, and I listened back and in the end we used all the songs we recorded.”
“Blue & Lonesome,” the iconic rock group’s first album in 11 years, is out Friday. The 12-track set, recorded last December at British Grove Studios in West London, includes covers of blues songs from Jimmy Reed, Little Walter, Eddie Taylor and more. Eric Clapton, who was recording at the same studio, plays guitar on two tracks, while Jagger plays the harp throughout. The idea of recording a full blues record came after Keith Richards suggested they play Memphis Slim’s “Blue and Lonesome” to warm up.
“We had no intention of making a blues album,” Richards said. “‘Let’s make a blues album’ just ain’t us, you know. But at the end of the sessions we said, ‘We made a blues album!’” Jagger then started suggesting more artists to cover, from Howlin’ Wolf to Willie Dixon: “Mick basically was coming out with most of the ones he wanted to do. — AP