Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!: Day 291 - The Rolling Stones

12X5 - The Rolling Stones

London (US Release)

Produced by Andrew Loog Oldham

Released 17th October 1964 

US Chart #3

Personnel

The Rolling Stones
    Mick Jagger – lead vocals, harmonica, percussion
    Keith Richards – acoustic and electric guitar, backing vocals
    Brian Jones – electric and acoustic guitar, harmonica, tambourine, maracas, organ on "If You Need Me", backing vocals
    Charlie Watts – drums
    Bill Wyman – bass guitar, backing vocals, percussion

Additional musicians
    Ian Stewart – piano, organ

Singles/EPs on 12X5

5X5 EP

Decca Records

UK Release

14th August 1964

UK Chart #1

Where the 5X5 EP was not released in the USA the next two singles that are also on the 12X5 Album did get released

It's All Over Now / Good Times Bad Times

Decca Records

Released 26th June 1964 (UK)

UK Chart #1

London Records (US)

24th July 1964

US Chart #26

 Time Is On My Side / Congratulations

London Records (US Release)

26th September 1964

US Chart #6

Notes:

The 12X5 album didn't get a UK release until 1995 when it was reissued on Vinyl and on CD.

A number of tracks from 12X5 were used on the Second Studio Album - Number 2 - released in the UK three months later. Time On My Side features a guitar intro rather than the organ intro used on the American release. Grown Up Wrong, Under The Broadwalk and Susie Q were also used from the 12X5 Album.

The same front cover artwork as 12X5 was used.

Number 2

Decca Records (UK Release)

Produced by Andrew Loog Oldham

Released 15th January 1965

UK Chart #1

******************

On this day in musical history The Rolling Stones released their second Studio album - 12X5 - in the USA (their second in the UK would appear in January 1965).

The album is mostly Cover Versions but it does contain three Jagger/Richards songs and the mysterious Nanker Phelge for the song Empty Heart (Nanker Phelge was actually a collective Pseudonym used between 1963-65 for several songs recorded by the Stones and anything credited to Nanker Phelge refers to a Mick Jagger/Brian Jones/Keith Richards/Charlie Watts/Bill Wyman collaborative composition. You can read a little bit more and see what other songs fell under this Credit here).

Five songs on the album were originally released as an EP in the UK entitled 5X5 but London Records in the US were not keen on the format and decided to use the five tracks and add another seven, making it 12X5. The five tracks along with It's All Over Now were recorded at Chess Records Studio in Chicago.

There's a funny story regarding the recording of It's All Over Now that's worth telling. The song written by Bobby and Shirley Womack and released early 1964 by The Womack Brothers under the name The Valentinos (Produced by Sam Cooke) came to the attention of The Rolling Stones when they were in New York and DJ Murray the K played it on his show during an interview with the group. Nine days later they would record the song at the famous Chess Studio in Chicago, but not before Bobby Womack began kicking up a fuss as he did not want them to record a version of it. He had basically told Jagger to "get his own song!" Womack's manager finally convinced him to allow the recording to go ahead. Six months later, after the song had become the Stones' first UK #1 single, on reception of the royalty cheque for the song he told his manager that Mick Jagger could have any song he wanted!

I want to Dedicate this post today to

my friend Hughie.

He's one of the most passionate fans of The Rolling Stones that I know of.

Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!

Rewind: Exile on Main St - Rolling Stones (1972)

I'm not a huge fan of the Rolling Stones though I do have a fondness for a lot of their early singles and a few of their albums as well (Aftermath, Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, and Sticky Fingers) though after Exile On Main St there's only really tracks from various albums I liked.

I may get shot down for saying it but I think Exile On Main St was their last great complete body of work.

I won't go into all the details of how the album was made, better to go and have a read of Sean O'Hagan's piece for The Guardian back in 2010.

As today is the anniversary of its release I thought I'd stick it up on here just incase you might wish to indulge in some great tunes.

