R.E.M. Celebrate 25th Anniversary of 'Green' with Deluxe Reissue

R.E.M.'s beloved sixth studio album, Green, will receive the 25th anniversary deluxe treatment in a new two-disc edition. The set will feature a remastered version of the original album, as well as a live disc culled from a November 10th, 1989 show in Greensboro, North Carolina, the penultimate concert of the band's massive 130-date Green World Tour.

100 Greatest Artists: R.E.M.

Green: 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition will be available on Rhino on May 14th digitally and on CD, while the remastered album will also be available with original art and packing on 180-gram vinyl. The live disc includes almost every song from Green, earlier fan favorites like "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)," "The One I Love," and "Perfect Circle," and even features "Low" and "Belong" – cuts from the Green follow-up Out of Time that R.E.M. were then testing out live.

Rhino is also set to release a limited-edition, five-track EP, Live in Greensboro, on Record Store Day, April 20th. It comprises five R.E.M. tracks from the same Greensboro show that didn't make it onto the reissue due to space constraints. The EP will include cuts like "I Remember California," "So. Central Rain" and "Feeling Gravitys Pull." Only 2,500 copies of the disc will be available, and each comes with an original R.E.M. patch from the Green Tour recently uncovered in the band's vault.

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R.E.M. Celebrate 25th Anniversary of 'Green' with Deluxe Reissue

R.E.M.'s beloved sixth studio album, Green, will receive the 25th anniversary deluxe treatment in a new two-disc edition. The set will feature a remastered version of the original album, as well as a live disc culled from a November 10th, 1989 show in Greensboro, North Carolina, the penultimate concert of the band's massive 130-date Green World Tour.

100 Greatest Artists: R.E.M.

Green: 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition will be available on Rhino on May 14th digitally and on CD, while the remastered album will also be available with original art and packing on 180-gram vinyl. The live disc includes almost every song from Green, earlier fan favorites like "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)," "The One I Love," and "Perfect Circle," and even features "Low" and "Belong" – cuts from the Green follow-up Out of Time that R.E.M. were then testing out live.

Rhino is also set to release a limited-edition, five-track EP, Live in Greensboro, on Record Store Day, April 20th. It comprises five R.E.M. tracks from the same Greensboro show that didn't make it onto the reissue due to space constraints. The EP will include cuts like "I Remember California," "So. Central Rain" and "Feeling Gravitys Pull." Only 2,500 copies of the disc will be available, and each comes with an original R.E.M. patch from the Green Tour recently uncovered in the band's vault.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Rolling Stones Gather in London for 50th Anniversary Exhibit

Charlie Watts, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Mick Jagger attend 'Rolling Stones: 50 - Private View' as the Rolling Stones celebrate their 50th anniversary with an exhibition at Somerset House in London.

The Rolling Stones celebrated their 50th anniversary in style last night by reuniting for the launch of a new photo exhibition celebrating the band's career.

Last seen in public together at the Shine A Light premiere in 2008, their appearance at London's Somerset House – 50 years to the day after their first gig at London's Marquee Club on July 12th, 1962 – is expected to be just the first in a series of events over the coming months to mark the band's Golden Jubilee.

On the red carpet, drummer Charlie Watts confirmed to Rolling Stone that the band had been practicing again, although he said it had "not yet" made any concrete plans for their live return.

"We've been playing, not rehearsing," he said with a smile.

Photos: Rare and Intimate Pictures of the Rolling Stones

"We had a good play in New York a few weeks ago," added guitarist Ronnie Wood. "We did 50 songs in five days. It was brilliant."

Meanwhile, frontman Mick Jagger said he was pleased the band had made it through 50 years together.

"It feels really good," he said, "if a little long . . . in the tooth! It's quite surprising. It does seem a long time, but I'm really happy about it."

Later, inside the exhibition, which showcases intimate pictures from throughout the band's career, Jagger reminisced about that first show at the now defunct Marquee, which the band had "reconstructed" for a photo shoot the previous day.

"I remember it because of the trouble we had finding a rhythm section," he laughed. Dick Taylor played bass that night, with the drummer either Tony Chapman or Mick Avory, depending on whose version of history you believe. The lineup was completed by Keith Richards and Brian Jones on guitar and Ian Stewart on piano. Former bass player Bill Wyman did not come on board until later that year, with Watts joining in 1963.

Jagger also noted that the band – then billed as the Rollin' Stones – only got that first gig because Alexis Korner's band Blues Incorporated, with whom Jagger had been singing, had been called up by the BBC to do a radio session. Jagger said his disappointment at not participating in the session (after the BBC said they would only pay for six musicians rather than seven) was tempered by having his new band fill Korner's usual Marquee residency slot.

Fifty years on, the band caused rather more of a buzz as they again spent the night together in central London. Despite heavy rain, dozens of fans lined the Victoria Embankment by the side of the River Thames to catch a glimpse of the band as they arrived for the exhibition.

The Stones turned up 20 minutes later than planned in a silver people carrier and immediately posed for photos. Smiling broadly, Jagger and Richards kept Wood between them as the band linked arms for the massed ranks of paparazzi. Jagger, wearing an electric blue suit, enthusiastically took direction from the photographers, telling his bandmates to shuffle to the left for a better angle.

Photos over, the band spent only the briefest of moments on the red carpet but, once inside the exhibition, all four members took the time to look at the photos and chat with party guests, who included former Stones Wyman and Mick Taylor, Simply Red's Mick Hucknall, lyricist Sir Tim Rice, crime writer Ian Rankin and Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera.

For much of the evening, Jagger and Richards held court in separate areas of the party. Richards, wearing trademark hat and shades, looked at the photos with his son Marlon, chatted with Live Aid promoter Harvey Goldsmith and at one point doffed his hat to some passing fans who spotted him through an open window. Meanwhile, Jagger chatted with his glamorous daughters Lizzie and Georgia May near an open door on the other side of the exhibition.

But despite two years of apparent feuding since a row over Richards' autobiography Life, the pair seemed as happy and relaxed in each other's company as they did in many of the vintage photos on display. At one point, Richards whispered in Jagger's ear, seemingly sharing a private joke that made both of them laugh.

Indeed, togetherness seemed to be the order of the day, with Mick also spotted embracing former bass player Wyman and chatting at length with Wood. Whether this harmony will lead to either new recordings or another tour remains to be seen, although Jagger has hinted about at least one gig this year and Stones insiders expect further discussions to be held while the band are all together in London.
Watts, however, maintained that the reunion was really just business as usual.

"We've never been apart really," he said. "It's just they live in another part of the world – well, he [Wood] doesn't, but the other two do."

