From Bucketfull of Brains magazine
bucketfullofbrains.com
This publication is named after a Groovies LP, “I’d like a bucket full of Brains “ (beer) being the warcry of Groovies roadie John Seaton. So when original guitarist Cyril Jordan, bass player George Alexander and guitar/vocals Chris Wilson plus new drummer Victor Penalosa popped up in London for a brace of shows we were delighted to grab a brief interview with Cyril.
After well-received gigs in Australia and Japan the Groovies played their first UK gig for twenty-six years supporting Bruce Springsteen at the Olympic Park. “I don’t know if Springsteen asked for us himself. We know Little Steven and we used to open for Southside Johnny. We were on the road in Australia and we got an email from Live Nation booking the Groovies and that was it. The gig went well apart from the fact that we could not hear our monitors at all. They had $100,000 worth of gear on stage and they might as well have had none. We went down better and better towards the end of our set”
“Before we started rehearsing fifteen weeks ago we hadn’t played together for 32 years. By the third day the engine was back, George started turning into George, Chris started turning into Chris, I started turning into Cyril…it’s like the day after we broke up with Chris in 1980. Seymour Stein at Sire records had somehow dropped the ball on us and that threw us into turmoil. Most bands when their label drops them, they have management, they can still do gigs. But I was doing everything back then. I got the record deals, helped book the tours. Nobody would room with me because on the road my phone would start ringing at about 630am. We were all on cocaine, completely out of our minds. So the whole thing fell apart. We were trying to keep rock’n’roll alive and it was dying. George and I went on for another ten years. We toured Australia and the UK in 1987 with a much heavier sound. We had brought in Paul Zahl on drums and he had persuaded me to bring in his friend Jack Johnson who was a real heavy-metal style guitarist. During this last tour in Australia a lot of people said “Thank God the heavy metal guitar has gone” – we’re really known for a more jangly guitar style.”
“When George and I started talking about playing live again I suggested it might be a good idea to pull out some gems from the back-catalogue. Back in the day we always used to play what we’d just recorded, rather than what we’d released. So by the time we were playing The Roundhouse in 1976 we’d already dropped Slow Death from our set. This time we’ve got to do all those songs but only from the Shake Some Action era”
Cyril is adamant that the new incarnation is more than a nostalgia trip. “ We’ve already had three days recording in our producer Joel Jaffe’s Studio D in Sausalito. We cut three new songs. Chris and I wrote a new one called End Of The World, we re-cut Let Me Rock, the first song Chris and I ever wrote together, and we finally did a studio version of our live favourite I Want You Bad. When we get back off this tour we’re going back in for another two days. Chris lives in London, George is in Tucson, I’m in San Francisco and Victor is in San Diego so we need to record whilst we’re still together. But we are not doing a retro thing: we are picking up where we left off.”
“We’ve been getting royalties but the internet download thing has really hurt us – ten years ago my royalty cheques went down big time. Last November I was down to my last $40. I went to bed thinking what am I gonna do. The next morning the phone rings and it’s an associate of Val Kilmer who wanted to pay me $1000 to write out the lyrics to Whiskey Woman so he can give them to his daughter for her 21st birthday. You never know who is a Groovies fan – Kurt Russell, even Lucian Grainge – CEO of Universal. He told the Financial Times that the reason he got into music was going to see the Flamin’ Groovies with his brother Nigel.”
