Rolling Stones: "The closer the better"

The Rolling Stones' new album, A Bigger Bang, is earning the band some of their best reviews in years, with critics remarking on the high number of classic-sounding Stones songs on the disc. Guitarist Keith Richards told us that he thinks it's because he and frontman Mick Jagger spent time writing the songs together, like they did on 1972's Exile On Main Street:
[ click here to listen if you have a Backstage Pass] "Those songs have always been there. They pass through our whole career. Certainly to me, and I think to Mick, too, that the closer we work the better it gets. And we'd gotten so used to, after Exile, of having to get used to writing songs 3,000 miles apart that we sorta figured that was the modus operandi from now on. But this one once again proved us wrong. We don't know everything, man!"

Jagger and Richards worked on the songs at Jagger's chateau in the south of France, while drummer Charlie Watts was being treated for throat cancer and guitarist Ron Wood was in alcohol rehab.

A Bigger Bang features 16 songs from those sessions.

The Stones continue their world tour on Thursday, September 8th, with a concert in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The group also appears on Thursday, September 8th on the NFL Opening Kickoff special, airing at 8:00 P.M. ET on ABC in America. They will also be part of the ReAct Now: Music & Relief telethon, airing commercial-free from 8:00 to 11:00 P.M. ET on Saturday (September 10th) on MTV, VH1, CMT, VH1 Classic, and MTV2.
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