Rolling Stone Blues

Released Friday October 20, 2023 with the Hackney Diamonds album.

The Rolling Stones

Bjornulf

From the first listen straight into the heart. One of my favourite HD tunes.

Iconic to do this song (finally). And they do it awesome. Love it!

Not a bad song, but not my favorite blues song that they have recorded.

I think Mick yells a lot in some parts.

Enjoying my first listen of the album right now. The first one I went to listen to was Rolling Stones Blues - a perfect closer. Great stuff!

I love whatever technique Mr. Watt has used on this - there's a mic on Keith's guitar but there's a second track that's overloading at times. Very different songs but very similar tonally to Street Fighting Man. We know that Keith overloaded a tape recorder for Street Fighting Man, but on this I'm guessing it's a soundhole pickup through a pre-amp and then into the board. Either way, it wouldn't have been out of place coming out of Chess in the 50s.

Extraordinary finish to the album (recording career?). Seems a more than apt close.

Rod

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DaveyJMusician
I love whatever technique Mr. Watt has used on this - there's a mic on Keith's guitar but there's a second track that's overloading at times. Very different songs but very similar tonally to Street Fighting Man. We know that Keith overloaded a tape recorder for Street Fighting Man, but on this I'm guessing it's a soundhole pickup through a pre-amp and then into the board. Either way, it wouldn't have been out of place coming out of Chess in the 50s.

Watt really nailed the tone on this on! And Keith passes on the lessons he learned while listening to the likes of Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson and John Lee Hooker when he was young. There's not a lot of people who can play a Blues with this kind of charisma. Mick's performance, vocal and harmonica wise, is also top-notch!

In an odd way, this song kind of reminds me of “Summer’s Gone,” the last song on That’s Why God Made the Radio, The Beach Boys’ last album (from their reunion tour in 2012].

The songs are very different. But each song carries the weight of the group’s history. And each is very moving at the end of a long-awaited album.

Simply awesome!! A milestone

great tune and great idea to put it at the end of this album
but what happened to the sound and the mixing ? 70-80% coming from the left speaker, at some points kind of distorted . or is it just my system ?

what the hell did they do to Jagger's voice on that track?? sounds awful to me

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slewan
what the hell did they do to Jagger's voice on that track?? sounds awful to me

I read they recorded to tape for this one. Sounds like one of his great vocal to me, though!

This is by far my favorite so far

Overall I think the album is good. Honestly I can't imagine listening to get too much once the excitement dies down. Except for the salt. Epic. Holiday and I love how big doesn't exaggerate the vocal, Plays it dark and real. This is just so brilliant

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amg077
Not a bad song, but not my favorite blues song that they have recorded.

I think Mick yells a lot in some parts.

I agree with you about not being my favorite blues song recorded by them. They have better original blues songs than this one.

Since some journalists have been compared this album to Some Girls, should we say that RSB could be HD's Just my Imagination? I don't think so, deapite being a cover. Both are very good, but I'd prefer Just my Imagination.

Having said that, I guess all of us can understand the significance of this song in the Stones history, and for that I'm glad they finally recorded it (although it seems they've played it live a few times, according to Dick Taylor on Suburban Steps to Rockland).

It closes this album perfectly.

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Dorn
great tune and great idea to put it at the end of this album
but what happened to the sound and the mixing ? 70-80% coming from the left speaker, at some points kind of distorted . or is it just my system ?

They tried to get that dirty 50's blues sound. I seem to remember that Andrew Watt said that you mostly hear one mic that captures the acoustic guitar directly, the guitar amp in another room and als Mick's vocals and that there's the harp mic through another amp that is also used for the vocals. So that's probably where the distortion comes from and it's on purpose. I'm sure they also did a lot of digital tweeking to make it sound the way it does after the tape had been transfered.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2023-10-22 13:32 by MonkeyMan2000.

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MonkeyMan2000

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Dorn
great tune and great idea to put it at the end of this album
but what happened to the sound and the mixing ? 70-80% coming from the left speaker, at some points kind of distorted . or is it just my system ?

They tried to get that dirty 50's blues sound. I seem to remember that Andrew Watt said that you mostly hear one mic that captures the acoustic guitar directly, the guitar amp in another room and als Mick's vocals and that there's the harp mic through another amp that is also used for the vocals. So that's probably where the distortion comes from and it's on purpose. I'm sure they also did a lot of digital tweeking to make it sound the way it does after the tape had been transfered.

well, i had read that story too but that does not mean that the song must sound THAT bad. at least they could have balanced it a bit better on both channels (like the old mono recordings)

Still a fool in 1968 was with the full band
still a fool
I always wonder why it was never released.

I really dig the new, straight to the bone, version.

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djgab
Still a fool in 1968 was with the full band
still a fool
I always wonder why it was never released.