During their spell signed to UA in the early 70’s the Groovies were living in Chingford and were regulars at The Roundhouse. “We used to set up our own Roundhouse shows with promoter John Curd and I always used to look for up and coming bands. One time we played with the Troggs, we were very excited. We got to the Roundhouse and we noticed the Troggs were second billing and we were headlining, I said to John Curd “What are you doing, we can’t be headlining over The Troggs, Wild Thing is like Louie Louie”. Giving a helping hand to other bands misfired when the support to the Groovies July 4th 1976 gig got more coverage than the headliners. “I became very good friends with the Ramones manager Linda Stein. She was a real pothead, one of the only girls I ever knew who loved pot as much as I do. Being from California I had some really good skunk. We got real tight. She said I am managing a group and I wonder if they can open for you. She said they’re called the Ramones and she showed me a photo and it looked like one of our early shots so I said let’s bring them along. “
“Contrary to what you may have read on the internet we did not support the Stooges at their legendary Scala gig in ‘72 although we did come to watch them that night. We had first met the Stooges on our first tour in ‘68, we hooked up with them in Ohio – the Golden Earrings. Love Sculpture, the Stooges and us all on the same bill and we toured together for about three months. I didn’t even know Dave Edmunds at that time, I didn’t realise until I met him again at Rockfield in ‘72 that he’d been in Love Sculpture. “
The 2006 Rhino compilation At Full Speed did a good job in bringing together all the tracks recorded for Sire. Cyril is adamant that there are no unreleased outtakes and no prospect of a sonic upgrade to the subsequent Gold Star Tapes EP. “We were doing that with two guys from France. They didn’t pay the bill at Gold Star studios so we didn’t get a copy of the master. The tape they used for the record that came out was made on a $30 cassette records that was snuck into the studio without us knowing and put on the board whilst we were listening to a playback. Finally we got a 2” master tape from Dave Gold via a friend of Chris’, he sent us the tape for the $15 cost of postage. We had to bake the damn thing to stop the oxide falling off the tape. It’s got two songs on it, one Phil Spector song recorded by Darlene Love called A Long Way To Be Happy and an original that we never finished with the working title Don’t Forget To Write. We did a little bit of work on the latter, vocals and stuff but the quality of the recording is not up to par. “
Key to the Groovies renaissance is Victor, who first played with Cyril in his solo band the Magic Christians about seven years ago. Cyril is fulsome with his praise “We couldn’t have got here this fast without Victor. He knows all the drum parts exactly as they were on the record. It’s a gas. “ Victor admits that the Groovies are one of his top three bands of all time and that he’s been listening to them since he was four. His partner in rhythm George is amazed at the fan response. “I’ve been off the grid for so long, I had no idea that I would be treated with so much respect and adulation from so many fans. In Japan we had a lot of young fans who had discovered us on the internet, only a third of the audience were old geezers. One of the scariest things about Japan I ever saw was when we started playing You Tore Me Down and some people started crying. I was shocked. “
No tears tonight at the Scala but a full house of happy fans, albeit mainly blokes of a certain age. The Groovies took to the stage all looking commendably trim and youthful. They were joined by Mathew Fisher from Procul Harum on Hammond organ, only audible in the second half of the set. Cyril sported his vintage plexiglass Dan Armstrong which delivered his distinctive warm tone. Victor played (and looked) like the young Clem Burke – loud, precise and enthusiastic. George sang Married Woman to great effect and swayed and grooved gracefully throughout. Chris delivered an effective lead vocal on Slow Death but elsewhere it was the songs sung in unison with Cyril that worked best – You Tore Me Down, Feel A Whole Lot Better, I Want You Bad and the set-closing Shake Some Action. Teenage Head is so indelibly associated with the Roy Loney-era that it sat oddly here. Sadly there was none of Cyril’s excellent slide playing, although he is hoping to introduce some into future gigs. Three encores were demanded and delivered including a rather ordinary Roll Over Beethoven. Minor quibbles aside this was an intelligent reappraisal of the Shake Some Action years. The band plans to work up other Sire-era favourites such as Jumpin’ In The Night and Don’t Put Me On and introduce some new songs into the mix. Forty years after it was first recorded Shake Some Action still resonates, and so do the Groovies.
As an impressionable youth I was knocked flat by a double header of the Flamin’ Groovies and the Ramones, London Roundhouse, July 4th 1976 (The Stranglers were third on the bill so it was just short of a perfect evening). That night the Groovies were terrific, and I have followed their subsequent adventures with great interest . This gig was their first in the UK since 1987 and I was delighted to DJ for them and the support, The Bermondsey Joyriders. Here are the records I played:
City Slang – Sonic’s Rendezvous Band
Jail Guitar Doors – Clash
Looking For the Magic – Dwight Twilley Band
Flavor Of The Month – Posies
Do Ya – Move
Happenings Ten Years Time Ago – Yardbirds
Gone Dead Train – Randy Newman
(Come On Baby Let’s Go) Downtown – Neil Young and Crazy Horse
Color Me Impressed – Replacements
In The Street – Big Star
(I Thought) You Wanted To Know – Chris Stamey and the dBs
THE BERMONDSEY JOYRIDERS
This Perfect Day – Saints
Rock & Roll Queen – Mott The Hoople
2000 Light Years From Home – Rolling Stones
A Million Miles Away – Plimsoulls
I want You Back – Hoodoo Gurus
32-20 – Charlatans
Me And My Uncle – Fortunate Sons
Roxette – Dr Feelgood
Looking At You – MC5
Get Out of Denver – Bob Seger
Beck’s Bolero – Jeff’s Beck
Have You Seen Her Face – Byrds
THE FLAMIN’ GROOVIES
Let It Rock – Rolling Stones
Lovers Of Today – Only Ones
Fire – Robert Gordon
In A Lonely Place – Smithereens
Layla Part 2 – Derek and the Dominoes
Albatross – Fleetwood Mac
It’s All Over Now Baby Blue – Them
Before the gig I interviewed Cyril Jordan and this plus a live review will appear in the next edition of Bucketfull of Brains magazine (and eventually on this site)
At a Promises Auction in support of our local school’s PTA, Martin and Sarah bid for and won an evening of me DJing.