The exhibition runs at Somerset House until August 27th. It coincides with the release of a photographic book, Rolling Stones 50.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Rolling Stones Gather in London for 50th Anniversary Exhibit

Charlie Watts, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Mick Jagger attend 'Rolling Stones: 50 - Private View' as the Rolling Stones celebrate their 50th anniversary with an exhibition at Somerset House in London.

The Rolling Stones celebrated their 50th anniversary in style last night by reuniting for the launch of a new photo exhibition celebrating the band's career.

Last seen in public together at the Shine A Light premiere in 2008, their appearance at London's Somerset House – 50 years to the day after their first gig at London's Marquee Club on July 12th, 1962 – is expected to be just the first in a series of events over the coming months to mark the band's Golden Jubilee.

On the red carpet, drummer Charlie Watts confirmed to Rolling Stone that the band had been practicing again, although he said it had "not yet" made any concrete plans for their live return.

"We've been playing, not rehearsing," he said with a smile.

Photos: Rare and Intimate Pictures of the Rolling Stones

"We had a good play in New York a few weeks ago," added guitarist Ronnie Wood. "We did 50 songs in five days. It was brilliant."

Meanwhile, frontman Mick Jagger said he was pleased the band had made it through 50 years together.

"It feels really good," he said, "if a little long . . . in the tooth! It's quite surprising. It does seem a long time, but I'm really happy about it."

Later, inside the exhibition, which showcases intimate pictures from throughout the band's career, Jagger reminisced about that first show at the now defunct Marquee, which the band had "reconstructed" for a photo shoot the previous day.

"I remember it because of the trouble we had finding a rhythm section," he laughed. Dick Taylor played bass that night, with the drummer either Tony Chapman or Mick Avory, depending on whose version of history you believe. The lineup was completed by Keith Richards and Brian Jones on guitar and Ian Stewart on piano. Former bass player Bill Wyman did not come on board until later that year, with Watts joining in 1963.

Jagger also noted that the band – then billed as the Rollin' Stones – only got that first gig because Alexis Korner's band Blues Incorporated, with whom Jagger had been singing, had been called up by the BBC to do a radio session. Jagger said his disappointment at not participating in the session (after the BBC said they would only pay for six musicians rather than seven) was tempered by having his new band fill Korner's usual Marquee residency slot.

Fifty years on, the band caused rather more of a buzz as they again spent the night together in central London. Despite heavy rain, dozens of fans lined the Victoria Embankment by the side of the River Thames to catch a glimpse of the band as they arrived for the exhibition.

The Stones turned up 20 minutes later than planned in a silver people carrier and immediately posed for photos. Smiling broadly, Jagger and Richards kept Wood between them as the band linked arms for the massed ranks of paparazzi. Jagger, wearing an electric blue suit, enthusiastically took direction from the photographers, telling his bandmates to shuffle to the left for a better angle.

Photos over, the band spent only the briefest of moments on the red carpet but, once inside the exhibition, all four members took the time to look at the photos and chat with party guests, who included former Stones Wyman and Mick Taylor, Simply Red's Mick Hucknall, lyricist Sir Tim Rice, crime writer Ian Rankin and Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera.

For much of the evening, Jagger and Richards held court in separate areas of the party. Richards, wearing trademark hat and shades, looked at the photos with his son Marlon, chatted with Live Aid promoter Harvey Goldsmith and at one point doffed his hat to some passing fans who spotted him through an open window. Meanwhile, Jagger chatted with his glamorous daughters Lizzie and Georgia May near an open door on the other side of the exhibition.

But despite two years of apparent feuding since a row over Richards' autobiography Life, the pair seemed as happy and relaxed in each other's company as they did in many of the vintage photos on display. At one point, Richards whispered in Jagger's ear, seemingly sharing a private joke that made both of them laugh.

Indeed, togetherness seemed to be the order of the day, with Mick also spotted embracing former bass player Wyman and chatting at length with Wood. Whether this harmony will lead to either new recordings or another tour remains to be seen, although Jagger has hinted about at least one gig this year and Stones insiders expect further discussions to be held while the band are all together in London.
Watts, however, maintained that the reunion was really just business as usual.

"We've never been apart really," he said. "It's just they live in another part of the world – well, he [Wood] doesn't, but the other two do."

The exhibition runs at Somerset House until August 27th. It coincides with the release of a photographic book, Rolling Stones 50.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Exclusive Q&A: Glenn Frey on His Solo LP, the Eagles' 40th Anniversary Plans

Glenn Frey of Eagles performs in Universal City, California.Lester Cohen/Getty Images For City Of Hope

It's been almost 20 years since Glenn Frey released his last solo album, Strange Weather. In that time, he's taken bit roles in TV shows and movies, worked on various charity projects, raised a family and played a lot of golf. He also reunited with a little group called the Eagles in 1994. They crossed the world on many tours and, in 2006, released the album The Long Road Out of Eden. Frey's schedule has left little time for a solo career, but on May 8th he's releasing After Hours, a collection of classic love songs that includes Forties standards like "Sentimental Reasons" and "My Buddy" alongside more recent tunes, like "Caroline, No" by the Beach Boys and "Same Girl" by Randy Newman.

We chatted with Frey about the new disc and what the future holds for the Eagles - including a new documentary about the group and a History of the Eagles retrospective tour tentatively planned for 2013. 

It's been a long time since the last Glenn Frey solo album. Why the delay?
Well, I've been pretty busy, obviously, with the Eagles. I'm also raising a family. My son is nine. I have two kids that have just now gone off to college. So those are big responsibilities. That takes me away from it. I've also been especially busy with the Eagles in the past five or six years. Obviously, there's more to life than making records. But this record is something I've been carrying around with me for a long time. I remember when I first head Harry Nilsson's album, A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night, and he did Gershwin and Cole Porter. And of course Linda [Ronstadt] made her two records with Nelson Riddle. They were beautifully orchestrated, beautifully sung, great material. I just loved everything about those records.

For me personally, a lot of this music is something that was played around my house before Elvis. This is the music that was on the radio, the big band stuff. And then when I moved to California, I met J.D. Souther. He was a big jazz buff, and he turned me on to music I hadn't heard before, from Miles Davis to Ray Charles to Lee Morgan to Horace Silver, and I loved it.

How did you select the material that you wanted to cover?
I'd pick a song that I really liked, and the record started in the control room with the piano, myself and my producers, Richard Davis and Michael Thompson. We'd say, "What about 'My Buddy'? What about 'Sentimental Reasons'?" And they'd say, "Yeah, that's a great song. Is there a version we should listen to?" And I'd say, "Yeah, just Nat King Cole, and that's it." We'd listen to the song, we'd find a key, we'd pick a tempo, and we'd sit there and I'd sing the song in the control room with the guys. It had to be a good marriage. It had to be something that suits my voice. We tried some songs that didn't work. I won't tell you what they are. 

