(July 22 1999)

New Stone Tries a Solo
By Dave Schulps and Ira Robbins

TP first interviewed Ron
Wood, back in the fall of 1974 , Faces'
guitarist and exBeckite was more than
happy to answer questions about his early
career-the Birds, Creation, Jeff Beck, et al.
Since then, his induction into the Rolling
Stones has brought him all the fame and
attention any unassuming guitarist could
desire. The revitilization of the Stones
musically, and 
their popular resurgence via Some Girls are largely
the result of Woody's involvement. Without being as
decadent a lifestyler as either the glamorous jetsetter
Jagger, or the elegantly demolished Keith Richards,
Woody seems able to keep up with the whirlwind
pace of the Stones' existence, and certainly appears
more at home than Mick Taylor ever did. His guitar
playing, quite different now than when his slide
guitar permeated Faces and Stewart albums, has
melded with Keith's in the group context, and make
for a more aggressive sound than the standard
lead/rhythm lineup.

The solo career of Ron Wood began back in '74,
when he released the first of two LPs on Warner
Brothers. I've Got My Own Album to Do, recorded
at Wood's home on an eight-track, featured such
musicians as Keith Richards, who "came for an
evening and stayed four months," Andy Newmark
Willie Weeks, and Mick Jagger. In London, a f(
months before the album's release, Wood played hi
first solo concert, and was joined on stage by Keit
Richards, Ian McLagan, Rod Stewart, and the

Newmark/Weeks rhythm section.
Wood's second LP for Warners, Now Look,
was released while he was on tour with the
Stones as a temporary stand-in for the freshly A
departed Mick Taylor. After the Stones tour,
Wood rejoined the Faces for a final few
months, which ended in December'75,
when
Stewart's resignation ended the
Faces' stormy history. Wood
promptly joined the Stones in
time for finish recording Black
and Blue.

With all the 
Stones activity of the past two years, Wood
has had his hands full being a full-time member
of one of the world's biggest bands. But that
hasn't stifled his solo ambition, and a label
switch to Columbia a while back set the stage
for his latest solo album, Gimme Some Neck,
recorded late last year in France with Roy
Thomas-Baker producing. In the interests of
promoting better sales than his previous two
undertakings, Wood decided to tour the
Americas, playing the album live to people
who might otherwise ignore it. Enlisting the aid
of several drawing cards, namely Keith
Richards and Stanley Clarke, and some
excellent sidemen-Ian McLagan, Joseph
"Zigaboo" Modelist, and, Bobby Keys-Woody
hit the road in April, following the Keith
Richards "sentence" concert in Toronto. The
first week of May found them ensconced at a
classy Park Avenue hotel in New York,
fielding a few interviews on a Friday night,
before flying down to Washington, D.C., for
a Saturday show at the Capitol Center. We
sat down with Ron, who was watching a New
York Cosmos soccer match ("Ahmet's other
group," he called them) with the sound turned
off, and asked him about his current activities.


We'd like to ask about the group you I re
touring With: Neil Young was originally
supposed to be involved, wasn't he?

He was really involved. He came down from
San Francisco to meet Keith, 'cause they'd
never met and, as things had it, the timing was
wrong-Keith was unreachable while Neil was
in L.A., and then Neil had to return to San
Francisco. I told Neil not to worry about it,
that Keith and I would come up and see him
there. By the time Keith showed up though,
Neil had gone down to Acapulco to take a
break from editing his film.

It wasn't really my idea to have him, but he
kept on coming on so strong about it, saying
"Don't forget, if Woody does a tour you can
count me in. I'll do it for nothing, I just want to
tour with him and Keith, a couple of English
rock 'n' rollers.


Where you do know Neil from?

Oh, I hung out with him when I lived in
Malibu. He used to come around in his bus-
turn up with a guitar on the doorstep.


How did Stanley Clarke come to be the bass
player?