They used this as an excuse to throw a party for friends and neighbours on what turned out to be a beautiful summers evening. Here’s what I played:
Summer In The City – Lovin’ Spoonful
Hilly Fields – Nick Nicely
For What It’s Worth – Buffalo Springfield
Something In The Air – Thunderclap Newman
God Only Knows – Beach Boys
Say You Don’t Mind – Denny Laine
Alone Again Or – Love
The First Cut Is The Deepest – PP Arnold
Changes – David Bowie
Walk On The Wild Side – Lou Reed
Life’s Been Good – Joe Walsh
(Don’t Fear) The Reaper – Blue Oyster Cult
All The Young Dudes – Mott The Hoople
Higher Than The Sun – Primal Scream
Take Me Out – Franz Ferdinand
7 Nation Army – White Stripes
Heroes – David Bowie
Sympathy For The Devil – Rolling Stones
Hello Goodbye – Beatles
Woke Up This Morning – Alabama 3
(White Man in) Hammersmith Palais – Clash
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll – Ian Dury
I Wanna Be Adored – Stone Roses
Come Together – Primal Scream
Family Affair – Sly & the Family Stone
Miss You – Rolling Stones
Love Is The Drug – Roxy Music
Where Did Our Love Go? – J Geils Band
Rock The Casbah – Clash
Too Much Too Young – Specials
Girls 7 Boys – Blur
Hear Of Glass – Blondie
Fame – David Bowie
Dance To The Music – Sly & the Family Stone
Loaded – Primal Scream
Back In The USSR – Beatles
This 5 track covers EP on New West Records acts as a fund-raiser for Slim Dunlap, former Mats guitarist whose stroke last year has left him with big medical bills and no insurance. Whilst original Replacements Paul Westerberg, Tommy Stinson and Chris Mars are all here Chris only plays on an over-produced solo rendition of Slim’s Radio Hook Word Hit, leaving Tommy and Paul backed on the other tracks by Kevin Bowe on guitars and Peter Anderson on drums. The record has an offhand feel, almost like The Mats gigs in their heyday where whimsical cover versions such as If I Only Had A Brain were de rigeur. Here they take a crack at Everything’s Coming Up Roses, possibly the bands none too subtle message to Slim . Producer Ed Ackerson makes the band sound like they’re in their rehearsal space, and it suits them. Slim’s Busted Up gets a Bo Diddley beat and too much piano. The real gem here is Gordon Lightfoot’s I’m Not Saying, where Paul copies Nico’s phrasing and slips in a little Johnny Thunders reference whilst the band reel off the chords in true beat group style. The following Lost Highway by comparison is little bit ragged, a little bit pub-rock. But it’s heart is the right place, it’s in a good cause and the record is worth having just for I’m Not Saying .
(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
Keith Richards has repeatedly told the story of how on tour in the USA in May 1965 he awoke one morning in his Florida hotel to find that his tape recorder contained a cassette that had reached its end. When he listened back to the tape he found a snatch of a riff, followed by forty minutes of snoring. He has also claimed the Satisfaction riff was borrowed from Dancing In The Streets by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas. Early incarnations suggested a softer, folk-based song but Mick Jagger spotted the potential of transforming the song into an uptempo number. Keith wanted the riff carried by a brass section along the lines of the February 1966 version cut by Otis Redding. The version of Satisfaction played by the Stones on their March 1971 UK tour has something of this – listen to the Get Your Leeds Lungs out version to see what Keith meant. The studio version that the Stones cut at Chess and RCA Hollywood in May 1965 featured Keith using a fuzzbox to replace the horns he heard and it as a guitar-based rocker that Satisfaction is known today. Jagger’s lyrics are intentionally placed low in the mix, bearing out his theory that it’s better if the listener has to work to decipher them. Massively successful, a number one hit all over the world including the UK and the USA.
Get Off Of My Cloud
Very much Son of Satisfaction. Again the track was recorded at Chess and RCA Hollywood, this time during September 1965. The song owes much to Twist and Shout, albeit with an extra chord added in the chorus. Although Andrew Loog Oldham received a production credit it is now widely accepted that the strong studio sound was largely due to engineer Dave Hassinger. Keith Richards has criticised the recording as being rushed and over-compressed, the latter in order to sound good on the radio. The strategy worked in commercial terms – another number one single in both the UK and the USA. Brian Jones played lead guitar whilst Ian Stewart featured on piano. One contemporary review claimed “another wild, far out beat number…rocks all the way with exciting vocal work.” Not played live for many years until in 1976 the track formed part of a medley with If You Can’t Rock Me and appeared in this form on 1977’s Love You Live double LP.