But that's mainly the criteria. Just pick a great song. And you know, as a songwriter myself I have so much admiration and respect for this material. I know how difficult it is to write songs. So I think I bring a certain degree of reverence because of that. But basically it was just, "How's the song sound with me singing it?" And we picked the ones that we thought sounded the best. 

I'm sure it's daunting to tackle a song as flawless as "Caroline, No."
Sometimes an album just develops a life of its own. In that case, I didn't want it to be all songs from the Forties. I wanted it to be a record for piano. And of course the melody is so beautiful and the chord changes are so rich and perfect. That's the thing about every song in this record. Nothing is out of place.

I see that you're doing a brief tour to support the disc. Are you going to mix Eagles songs into the set?
I have to. You start out and you play them some familiar songs so they're starting to get their money's worth right away, and then sort of in the middle of the set I think I can move into playing about five, six, seven songs from this record. And then feather out of that and play some other songs at the end that they all know. But the funny thing about this is, with just a couple of exceptions, everybody knows some of these songs.  

I've heard Joe Walsh say that the Eagles are planning a 40th anniversary tour for this year. Is that the case?
Well, that sounds great, doesn't it? Actually, it's just kind of the way that things fall. This is more of a planning year for us. We went through a four-year touring cycle with Long Road Out of Eden, and this year we're playing some places where we've never played before. That's been sort of our goal now – at least once a year, go to a place where we haven't played. Last year we went to China and to Taiwan. We went to Iceland, we played some places . . . South Korea . . . some places we've never been. This year it's South Africa, it's Dubai. We're going to play Jazz Fest in New Orleans this year. Just a handful of shows this year. 

We're working on a two-DVD documentary of the history of the Eagles. It's a time-consuming project. We hired a fantastic director – Alex Gibney, he won the Academy award for Taxi to the Dark Side, about Guantanamo. He also directed Smartest Guys in the Room, the Enron documentary, which was also nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary. So he's helming this whole mission that we have right now, and there's a couple of other things I can't actually talk about. But as far as touring goes, we haven't decided to do that yet. We might wait until this documentary come out and then do a tour we can call "History of the Eagles."

Joe was talking about a set list that goes chronologically through the history, with a lot of archival video getting incorporated into the show.
That's exactly . . . yeah. I could see us doing that. I just don't see us doing that this year. I see us getting ready to do this. Maybe when September comes around we can sort of look and say, "OK. Let's go out next year and let's do" – like you said. That's my idea, but whether it happens or not we gotta just wait and see. We just do one year at a time with the band. It seems to be the best way to take everybody's temperature and see what we're up for doing each year. It just didn't fall that we were going to be doing some big 40th anniversary tour – it may be better to sweep that 40 number under the carpet. People will look at the map and they'll figure out that we're really, really old. The Stones are doing the 50th, and the Beach Boys. So maybe we should stay out of that.

The fans would love to see Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon back on stage with you guys at some point on that tour. Do you think that's possible at some point?
Well, I think . . . I don't know. I don't know. I don't want to say that's hard for me to envision right now but, like I said, I don't know yet. I have to think about all of this stuff but, obviously, my head is somewhere else for the next couple of months. Like we usually do, the four of us will sit down some place on the road and we'll get in a dressing room or get into somebody's hotel room and we'll go, "Well, here's what I think we should be doing" or, "Here's what are options are this year. What do you think?" and we'll talk about it. That conversation will probably take place sometime this year.  

Does it ever just shock you to look at the sales stats and see just how many records the Eagles have sold?
I don't get up every morning and say, "God dang! Eagles Greatest Hits is now past 30 million! It's unbelievable!" But, you know, it boggles the mind somewhat. You have to adjust when things like this happen. You just have to keep perspective. As long as I keep taking out the garbage and cleaning up after the dogs and taking the kids to school, I'll have perspective. I don't get to bask in the afterglow much. I told the guys in my band, "The reason I like coming out there is because people do what I say, and this is the only place where that happens."

It's very gratifying to think that we've found this place and that we are where we are. And, believe me, we understand how we got here and we have a lot of appreciation for our fans and all the people who bought our music. If one-fifth of the Eagles fans in the United States buy this record because they wondered what I did and then were introduced to this kind of music, that would be fabulous. This record is more about the music than it is about me. That's really the way I feel about it. I just feel lucky that I've been able to make this record and have an opportunity to introduce this music to some people that maybe haven't listened to it much.

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David Bowie's 'Ziggy Stardust' Gets 40th Anniversary Reissue

David Bowie performs during his Ziggy Stardust tour.

David Bowie's landmark 1972 album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, will be reissued in a special 40th anniversary edition on June 5th. The record, which was Bowie's fifth and features such enduring classics as "Five Years," "Moonage Daydream," "Starman" and "Ziggy Stardust," will be presented in several formats, including CD, 180-gram vinyl and 5.1 mix DVD.

Produced by Bowie and Ken Scott, the album was originally issued on June 6th, 1972. Written during sessions for Bowie's 1971 album Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust was tracked at Trident Studios in London between November 1971 and February 1972.

The seminal album included Mick Ronson (guitar, piano, backing vocals, string arrangements), Trevor Bolder (bass), Mick Woodmansey (drums), Rick Wakeman (keyboards) and backing vocals on "It Ain't Easy" by Dana Gillespie. In addition to his vocals, Bowie was involved in the arrangements and played acoustic guitar, saxophone and harpsichord on the sessions. While Ziggy Stardust would live in infamy as Bowie's best-known onstage persona, the singer put the character to rest following his London performance on July 3rd, 1973.