Well, to finish up with Neil first-he gave us
the name The New Barbarians-he just rang up
with it one day. This was when I already had
Stanley, Zigaboo, Mac, Keith, and Bobby
together. It was like a parting gesture.
Anyway, Stanley and I met a few years ago
at Tramps, a club in London. We were just
talking and he was complimenting me on my
bass playing on the Truth album. I said "That
is a compliment coming from you." He said, "I
hope we get a chance to work together one
day." He expressed an interest in doing this
tour-he'd heard about it through the grapevine.
Jason [Wood's manager] phoned me one day
and said Stanley Clarke wanted to do the tour.
I phoned Stanley in Miami and he said, "Great.
I'm coming back to LA tomorrow, let's get
going." That was really a strange one that came
together. I didn't think it would work. I knew
he would do it, in the back of my mind, but I
didn't think it would be as compatible as it's
been. Stanley's been doing some strange "Chick
Coreas" lately.


And you're just a dirty rock'n'roller.

That's what I would've thought the attitude
would've been, but having met him before I
knew it wouldn't be like that. In fact, he's a
very punchy, funky rock'n'roll bass player.


What possessed you to do the tour?

When the people became more available like
this... The original push came when Gimme
Some Neck came out better than I expected. I
thought it would be really nice... that the only
way to promote an album is to go out and play
as much as you can. Everybody had been
getting on me that I should take a band out. I
thought, "Oh no, not another tour." Bobby
Keys was so knocked out when he overdubbed
on "Don't You Worry" he said "We gotta take
some rock'n'roll out on the road, I'd love to
play in the band." Mac took no convincing at
all, Keith offered his services...


Was there any thought given to taking any
other Stones?

Charlie originally was going to be involved, but
he really wanted some time off. He was full of
apologies, and I said, "Don't apologize, just get me
another drummer!" He suggested Zigaboo and I
knew he was the one. Ziggy and Stanley
work great together.


Do you see Beck anymore?

There was a time, just before the tour, when
I was speaking to him by phone from London.
He was really blown away that I'd asked him
to do it.


You asked Beck?

Yeah. He said "I'd love to," but his manager
finally proved it impossible to do anything.
Same with Jimmy Page. He was even more
over the moon, because he'd already worked
with Keith and me in my basement around the
time they were doing It's Only Rock'n'Roll
and my first solo album.


Did Jimmy play on your first LP?

No, but we did cut some things - Keith,
Jimmy and myself - that have yet to see the
light of day.


How did you hook up with Roy
Thomas Baker?

I was talking with Mike Dilbeck at CBS in
L.A. and I was throwing around all these ideas,
because I wanted a produced album this time. I
was thinking of Jack Nietzche or Bill
Szymczyk ... I needed some imput. Dilbeck
asked me if I'd ever thought about Roy
Thomas-Baker, I said, "Thought about him? I
don't even know who he is."


You weren't familiar with any of his stuff?

I was, but I needed to know he was the guy
who did Queen, Journey, the Cars and all. I
said it sounded interesting and he said, "Would
you give it a try?" I said yes. And he said,
"Well, he's in the next room!" So they wheeled
him in.


Sounds like a set-up.

Right, but it worked because we're so
opposite. He's so critical and "Mmm.
Rock'n'roll ... 7" But he wasn't like that with
me, we reached a compromise.


I think you win the battle musically. It
sounds more like your style than his.

Right, because he wasn't intent on making it
like a Queen album. We had this standing
joke: "Don't make it too 10cc."


How long did the album take to do?

Charlie, "Pops" Popwell and I did the basic
tracks in 10 days. Then overdubs and mixing
took about three months on top of that.


Did you and Roy have an understanding of
what sound you wanted before you started?

Roy has a great mediator in his engineer,
Geoff Workman. Geoff's a Liverpudlian lad
who's real down to earth and is magic with the
old faders.


The Stones have an album in the can, don't
you?

But we haven't got a top to the can yet.


