This is a very interesting interview with Bobby Whitlock. This is part of many clips where he is being interviewed by his wife. What's interesting is is that he was in the middle of the music industry at the time, and that his memory seems to be excellent, remembering many details -from color of shirts, to names of people and session dates.

There's something very interesting he says in this interview. There was a clip where a explained about his involvement in Just Wanna See His Face, but in this clip he puts an interesting time line to it, which to me solves part of the cloudy recording dates for Exile. General understanding is that they recorded most of Exile at Olympics before summer 1971, the a couple of tracks at Nellcote, then finished off the album at Sunset. But some tracks were not recorded at Nellcote (Loving Cup, Torn and Frayed for example), but there was no proof that the entire band was present at Sunset. Also, the sound of these tracks (drums) were not typical for Sunset or Nellcote, but sounded like Olympics, just as Tumbling Dice fore example. Miller has also also claimed they only did overdubs at Sunset, where they only used the smaller overdub room.

Also, the overdubs by Dr. John and members of his band can not stem from Sunset do to touring obligations, but Jagger was present at Dr. John sessions at Olympics autumn 1971.

The explanation could be that the Stones actually did extensive sessions at Olympics in October - November 1971, as explained in this clip by Whitlock. He states he went to Nellcote in the summer for a couple of days and nothing was done. He states that he went to see Jimmy Miller at Olympics after the band left Nellcote, and that he then jammed with Jagger, Watts and Taylor while waiting for Richards. He states that 'six months later' Exile was released, which is May 1972.

I think it could very well be that for all these years we completely missed recording sessions at Olympics in October - November 1971, where possibly quite a lot of band material was recorded, with only vocal overdub sessions and mixing in Sunset.

[www.youtube.com]

Mathijs

that's very interesting and seems to be another (final?) puzzle in the recording of exile.
The Track Talk at Timeisonourside also has just about the same quote from bobby Whitlock (apparently send to them per email last year)

Was the widely circulated outtake ofShine a Light with the Taylor solo recorded at Olympic at those sessions?

Great find!

"(Bobby Whitlock) is playing the Wurlitzer on the track. Bobby was at the studio doing business with Jimmy Miller. The guys were all there but Keith, who was out scoring dope (as Bobby tells it). Mick asked about his dad being a preacher and asked Bobby to play something with a gospel feel. Bobby immediately started to play what you hear on the record. Mick began scatting. Bobby was unaware that they were recording. Keith showed up at the end of this jam, and Bobby left. When the record came out, Bobby was in the office with Jimmy Miller thrilled to see it and hear it when he found out they never credited him. He refused to ever listen to that record.

The reason they haven't performed it live is because as Chuck Leavell told Bobby, they can't get the vibe. That's because it's a Bobby thing. Bobby should have been credited as a co-writer as he came up with the music, Charlie and Mick Taylor were following his lead as was Mick.

- CoCo Carmel Whitlock, wife of Bobby Whitlock, 2019
(email to [Timeisonourside] website owner)

That would explain why Mick doesn't like the album that much.

While Keef remembers the legend ("we cut a good album in my basement"... yeah sure!) Mick remembers the tedious process of getting songs made, sewing them together, strengthening the tracks through multiple overdubs and external contributions until, at the very last moment (early 1972), they had a proper sequel to "Fingers" (and I doubt that, to this day, Mick thinks "Exile" is a worthwhile successor to "Fingers").



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2020-06-25 19:03 by dcba.

Very cool, thanks for sharing. Odd that Whitlock didn’t receive credit if done in 1971. Perhaps this could have been because the Stones were avoiding the fact they recorded in England? It seems they would have been taxed if they were indeed working there.

I’ve been thinking Loving Cup came from Olympic because it sounds very polished, and does have a different sound.

Jim Price’s recollection of Torn and Frayed sounds like it was done in Nellcote.

What about Casino Boogie?

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Mathijs
Also, the overdubs by Dr. John and members of his band can not stem from Sunset do to touring obligations, but Jagger was present at Dr. John sessions at Olympics autumn 1971.

I checked out the Dr. John album, and he was actually recording at Trident Studios in England, with one song being recorded at Dimension in Hollywood. I can't find the exact dates of his sessions, but it appears possible for him and his singers to overdub at Olympic.

It seems possible he could have overdubbed in March 1972 too, because it seems they weren't touring then. At least according to setlist.fm (which isn't always accurate).

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TravelinMan

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Mathijs
Also, the overdubs by Dr. John and members of his band can not stem from Sunset do to touring obligations, but Jagger was present at Dr. John sessions at Olympics autumn 1971.

I checked out the Dr. John album, and he was actually recording at Trident Studios in England, with one song being recorded at Dimension in Hollywood. I can't find the exact dates of his sessions, but it appears possible for him and his singers to overdub at Olympic.

It seems possible he could have overdubbed in March 1972 too, because it seems they weren't touring then. At least according to setlist.fm (which isn't always accurate).

The Dr John album was recorded (with Jagger) at Trinity alright, 6-7 July 1970 if memory serves me right. So it predates the French escape by almost a year. It was released in August 71 however.

Casino Boogie is one of the tracks recorded at Nellcote (with Wyman) where Keef replaced bass when Wyman was away in September. Wyman has said this. As is the case with Soul Survivor. You can hear Wymans contribution on the Hopkins tape on the later.

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RobberBride

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TravelinMan

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Mathijs
Also, the overdubs by Dr. John and members of his band can not stem from Sunset do to touring obligations, but Jagger was present at Dr. John sessions at Olympics autumn 1971.

I checked out the Dr. John album, and he was actually recording at Trident Studios in England, with one song being recorded at Dimension in Hollywood. I can't find the exact dates of his sessions, but it appears possible for him and his singers to overdub at Olympic.

It seems possible he could have overdubbed in March 1972 too, because it seems they weren't touring then. At least according to setlist.fm (which isn't always accurate).

The Dr John album was recorded (with Jagger) at Trinity alright, 6-7 July 1970 if memory serves me right. So it predates the French escape by almost a year. It was released in August 71 however.

Casino Boogie is one of the tracks recorded at Nellcote (with Wyman) where Keef replaced bass when Wyman was away in September. Wyman has said this. As is the case with Soul Survivor. You can hear Wymans contribution on the Hopkins tape on the later.

Ah, I don’t have any Wyman books. Need to get some. I wonder what his bass part sounded like.

Turd on the Run is a mystery. Could have been just a Richards/Watts jam recorded at Nellcote.

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TravelinMan

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Mathijs
Also, the overdubs by Dr. John and members of his band can not stem from Sunset do to touring obligations, but Jagger was present at Dr. John sessions at Olympics autumn 1971.

I checked out the Dr. John album, and he was actually recording at Trident Studios in England, with one song being recorded at Dimension in Hollywood. I can't find the exact dates of his sessions, but it appears possible for him and his singers to overdub at Olympic.

It seems possible he could have overdubbed in March 1972 too, because it seems they weren't touring then. At least according to setlist.fm (which isn't always accurate).

I'm not sure if there were more Dr. John's at the time, but I was in the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium in 1972 where the likes of Pink Floyd, Spencer Davis (without Steve Winwood), but also Dr. John (The Night Tripper) was playing. So if we're talking about the same Dr. John it means indeed that setlist.fm wasn't accurate there.