Finally got Ronnie Wood's "I've Got My Own Album To Do".

For those that don't know too much about this release, there are two songs on it written by Mick and Keith..."Act Together" and "Sure The One You Need"...this is circa 73/74...as Wood's album came out in 1974.

I was wondering if these two songs were ever cut by the Stones and if they are either out takes from either the Goats Head Soup or IORR sessions.

"Sure the One You Need" might be Keith's first solo song outside the Stones...

Who's got the facts?

PECMAN

there are two instrumental Stones takes of Act Together, from december 74 -
ie after Ronnie's album was done, released, etc. it's not all that clear
how many Stones are actually playing on them - maybe just Charlie and Keith?
(http://www.nzentgraf.de/books/tcw/works1.htm has Nicky Hopkins on piano on these.)

they played Sure the One You Need twice on the 75 tour, but i've never heard of a Stones studio recording of it.
i've heard Mick was not at all pleased that Keith gave it to Ronnie, but i'm not sure what the basis for that is.

oh and: the New Barbarians rehearsed both numbers.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-05-06 18:46 by with sssoul.

make sure and get The First Barbarians Kilburn cd and dvd. sssoul's opinion on this set is what convinced me to get it! AND IT ROCKS! Hey ssoul, arent these tracks attributed to Richards-Jagger on the original album? I'll need to dig mine out.

Yeah...I got it...it is an absolute must for Stones fans...

Keith actually plays piano/organ on stage during ACT TOGETHER...a first time I ever seen him sit behind the keys on stage.

PECMAN

yeah, it is great! But I got kinda confused the first time I looked at ACT TOGETHER cause I always assumed Keith sang lead on this song(at least on the album it sounded like it). Whats also interesting is how Mick Taylor is all over Rons first album sessions!

Yes, Kilburn 1974 is absolutely terrific. Remember the first time I did hear the bootleg...couldn't believe it

Erik, I had heard the bootleg(and seen the boot video) too. Thats why I kinda hesitated about getting the legit release but it was well worth it!! The people on this board convinced me. Kinda like you did about digging out all my old vinyl and hearing what I had been missing!!

Aha you had the bootleg allready, scottkeef, cheers man

Interestingly, Act Together is on an "Alternatative" version of Black and Blue. I think it was a Mickboy production. Two discs. One was a remastered version of the official release, (I might be wrong there!). The other disc is what the 'producer' (Mickboy?) thought the actually released album should have been. He included both Act Together and Slave. Both part of the "B&B sessions" (1974 and 1975). But I'm not sure if he used a late '74 version of 'Act' or the one from Ronnie's album.

I can't remember if he cut Cherry Oh Baby or another track from his preferred release.- I don't have the thing to hand just now.

Torn & Frayed(Mickboy)'s release "From Rags To Excess" cut no official tracks-just rearranged them and also inc. Act Together(inst) and Slave. The second disc consists of rough takes and demos. Still one of his best efforts(although there are varying opinions here on the validity of T&F releases!!) But I always thought the Stones outtake if Act Together bore little resemblance to Ron s album. IMO.

Thanks. It's coming back to me now. The first disc was remastered. The second demos/out-takes.

The second disc has Cellophane Trousers, Munich Reggae, an early Start Me Up???, and the falsetto 'For the Ladies' - or something like that! Second disc also has early version of Crazy Mama with Bill on it.

the T&F basic album track order:Hot Stuff,Hand Of Fate,Cherry oh Baby,Slave,Crazy Mama, Hey Negrita,Melody,Fool To Cry,Act Together,Memory Motel. Actually works very well.

i also never heard that much similarity between the boot instrumental that's been dubbed "act together" and the song with vocals that showed up on rw's album...

>> the boot instrumental that's been dubbed "Act Together" <<

the Stones' instrumental sounds a lot like Only Love Can Break Your Heart, actually.
the Barbarians' rendition sounds just like Act Together, though :E



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-05-07 09:55 by with sssoul.

Interesting, sssoul! Knew it sounded like something familiar. Do you know if there is any truth to the rumour that Mick was p.o. d with Keith for giving the good stuff to Ron?

>> Do you know if there is any truth to the rumour that Mick was p.o.'d with Keith
for giving the good stuff to Ron? <<

i've heard that, but i have no idea what it's based on.

Yeah-guess just one of those Stones legends. But I think they owed Ron anyway for all the work he put in on "Its Only R & R "!!

>> But I think they owed Ron anyway for all the work he put in on "Its Only R & R "!! <<

well, the way Ronnie tells it, his reward for IORR was I Can Feel the Fire -
he and Mick co-wrote both of them, and each took one.

Well either song I guess you cant go wrong! Both great.

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with sssoul
>> But I think they owed Ron anyway for all the work he put in on "Its Only R & R "!! <<

well, the way Ronnie tells it, his reward for IORR was I Can Feel the Fire -
he and Mick co-wrote both of them, and each took one.

But obviously Ronnie did not understand the financial value of songwriting credits back then ... otherwise it is difficult to understand that both songs are credited to Jagger/Richards if indeed he and Mick co-wrote them!

Then again, it is possible that Ronnie was just proud that one of his songwriting efforts ended up on a Stones album (and as a successful Stones single of course)...

Besides "giving away" Sure The One You Need (a great rocker, but not nothing extraordinary by Stones standarts at the time) I always found it strange that they gave I Can Feel The Fire to Ronnie. It is such a great tune, and could have been a hit for the Stones themselves.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-05-07 20:06 by retired_dog.

Quote

Besides "giving away" Sure The One You Need (a great rocker, but not nothing extraordinary by Stones standarts at the time) I always found it strange that they gave I Can Feel The Fire to Ronnie. It is such a great tune, and could have been a hit for the Stones themselves.