The 40th anniversary edition was remastered by original Trident Studios engineer Ray Staff at London's Air Studios. Tracklistings for the respective packages are as follows:

CD

"Five Years (2012 - Remaster)"
"Soul Love (2012 - Remaster)"
"Moonage Daydream (2012 - Remaster)"
"Starman (2012 - Remaster)"
"It Ain't Easy (2012 - Remaster)"
"Lady Stardust (2012 - Remaster)"
"Star (2012 - Remaster)"
"Hang On to Yourself (2012 - Remaster)"
"Ziggy Stardust (2012 - Remaster)"
"Suffragette City (2012 - Remaster)"
"Rock 'N' Roll Suicide (2012 - Remaster)"
180-gram vinyl with DVD featuring a new 2012 stereo remaster and 2003 5.1 and stereo mixes (audio only)
LP 180G heavyweight vinyl

Side 1
"Five Years (2012 - Remaster)"
"Soul Love (2012 - Remaster)"
"Moonage Daydream (2012 - Remaster)"
"Starman (2012 - Remaster)"
"It Ain't Easy (2012 - Remaster)"
Side 2
"Lady Stardust (2012 - Remaster)"
"Star (2012 - Remaster)"
"Hang On to Yourself (2012 - Remaster)"
"Ziggy Stardust (2012 - Remaster)"
"Suffragette City (2012 - Remaster)"
"Rock 'N' Roll Suicide (2012 - Remaster)"

DVD Audio only

"Five Years (2012 - Remaster)"
"Soul Love (2012 - Remaster)"
"Moonage Daydream (2012 - Remaster)"
"Starman (2012 - Remaster)"
"It Ain't Easy (2012 - Remaster)"
"Lady Stardust (2012 - Remaster)"
"Star (2012 - Remaster)"
"Hang On to Yourself (2012 - Remaster)"
"Ziggy Stardust (2012 - Remaster)"
"Suffragette City (2012 - Remaster)"
"Rock 'N' Roll Suicide (2012 - Remaster)"
"Five Years (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"Soul Love (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"Moonage Daydream (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"Starman (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"It Ain't Easy (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"Lady Stardust (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"Star (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"Hang On To Yourself (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"Ziggy Stardust (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"Suffragette City (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"Rock 'N' Roll Suicide (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"Moonage Daydream (Instrumental) PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED MIXES (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"The Supermen PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED MIXES (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"Velvet Goldmine PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED MIXES (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"Sweet Head PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED MIXES (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Read more »

David Bowie's 'Ziggy Stardust' Gets 40th Anniversary Reissue

David Bowie performs during his Ziggy Stardust tour.

David Bowie's landmark 1972 album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, will be reissued in a special 40th anniversary edition on June 5th. The record, which was Bowie's fifth and features such enduring classics as "Five Years," "Moonage Daydream," "Starman" and "Ziggy Stardust," will be presented in several formats, including CD, 180-gram vinyl and 5.1 mix DVD.

Produced by Bowie and Ken Scott, the album was originally issued on June 6th, 1972. Written during sessions for Bowie's 1971 album Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust was tracked at Trident Studios in London between November 1971 and February 1972.

The seminal album included Mick Ronson (guitar, piano, backing vocals, string arrangements), Trevor Bolder (bass), Mick Woodmansey (drums), Rick Wakeman (keyboards) and backing vocals on "It Ain't Easy" by Dana Gillespie. In addition to his vocals, Bowie was involved in the arrangements and played acoustic guitar, saxophone and harpsichord on the sessions. While Ziggy Stardust would live in infamy as Bowie's best-known onstage persona, the singer put the character to rest following his London performance on July 3rd, 1973.

The 40th anniversary edition was remastered by original Trident Studios engineer Ray Staff at London's Air Studios. Tracklistings for the respective packages are as follows:

CD

"Five Years (2012 - Remaster)"
"Soul Love (2012 - Remaster)"
"Moonage Daydream (2012 - Remaster)"
"Starman (2012 - Remaster)"
"It Ain't Easy (2012 - Remaster)"
"Lady Stardust (2012 - Remaster)"
"Star (2012 - Remaster)"
"Hang On to Yourself (2012 - Remaster)"
"Ziggy Stardust (2012 - Remaster)"
"Suffragette City (2012 - Remaster)"
"Rock 'N' Roll Suicide (2012 - Remaster)"
180-gram vinyl with DVD featuring a new 2012 stereo remaster and 2003 5.1 and stereo mixes (audio only)
LP 180G heavyweight vinyl

Side 1
"Five Years (2012 - Remaster)"
"Soul Love (2012 - Remaster)"
"Moonage Daydream (2012 - Remaster)"
"Starman (2012 - Remaster)"
"It Ain't Easy (2012 - Remaster)"
Side 2
"Lady Stardust (2012 - Remaster)"
"Star (2012 - Remaster)"
"Hang On to Yourself (2012 - Remaster)"
"Ziggy Stardust (2012 - Remaster)"
"Suffragette City (2012 - Remaster)"
"Rock 'N' Roll Suicide (2012 - Remaster)"

DVD Audio only

"Five Years (2012 - Remaster)"
"Soul Love (2012 - Remaster)"
"Moonage Daydream (2012 - Remaster)"
"Starman (2012 - Remaster)"
"It Ain't Easy (2012 - Remaster)"
"Lady Stardust (2012 - Remaster)"
"Star (2012 - Remaster)"
"Hang On to Yourself (2012 - Remaster)"
"Ziggy Stardust (2012 - Remaster)"
"Suffragette City (2012 - Remaster)"
"Rock 'N' Roll Suicide (2012 - Remaster)"
"Five Years (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"Soul Love (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"Moonage Daydream (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"Starman (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"It Ain't Easy (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"Lady Stardust (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"Star (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"Hang On To Yourself (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"Ziggy Stardust (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"Suffragette City (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"Rock 'N' Roll Suicide (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"Moonage Daydream (Instrumental) PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED MIXES (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"The Supermen PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED MIXES (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"Velvet Goldmine PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED MIXES (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"
"Sweet Head PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED MIXES (5.1 mixes: DTS 48/24 and Dolby Digital / Stereo mixes: 48/24 LPCM stereo)"

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Exclusive Q&A: Glenn Frey on His Solo LP, the Eagles' 40th Anniversary Plans

Glenn Frey of Eagles performs in Universal City, California.Lester Cohen/Getty Images For City Of Hope

It's been almost 20 years since Glenn Frey released his last solo album, Strange Weather. In that time, he's taken bit roles in TV shows and movies, worked on various charity projects, raised a family and played a lot of golf. He also reunited with a little group called the Eagles in 1994. They crossed the world on many tours and, in 2006, released the album The Long Road Out of Eden. Frey's schedule has left little time for a solo career, but on May 8th he's releasing After Hours, a collection of classic love songs that includes Forties standards like "Sentimental Reasons" and "My Buddy" alongside more recent tunes, like "Caroline, No" by the Beach Boys and "Same Girl" by Randy Newman.

We chatted with Frey about the new disc and what the future holds for the Eagles - including a new documentary about the group and a History of the Eagles retrospective tour tentatively planned for 2013. 

It's been a long time since the last Glenn Frey solo album. Why the delay?
Well, I've been pretty busy, obviously, with the Eagles. I'm also raising a family. My son is nine. I have two kids that have just now gone off to college. So those are big responsibilities. That takes me away from it. I've also been especially busy with the Eagles in the past five or six years. Obviously, there's more to life than making records. But this record is something I've been carrying around with me for a long time. I remember when I first head Harry Nilsson's album, A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night, and he did Gershwin and Cole Porter. And of course Linda [Ronstadt] made her two records with Nelson Riddle. They were beautifully orchestrated, beautifully sung, great material. I just loved everything about those records.

