The Rolling Stones to release 3-CD album

The Rolling Stones are to release their first new studio recordings for seven years as they announced plans to repackage their greatest hits once again.

The band will include the two songs Gloom And Doom and One Last Shot - completed in Paris in the past few weeks - on the album GRRR! which is being released to celebrate the band's 50th anniversary.

The three-CD album will include 50 tracks covering the band's career when it is released in November, while a "super deluxe" version will include 80 tracks.

The band had teased fans to expect a "special announcement" today which had led to speculation the band would give details about live shows. A US report had suggested the band had been lining up a pair of shows at London's O2 Arena plus two New York concerts.

The new collection follows the hits package Forty Licks, released in 2002 to mark the band's 40th anniversary.

They have released just one studio album since then, A Bigger Bang in 2005, and they have not made the top 10 in the UK during that period. The band's last top 10 hit was in 1981.

Frontman Sir Mick Jagger had effectively given the game away about new recordings when he posted a picture of himself in the studio last month.

The album sleeve will feature a painting by US artist Walton Ford.

In July, the group celebrated 50 years since they played their first gig by attending a photographic exhibition looking back over their career. The band - Ronnie Wood, Keith Richards, Sir Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts - also posed for a photograph in front of a mock-up of the exterior of London's Marquee Club where they made their debut.

PA