Heart of Stone
The release of this track as a US-only single in December 1964 demonstrated that Jagger and Richards were becoming more confident about their song-writing ability. It was recorded twice: first by Andrew Loog Oldham in London in July-August 1964 and then again by Dave Hassinger at RCA Hollywood in November of the same year. The early version featured Jimmy Page on guitar and was eventually released on the Metamorphosis compilation LP in June 1975. The second version shows Keith Richards effectively emulating Page’s guitar parts, aided by Jack Nitzsche’s piano. The single featured the second, superior recording. Comparing the two versions illustrates the gulf that then existed between UK studios / producers and their US counterparts. The US version appeared on 1965’s LP “The Rolling Stones Now!”, a US-only release that combined seven tracks from the Stones second UK LP with five tracks that were otherwise unavailable in the US.
19th Nervous Breakdown
The Autumn 1965 tour of the US was referred to by Mick Jagger in jest as his ’19th nervous breakdown’, a phrase the band turned into a possible title and then into a frantic maelstrom of a song. On release in February 1966 the single only reached number 2 in the UK charts, breaking a run of four successive number 1’s. The track was recorded at RCA Hollywood in December 1965. Jack Nitzsche got a co-production credit with Loog, but even Dave Hassingers engineering skills were insufficient to clarify the sound. The most notable sonic feature was Bill Wymans semi-accoustic Framus bass which dive-bombs through the mix. Disc magazine were not impressed: “Technically, especially when straining to hear Mick’s voice surface from the backing, it’s not the best.” Glyn Johns did a remix of the song which brought out Mick’s vocal more but Oldham rejected it. The track was played on the October 1966 UK tour but since then has only rarely been attempted live.
Paint It, Black
“Don’t ask me what the comma in the title is for – that’s Decca’s” (Keith Richards). Another track recorded by Dave Hassinger at RCA Hollywood (March 1966) and another chart-topper on both sides of the Atlantic. The track showcases Brian Jones’ ability to master a wide variety of musical instruments, here the sitar. Brian sat cross-legged on the floor on the Ed Sullivan show to give his sitar greater visual prominence. Jagger sings the first two lines in an almost subdued tone before hollering the rest of the song. The single got great reviews with Melody Maker calling it a “glorious Indian raga-rock riot”. The song was rarely played live until the Stones revived their 60’s classics and began to include it in setlists from 1989 onwards. These days Ronnie Wood plays the (electric) sitar part, as shown on the version from Twickenham Stadium in August 2003 included on the Four Flicks DVD
Under My Thumb
Taken from the Stones LP Aftermath this song featured Brian Jones on marimba, which gives the track an African feel. The song noticeably speeds up at the end courtesy of Ian Stewart’s piano. Overall a very poor track: the lyrics are yet another variation on Jaggers “dumb chicks” putdown as he charmingly refers to an ex as a “squirming dog who’s just had her day”. Keith Richards’ guitar solo is aimless. Played extensively on the 1969 American tour: a version is included on the expanded edition of Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out!. After the infamous June 1967 Redlands drug-bust the Who released a version of Under My Thumb as a single to demonstrate their support for the Stones. John Entwistle was on his honeymoon so Townshend played bass as well as guitar. There was just time to get the record out before Jagger and Richards were released on appeal. The recording failed to improve on the Stones version and the B-side cover of The Last Time was no better.
Let’s Spend the Night Together
The Stones at their poppiest, released as a double A side single with the equally catchy Ruby Tuesday. “Produced” by Andrew Loog Oldham at Olympic Studios in London during November 1966 although most of the heavy-lifting was done by engineer Glyn Johns. The melody was written by Keith Richards at the piano, and he also played bass. Jagger’s vocal caused some controversy, particularly in the US where Ed Sullivan demanded a lyric change to “spend some time together.” The NME commented “a super disc for dancing.” The song was resurrected for the 1981US tour and became the title of Hal Ashby’s concert film, the version used therein having been recorded in Tempe, Arizona on December 13.