How long have you been drawing?

Well, I went to art college. There's a book
that a girl called Debbie Cheshire is putting
together that I've got 40 pages of drawings in,
along with the other side of rock'n'roll people-
Joni Mitchell, Commander Cody, John
Mayall, Cat Stevens.


Was there ever a possibility that you would
be involved with Rolling Stones Records as a
solo artist?

No. I think that although they would have
liked it on the administration side, it wouldn't
have been a very good thing. We've already
seen that with Bill Wyman. Two things from
the same mold. Besides, I 
needed the money.

Rolling Stones label likes to take people
who have been overlooked, like Peter Tosh
was being at CBS.


Does your being a member of the Stones
make you a director of the company?

More of a talent scout. [Laughs]


Are you interested in doing that-bringing
people to the label and maybe producing
them?

Yeah. But I never get the chance. I shouldn't
really say that, I would've said I'd never get a
chance to do a tour. You never know.


How is being a member of the Stones
different from being a member of the Faces?

The mature, professional attitude shows
through 'with the Stones. If I'd been doing my
solo thing with the Faces, there would've been
certain people saying, "How come he's doing
his own album?" With the Stones, it's, "All the
best..."


But one member of the Faces was doing
solo albums.

Yeah, but another one ... Ronnie Lane left
the band because he couldn't do it within the
structure.


He seemed to want to go in a totally different
direction than the Faces.

Pub oriented. He wanted to settle down,
he'd bought a little place in Wales.


What do you think of Kenny Jones joining
the Who?

Great, innit'?


Did you hear that they just played the
Rainbow?

Pete Townshend told me that he was fed up
with taking Kenny around to bars and it was
about time he did some work. I reckon Kenny
will make a big, solid difference.


Are there any musicians you'd like to work
with outside the band?

Dylan. I'd really like to work with him
again. I worked with him on that Eric Clapton
LP, No Reason to Cry. That's where I got
"Seven Days," from the ensuing day and-a-half
when we just played and played.


What about the Jerry Williams song you
did? Where did you get that?

From Jerry. He came to the session and I
said, "Since you're here, can I do that song of
yours, 'Worry No More'?" He said sure. I
asked him if he'd recorded it and he said he
hadn't. Even better.


Where did you know the song from?

He'd given me a tape of his songs a year
ago. He's got some real good material.


Do you think your style of guitar playing
has changed a lot since you joined the Stones?
I always associated you with the meaty
sounding slide guitar work on the Stewart
albums and Faces stuff like "Borstal Boys"
and "Around the Plynth. " It was so much
better than the whiny Duane Allman style.

Funny, because it was Duane who turned
me on to slide. I'm trying to play a lot of it on
stage now, because I figure anyone who knows
my playing wants to hear me play slide. On
stage, apart from playing pedal steel and sax,
which I've had since Christmas on one number-
Bobby Keys is teaching me-I play a lot of
slide.


Do you feel you've changed the sound of the
Stones on record since becoming a member?

Yeah, but how I don't know. I suppose 
one thing is that I took the time to get Jagger
together on his rhythm playing.


Did you tutor him?

Yeah, I cause he can play rhythm. He's got a
good feel. And for him strutting around with a
guitar around his neck is another good thing.
It's like Eddie Cochran.


We saw the Saturday Night Live show...

Oh, the one where we were all hoarse. My
voice was the first to go, and they all went,
"Ha, ha." Then Keith's went. Then Mick's
went the day of the recording.


Why?

'Cause we'd been up partying for three days'
straight. Trying to rehearse around that lot is
impossible. You get Belushi, Aykroyd and Bill
Murray in and they're screaming and shouting.
When the show came up, just before we went
on camera, I was spraying the studio with
Chloraseptic.


It wasn't one of the great moments for the
Stones.

Musically, I think it's good. I've got a tape
of it at home and I think the music's really
good if you ignore the voices.

Mick seemed a little cramped for space.

