Mick Jagger Discusses SuperHeavy Collaboration

By DERRIK J. LANG AP Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES July 6, 2011 (AP)





Mick Jagger isn't sure where his latest musical creation will end up on iTunes.

The Rolling Stones rocker has teamed up with Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart, reggae maestro Damian Marley, soul songtress Joss Stone and "Slumdog Millionaire" composer A.R. Rahman for SuperHeavy, a new group fusing their different styles on an as-yet untitled album set for release Sept. 20 in the United States, and a day before in the rest of the world.

"What bit of iTunes genres does it go on? The unknowable? Isn't there an unknown section?" Jagger joked during a preview event last week at Jim Henson Studios, where the group recorded some of their eclectic music.

Stewart called the collaboration wide-ranging. The recording process began in Hollywood with the entire group, but they also recorded separately. Other recordings took place in Florida, France, Greece, Turkey, India and the Caribbean. Stewart said the group recorded about 35 hours of music with some songs originally lasting "an hour and 10 minutes" before they were whittled down.

One of seven tracks teased Thursday included "Miracle Worker," the first single off the album, which features the vocalists crooning: "Ooh, you're a miracle worker/Ooh, you're the surgeon of love." The group filmed a music video last Wednesday for the mid-tempo track, which like most of the music previewed, combined rock, soul, reggae and world music.

"Working with four other vocalists was interesting to me," said Jagger. "I've never actually done it before. Normally, I have to do everything, which I'm quite happy to do. Don't worry. It was kind of fun because when we had to finish it off, I realized we all had a part to play."

Jagger said the group would wait for reaction to the album before deciding if the supergroup will go on tour.

"We'll probably end up playing in the unclassified gig section," Stewart quipped.

"Yeah, in a tent at Glastonbury with the unclassifiable acts," Jagger added.

why is Mick slumming?

steel driving hammer wrote on Jul 6^th, 2011 at 9:54am:


I totally hate this crap...which is why in todays market it will no doubt be #1..........

welp, it's out there

Just downloaded it off i-tunes.

Again, I dont think its Mick's finest vocal (the first bit anyway - it gets better later on) but the song's bloody good. Both mixes. Marley and Stone's voices work together really well.

Gazza wrote on Jul 6^th, 2011 at 7:52pm:

Good God man,what time was it when you downloaded it? Like 1 in the morning local time? Because I can't DL it yet. Bit anxious are we?

They will be large in India and China thus no real need for the US market.

Mick Jagger's SuperHeavy should not be written off just yet

By Andrew Perry
07 Jul 2011

The news that Mick Jagger has put together a new band, outside the Rolling Stones, was never likely to be greeted with huge enthusiasm around the world. His latest venture, a super group appropriately called SuperHeavy, releases its debut single today, Miracle Worker, with an album, 18 months in the making, to follow in September.

On paper, the project has all the surrealism of a band put together according to the principles of fantasy football. The band initially comprised of Jagger, former Eurythmic Dave Stewart, Devon singer Joss Stone, and Bob Marley’s son Damian. Just looking at all those singers, one wonders who did all the real work (i.e. played the instruments).

To that end, perhaps, Jagger and Stewart called in A R Rahman, the Indian film composer best known for his work on Slumdog Millionaire. According to Jagger, “We thought, that’ll be different. Then we had another continent involved.” He has also revealed that he sings one song in Urdu, but that “it’s not world music per se”. The smart money is on SuperHeavy being a kind of reggae fusion. “Natty dread inna Bollywood”, as it were.

Jagger’s solo albums have always been panned – there again, so has every Stones album since Tattoo You, and that was 30 years ago. It has almost become a reflex reaction to diss Mick, as the majority of the Stones-loving world has long since sided with Keith Richards, as the man who really makes the Stones tick.

This, frankly, is a little unfair. A devil’s advocate might contest that Richards’s inflexibility, and refusal to try different things, has held the Stones back in their comfort zone, and prevented them from moving with the times.

It’s Jagger who has collaborated widely, trying to bring a contemporary zip to the band, as when he hired the then-trendy Black Grape producer, Danny Sabre, on 1997’s Bridges to Babylon album. His Wandering Spirit (1993), recorded with Rick Rubin, was arguably the best Stones solo record. Jagger definitely knows his reggae, having been instrumental in the signing of Peter Tosh, the former Wailer, to the Rolling Stones’s label in the 1970s, and having led the Stones out to Jamaica around that time for some sessions at Kingston’s Channel One studios, which were only scuppered by security issues that forced them to flee the island. And he has certainly spent plenty of time in the Caribbean.

So, SuperHeavy shouldn’t be written off just yet. In the meantime, Richards, who has been recording again with his critically and commercially unloved side project, X-pensive Winos, has reiterated his desire to tour with the Stones next year, celebrating their 50th anniversary as a live act. “I’m trying to nail [the others] down,” he told American chat show host Jimmy Fallon in May, “but I don’t want to crucify them.”

The Telegraph

A devil's advocate just might be spot on...

Digging the single, especially the Marley mix.

Fat riddim, Stone and Marley work well, and Mick fairly spits out his part.

Nice little bit o' fiddle in there...and Urdu, too.





 

‘Jai Ho’ Jagger Jams with A.R. Rahman

July 7, 2011
By Paul Beckett





A.R. Rahman, fresh from a panning for his Commonwealth Games theme song, has been collaborating of late with — how shall we say this politely? – Western rock stars most closely associated with bygone eras. Like the 80s, the 70s, and the 60s.

Today, the “Mozart of Madras” releases a single, “Miracle Worker,” as part of a new lineup called SuperHeavy (which we thought was a type of British beer.) Fronting the group is Sir Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones, the world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll band when they play together but whose individual efforts have been much less favorably received.

The new band — which also includes Dave Stewart (formerly of ‘80s sensation, the Eurythmics), Bob Marley’s son, Damian, and British singer Joss Stone — is slated to release an album in September.

Some reports suggest that this polyglot lineup will feature the singer of such ribald rock anthems as “Start Me Up,” “Brown Sugar” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” tackling a song in Urdu. In Sir Mick’s defense for what otherwise appears to be a rather ill-advised idea, we’ll note that in previous solo albums he has tackled various musical genres, from gospel to sailors’ ditties.

But the closest a Rolling Stone may have actually come to singing in another language (unless you count the way Keith Richards speaks as a language all to itself) is former bassist Bill Wyman’s “(Si, Si) Je Suis un Rock Star.” Actually, that might include at least two non-English languages.

For Mr. Rahman, however, playing with SuperHeavy would appear to be a step up when it comes to jamming with Western musicians. His latest other collaboration was a song on a new album released last month by an 80s crooner best known for his now-trimmed flowing locks. You guessed it: Michael Bolton.

The Wall Street Journal

Bet the author won't be getting a Ramadan card from A. R. this year...