The “Beggars Banquet” is filling up.
The Rolling Stones are bringing along a couple of ringers on their next album, according to a new report.
Multiple sources told Variety that former Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are coming together once again to record parts on the upcoming, so-far-untitled album by the Stones.
McCartney has already recorded several bass parts. It’s unknown if the Fab duo are appearing on the same track or if their parts will be separate. The album will also feature drum parts recorded by the Stones’ original drummer, Charlie Watts, before his death in 2021.
The recording sessions happened recently in Los Angeles with 2021 Grammy producer of the year Andrew Watt in the studio. It’s unknown when the album will be released, but it’s reportedly “nearing the mixing phase.” The Stones are planning a European and American tour in the summer.
Last month, Stones guitarist Keith Richards confirmed “there’s some new music on its way” on Instagram.
It’s not the first time McCartney has worked with the Rolling Stones. In 1967, he and John Lennon sang backup vocals on the Stones’ song “We Love You.” The Stones’ Brian Jones played saxophone on The Beatles’ “You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)” that same year.
However, the friendly rivalry took a brief turn in 2021 when McCartney described the Stones as “a blues cover band.” Singer Mick Jagger joked at a concert shortly after, with McCartney in the audience, that he would “join us in a blues cover.”
Richards later said McCartney reached out to say the comments were taken out of context.
The Rolling Stones have released 30 studio albums in their nearly seven-decade time as a band, most recently “Blue & Lonesome” in 2016. That collection of covers featured Eric Clapton on multiple tracks. Their last album with new material was 2005′s “A Bigger Bang.”
____