It's a very tight set. Mick came up to me
when I had my eyes closed and put his tongue
in my mouth. Didn't do me any good with me
mother-in-law. Mick loves to do things like
that, put you on the spot. There was another
spot where he was trying to grab my balls. I
didn't even know it until I saw the tape
played back. He does that to keep you on
your toes. He'll try to put your guitar out of
tune or grab your belt.


When did you take up pedal steel?

Back in the Faces. On Long Player I
played it on "Sweet Lady Mary." It's not an
instrument you can play all the time. It's not
the type of thing you can take around with
you easily.


How much rehearsing did you do for the
New Barbarians?

We did a week in a little studio in Santa
Monica and another week on a sound stage in
Culver City with all the lights and everything.
Stanley was in the middle of mixing his new
double LP so he'd be starting in the studio at
midday, going through to midnight, then
coming down and rehearsing 'til 5 AM. He was
a real trouper and there wasn't really any
reason for him to do it.


How's Keith doing on the tour?

Great. He loves it.


Were you worried about how well the shows
would sell?

I was real worried. That's why I was
possessed with getting another rock luminary
on the tour. Now the group's attitude is the
opposite, it'd be a drag if we do get anyone
else. I want to quell the expectation of anyone
but the New Barbarians.


Have you ever heard the original
Barbarians?

No, but I've been hearing about the
drummer with the hook.


Just then, the door to the adjoining room
opened and in walked Keith Richards and his
son, Marlon. Keith, looking at home in his
stocking feet, reclined on the carpet and began
chatting. He wore a bright patchwork leather
jacket which Wood had apparently never seen
before. Keith explained that he'd left it with a
friend in Jamaica five years ago,
who wore it, took care of it and gave it back to
Keith on a recent visit.

Marlon looked too incredibly wholesome ,to
be Keith Richards' child. He could have been a
priest's son. Keith, however, did not look like a
priest. His face showed aging far beyond what
one would expect from someone in his mid-30s-
puffy, greying hair, a complexion beyond
sallow. Yet despite his overall demeanor, he
was friendly and talkative, if not especially
lucid ... except on the subject of reggae
("Jah Keith," Wood called him), about which
we spoke for a few minutes before Keith and
Marlon exited.


You said the top wasn't on the Stones LP.
You haven't finished it?

Yeah, we'll finish it after this tour's over.
We want to finish it up by the fall. Maybe
we'll tour early next year.


The Stones don't seem to tour persistently
or regularly.

We try to do it every three years to keep
up the big attendance and avoid overexposure.


Why did you play at those small clubs last
year?

We just wanted to do some small dates.
They were great.


When was the last time you played to such
small crowds?

We did a disastrous, money-wise, tour of
England in 1972 with the Faces. We loved
every minute of it, though.


Are there any young bands that you like?

I like some of the things that the Boomtown
Rats have done; the Cars; I used to like the Sex
Pistols-they had something going there. I think
a lot of Some Girls was based on that punk
attitude. Mick had that attitude with his
guitar, he'd just go tearing into a number like
"Respectable," or "When the Whip Comes
Down," or "Shattered." They're all basically
simple songs.


Not like "Miss You. "

"Miss You" was from Moujon in the south
of France, during rehearsals for the '75 tour.


The live "Miss You" sounds totally
different...

It's not that far removed. It's at the same
tempo, but it goes different places. That
number can get very funky. People can say it's
disco ... disco away. [Pun on "just go away."]


What are your brothers up to these days?

My brother Ted owns the Red Lion, which
is the pub right next to Olympic Studios, so he
keeps in touch with Clapton and Ronnie Lane,
and any visiting musicians. Art is pursuing
commercial art, freelance. They were both
tremendous influences on my early days,
when I was first 
discovering people like Cyril Davies.


What do you listen to these days?

