Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger will not join other members of the band for a planned December 2011 studio jam session, according to a USA Today report.
In November 2011, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards told RollingStone.com that he, Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts and Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood were going to meet up for the jam session, and that Jagger was invited but not confirmed to attend:
"We're just going to play a little together, because we haven't played for three or four years," Richards says. "You don't necessarily want to rehearse or write anything – you just want to touch bases. That's a good start: me, Charlie and Ronnie. Mick's welcome, and I'm sure he'll turn up, but right now we just want to get our chops down."
In a USA Today article that includes new interviews with Jagger and Richards, the newspaper quotes Jagger responding to what the Stones may be planning for the band's 50th anniversary in 2012, while referencing the December 2011 jam sessions.
"It all sounds great, and I'm sure we're going to do lots and lots of wonderful things," says Mick Jagger, who isn't participating in those sessions. "What the future may hold is known only to God and myself. I'll talk after we've done it rather than before."
The USA Today article is mostly about the 2011 remastered reissue of the Rolling Stones' 1978 album "Some Girls," which had its worldwide release on November 21. Jagger and Richards talked about choosing the songs that are the previously unreleased bonus tracks on the "Some Girls" reissue:
"Some have been out in bootleg form," says Mick Jagger, 68, who searched the vaults with producer Don Was. "There were a few surprises. Some songs were more finished and just had to be mixed. And some didn't have any lyrics or were very fragmentary. Some were too demo-sounding, and I just threw them out."
In fleshing out the tunes, "we kept everything in context," says Keith Richards, 67. "You don't want to fool around too much and pretty them up with digital extras. Leave it in its own time."
Jagger and Richards also addressed the possibility of more Rolling Stones albums getting similar deluxe reissue treatments as "Exile on Main Street" and "Some Girls."
"We had this idea that we'd reinvigorate certain albums by finding other songs recorded in that time that would hold up," Jagger says. "That sounded like a better idea than doing mindless compilations."
Richards adds: "If there's something interesting that helps to understand the album, let's do it. Otherwise, I'm not one to rehash stuff. We do have so much in the can. We've been around a while, you know?"
As previously reported, the Rolling Stones lauunched the website StonesArchives.com on November 17, 2011, to give fans access to rare Rolling Stones music and memorabilia.
Ronnie Wood, Charlie Watts, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger at a Berlin Film Festival photo call for "Shine a Light" on February 7, 2008
Ronnie Wood, Charlie Watts, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger at a Berlin Film Festival photo call for "Shine a Light" on February 7, 2008