Stones back at number one with record-breaking album
THE Rolling Stones have become the first band to score a number one album in six different decades after a reissue of Goats Head Soup debuted at the top of the charts.
The newly restored classic recorded the milestone some 47 years after reaching number one in 1973.
Sir Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and the rest of the Stones now have 13 chart-topping albums, placing them on a par with Elvis Presley and Robbie Williams.
At 15, only The Beatles have achieved more UK number one albums.
The veteran rockers narrowly beat Declan Mckenna, the 21-year-old singer-songwriter, whose album Zeros missed out by about 800 chart sales.
Reacting to the news on Twitter, the Stones said: “Thanks everyone!”
Goats Head Soup has been restored with a new stereo mix sourced from the original session tapes. Its success follows that of a reissue of 1972’s Exile On Main St, which returned them to the top of the charts in 2010.
The band’s streak of number one records spans more than 56 years, since their self-titled debut album spent the first of 12 consecutive weeks at number one in May 1964. Goats Head Soup was first released on August 31, 1973, when the band’s rivals for the top spot included Rod Stewart, The Carpenters and David Bowie, with Aladdin Sane.
Recording of the album began in Kingston, Jamaica, with songs that Jagger and Richards had largely written while spending time apart.
“We were still on each other’s backs,” said Richards. “By the time we got to cut Goats Head Soup, Mick and I, well, all of the band, had separated over the world for a while. So we had to figure out how to write songs, not being in each other’s pocket.”