A whole heap of reggae, which is the best.
And I never forget the roots-I play a lot of
Jimmy Reed and Muddy Waters. Willie Dixon
came to the show in Chicago. Junior Wells
came on stage in Chicago.


Can you get reggae records in L.A.?

No, that's a big thing that they're
overlooking there at the moment.


Do you think reggae will make it here?

It's bound to, but someone's got to do it
right.


May 7/Madison Square Garden, NYC
20,000 crazies gathered under one roof to
worship at the altar of stardom. To watch
Keith Richards (for it is he they are here to
see), Ron Wood, Stanley Clarke and (lower
case) sidemen play something, anything (does
it really matter what?). Fame is the name of
the game, so it's already won when the sextet
hits the stage. "Sweet Little Rock'n'Roller"
kicks it off. Thousands of fans, lemming-like,
vault the barricades to reach the floor. See me,
feel me, touch me, heal me. Wood croaks like
Dylan, Keith, surprisingly animated, does his
half windmill (the one Townshend originally
copied) and makes rock star moves at Stanley,
who returns them. The sound, though, is a
muddle.

They follow with two from Gimme Some
Neck, "Buried Alive" ends better than it
started, with Woody and Mac nicely
harmonizing the vocals. "F.U.C. Her" is pretty
sloppy; Wood sounds like he's got a sore
throat (or is it just the terrible mix again?) and
the sound of the playing only comes together
during the solos by Keith, Ronnie and Bobby
Keys. Keith is roundly cheered after his break.
"She Mystifies Me" from I've Got My Own
Album to Do is slow and kinda nice, but
"Infekshun" is just another muddy-sounding
rocker.

"Rock Me Baby," the B.B. King blues
chestnut is given a slow, choppy treatment
and has a great dual lead by Wood and
Richards. A highlight. After the verse Wood
plays some neat slide.

"Sure the One You Need" and "Lost and
Lonely" gallop along uneventfully as does
"Breathe On Me," until it opens up into a jam
at the end, which probably reaches the highest
energy level of the evening. Clarke, thoroughly
buried in the mix for most of the evening,
finally comes out a bit. It helps.

"Love In Vain" is next. The crowd goes wild
at the first note, naturally. After all, the Stones
do it. Not like this, though. Wood's vocal is a
throwaway. Good guitar, but bad harmonica
by Wood, who should not play harmonica.
"Let's Go Steady," an uncredited oldie,
features Keith's first vocal and Wood dueting
on sax with Bobby Keys. "You want variety,
you got it" Wood shouts to the throng. He
didn't mention quality. Wood moves to pedal
steel, Keith to piano for "Apartment #9. "
Score one for Keith, the piano totally drowns
out the pedal steel.

Then it's "Honky Tonk Woman," done
slowly and lacking any real excitement,
followed by a medium tempo blues and more
awful harmonica. "I Can Feel the Fire" is a
great song, perhaps Wood's finest solo tune,
but it sounds a bit flat tonight, though Wood's
solo stings with authority. "Come To Realize"
is another good tune, but the excitement level
just isn't very high.

The energy picks up considerably on "Am I
Groovin' You?," another one from Wood's first
LP on which Clarke and drummer "Zigaboo"
are given their moment (actually about three
minutes) in the spotlight. Clarke definitely
makes the best of his time, not only is his bass
bit a musical high point, but his stage presence
and presentation are stronger than either
Wood's or Richards' at any time during the
evening, as he ambles to the front of the stage
and plays to the crowd. On to Dylan's "Seven
Days," which might as well have been Dylan,
since Wood's vocals are so similar to the
Zimm's. Keith closes it with "Before They
Make Me Run." Back shortly to wild
applause, they encore wit a "Jumpin' Jack
Flash" that only made you wish you were
seeing the Stones do it, since the inadequate
vocals point to the major problems in the
whole New Barbarians business (good word
for it): no real front man and mediocre vocals.

