A collection of 13 songs by the rock and roll band The Rolling Stones has been unearthed by archivists at the BBC.

The tracks are live performances specially recorded for BBC programmes and were believed to have been lost.

Among them is "Cops and Robbers" a Bo Diddley track which was covered by the Rolling Stones.

Never previously released, and never heard since the original broadcasts, the track is one of around 42 titles which the band recorded for radio in the early 1960s.

At that time the Stones were beginning to take off as they performed covers of rhythm and blues songs by artists including Diddley, Chuck Berry and Solomon Burke.

R n' B was a wildly new and exotic music form and the Stones brought all their angry energy to their versions of the music.

Those involved in the making of the recordings are currently negotiating to release a collection of these songs on CD.

Back to top | BBC News Home | BBC Homepage	©