For me personally, a lot of this music is something that was played around my house before Elvis. This is the music that was on the radio, the big band stuff. And then when I moved to California, I met J.D. Souther. He was a big jazz buff, and he turned me on to music I hadn't heard before, from Miles Davis to Ray Charles to Lee Morgan to Horace Silver, and I loved it.

How did you select the material that you wanted to cover?
I'd pick a song that I really liked, and the record started in the control room with the piano, myself and my producers, Richard Davis and Michael Thompson. We'd say, "What about 'My Buddy'? What about 'Sentimental Reasons'?" And they'd say, "Yeah, that's a great song. Is there a version we should listen to?" And I'd say, "Yeah, just Nat King Cole, and that's it." We'd listen to the song, we'd find a key, we'd pick a tempo, and we'd sit there and I'd sing the song in the control room with the guys. It had to be a good marriage. It had to be something that suits my voice. We tried some songs that didn't work. I won't tell you what they are. 

But that's mainly the criteria. Just pick a great song. And you know, as a songwriter myself I have so much admiration and respect for this material. I know how difficult it is to write songs. So I think I bring a certain degree of reverence because of that. But basically it was just, "How's the song sound with me singing it?" And we picked the ones that we thought sounded the best. 

I'm sure it's daunting to tackle a song as flawless as "Caroline, No."
Sometimes an album just develops a life of its own. In that case, I didn't want it to be all songs from the Forties. I wanted it to be a record for piano. And of course the melody is so beautiful and the chord changes are so rich and perfect. That's the thing about every song in this record. Nothing is out of place.

I see that you're doing a brief tour to support the disc. Are you going to mix Eagles songs into the set?
I have to. You start out and you play them some familiar songs so they're starting to get their money's worth right away, and then sort of in the middle of the set I think I can move into playing about five, six, seven songs from this record. And then feather out of that and play some other songs at the end that they all know. But the funny thing about this is, with just a couple of exceptions, everybody knows some of these songs.  

I've heard Joe Walsh say that the Eagles are planning a 40th anniversary tour for this year. Is that the case?
Well, that sounds great, doesn't it? Actually, it's just kind of the way that things fall. This is more of a planning year for us. We went through a four-year touring cycle with Long Road Out of Eden, and this year we're playing some places where we've never played before. That's been sort of our goal now – at least once a year, go to a place where we haven't played. Last year we went to China and to Taiwan. We went to Iceland, we played some places . . . South Korea . . . some places we've never been. This year it's South Africa, it's Dubai. We're going to play Jazz Fest in New Orleans this year. Just a handful of shows this year. 

We're working on a two-DVD documentary of the history of the Eagles. It's a time-consuming project. We hired a fantastic director – Alex Gibney, he won the Academy award for Taxi to the Dark Side, about Guantanamo. He also directed Smartest Guys in the Room, the Enron documentary, which was also nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary. So he's helming this whole mission that we have right now, and there's a couple of other things I can't actually talk about. But as far as touring goes, we haven't decided to do that yet. We might wait until this documentary come out and then do a tour we can call "History of the Eagles."

Joe was talking about a set list that goes chronologically through the history, with a lot of archival video getting incorporated into the show.
That's exactly . . . yeah. I could see us doing that. I just don't see us doing that this year. I see us getting ready to do this. Maybe when September comes around we can sort of look and say, "OK. Let's go out next year and let's do" – like you said. That's my idea, but whether it happens or not we gotta just wait and see. We just do one year at a time with the band. It seems to be the best way to take everybody's temperature and see what we're up for doing each year. It just didn't fall that we were going to be doing some big 40th anniversary tour – it may be better to sweep that 40 number under the carpet. People will look at the map and they'll figure out that we're really, really old. The Stones are doing the 50th, and the Beach Boys. So maybe we should stay out of that.

The fans would love to see Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon back on stage with you guys at some point on that tour. Do you think that's possible at some point?
Well, I think . . . I don't know. I don't know. I don't want to say that's hard for me to envision right now but, like I said, I don't know yet. I have to think about all of this stuff but, obviously, my head is somewhere else for the next couple of months. Like we usually do, the four of us will sit down some place on the road and we'll get in a dressing room or get into somebody's hotel room and we'll go, "Well, here's what I think we should be doing" or, "Here's what are options are this year. What do you think?" and we'll talk about it. That conversation will probably take place sometime this year.  

Does it ever just shock you to look at the sales stats and see just how many records the Eagles have sold?
I don't get up every morning and say, "God dang! Eagles Greatest Hits is now past 30 million! It's unbelievable!" But, you know, it boggles the mind somewhat. You have to adjust when things like this happen. You just have to keep perspective. As long as I keep taking out the garbage and cleaning up after the dogs and taking the kids to school, I'll have perspective. I don't get to bask in the afterglow much. I told the guys in my band, "The reason I like coming out there is because people do what I say, and this is the only place where that happens."

It's very gratifying to think that we've found this place and that we are where we are. And, believe me, we understand how we got here and we have a lot of appreciation for our fans and all the people who bought our music. If one-fifth of the Eagles fans in the United States buy this record because they wondered what I did and then were introduced to this kind of music, that would be fabulous. This record is more about the music than it is about me. That's really the way I feel about it. I just feel lucky that I've been able to make this record and have an opportunity to introduce this music to some people that maybe haven't listened to it much.

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Exclusive Q&A: Original Beach Boy David Marks on the Band's Anniversary Tour

Bruce Johnston, David Marks, Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine of the Beach Boys at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards.REUTERS /LUCY NICHOLSON /LANDOV

When the Beach Boys announced their 50th anniversary reunion tour last year, many longtime fans were thrilled to see original guitarist David Marks in the lineup. Marks lived down the street from the Wilsons when the group formed in the early 1960s and played guitar on their early albums, but he split in late 1963 after butting heads with their manager, Murry Wilson. In the late 1990s, he briefly rejoined the Mike Love-led Beach Boys, but this upcoming tour will be his first time hitting the road with Brian Wilson since he quit almost 50 years ago. Before rehearsals begin in late April, we spoke with Marks about the early days of the group and how their reunion came together. 

This reunion has been rumored for years. How did they first tell you about it?
Well, we've been talking about it together for years, Mike (Love) and I. I finally got a call to do a session for "Do It Again." That's pretty much how I was informed and it just took off from there and plans continued.