As the saying goes, caveat emptor-let the
buyer beware. Those who paid to see stars,
saw stars. Those who wanted musical
excitement or a real performance probably
should've stayed home.

(September 22 1998)
According to ICE magazine:
With another World Tour under their belts, The Rolling Stones have scheduled November 3 as the day when Virgin releases their third live album of this decade, No Security. The 14-track album features guest appearances by Dave Matthews, Taj Mahal and saxophonist Joshua Redman.
The tracks were taken from performances in Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, Nuremberg, St. Lois and the bands' appearances last year on MTV's Live From the 10 Spot. All originated on the recent Bridges to Babylon tour.
The complete track list: "Intro", "You Got Me Rocking", "Gimme Shelter", "Flip the Switch", "Memory Motel", (with Matthews; taken from their 1997 pay-per-view special from St. Louis), "Corinna Corinna" (with Taj Mahal guesting on a song he co-wrote with the late Jesse Ed Davis), "Saint of Me," "Waiting on a Friend," "Sister Morphine," "Live With Me", "Respectable", "Thief in the Night", "The Last Time", and "Out of Control." Of these songs, "Memory Motel" (originally on "Black and Blue"), "Sister Morphine" (from "Sticky Fingers") and "Respectable" ("Some Girls) are making their debut on a live Stones album.
A source closely involved with the album tells Ice that the disc's cover is a sight to behold: "It shows a European couple, who look like American rednecks, standing in the middle of an audience. The guy is very overweight, tattooed and wearing a Rolling Stones tongue-logo t-shirt, and smoking a cigarette; the woman next to him has over-dyed, long black hair and is also covered with tattoos." Just in case you are wondering, yes, they did get paid for their appearance on the cover. The artwork is bound to be controversial; Virgin executives are aware that the depiction of someone smoking already guarantees it being banned in Southeast Asia.
"No Security" comes with a 16-page booklet and lyrics to all the songs, including the old ones. As usual, the album was produced by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, a.k.a. the Glimmer Twins

(September 20 1998)
Beggars Banquet Limited Edition CD
Tracklist:
Sympathy For The Devil - The Global Twins
No Expectations - Six By Six
Dear Doctor - Buffalo Tom
Parachute Woman - Natasha Atlas vs. Fun' Da' Metal
Jig-Saw Puzzle - The Basement Flicks
Street Fighting Man - Swell
Prodigal Son - Jack
Stray Cat Blues - Bis
Factory Girl - Maxim
Salt Of The Earth - Ian McNabb (feat. Mike Scott and Anthony Thistlethwaite)

(September 14 1998)
B2B stage equipment
Ron plays as his main guitar a 1955 Fender Strat. Also a 1952 and 1951 Fender Tele and a 1951 Broadcaster. He also use to play a Gibson Les Paul model "Slash", which is a present from Slash. Further he plays a Gibson junior model "Jesse Davis" and a couple of guitars built by an english guitarbuilder as well as a black Zemaitis guitar model "Ron Wood. On the B-stage Ron plays through a Vox AC 30 (the good old one) with two 12" Speakers and 2 Mesa Boogie 300 amps. On main stage Ron uses a Rack which is filled with a couple of effect processors and custom made amps and HH Electronics V 800 Mos-Fet-power amps. The Wah wah effects come frome a Jim Dunlop Wah wah pedal.
Keith is on the road with 80 guitars. Most of them are Fender Teles, built in the 50's and with removed 6th string, tuned in open g. He also has some sunburst Teles, built in the late 60's (with 6 strings) and a blonde Strat from 1958. Some songs he plays with a Gibson Les Paul junior, and for the real rock 'n roll stuff comes some Gibson ES 335 semi-acoustics on stage. The Amps Keith uses are 3 Fender Twin Combos, built in the late 50's through Mesa Boogie 4x12" cabinets. On acoustic parts he played a 1949 Martin D-18 and a 1954 Martin D-18. Keith plays only Ernie Ball Strings in special sample. Keith does not use much effects except a bit of delays and parametric equalizing. "He makes his effects by his style of playing", says his Backliner Pierre de Beauport. Visit Keith's Tech Page for more info on Keith's guitars, tunings, amps, etc...
Charlie plays a "Natural Maple" Gretsch Drumset built in 1957. The set is 22"x14" bassdrum, 12"x 8" Tom Tom and a 16"x16" stand tom and from Lang Percussion a custom made 14"x4 Billy Gladstone Snare. The Hihat is an old "Rogers", for bassdrum kick he uses a Ludwig "Speed King". The cymbals are from Zildjian. The microphones used in the sound system are made by Audio Technika except a couple of mikes, which charlie uses on the drumset.

