Hi everyone
In the past people on this board have kindly reviewed my sleevenotes for the Rolling Stones: Beginnings CDs. These CDs catalogue the cover versions performed by the Stones in chronological order. Please find below the notes I have written for the next volume. Any comments and corrections would be most welcome. Thanks in advance.

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The Rolling Stones Beginnings: Volume Two
1962 – 1965: Yesterday’s Papers

Sleevenotes

Volume One of ‘Rolling Stones: Beginnings’ revealed how the Stones seized the opportunity to turn the UK onto the blues. Inevitably they did this through cover versions of the artists they revered. Whilst this was a very public way of showing some respect it also meant the Stones had a killer live set even before the songwriting of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards caught up with the bands ability to galvanise an audience. This second volume follows in the footsteps of its predecessor but focuses on some of the less well-known cover versions recorded during this time.

On May 25 1995 a reel-to-reel tape was sold by Christie’s auction house for £52,250. Credited to Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys this is the only legacy left behind by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards first group together (the other members were Dick Taylor, Alan Etherington and Bob Beckwith). The tape included March 1962 versions of I Ain’t Got You, You’re Right I’m Left She’s Gone, Little Queenie , Don’t Want No Woman, Beautiful Delilah and La Bamba. Of these six tracks I Ain’t Got You and Beautiful Delilah became familiar when recorded by Clapton-era Yardbirds and The Kinks respectively. In Keith Richards autobiography Life he refers to Your Right I’m Left She’s Gone as being on the first LP he bought at a time when “Elvis dominated the landscape” and that it was his signature tune during acoustic sessions in the cloakroom at Sidcup Art College in 1959. Of these tracks only Little Queenie was ever released officially by the Stones when it was included on 1970’s ‘Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out!’, a sizzling live album recorded on the previous years US tour. The live version of Little Queenie was recorded at New York’s Madison Square Gardens on November 28 1969. Sixth Stone Ian Stewart’s piano can be heard poking out from underneath one of Chick Berry’s most endearing lyrics that could have been custom written for Jagger (“If it’s a slow song we’ll omit it, but if it’s a rocker that’ll get it”).

The next evolutionary step was a gig at the Marquee in July 1962 when under the name the Rollin” Stones Jagger, Richards, Jones and Stewart were backed by a rhythm section of Dick Taylor on bass and Tony Chapman on drums. Included in their set was Bad Boy, Bright Lights Big City, Back In The USA, Big Boss Man and Dust My Blues. None of these tracks were ever officially released by the Stones, nor did they persist in the live set much beyond 1964. Subsequently recorded at IBC studios in March 1963 Bright Lights Big City later became the title track of one of the earliest Stones bootleg LPs. Dust My Blues revealed Brian Jones’ love for its writer Elmore James – indeed when Jagger and Richards first encountered Jones at Alexis Corners Ealing Jazz Club in April 1962 he was playing revelatory slide guitar under the name of Elmo Lewis.

The Rollin’ Stones then made a record, albeit only an acetate (demo disc). On Saturday 26 October the Marquee line up entered jazz guitarist Curly Clayton’s studio near the old Arsenal foot ball ground in Highgate, North London. According to Bill Wyman there was a single microphone in the middle of the room and sound balance was achieved by moving instruments around the room. The tracks recorded were Bo Diddley’s You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover, Muddy Waters Soon Forgotten and Jimmy Reed’s Close Together. The band sent a copy of the acetate to Neville Skrimshire at EMI Records and someone at Decca told Tony Chapman “You’ll never get anywhere with that singer.”

We have the BBC to thank that the Stones version of the Coasters I’m A Hog For You Baby was recorded, as it was never released officially. Recorded on April 23rd in the Maida Vale studio it was an audition for the BBC: the band did not pass. The track shows the bands ability to move beyond straight rhythm and blues and embrace the poppier sound of writers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Dr Feelgood – a band who very much took their musical direction from the first two Stones LPs – later performed a stunning live version of this complete with Wilko Johnson one-note guitar solo.

Another Leiber/Stoller composition was attempted on July 16th when the Stomnes, Producer Michael Barclay and engineer Gus Dudgeon attempted to record a version of Poison Ivy at Decca Studios in West Hampstead. This was to be the follow up to debut si ngle Come On but the Stones hated the result and the track was eventually released as a track on the Saturday Club compilation LP. A second version that lacked percussion during the chorus was released by mistake on the remastered version of the More Hot Rocks compilation CD. Eventually an entirely new version was recorded at De Lane Lea in November 1963 and this was the version included on the Stones UK EP released in January 1964. Recorded at the same session was Chuck Berry’s Bye Bye Johnny, also included on the EP. A second version was recorded for the BBC on February 3rd 1964 and broadcast five days later on Saturday Club (by now the band had passed their audition).

Eight years later the song was exhumed for the 1972 American tour. As result it features in the film ”Ladies and Gentlemen:The Rolling Stones”, originally released only to cinemas but now available on DVD. The version here was recorded on June 25 at the first show at the Hofheinz pavilion, Housaton, Texas. By now the band included a brass section and Brian Jones was replaced by Mick Taylor on lead guitar. Despite this the version of Bye Bye Johnny stays true to its roots and swings just like Chuck intended.

A further appearance on BBC Saturday Club featured Memphis Tennessee, yet another song never officially released. The definitive version would be released by The Faces on their “A Nod’s As Good As A Wink’ LP featuring Stone-to-be Ronnie Wood. Also recorded at this BBC session on September 23rd, was a version of Barrett Strong’s Money. The lyric “Money, That’s What I Want” were surely irresistible to LSE student Mick Jagger (degree subject: econmics) and the song featured regularly in their live sets such as that played on the 22nd September: Crawdaddy Club, Richmond, Athletic Ground. A second version was recorded as part of the De Lane Lea sessions and released on the UK EP.

