New Rolling Stones Live EP and LP

Now available from http://www.1960s.london

Ed Sullivan 1969 – The Rolling Stones

Tracks

1. Gimme Shelter (Jagger, Richard)
2. Love In Vain (Johnson)
3. Honky Tonk Women (Jagger, Richard)

Personnel

Mick Jagger – vocals

Keith Richard – guitar

Mick Taylor – guitar

Bill Wyman – bass

Charlie Watts – drums

Recording details

All tracks recorded live on November 18^th at Studio 50, New York City,  and broadcast on November 23^rd on The Ed Sullivan Show (CBS US TV)

Sleevenotes

In November 1969 the Stones appeared on Ed Sullivan’s influential show for the sixth and final time, sharing a bill with Ella Fitzgerald. Jagger was resplendent in a silver and black choker and a fringed cloak whilst Richards hair was in the ascendent, complementing his see-through Dan Armstrong guitar. Wyman and Watts looked impassive throughout, Taylor sported an acoustic for Love In Vainbut reverted to a Telecaster for recent single Honky Tonk Women and for Gimme Shelter. Sullivan announced Gimme Shelter as being from the band’s new album Let It Bleed, to be released in the US the week after the broadcast. Some pictures of the band on the Ed Sullivan set show Wyman replaced by pianist / road manager  Ian Stewart. These photos were taken during rehearsals on November 17th when Wyman was unwell and Stewart took his place.

Sleeve notes:  Dee Leah-Smith

Let The Airwaves Flow 10: Live In Honolulu and Sydney 1966

The Rolling Stones

Side One

1. Not Fade Away (Hardin, Petty)
2. The Last Time (Jagger, Richard)
3. Paint It, Black (Jagger, Richard)
4. Lady Jane (Jagger, Richard)
5. Mother’s Little Helper (Jagger, Richard)
6. Get Off Of My Cloud (Jagger, Richard)
7. 19th Nervous Breakdown (Jagger, Richard)
8. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (Jagger, Richard)

Side Two

1. Mercy, Mercy (Covay, Miller)
2. She Said Yeah (Jackson, Christy)
3. Play With Fire (Jagger, Richard)
4. Not Fade Away (Hardin, Petty)
5. The Spider and the Fly (Jagger, Richard)
6. That’s How Strong My Love Is (Jamison)
7. Get Off Of My Cloud (Jagger, Richard)
8. 19th Nervous Breakdown (Jagger, Richard)
9. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (Jagger, Richard)

Recording Details

Side One

All tracks recorded live at the Honolulu International Centre, Hawaii on July 28^th 1966 and broadcast on Radio K-POI

Side Two

All tracks recorded live at the Commemorative Auditorium Showgrounds, Sydney, Australia (first show) on February 18^th 1966 and broadcast by Australian 2UW Radio

Personnel

Mick Jagger – Vocals, maracas

Keith Richard – Guitar, vocals

Brian Jones – Guitar, harmonica

Bill Wyman – Bass

Charlie Watts – Drums

Sleevenotes

1966 was the live peak of the  Brian Jones-era Stones as they toured extensively and played more exotic venues, illustrated by this brace of radio broadcasts from Australia and Hawaii. Setlists featured more of the band’s own material, and cover versions tended to be soul or R&B numbers rather than the blues covers of their early years.

The Sydney show was performed on a rotating stage that was handcranked by stage hands – at one point an exasperated Jagger says “Will you stop this thing going round?”. Mercy Mercy and a brief She Said Yeah get the set off to a scream-drenched start before Play With Fire provides a rare moment of calm. Not Fade Away restores the pace with Jagger’s vocal a call-and-response to Jones’ harmonica. The Spider And The Fly is the second brilliant B-side to be played before Jagger totally convinces on That’s How Strong My Love Is. Despite starting well Get Off Of My Cloud falls to bits towards the end. A strong version of 19th Nervous Breakdown with some potent dual vocalsrestores the set’s momentum before set-closer Satisfaction increases the scream-level still further. Jagger gets lost in the song early on (“Where are we?”) but recovers well. Eye-witness accounts suggest that The Last Time was played as the opening song that night, but this is unconfirmed.

The Hawaii gig was the last date on the Stones fifth North American tour. Also on the bill were Herman’s Hermits and Johnny Green and the Greenmen. Ticket prices ranged between $2.50 and $6.50. It would prove to be Brian Jones final appearance in the USA. A flavour of the gig is given by a florid live review from the Toronto Star earlier in the tour. “The young nubiles surged forward, arms undulating like tentacles of sea anemones writhing in warm fluid. Mick is a phenomenon of utter sexuality, beyond simple distinctions of maleness or femaleness”.

Not Fade Away makes for a great, up-tempo set opener. By now original songs such as The Last Time are greeted with screams of recognition from the audience. An uptempo Paint It, Black trades subtlety for intensity. Charlie Watts then makes a rare song introduction. Unfortunately he introduces The Last Time, which they had already played, instead of Lady Jane.  Lady Jane is the only non-raver in the set and the crowd are noisy throughout but the intricate acoustic arrangement shines through. Mother’s Little Helper was released as a single in the US and makes for a great live song, with both guitars playing the riff in unison and more effective Jagger/Richard joint singing. Get Off Of My Cloud is more successful than in Sydney with powerful shouted backing vocals. 19^th Nervous Breakdown is taken at breakneck speed and Satisfaction sounds like the soundtrack to a riot, from Richard’s heavily fuzzed intro to the relentless Charlie-driven outro.

Introducing the gig, the exceptionally annoying Radio K-POI announcer refers to the Rolling Stones as ‘exciting’ and a ‘swinging group’. Exciting definitely but swinging? Pounding more like. Unleashing a barrage of uptempo short, sharp songs of the type you hear on this disc would not be fashionable again for another ten years, and then it would be called punk. As is so often the case, the Stones got there first.

Sleevenotes: Fiji Jim