New reporting states the long wait for a new Rolling Stones album is nearly over. Last week, the band was photographed entering and leaving Manhattan’s famed Electric Lady studio in the Village, presumably working on their first album of original material since 2005’s A Bigger Bang.

An inside source told Britain’s The Sun, that a new album is expected in the summer of 2023, after which the band will hit North and South America along with a swing through Europe: “After Charlie (Watts’) passing there was some uncertainty about what to do next. They had stadium dates scheduled so pressed ahead, but afterwards it wasn’t clear what the future looked like. But now they’ve had time to reflect they all feel it’s the right thing to keep doing what they’ve always done as a band, make new music and hopefully hit the road again to perform it to their fans.”

The unnamed insider added, “They’ve had a knock in recent years, but the show goes on — and the Stones always do.”

Keith Richards says that he and Mick Jagger still rely on spontaneity every time they sit down to write new material for the Stones: “Mick and I, sometimes just before we start making an album, say ‘Well, what kind of album do we wanna make?’ (Laughs) and I say, ‘Mick, a Rolling Stones album (laughs).’ It’s about as far as I can narrow it down. It’s really a matter of surprising yourself as about what’s coming out. I mean, if I knew everything that was to be played, it’d probably sound as dead, as dead as a door nail, y’know?”

The Rolling Stones were actually recording a new album when the December 2015 sessions morphed into the blues tracks that made up 2016’s Grammy Award-winning Blue & Lonesome collection. Stones producer Don Was maintains that there is ample original material already in the can: “It’s really too early to . . . how many songs that we’ve actually recorded will make a record in the future. Y’know, we cut 30 to get at least 15. So, there’s all kinds of stuff. And that’s why I say I couldn’t even tell you what’s going to stand the test of time, and very little of it has gone past the initial tracking date.”