Exile on Main Street - Rolling Stones

Rolling Stones

Produced by Jimmy Miller

Released 12th May 1972

UK Album Chart #1

US Album Chart #1

Original Tracklist for the 2LP Set

A1     Rocks Off     4:33
A2     Rip This Joint     2:24
A3     Shake Your Hips     2:58
A4     Casino Boogie     3:30
A5     Tumbling Dice     3:30
 

B1     Sweet Virginia     4:25
B2     Torn And Frayed     3:40
B3     Sweet Black Angel     3:05
B4     Loving Cup     4:22
 

C1     Happy     3:00
C2     Turd On The Run     2:33
C3     Ventilator Blues     3:20
C4     I Just Want To See His Face     3:15
C5     Let It Loose     5:17
 

D1     All Down The Line     3:50
D2     Stop Breaking Down     4:34
D3     Shine A Light     4:15
D4     Soul Survivor     3:50

Personnel
    Mick Jagger – lead vocals, harmonica, percussion; rhythm guitar on "Tumbling Dice" and "Stop Breaking Down"
    Keith Richards – guitars, backing vocals; lead vocals on "Happy"; electric piano on "I Just Want to See His Face"; bass guitar on "Casino Boogie", "Happy" and "Soul Survivor"; lead guitar on "Tumbling Dice"
    Mick Taylor – guitars, slide guitar; bass guitar on "Tumbling Dice", "Torn and Frayed", "I Just Want to See His Face" and "Shine a Light"
    Bill Wyman – bass guitar
    Charlie Watts – drums

Additional personnel
    Nicky Hopkins – piano
    Bobby Keys – saxophone; percussion on "Happy"
    Jim Price – trumpet, trombone, organ on "Torn and Frayed"
    Ian Stewart – piano on "Shake Your Hips", "Sweet Virginia" and "Stop Breaking Down"
    Jimmy Miller – drums on "Tumbling Dice" (the outro), "Happy" and "Shine a Light", percussion on "Sweet Black Angel", "Loving Cup", "I Just Want to See His Face" and "All Down the Line"
    Bill Plummer – upright bass on "Rip This Joint", "Turd on the Run", "I Just Want to See His Face" and "All Down the Line"
    Billy Preston – piano and organ on "Shine a Light"
    Al Perkins – pedal steel guitar on "Torn and Frayed"
    Richard Washington – marimba on "Sweet Black Angel"
    Clydie King, Venetta Fields – backing vocals on "Tumbling Dice", "I Just Want to See His Face", "Let It Loose" and "Shine a Light"
    Joe Green – backing vocals on "Let It Loose" and "Shine a Light"
    Gram Parsons – backing vocals on "Sweet Virginia"
    Chris Shepard – tambourine on "Turd on the Run"
    Jerry Kirkland – backing vocals on "I Just Want to See His Face" and "Shine a Light"
    Mac Rebennack, Shirley Goodman, Tami Lynn – backing vocals on "Let It Loose"
    Kathi McDonald – backing vocals on "All Down the Line"

Rewind: 1968 - Rolling Stones Release 'Street Fighting Man'

On this day in 1968 Decca Records released what has been called The Rolling Stones most political song, 'Street Fighting Man', written after Mick Jagger attended a March 1968 anti-war rally at London's US embassy, during which mounted police attempted to control a crowd of 25,000. The single was kept out of the US Top 40 (reaching No.48) because many radio stations refused to play it based on what were perceived as subversive lyrics.

The song has been covered down through the years by:

The Black Crowes.

Bruce Springsteen.

Motley Crue.

Pearl Jam.

Oasis.

Roger Daltrey.

Rage Against the Machine.

Rod Stewart.

Lynch Mob.

The Chesterfield Kings.

The Ramones.

Rose Tattoo.

Walter Lure.

Johnny Thunders.

