But he’s since changed his mind…
Mick Jagger has revealed he wasn’t keen on releasing three Rolling Stones songs from the band’s archives, because he initially thought they were “terrible”.
The tracks, including ‘Criss Cross’, ‘All the Rage’ and the Jimmy Page-featuring ‘Scarlet’, were initially recorded during sessions for the band’s 1973 record Goats Head Soup, but never featured on the full release.
They have now been included as bonus tracks on a new version of the album, which arrives this Friday.
When bosses at Universal Music Group execs first told Jagger they had discovered the tracks in the band’s archives, he admitted he was against the idea.
“They said, ‘We’ve found these three tracks’,” he told The Sunday Times.
“I said, ‘They’re all terrible.’ That’s always my initial reaction, ‘They’re all useless!’ I mean, actually, I always liked the songs, but they weren’t finished”.
Jagger eventually changed his mind when he realised the group could iron out the imperfections and bring the tracks up to scratch.
“Sonically they still sound like they were recorded then, even if they weren’t perfect,” Jagger said.
“You can make them sound a little better than they did. But I think these three songs are all up there with the rest of the songs on this record”.
‘Goats Head Soup 2020’ will be released on Friday (4 September) and comes after the band remixed ‘Scarlet’ with the likes of The Killers and The War On Drugs.
Legendary guitar Jimmy Page, who features on ‘Scarlet’, recently recounted his experiences of meeting the band for the first time.