The day after the Crawdady gig Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts recorded a 'Saturday Club' session at the Playhouse Theatreproviding the rhythm section for Bo Diddley. They were joined by Jerome Green (maracas) and ’Duchess’ Norma-Jean Wofford on guitar. The tracks recorded were Bo Diddley, Road Runner, Hey Bo Diddley and Pretty Thing. This final track featured Brian Jones on harmonica. All four tracks were broadcast on October 26 1963._ Bo said that Brian was “the only white cat that ever got my rhythm” and wanted the Stones to back him on tour (Loog declined)

February 24th and 25th 1964 saw the band recording with Andrew Oldham “producing” and Bill Farley engineering a version of Over You at Regent Sound Studio. The song was never officially released and vanished from view until a Regent Sound studio acetate was sold at auction in 1995 with Good Times, Bad Times on the flip. By contrast I’m Alright was played extensively. It was first heard at the NME Pollwinners Concert at Wembley Empire Pool on April 25 1964, followed by the Royal Albert Hall on April 27 and the TAMI TV show in Santa Monica, California on October 28 and 29 before being recorded live by Glyn Johns on the March 1965 UK tour for the subsequent EP Got Live If You Want it. Now that the TAMI show has been officially released it is possible to see It’s Alright as a rabble-rouser of a song with Jagger particularly effective.

The recording sessions held at Chess studios on 10-11 June 1964 included a version of Look What You Done, a slow blues featuring Brian Jones on harmonica and Ian Stewart on piano. It was released on the US LP December’s Children in December 1965, and in the UK on the March 1971 LP Stone Age, one of many barrel-scraping compilations put out by Decca after the Stones departed the label. Livelier was the take on Crackin’ Up, recorded on July 17 1965 for Brian Mathews BBC radio show, now renamed Top Gear. The track languished in obscurity until March 1977, when it was disinterred during rehersals for two small club gigs at the El Mocambo in Toronto, Canada. The tracks recorded at the El Mocambo were the highlight of the otherwise rather poor double LP Love You Live, released in September 1977. The song benefits from an almost-reggae arrangement which highlights the rhythmic guitars of Keith Richards and Ron Wood, Mick Taylor’s replacement. An acetate recorded at the gig shows Jagger in fine form between songs, insulting
journalists and having his bottom pinched.

And finally an oddity. The Stones were regular guests on mod TV showcase Ready Steady Go, appearing twenty times between their debut in August 1963 promoting debut single Come On and October 7 1966 when they played Paint It Black, Lady Jane and Have You Seen Your Mother Baby Standing In the Shadow? For their final number on August 27 1965 the band sans Jagger closed the show with an instrumental version of Apache, the instrumental hit by The Shadows. The way that the Stones could casually knock out an unrecorded instrumental live on prime-time TV says a lot about their confidence as a performing unit. It remains to this day the only time the Rolling Stones have performed without Mick Jagger.

Reviewing this second volume of Stones Beginnings it is striking how many tracks were recorded and then discarded, never or rarely to be heard again. This reflects the rapid development and musical experimentation that the band underwent between1962 and 1965. Inevitably it meant some good songs were lost in the rush. The Stones must have reached a similar conclusion, as tracks such as Crackin Up, Bye Bye Johnny and Little Queenie would be played live on tour from 1969 – 1977. Until The Rollling Stones produce their own Anthology-style retrospective many of these songs will remain unreleased. A ‘Rolling Stones At The BBC’ compilation would be a strong release, both artistically and commercially (as proved by the continued popularity of unauthorised releases of this material). Until this happens Rolling Stones Beginnings will continue to shine a light on the songs that helped create today’s Rolling Stones. Volume 3 of the series will look at how the Stones music changed in response to the soul music they heard whilst on tour in America from 1965 onwards.


S

I suggest that The Rolling Stones must hire you to do this job for their upcoming releases from The Vaults

keffbajaga you are too kind. All the information I have used is in the public domain so it is others who have done the hard work I merely synthesise. I will of course give full credit to my sources on the CD sleeve.

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johnnythunders
We have the BBC to thank that the Stones version of the Coasters I’m A Hog For You Baby was recorded, as it was never released officially. Recorded on April 23rd in the Maida Vale studio it was an audition for the BBC: the band did not pass. The track shows the bands ability to move beyond straight rhythm and blues and embrace the poppier sound of writers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Dr Feelgood – a band who very much took their musical direction from the first two Stones LPs – later performed a stunning live version of this complete with Wilko Johnson one-note guitar solo.

I'm A Hog For You Baby RECORDED? Did I miss something? Is it really available? Where????

Hi alimente

My source is www.nzentgraf.de/books/tcw/1963.htm

From memory Martin Elliot also mentions in his book

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johnnythunders
Hi alimente

My source is www.nzentgraf.de/books/tcw/1963.htm

From memory Martin Elliot also mentions in his book

23rd April 1963: London, BBC Studios, Maida Vale, audition for BBC radio.
- I’m A Hog For You Baby (Jerry Leiber/Mike Stoller) -unverified

Hi Vocalion.
Noted
Cab anyone offer further information?

It was an audition for the BBC (Jazz Club). The Stones were rejected at this audition. Bill & Charlie were not present. A song from this session was aired at 13-05-1963, but I do not know if this was I'm A Hog For You Baby.