Another clue: If you want a signed, numbered, and personally dedicated copy
of Ronnie's painting, the deadline for buying it is Sept 4th. Why Sept 4th?
Why so soon? Why not til closer to Christmas? Could it be that we will be
receiving new info right after Sept 4th that will change our perception of
this painting's importance?
Also, a shouted "My dude!" to IORR's Topi, a very fair and fun
sometime-critic of mine and an excellent provider of solid info
But I do have to say, dear Topi, that "rocking the blues" never made it
to my list of serious speculations. It was just the best place-holder
name that I could come up with that captured the broad mega-nature
of the upcoming album. I came up with about a dozen names before
that with the same theme, from "Everything but (the kitchen sink)" to
"Everything Butt" to "A Dog's Breakfast"
The theme, not the name, was/is the serious speculation.
I knew Mick would top me, which he has, with "Blacksmiths",
a perfect metaphor for the Stones, a perfect concept to guide us
on this journey through the musical history of the last 100 years,
courtesy of its most important band, the creators of by far its most
important body of work
So yeah, 50 tracks, why not? They've got 100s to choose from...
(And really its only 25 tracks, quite a few with co-writers, with the
rest being covers. And you're gonna have to buy at least five different
versions of the album to get all 50 tracks. Many long-timers will probably
be happiest with the first version, the most-Charlie version, the most
classic version. The other versions will be released in subsequent weeks )