Road Style The Stones’ New Album, ‘Stripped,’ Was Recorded While They Were On Tour And ‘Red Hot’

The Rolling Stones are taking a trip through the past, lightly.

Their “Stripped” album, to be released worldwide by Virgin Records on Nov. 14, sees the British rock legends presenting 14 tracks in back-to-basics, yet still instantly recognizable, style.

Perhaps as a reaction to the pomp and spectacle of their record-breaking Voodoo Lounge tour, the album was recorded acoustically, partly at the Stones’ club dates earlier this year at the Olympia Theatre in Paris and the Paradiso Club in Amsterdam. Other songs were recorded in rehearsal at the Toshiba-EMI Studios in Tokyo and in Lisbon, Portugal, all produced by Don Was during the record-breaking Voodoo Lounge tour.

“It’s the first time we’ve made an album on the road,” says Keith Richards, who co-produced the set with Mick Jagger and Was. “You’re either usually on tour or you’re making a record, but I realized this could be quite interesting, because we could have the band red hot, road style.”

Says Nancy Berry, executive vice president of Virgin Music Group, worldwide, “This is something different. This is something that the Stones, in their 30-year career, haven’t done before.”

With the worldwide sales of “Voodoo Lounge” exceeding 5 million copies, Virgin has high hopes for “Stripped,” Berry says. “I would expect that this album could certainly mirror the ‘Voodoo Lounge’ sales,” she says, “and obviously we are hoping that it can go above that quite significantly.”

Aside from featuring another side of the Stones musically, the CD offers technological innovation. Although not technically a CD Plus, “Stripped”’ offers the computer user equipped with a CD-ROM drive a number of interactive features, such as lyrics, interviews, and an illustrated discography.

Also included is footage of Richards and guitarist Ronnie Wood doing a version of “Shattered” and Jagger singing “Tumbling Dice” in the dressing room. Even with its interactive elements, the CD will sell for $17.98.

“We had a lot of material left over and space left over on the disc,” says Berry, “so we decided it would be a nice bonus to give the consumer something of an interactive nature.”

The CD also contains a “trailer” for the release of the “Voodoo Lounge” CD-ROM. Virgin will also launch on the Internet a new Rolling Stones World Wide Web site tied into the album’s release.

In addition, Virgin is preparing a TV special in conjunction with the release of “Stripped.” The label is having discussions with MTV and other networks about airing the program, which should run sometime between the album’s release and Christmas, Berry says.

Since the special was in production at press time, Berry could not reveal specifics, but she says, “It will have live footage from the Paradiso shows.”

Richards and Jagger say that the reasoning behind “Stripped” was to present something markedly different from the Stones’ five previous live albums.

Richards says, “My brief from Virgin Records was, ‘Don’t just do the obligatory live album.’ They said, ‘We don’t want a live album; we want an unplugged album.’ So I’m thinking, ‘All unplugged albums are live.’ So already we’re dealing with a contradiction. Then comes the word ‘acoustic.’ Well, the minute you put a microphone in front of a guitar, it’s no longer acoustic. Anyway, I gathered in the end that what they were talking about was a certain feeling.”

Jagger enthuses about the European club dates where some of the tracks were recorded.

“They gave the whole thing a fillip,” Jagger says. “We didn’t do any in America, because we were really busy, but for the European tour, we said we should really do these just for fun and get a change of pace and scenery.”

Says Richards, a longtime fan of the Stones’ traditional “secret” club dates, “The idea of not being able to do that at all is horrifying. The only way we can touch base as a band is to go eyeball to eyeball at the Academy (in Brixton, south London) or the Paradiso.”

He adds, “To try and tour and make a record at the same time, you’re biting off a lot. But the minute the tour finishes, everyone’s flat on their back, and the energy dissipates immediately. So to me, this was a unique situation, and I’ve got to take my hat off to (drummer) Charlie (Watts) and (bassist) Darryl Jones - what a rhythm section.”

Even after its yearlong run, which grossed more than $300 million, the “Voodoo Lounge” has not yet closed for business. “We’re only on a winter break,” says Richards.

The band reconvenes in Bombay, India, on Feb. 26 for a March 1 opening on the tour’s closing leg in the Far East.