 

 

The Who v The Stones

A lot has been said the past couple of days about The Rolling Stones show at the O2 in the London the other night and it seems people have been falling over themselves to give big ups to Jagger and Co. for a job well done. I don't for a minute discount that on their night they are pretty good live but from the evidence of tv footage and you tube footage that I've watched Jagger sounds just a little rough around the edges! I mean, he was never the world's greatest singers in the first place but being in good voice for a show of this magnitude and the fact that the punters have spent their hard earned cash to get even a "cheap seat", you would have thought that Jagger would have stepped up his game just a little.

On the other side of the pond at the moment those other 1960's icons, The Who have been laying waste to audiences with fantastic performances of 'Quadrophenia'. The Who are sounding just as good as they have done for years. Daltrey is in fine voice and I'm sure that his recent solo tour had a lot to do with how good he sounds at the moment. Townshend as well is sounding good, he was never a great vocalist either but he's sounding a lot better than Jagger is!

If given the choice of a ticket for either The Who or The Rolling Stones I wouldn't have to think too much about it. The Who would win out everytime!

The Rolling Stones - Yet Another Greatest Hits!

There appears to be a lot of excitement at the moment about this up and coming release by The Rolling Stones. The Guardian newspaper had an article online that declared 'Rolling Stones to release first new music since 2005'. The only problem is that it's actually only two new songs! Two new songs in seven years! I know they are getting on in years but really, two songs!!

Once again their discography has been plundered to put together yet another compilation of "Greatest Hits". It's actually quite shocking that they now have more compilations (30) than studio albums (29)! The price of the Super Deluxe Edition though is shocking I think. Okay there are a few extras included but really, are these boxsets worth the money? So many labels and artists seem to be doing this kind of thing these days and whilst I'm sure that serious collectors will go out of the way to purchase it, personally I think it doesn't really have enough to warrent such a high price.

If they wanted to do something good they should have taken a leaf out of the book of The Kinks. Their 'At the BBC' box set contains 129 tracks over 5 CD's and a DVD with live footage of concert and tv performances, all for the nice price of  £40.67! Personally speaking I know where my money would go if I was given the choice of which one I wanted!

From The Rolling Stones website
The Rolling Stones, ABKCO Music and Records and Universal Music Group are pleased to announce the release of GRRR! by the Rolling Stones on the 12th November 2012 for the world, excluding North America, and on the 13th November 2012 in North America.
Available in five different formats, including a three-CD 50 track version including 50 tracks, and a four-CD super-deluxe version gathering a whopping 80 tracks, the collection tells the fascinating ongoing story of the Greatest Rock’n'Roll Band In The World, from their high octane version of Chuck Berry’s “Come On”, their first single issued in June 1963, via the thrilling chart-toppers “The Last Time”, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”, “Get Off Of My Cloud”, “Jumping Jack Flash”, “Honky Tonk Women” and the perennial juke-box and concert favourites “Brown Sugar”, “Tumbling Dice”, “Miss You” and “Start Me Up”, all the way to the present day with the inclusion of “Gloom And Doom” and “One More Shot”, two new studio recordings recently completed by the group in Paris, France in August 2012.
These brand new recordings constitute the first time Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood have all been together in the recording studio since completing the exalted A Bigger Bang album in 2005, and follow on from the critically-acclaimed expanded re-releases of the historic 40th Anniversary live Madison Square Garden concert Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out in November 2009, and of two of their seventies masterworks, Exile on Main St., in May 2010, and Some Girls, in November 2011.
All GRRR! formats will feature a striking painting by award-winning American artist Walton Ford, who has created the latest in a long line of iconic artwork that has always been part of the band’s DNA.

GRRR! GREATEST HITS FORMATS:
50 Track 3CD album
3CD / 50 tracks in a digipack with 24 page booklet
50 Track 3CD Deluxe Edition
3CD / 50 tracks in a DVD size box with 36 page hardback book and 5 postcards
Super Deluxe Edition Box Set
4CD / 80 tracks plus Bonus CD, 7″ Vinyl, Hardback book, Poster, 5 postcards in a presentation box
12” Vinyl Box Set
5x 12″ Vinyl / 50 tracks in a casebound LP Box