To go way, way back, can you tell me how you first started playing in the Beach Boys?
It started when I was seven years old and I moved in across the street from the Wilsons. They were a very musical family, and they had Sunday sing-alongs. I used to go over and sit in. They actually kind of stood around me and sang. Audree Wilson, the mother of the three boys, showed us all how to play boogie-woogie on the piano. Then Carl and I started taking guitar lessons at a very young age. I was ten and he was 12. Our guitars just created a style of our own that attracted Brian to use on his songs that he started writing. So Carl and I were very involved in the creative process.

Are you playing on "Surfin'" at that first Beach Boys home recording session?
I was not present at that. I was at school. We rehearsed that song in the music room and it was in the afternoon and I was at school. Shortly after that, however, we did the "Surfin' Safari" demo for Capitol Records.

How old were you during this?
It was right before I turned 14.

What was Brian like back then? Just a normal high school kid?
Yeah. My first impressions of Brian…he was very athletic, involved with the high school sports thing. He was always recruiting us neighborhood kids to play football in his front yard. Even then, he exhibited the leadership qualities that he had for music.

The Wilson brothers were close, but they had quite different personalities, right?
Yeah, they were totally different personalities. They were all unique, and they all had specialized talents. Dennis just picked up the drums out of nowhere and became one of the stylistic drummers of the time, and Carl's voice was one of the best voices in the world. And Brian had his writing and vocal arranging talents. They were all extremely talented in their own right.

Did you ever witness even the slightest hint that Brian was going to face mental difficulties later in life?
No. There was no exhibition of that in the early days at all.

Tell me about the earliest tours.
When we first started touring, we would fly into a major city and then get a station wagon, rent a U-Haul and pack our gear in the back. For the most part we would drive from one show to the next, a few hundred miles. I usually roomed with Mike Love. We just promoted the heck out of those songs. We worked our butts off.

The group took off pretty quickly.
Yeah. It was exciting to hear our first songs, "Surfin' Safari" and "Surfin' U.S.A.," blasting with sound over the radio.

They brought in session musicians later, but you guys actually played everything on those early albums.
We were a totally self-contained band. We played all of our instruments on our first five or six albums. It wasn't until later in the 1960s that Brian started to recruit some of the session guys. However, we did use Hal Blaine on drums for a couple of the early album cuts, like "Hawaii" and "Our Car Club." 

The story tends to go that you and Murry Wilson didn't get along. Is that accurate?
Well, Murry was just a typical father looking out for his son's welfare. We didn't always see eye to eye. I was sort of a punk kid, and Murry was strictly business…But he had a lot to do with the success of the band in those early days.

He's often described as a tyrant and a bully. Do you think that's unfair?
I wouldn't call that unfair. He did all he could to whip us into shape because we were, for the most part, a bunch of unruly kids and he had to put his fist down.

Did your parents pull you out of school once the group started to take off?

Yeah. Actually, we discovered we were getting popular when we started causing disturbances in school and Carl and I had to end up going to private schools in Hollywood.

When I look at photos of the band from those early days, I'm always struck by how insanely young you all look, especially you and Carl.
It was amazing. We weren't the only ones, either. There was a lot of young artists back then: Stevie Wonder, Dee Dee Sharp…

It was an interesting time in the rock world. Most of the 1950s guys had disappeared from the scene, and the Beatles had yet to hit America.
That's part of the reason we became so successful. We had a very unique sound with those rock & roll guitars. And Brian's beautiful vocal harmonies and his arrangements with the rock guitars created something that people hadn't really heard before. It was a new sound that was very unique at the time. There was a wide opening. There just wasn't very much happening then.

Was it clear from Day One that Brian was the musical leader?
Yeah. Brian had a very clear road. He had everything in his head. His music was very clear and he knew what he wanted when he went into the studio.

Was Al Jardine around for much of this time period?
Yeah. Al Jardine was in the very, very beginning of the band. When they were doing local gigs he played the standard bass. He was very into folk-oriented music, like the Kingston Trio. He really wanted to go in that direction. He did stick around for the first Capitol stuff that we did. He wasn't on the first contract, but he did end up participating on the albums. We were actually on "In My Room" and some of those songs together. He was also on "Catch a Wave" from the Surfer Girl album.

Al also did a lot of work with us on the road when Brian decided to stay home on those first tours. Al came on the road with us and did Brian's bass parts and sang his falsetto parts. I would say there were six original Beach Boys, if you really want to get technical.

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Exclusive Q&A: Original Beach Boy David Marks on the Band's Anniversary Tour

Bruce Johnston, David Marks, Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine of the Beach Boys at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards.REUTERS /LUCY NICHOLSON /LANDOV

When the Beach Boys announced their 50th anniversary reunion tour last year, many longtime fans were thrilled to see original guitarist David Marks in the lineup. Marks lived down the street from the Wilsons when the group formed in the early 1960s and played guitar on their early albums, but he split in late 1963 after butting heads with their manager, Murry Wilson. In the late 1990s, he briefly rejoined the Mike Love-led Beach Boys, but this upcoming tour will be his first time hitting the road with Brian Wilson since he quit almost 50 years ago. Before rehearsals begin in late April, we spoke with Marks about the early days of the group and how their reunion came together. 

This reunion has been rumored for years. How did they first tell you about it?
Well, we've been talking about it together for years, Mike (Love) and I. I finally got a call to do a session for "Do It Again." That's pretty much how I was informed and it just took off from there and plans continued.

To go way, way back, can you tell me how you first started playing in the Beach Boys?
It started when I was seven years old and I moved in across the street from the Wilsons. They were a very musical family, and they had Sunday sing-alongs. I used to go over and sit in. They actually kind of stood around me and sang. Audree Wilson, the mother of the three boys, showed us all how to play boogie-woogie on the piano. Then Carl and I started taking guitar lessons at a very young age. I was ten and he was 12. Our guitars just created a style of our own that attracted Brian to use on his songs that he started writing. So Carl and I were very involved in the creative process.

Are you playing on "Surfin'" at that first Beach Boys home recording session?
I was not present at that. I was at school. We rehearsed that song in the music room and it was in the afternoon and I was at school. Shortly after that, however, we did the "Surfin' Safari" demo for Capitol Records.

How old were you during this?
It was right before I turned 14.

What was Brian like back then? Just a normal high school kid?
Yeah. My first impressions of Brian…he was very athletic, involved with the high school sports thing. He was always recruiting us neighborhood kids to play football in his front yard. Even then, he exhibited the leadership qualities that he had for music.