I really dig the new, straight to the bone, version.

Two different Muddy Waters songs with the same riff. Then you have guys like Hendrix and Mick Taylor playing "Rolling Stone Blues" but calling it "Catfish Blues". Hendrix even threw in lines from "Still A Fool", which on Stones boots is called "Two Trains Running" among other names! Haha

I always figured it was a warmup jam for the Beggars sessions and attribute it to Jimmy Miller getting them back into the swing of things. I can imagine him suggesting to play some blues to get back in the groove with no intention of ever releasing it.

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djgab
Still a fool in 1968 was with the full band
still a fool
I always wonder why it was never released.

I really dig the new, straight to the bone, version.

This track has four titles, with slight variations in the lyrics: Rollin' Stone, Still A Fool, Catfish Blues and Two Trains Running.

The Stones did Still A Fool with Brian and played it live in 1995 with Ronnie.

Love this track. Still A Fool remains one of my favorite bootlegs.

JumpingKentFlash

One of the best things the Rolling Stones have ever recorded. The essence of the band – unadorned, raw, mysterious and dirty. Loud and distorted guitar by Keith, cool vocals and great blues harmonica by Mick. I wish they'd do a whole album like that, because no one sounds like those two guys in that setting.

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DandelionPodwerman
This track has four titles, with slight variations in the lyrics: Rollin' Stone, Still A Fool, Catfish Blues and Two Trains Running.

now we got number 5: RollinG Stone Blues !

They should’ve played it a little slower like the record. Very compressed compared to the rest of the record. Mick should’ve said Muddy instead of baby like he said Slim Harpo in Shake Your Hips. And last, but not least, they omitted the third verse. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it.

Not quite sure it adds to the album. I like finishing the album on SSOH.
I am playing this as and when .. its done well and quite enjoyable in its own right..am glad we have it though.

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Undertheradar
Disclaimer: I was drunk when I wrote this ;-)

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donvis
They should’ve played it a little slower like the record. Very compressed compared to the rest of the record. Mick should’ve said Muddy instead of baby like he said Slim Harpo in Shake Your Hips. And last, but not least, they omitted the third verse. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it.

It's recorded on tape, with only one mic, to sound authentic. How can it be compressed?

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DandelionPowderman

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donvis
They should’ve played it a little slower like the record. Very compressed compared to the rest of the record. Mick should’ve said Muddy instead of baby like he said Slim Harpo in Shake Your Hips. And last, but not least, they omitted the third verse. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it.

It's recorded on tape, with only one mic, to sound authentic. How can it be compressed?

Maybe it is not compressed but it sounds more like the horrible sound on B&L and ABB.

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DandelionPowderman

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donvis
They should’ve played it a little slower like the record. Very compressed compared to the rest of the record. Mick should’ve said Muddy instead of baby like he said Slim Harpo in Shake Your Hips. And last, but not least, they omitted the third verse. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it.

It's recorded on tape, with only one mic, to sound authentic. How can it be compressed?

Tape compression is a sonic signature of recording to tape, and the amount is definitely controllable.

I've only listened once, and I haven't listened to the rest of the album in comparison though. Nothing weird popped out, but it was laptop speakers so I'm not going to say it's overly compressed or not. But the performance was great.

"Rollin' Stone" is a blues song recorded by Muddy Waters in 1950. It is his interpretation of "Catfish Blues", a Delta blues that dates back to 1920s Mississippi. "Still a Fool", recorded by Muddy Waters a year later using the same arrangement and melody, reached number nine on the Billboard R&B chart. "Rollin' Stone" has been recorded by a variety of artists.

Several other early songs also explored variations on the catfish and/or fishing theme. In 1941, Tommy McClennan and his sometime partner Robert Petway each recorded versions of the song. Petway's was the first to be titled "Catfish Blues" and is sometimes cited as the basis for Muddy Waters' "Rollin' Stone". However, according to one biographer "They'd been singing "Catfish Blues" for years in the Delta, but it never sounded like "Rollin' Stone".


In 1951, Muddy Waters used the vocal melody and guitar figure from "Rollin' Stone" for "Still a Fool". The song was more successful, reaching number nine in the Billboard R&B chart. Rather than a solo piece, Little Walter on second guitar and Leonard Chess on bass drum accompanied Muddy on vocal and guitar. Subsequent versions of "Rollin' Stone" or "Catfish Blues" often use some lyrics from "Still a Fool" (sometimes called "Two Trains Running" after the opening verse).



Hendrix recorded a sort of homage to both Muddy versions on the posthumous Blues album and he even goes into a Petway uptempo outro. He did this live as well as the BBC sessions.

Mick Taylor has a great live version on the boot Little Red Rooster.

The Stones recored "Still A Fool" during Beggars and now Muddy's original version.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2023-10-23 18:49 by TravelinMan.