It is a great tune. But relies totally on Ronnie playing that riff. So could not have been a Stones hit without him playing. And, ofcourse, Ronnie was still a Face and MT had not yet announced his decision.

"Own Album" was recorded spring '74?

>> otherwise it is difficult to understand that both songs are credited to Jagger/Richards if indeed he and Mick co-wrote them! <<

ahem: some kind of confusion seems to have crept in: I Can Feel the Fire
is credited to Ronnie Wood, not Jagger/Richards. and as i noted above, the way Ronnie tells it
the reason they "gave" him Fire is that he "gave" them IORR.

if by "both songs" you meant Act Together and Sure the One You Need,
no one that i know of has ever suggested that Ronnie co-wrote either of them.

and i think Ronnie was well aware of the value of songwriting credits in 1973: the cat wrote or co-wrote
half the numbers his first band The Birds recorded, some stuff for both the Jeff Beck Group and Creation,
and a whole bunch of Faces tunes as well.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-05-07 21:31 by with sssoul.

My guess is that Ron expected his '74 debut to sell better than it did. After all The Faces were touring stadiums, selling albums, (Nod top 10 in the US, Ooh La La # 1 in the UK), Rod's Mercury albums (all collabs w/ Ron, & to some extent tge other Faces) was a superstar with credibility - unlike his post Faces rep - and sings on 3 cuts. And 'My Own Album' not only was unusual in that Keith Richards - who 'til that time hardly ever appeared outside the Stones - was Wood's primary collaborator, but Jagger sang on 2 songs and played guitar as well on 'Fire.' Mick Taylor plays bass, guitar, Wurlitzer, & synth on I think 3 tracks, and ex Beatle George collaborated w/ Ron on the gorgeous 'Far East Man.' So throw in Ian McLagan and you got 3 of the biggest bands in the world well represented, and several tracks have been covered by other artists. I remember being shocked the album didn't crack the Billboard top 200 when it was released concurrently with Rod's disappointing 'Smiler.' Heck, the Velvets' "White Light Heat' reached # 199 !!! As for the vocals, the US edition never came with Wood's (Black & Blue style, w/ more doodling) session log unfo, which can now be found on last years 'Kilburn' cd by 'The First Barbarians. Keith sings throughout, prominently, but his only solo lead is 'Sure The One You Need.'
IMO the best track with both Wood & Taylor remains the sizzling 'It's Unholy' from 1975's 'Now Look', a six & a half minute track that closes with a percolating funk jam (MT on slide)...

By the way, not sure how pissed Mick was - after all the Burritos issued 'Wild Horses' 10 months before 'Sticky' was released. And Johnny Winter's 'Still Alive & Well' features an excellent take on 'Silver Train', & was released March '73, 5 or 6 months before GHS. Jagger recorded an exclusive J/R track, 'High Rollers' I think (w/ MJ on guitar) w/ Leslie West on the latter's solo debut "Great Fatsby" in early 1975.

Thanks all for joining this thread...good stuff.

Pecman

john r,

pardon me but - are you also someone else on this site, namely JR (aka stonesrelics)

or do you both have an encyclopaedic knowledge re~: Ron, Faces, Stones?

Quote
with sssoul
>> otherwise it is difficult to understand that both songs are credited to Jagger/Richards if indeed he and Mick co-wrote them! <<

ahem: some kind of confusion seems to have crept in: I Can Feel the Fire
is credited to Ronnie Wood, not Jagger/Richards. and as i noted above, the way Ronnie tells it
the reason they "gave" him Fire is that he "gave" them IORR.

if by "both songs" you meant Act Together and Sure the One You Need,
no one that i know of has ever suggested that Ronnie co-wrote either of them.

and i think Ronnie was well aware of the value of songwriting credits in 1973: the cat wrote or co-wrote
half the numbers his first band The Birds recorded, some stuff for both the Jeff Beck Group and Creation,
and a whole bunch of Faces tunes as well.

Yeah, of course, some kind of confusion crept in! I was so absolutely (110% or even more) sure about Fire being credited to Jagger/Richards that I did not check before posting... Now it makes sense.

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john r
My guess is that Ron expected his '74 debut to sell better than it did.

this would be a good explanation for the otherwise rather uneven split of "IORR" and "I Can Feel the Fire," which is a good song but hardly stands up to the other as a likely hit. Or perhaps "IORR" was not nearly in the shape it ended up in when the split was agreed upon, so ron really didn't know what he was trading away and felt confident it wouldn't matter? Or he thought taking a bad bargain then would pay off later... which one could either say was correct in that he was offered the Stones gig, or say was incorrect again, as he would never have artistic freedom within the Stones.

I would say, do say, that Fire is the far better song - but IORR had hit potential. I can imagine the latter title phrase just starting life as a throwaway comment in a jesty conversation, and then Ron made into a chorus line and Mick wrote some verses for it.

There was a 'catchphrase' in a UK television comedy show at the time, "Oh you are awful ........... But I like you!". So popular that people would comment on just aout anything, 'Oh it is ......., but I like it!'

If 'Fire' belongs anywhere other than on Ron's album, it is on a Faces album. Can't believe Mick wrote taht guiatr riff! Reminds me of "You can make dance, you can make sing, you can make me do just any old thing" (from 1975).

yeah, I'm pretty sure the Stones intended "Silver Train" for Winter as his arrangement follows the Stone's Olympic Sound Oct. 1970 demo very closely-even the different vocalizing style. Being from my hometown I've always been proud of Johnny's takes on Stones material like JJF and Stray Cat,too. If anyone comes close to the power of the originals its Winter and his scorching guitar!