The Wilson brothers were close, but they had quite different personalities, right?
Yeah, they were totally different personalities. They were all unique, and they all had specialized talents. Dennis just picked up the drums out of nowhere and became one of the stylistic drummers of the time, and Carl's voice was one of the best voices in the world. And Brian had his writing and vocal arranging talents. They were all extremely talented in their own right.

Did you ever witness even the slightest hint that Brian was going to face mental difficulties later in life?
No. There was no exhibition of that in the early days at all.

Tell me about the earliest tours.
When we first started touring, we would fly into a major city and then get a station wagon, rent a U-Haul and pack our gear in the back. For the most part we would drive from one show to the next, a few hundred miles. I usually roomed with Mike Love. We just promoted the heck out of those songs. We worked our butts off.

The group took off pretty quickly.
Yeah. It was exciting to hear our first songs, "Surfin' Safari" and "Surfin' U.S.A.," blasting with sound over the radio.

They brought in session musicians later, but you guys actually played everything on those early albums.
We were a totally self-contained band. We played all of our instruments on our first five or six albums. It wasn't until later in the 1960s that Brian started to recruit some of the session guys. However, we did use Hal Blaine on drums for a couple of the early album cuts, like "Hawaii" and "Our Car Club." 

The story tends to go that you and Murry Wilson didn't get along. Is that accurate?
Well, Murry was just a typical father looking out for his son's welfare. We didn't always see eye to eye. I was sort of a punk kid, and Murry was strictly business…But he had a lot to do with the success of the band in those early days.

He's often described as a tyrant and a bully. Do you think that's unfair?
I wouldn't call that unfair. He did all he could to whip us into shape because we were, for the most part, a bunch of unruly kids and he had to put his fist down.

Did your parents pull you out of school once the group started to take off?

Yeah. Actually, we discovered we were getting popular when we started causing disturbances in school and Carl and I had to end up going to private schools in Hollywood.

When I look at photos of the band from those early days, I'm always struck by how insanely young you all look, especially you and Carl.
It was amazing. We weren't the only ones, either. There was a lot of young artists back then: Stevie Wonder, Dee Dee Sharp…

It was an interesting time in the rock world. Most of the 1950s guys had disappeared from the scene, and the Beatles had yet to hit America.
That's part of the reason we became so successful. We had a very unique sound with those rock & roll guitars. And Brian's beautiful vocal harmonies and his arrangements with the rock guitars created something that people hadn't really heard before. It was a new sound that was very unique at the time. There was a wide opening. There just wasn't very much happening then.

Was it clear from Day One that Brian was the musical leader?
Yeah. Brian had a very clear road. He had everything in his head. His music was very clear and he knew what he wanted when he went into the studio.

Was Al Jardine around for much of this time period?
Yeah. Al Jardine was in the very, very beginning of the band. When they were doing local gigs he played the standard bass. He was very into folk-oriented music, like the Kingston Trio. He really wanted to go in that direction. He did stick around for the first Capitol stuff that we did. He wasn't on the first contract, but he did end up participating on the albums. We were actually on "In My Room" and some of those songs together. He was also on "Catch a Wave" from the Surfer Girl album.

Al also did a lot of work with us on the road when Brian decided to stay home on those first tours. Al came on the road with us and did Brian's bass parts and sang his falsetto parts. I would say there were six original Beach Boys, if you really want to get technical.

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Stones’ 50th Anniversary Tour Pushed Back to 2013

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones perform in 2007.

The Rolling Stones will not tour to mark their 50th anniversary this year, Rolling Stone has learned after separate interviews with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. "Basically, we're just not ready," says Richards. Instead, 2013 is the new goal. "I have a feeling that's more realistic," he adds.

But Stones insiders say that one reason for the delay is Richards' health, which has raised questions about his ability to make it through a worldwide tour. The quality of the guitarist's performances declined after he suffered a head injury on vacation in Fiji in April 2006, midway through the Bigger Bang tour. Many fans observed that his playing in Martin Scorsese's Shine a Light documentary later that year was weak – and often inaudible. After the tour, Richards put the guitar down completely. "You are looking at a very rusty Keith Richards right now," he told Jimmy Fallon in 2010. "If you've been on the road for two years and suddenly you stop, you put it down for a little bit. And then a little bit longer and you say, 'I really got to catch up, man.'"

A top concert-business source confirms the reservations over Richards' condition. "They don't want to do a full tour," he says. "They don't want to travel, and there are concerns about Keith's health." A more likely scenario would see the band camping out for multi­night runs in arenas, similar to Prince's recent stands in New York and Los Angeles. "For example, they'd do 10 nights at MSG, 10 nights at Staples, 10 nights at London's O2 arena," the source adds.

The Stones are already considering offers: The band asked for proposals from promoters AEG, Live Nation and longtime Stones promoter Michael Cohl. "We're drilling down on this new proposal," says the source.

The news comes after the band gathered in a London studio in December and played together for the first time since the final night of the marathon two-year Bigger Bang tour in August 2007. Making the occasion even more special, former bassist Bill Wyman sat in for the first time since he left in 1992. "We played a lot of blues and outtakes of Some Girls and things like that," says Jagger. "It went very well."

Adds Richards, "It was a very back-to-basics sort of session. There was a lot of jamming. On the third day, Mick turned up, which was a real joy. Because I set it up really as a magnet, you know."

After one of the longest periods of Stones inactivity ever, the group is revving up again for a slew of projects, including the 2013 dates, new studio sessions and a major documentary. "I saw Mick on Saturday," Richards says. "He's going to be living in New York too for a while, so we're planning to get things going with the Stones again." Richards adds that the Stones will begin rehearsing for a studio session as early as next month. "We'll just get the boys back together again then and maybe cut a side," he says. "I've got plenty in the locker here, but it's not on tape."

Richards appeared healthy and jovial at his first major performance in years, playing alongside Eric Clapton at the February 24th memorial concert for blues legend Hubert Sumlin at New York's Apollo Theater. The guitarist has also been hard at work on a solo LP with producer Steve Jordan. "We're not rushing it, 'cause there's no need to," Richards says. "But I'm quite surprised how much stuff is coming out of it."

Three days earlier, Jagger proved he was in tour-ready form when he performed for President Obama at a White House blues celebration alongside B.B. King and Buddy Guy – his performance ranging from high-voltage R&B to the sleek soul of "Miss You." "It was so much fun," he says. "I've been playing guitar and singing and getting myself back together. You can't just walk up there and do it. If you're playing a football tournament, you've got to practice. I feel very confident. I don't want to sound cocky, but it's just part of what you do. If you prepare, then you can be cocky."

