Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood talk the past, present and future of The Rolling Stones. “Hackney Diamonds”, pop and blues, the band and the establishment, Bill and Charlie (did he really punch Mick?) and more. Also in this issue: Bob Dylan’s archive treasures; Peter Gabriel checks in; Sly Stone’s peak madness; Joni Mitchell’s mid-’70s; Carly Simon speaks! Plus: Joe Walsh, Thurston Moore, Black Pumas, Graham Parker, Talking Heads, Micky Dolenz sings R.E.M., Mike Stoller, Meat Puppets, Jimmy Buffett, Suicide and more.
A little groggy from MOJO’s 30th birthday celebrations last month, it’s sobering to be reminded of what longevity can really mean. The Rolling Stones have now existed for over twice as long as MOJO, and while other artists of their vintage have grappled with the ageing process for a good couple of decades, Messrs Jagger, Richards and Wood mostly remain impervious to such trifling distractions as mortality. “It’s a weird feeling to be an elder statesman,” Keith Richards tells us in a notable new interview this month, though most of us would’ve called him as much since about 1989.
Mick Jagger, meanwhile, confesses to a few “slightly tongue-in-cheek references to ageing” on “Hackney Diamonds”, the 24th Rolling Stones album and the pretext for MOJO’s chat with the core three, their pugnacious new drummer Steve Jordan, and their young producer Andrew Watt. It is, hand on heart, the best Stones feature you’ll read in years: one that’s as strong on historic myth-busting as it is on unpicking the new record, and which – amidst a justifiable blizzard of namedropping – has a superb Hoagy Carmichael anecdote.
“raising the middle finger to death,” Peter Gabriel tells us all about his forthcoming album, i/o, plus mind-reading, “grandad-dancing” and why he had to be present at the last Genesis gig.
Unveiled… Bob’s secret treasures! MOJO digs ever deeper into the Dylan Archive and, via new book Mixing Up The Medicine, finds rare pics and exotic artefacts to surprise even the most obsessive Bobcat.
THIS MONTH’S COVERMOUNT CD is “Love In Vain”, a collection of the spooky country blues embedded in the Stones’ DNA. Stars Robert Johnson, Sleepy John Estes, Charley Patton, Skip James, Geeshie Wiley and more.
The Fat Angel Sings 