(November 3 1997)
Setting a new record
From November 7 to 12 three bolivian guys, Puka Reyesvilla - a Rolling Stones colletor, Pavel Alarcón & Ramiro Serrano - media men, will be radio marathon. The target is to celebrate the music of the Rolling Stones with 120 hour on-air on which many of the Stones Material -official or not- will be played.
In this sense a radio station (90.5FM) is gettin ready and invitting the audience to stay tuned the whole 6 days; The news papers, other radio and TV chanels are interested on the coverage of this event, inedit in La Paz, Bolivia, South America.

(October 14 1997)
Paint It Blue: Songs of The Rolling Stones
Tracklist:
You Can't Always Get What You Want - Luther Allison
Tumbling Dice - Johnny Copeland/The Yahoos/Derek Trucks/Shemekia Copeland
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction - Junior Wells
Wild Horses - Otis Clay
Honky Tonk Woman - Taj Mahal/James Cotton
Sway - Alvin Youngblood Hart
Ventilator Blues - Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown
Beast Of Burden - The Holmes Bros.
Under My Thumb - Lucky Peterson
It's All Over Now - Bobby Womack
Midnight Rambler - Larry McRae
Heart Of Stone - Joe Louis Walker
Moonlight Mile - Alvin Youngblood Hart

(October 1 1997)
STONES FOR TIBET
The Rolling Stones are among the artists being pursued to perform at a charity event in aid of Tibet. The event is set for early next year in Gloucestershire, England. Oasis and Beastie Boys are also rumoured to be on the bill. The Beasties have already aided Tibet with their Tibetan Freedom Concerts.

(September 9 1997)
Stones on Tribute Album to Princess Diana
Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones and Sting are among 10 rock stars who have agreed to perform on a tribute album to Princess Diana, aspokesman for British tycoon Richard Branson said on Monday.
The album, to be released before Christmas, will also include the new version of Candle in the Wind, sung by Elton John at Diana's funeral on Saturday. Proceeds will go to a memorial fund set up in Diana's name.
As with the single of Elton's song, all proceeds from the sale of the album will go to a memorial fund set up in Diana's name following her death on August 31.
"It will not be like similar albums in such circumstances. We want to create something across the whole industry", the spokesman told Reuters. Tenor Luciano Pavarotti has also been contacted about contributing a song.
Annie Lennox and Peter Gabriel will be executive producers of the album and will contribute new songs of their own. Lennox, once of the Eurythmics, will sing a new version of Angel and Ave Maria while Gabriel sings Your Eyes.
Branson, a friend of Diana's who built his business empire on the back of the Virgin record label, contacted the stars in the days after her death.
Tribute concerts will take place in London, Paris and New York next August with as many of the artists on the album appearing as possible.
Other artists on the album are: Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Seal and Bryan Adams

(September 3 1997)
The Rolling Stones are interested in YOUR FANTASY SET LIST!
They are currently rehearsing in Toronto, Canada gearing up for thier Bridges of Babylon world tour. Help Mick, Keith and the gang gather the perfect song list to play for YOU!
Please forward this information on to other Rolling Stones Fans, Pages, Newsgroups...
Email your DREAM SET LIST TO: stoneslist@virginrecords.com