In the meantime, fans will get their Stones fix from the upcoming documentary, out in the fall, which will trace the band's entire 50-year journey and is packed with unseen footage and unreleased music. "Nobody has put the story together as a narrative," says the movie's director, Brett Morgen, who made 2002's The Kid Stays in the Picture. "We've been looking under every rock going through their archives. It will be music never heard before, and I've conducted 50-plus hours of interviews so far. By the time we're done, they will be the most extensive group interviews they've ever done." Says Richards, "He told me 80 percent of the footage has never been seen before, which amazes me. I didn't know there was that much around."

Despite holding off on touring this year, the band is still buzzing from reuniting with Wyman. "We're back in touch, which is great, because I hadn't really spoken to him for years," says Richards. Will Wyman rejoin the group on the road in 2013? "I think he's up for it," Richards says. "We talked about it. I'll let you know when I can."

And Richards points out that next year works just as well for an anniversary trek. "The Stones always really considered '63 to be 50 years, because Charlie [Watts] didn't actually join until January," Richards says. "We look upon 2012 as sort of the year of conception, but the birth is next year.

This story is from the March 29th, 2012 issue of Rolling Stone.

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Stones’ 50th Anniversary Tour Pushed Back to 2013

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones perform in 2007.

The Rolling Stones will not tour to mark their 50th anniversary this year, Rolling Stone has learned after separate interviews with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. "Basically, we're just not ready," says Richards. Instead, 2013 is the new goal. "I have a feeling that's more realistic," he adds.

But Stones insiders say that one reason for the delay is Richards' health, which has raised questions about his ability to make it through a worldwide tour. The quality of the guitarist's performances declined after he suffered a head injury on vacation in Fiji in April 2006, midway through the Bigger Bang tour. Many fans observed that his playing in Martin Scorsese's Shine a Light documentary later that year was weak – and often inaudible. After the tour, Richards put the guitar down completely. "You are looking at a very rusty Keith Richards right now," he told Jimmy Fallon in 2010. "If you've been on the road for two years and suddenly you stop, you put it down for a little bit. And then a little bit longer and you say, 'I really got to catch up, man.'"

A top concert-business source confirms the reservations over Richards' condition. "They don't want to do a full tour," he says. "They don't want to travel, and there are concerns about Keith's health." A more likely scenario would see the band camping out for multi­night runs in arenas, similar to Prince's recent stands in New York and Los Angeles. "For example, they'd do 10 nights at MSG, 10 nights at Staples, 10 nights at London's O2 arena," the source adds.

The Stones are already considering offers: The band asked for proposals from promoters AEG, Live Nation and longtime Stones promoter Michael Cohl. "We're drilling down on this new proposal," says the source.

The news comes after the band gathered in a London studio in December and played together for the first time since the final night of the marathon two-year Bigger Bang tour in August 2007. Making the occasion even more special, former bassist Bill Wyman sat in for the first time since he left in 1992. "We played a lot of blues and outtakes of Some Girls and things like that," says Jagger. "It went very well."

Adds Richards, "It was a very back-to-basics sort of session. There was a lot of jamming. On the third day, Mick turned up, which was a real joy. Because I set it up really as a magnet, you know."

After one of the longest periods of Stones inactivity ever, the group is revving up again for a slew of projects, including the 2013 dates, new studio sessions and a major documentary. "I saw Mick on Saturday," Richards says. "He's going to be living in New York too for a while, so we're planning to get things going with the Stones again." Richards adds that the Stones will begin rehearsing for a studio session as early as next month. "We'll just get the boys back together again then and maybe cut a side," he says. "I've got plenty in the locker here, but it's not on tape."

Richards appeared healthy and jovial at his first major performance in years, playing alongside Eric Clapton at the February 24th memorial concert for blues legend Hubert Sumlin at New York's Apollo Theater. The guitarist has also been hard at work on a solo LP with producer Steve Jordan. "We're not rushing it, 'cause there's no need to," Richards says. "But I'm quite surprised how much stuff is coming out of it."

Three days earlier, Jagger proved he was in tour-ready form when he performed for President Obama at a White House blues celebration alongside B.B. King and Buddy Guy – his performance ranging from high-voltage R&B to the sleek soul of "Miss You." "It was so much fun," he says. "I've been playing guitar and singing and getting myself back together. You can't just walk up there and do it. If you're playing a football tournament, you've got to practice. I feel very confident. I don't want to sound cocky, but it's just part of what you do. If you prepare, then you can be cocky."

In the meantime, fans will get their Stones fix from the upcoming documentary, out in the fall, which will trace the band's entire 50-year journey and is packed with unseen footage and unreleased music. "Nobody has put the story together as a narrative," says the movie's director, Brett Morgen, who made 2002's The Kid Stays in the Picture. "We've been looking under every rock going through their archives. It will be music never heard before, and I've conducted 50-plus hours of interviews so far. By the time we're done, they will be the most extensive group interviews they've ever done." Says Richards, "He told me 80 percent of the footage has never been seen before, which amazes me. I didn't know there was that much around."

Despite holding off on touring this year, the band is still buzzing from reuniting with Wyman. "We're back in touch, which is great, because I hadn't really spoken to him for years," says Richards. Will Wyman rejoin the group on the road in 2013? "I think he's up for it," Richards says. "We talked about it. I'll let you know when I can."

And Richards points out that next year works just as well for an anniversary trek. "The Stones always really considered '63 to be 50 years, because Charlie [Watts] didn't actually join until January," Richards says. "We look upon 2012 as sort of the year of conception, but the birth is next year.

This story is from the March 29th, 2012 issue of Rolling Stone.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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The Rolling Stones Announce 50th Anniversary Photo Book

The Rolling Stones have announced a new photo book, The Rolling Stones: 50, that will hit stores on July 12th, the 50th anniversary of the band's first gig. The book, which will be published by Thames & Hudson in the United Kingdom, includes 700 photos and illustrations, many of which were taken from the Daily Mirror's archive, which contains the largest newspaper collection of Rolling Stones images.

"This is our story of 50 fantastic years," the band said in a statement. "Curated by us, [the book] features the very best photographs and ephemera from and beyond our archives." The book will also feature comments and writing from members of the band.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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The Rolling Stones Announce 50th Anniversary Photo Book

The Rolling Stones have announced a new photo book, The Rolling Stones: 50, that will hit stores on July 12th, the 50th anniversary of the band's first gig. The book, which will be published by Thames & Hudson in the United Kingdom, includes 700 photos and illustrations, many of which were taken from the Daily Mirror's archive, which contains the largest newspaper collection of Rolling Stones images.

"This is our story of 50 fantastic years," the band said in a statement. "Curated by us, [the book] features the very best photographs and ephemera from and beyond our archives." The book will also feature comments and writing from members of the band.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

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