Rolling Stones' first studio album since 2005 goes 'back to their roots'

The Rolling Stones have announced their first studio album in more than a decade – Blue & Lonesome – recorded in just three days.

The record will take the band “back to their roots and the passion for blues music which has always been at the heart and soul” of the group, a statement said.

It was recorded at British Grove Studios in west London in December last year, near Richmond and the tiny Eel Pie Island where the Stones started out, playing the blues in pubs and clubs.

A new picture of The Rolling Stones recording their album (Polydor Records)

Eric Clapton, who happened to be in the studio next door making his own album, ended up playing guitar on two of the 12 tracks.

The band – which previously teased an announcement on Twitter with a video clip of Sir Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts playing a blues song – have not released a studio album since A Bigger Bang in 2005.

https://twitter.com/RollingStones/status/783278630252183552

A statement said the group had a “spontaneous” approach to the album and “played live in the studio without overdubs”.

Don Was, the record’s co-producer, said: “This album is manifest testament to the purity of their love for making music, and the blues is, for the Stones, the fountainhead of everything they do.”

London landmarks, including Marble Arch and Centre Point, were lit up in blue to celebrate the news.

Blue & Awesome is out in December (Polydor Records) — Blue & Lonesome is out in December (Polydor Records/PA)

The tracks on the album, which features Sir Mick on vocals and harmonica, include covers of Little Walter, Eddie Taylor and Otis Rush songs.

Songs include Just Your Fool, Commit A Crime, Blue And Lonesome, All Of Your Love, I Gotta Go, Everybody Knows About My Good Thing, Ride ‘Em On Down, Hate To See You Go, Hoo Doo Blues, Little Rain, Just Like I Treat You and I Can’t Quit You Baby.

A statement said that Blue & Lonesome sees the group “tipping their hats to their early days as a blues band”.