2017 Album Preview: Must-Hear LPs From Rolling Stones, Jay Z and More
With Blackstar, Lemonade, The Life of Pablo, Blonde, Views, Coloring Book and more having already dropped since the beginning of the year – and both Lady Gaga's Joanne and a Drake-Kanye collaborative LP still purportedly on the way – 2016 will be tough to beat in terms of major album releases. But big things are already brewing for next year. Here's everything we know about 2017's most-anticipated records, including LCD Soundsystem's comeback, the Rolling Stones' new blues odyssey and Jay Z's post-Lemonade opus.
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The Rolling Stones
Keith Richards confirms that the Stones are deep into making their first album since 2005's A Bigger Bang. "It was fun – always is!" he says, describing a recent London session where they cut several songs in only two days. Richards has said the album will have "a lot of Chicago blues," including material by Little Walter and Howlin' Wolf. Eric Clapton even played on a couple of songs, which Richards said felt "like old times down in Richmond [London]," where both acts played the Crawdaddy Club in the Sixties.
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Arcade Fire
Guitarist Win Butler recently said to expect the band's fifth album next spring. Arcade Fire have been recording in Montreal and Paris between summer festival dates, which multi-instrumentalist Tim Kingsbury said the band booked to "put a little burst of energy back into the process."
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U2
The Edge said the band is "busting our ass" on Songs of Experience, the follow-up to 2014's Songs of Innocence. U2 have scrapped many ideas left over from previous sessions in favor of new material that the Edge has compared to Zooropa. They've reportedly worked with producers including Ryan Tedder, Danger Mouse and Jacknife Lee. A spokeswoman for the band said the LP is "definitely not coming this year."
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Jay Z
Jay has been largely silent since Beyoncé's heartbreak opus Lemonade. That may change soon: His friend Jermaine Dupri recently said Jay's 13th album is done and titled, and Roc Nation rapper Vic Mensa said, "I've heard a little bit of some Hov shit, and it's fresh as fuck."
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LCD Soundsystem
When James Murphy announced in January that his band would be re-forming after five years, he added that it was already working on its first album since 2010's This Is Happening. It appears he's keeping his promise. LCD recently canceled a November appearance at a festival in Hong Kong due to "studio scheduling conflicts related to their new album."
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Lorde
Earlier this summer, Lorde said she "took a helicopter out into the wilderness, spent three days alone writing and made some exciting breakthroughs." It now appears she's close to releasing her follow-up to 2013's Pure Heroine: "I've worked like a dog for a year making this thing great for you guys," she wrote on Instagram recently. "The record is written – we're in the production stage now." Rumored producers include Flume and Jack Antonoff.