Longtime Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood has released a second advance track from his upcoming career-spanning compilation, Fearless: Anthology 1965-2025, which is due out on September 26. The new tune, “Mother of Pearl,” is one of four previously unreleased new recordings appearing on Fearless.
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The song also is the only original composition out of the four new tracks. “Mother of Pearl” is a bouncy and catchy, R&B-influenced rock tune with a bit of ska flavor. The song is highlighted by Wood’s weathered lead vocals and some of his trademark guitar riffs.
Acclaimed Irish singer Imelda May contributed soulful harmony vocals. The musicians who accompanied Wood on the track included longtime Pink Floyd/David Gilmour touring bassist Guy Pratt, longtime Rolling Stones touring keyboardist Matt Clifford, and respected session drummer Ian Thomas. In addition, Sean Genockey played acoustic guitar on the song. Genockey co-produced “Mother of Pearl” and the other three new tracks on Fearless with Ronnie’s son Jesse Wood.
“Mother of Pearl” is available now as a digital download and via streaming services. You can check out a lyric video for the tune at Wood’s official YouTube channel.
More About the Fearless Compilation
Fearless: Anthology 1965-2025 will be available as a 38-track two-CD set and a 20-song two-LP vinyl collection. The compilation, which can be pre-orderd now, features highlights from the various bands and artists with whom Wood has recorded, as well as from his own solo releases. The 78-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer’s work with The Birds, The Creation, the Jeff Beck Group, the Faces, Rod Stewart, and, of course, The Rolling Stones is represented on the CD compilation. The LP set doesn’t include songs by The Birds or The Creation.
Most of the songs on the retrospective were written or co-written by Wood.
Fearless also includes an extensive new essay penned by music writer and author Paul Sexton, who has interviewed Wood and his Stones bandmates many times over the years.
The CD version of Fearless begins with a “You’re on My Mind,” a 1964 song Wood wrote for his early group The Birds. That’s followed by “The Girls Are Naked,” a 1968 tune Ronnie co-wrote during his brief tenure with The Creation. The LP collection opens with “Plynth (Water Down the Drain),” a tune Wood co-wrote with Stewart and keyboardist Nicky Hopkins that appeared on the Jeff Beck Group’s classic 1969 album Beck-Ola.
More Info About the Songs on Fearless
The CD and vinyl versions of Fearless both include such Faces classics as “Stay with Me” and “Ooh La La.” They also feature the Stewart solo gems “Gasoline Alley” and “Every Picture Tells a Story.”
In addition, the compilation boasts some interesting Wood collaborations from his solo releases. Among them is “Far East Man,” a song he co-wrote with George Harrison” that’s featured on Ronnie’s 1974 solo debut, I’ve Got My Own Album to Do. Another solo tune from the compilation, “I Can Say She’s Alright” (1975) was co-written with R&B legend Bobby Womack.
Fearless also features “Thing About You,” which Wood co-wrote with ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons and longtime Rolling Stones backing singer Bernard Fowler. It originally appeared on Ronnie’s 2010 album, I Feel Like Playing.
Several Rolling Stones tunes that Wood co-wrote with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are featured on Fearless as well. They include “Dance (Pt. 1),” “Everything Is Turning to Gold,” “No Use in Crying,” and “Pretty Beat Up.
The compilation ends with the four new Wood recordings. One of those tracks, a cover of “You’re So Fine,” a 1956 R&B tune originally recorded by The Falcons, was released as the first advance single from Fearless. Like “Mother of Pearl,” it features May on backing vocals.
The other two new Wood songs on the compilation are covers of the 1961 Ernie K-Doe R&B classic “A Certain Girl” and Jamaican-born singer Hopeton Lewis’s 1966 rocksteady hit “Take It Easy.” The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde lends her vocal talents to Wood’s rendition of “A Certain Girl.”
(Courtesy of BMG)
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