Jumpin’ Jack Flash
Peace and Love did not sit well with the Rolling Stones. After the mixed critical reaction to 1967’s trippy Their Satanic Majesties Request LP a return to their roots was strongly indicated. Joining the Beatles (Get Back) and the Move (Fire Brigade) the Stones went Back To Basics to stunning effect. Enter Jimmy Miller as the bands best-ever producer. Bill Wyman came up with a basic musical idea, whilst Jagger and Richards came up with words and riffs, based on Jack Dyer, Richards gardener at Redlands. The extraordinary guitar textures were created by part-recording accoustic guitar on a cassette recorder with so much overload that it sounded electric. Special mention should go to the extraordinary coda, Nicky Hopkins playing a rising Hammond organ line that was direct injected into the mixing board so as to almost sound like another guitar. A promotional film was shot by Michael Lindsay-Hogg where the band were all heavily made-up and exuded menace. Roy Carr regards the recording as “as near perfect as any rock record should ever possibly be”. Played at virtually every Stones concert since then. Innumerable live versions exist but the definitive performance was recorded on November 27, 1969 at Madison Square Garden and included on the Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! LP.
Honky Tonk Women
Producer Jimmy Miller returned to his drumming roots by playing the cowbell introduction to this track, after receiving permission from Charlie Watts to do so. Charlie actually enters on the “wrong” beat of the cowbell, but everyone loved the push-pull effect so it stayed. Jagger and Richards wrote the song during a South American holiday in early 1969. Early versions of the song feature Brian Jones but the finished version showcases Mick Taylor, Brian’s successor. The basic Stones line-up was augmented by brass-players Jim Horn, Bobby Keyes and Jim Price. Another number 1 in both the UK and the US, backed by You Can’t Always Get What You Want – surely the Stones best value-for-money single release. A studio out-take shows Jagger experimenting with different lyrics so that Paris takes over from New York. The NME decided that the disc “bounces along with an irresistible beat that’ll have the kids jigging about uncontrollably.” A consistent fixture in the live set, the song has been played at most gigs since its creation. It did not feature on a contemporary LP, although Let It Bleed features an acoustic prototype called Country Honk. In 1976 at Knebworth Fayre a snippet of Country Honk was busked in front of 200,000 people causing Jagger to enquire of Ronnie Wood “Did you play on that one? Could you learn it?”
Track By Track: Tattoo You by the Rolling Stones
Context: Transforming Base Metal Into Gold…
“There is a big difference in Keith’s personality” commented Tattoo You associate producer Chris Kimsey in the autumn of 1980. “His attitude towards the band is much more relaxed. He’s more secure. And of course he’s in love” (to new squeeze Patti Hansen). However what should have been a positive time for Richards degenerated into rows with Jagger and the Glimmer Twins only managed to write three new songs for the LP. Ronnie Wood was little help as he was heavily into freebasing cocaine and in no state to write new material.
Accordingly the decision was taken to comb through the archives to see what previously recorded songs could be used. Stephen Trousse called Jagger and Kimsey the “rock’n’roll Frankenstein and assistant, frantically scouring the tombs and catacombs for signs of life in dusty old performances they might stitch together and reanimate”. Key here was Bob Clearmountain who somehow took this disparate grab-bag of studio leftovers and via his mixing transformed it into a coherent LP that sounded like it had been recorded at the same session despite 9 years between the oldest and most recent tracks. Clearmountain made a further two crucial production decisions: he mixed Charlie Watts’ drums way up front and also brought the dual guitars of Keith Richards and (predominantly) Ronnie Wood more to the fore. The result was the Stones first stadium-friendly LP and eight tracks that were played live on the US and European tours that followed its release in 1981-2.
The album was noticeable for the absence of sleeve credits: A disingenuous Jagger claimed “I just got fed up with writing all those credit lists out and everyone wants one above the other one, and then I couldn’t remember who is playing so I thought ‘Oh everyone got paid anyway’ “. This was certainly not true of Mick Taylor who sued. The reality was that disclosing full credits would have shown just how ancient was some of this material.
Released in August 1981, Tattoo You was rated highly by the bands fiercest critic “Sixth Stone” and pianist Ian Stewart, who apparently claimed the LP to be “free from filler” . In retrospect Jagger was more equivocal: “I think it’s excellent. But all the things I usually like, it doesn’t have. It doesn’t have any unity of purpose or place or time.”
The critics were less impressed. “Tattoo You does offer a glimmer of what once was, and more important, what could be. It proves the snarl is still there even if the bite has gone” said Patrick Humphries in Melody Maker. Charles Shaar Murray of the NME was more dismissive: “Tattoo You is the Rolling Stones standing exposed as a rock band with severe musical limitations and a collection of well-worn mannerisms as all that stands between them and oblivion.” Veteran Stones associate Nick Kent reckoned “too little creative sparkle and too much raunch-by-rote for any kind of long-term satisfying listening experience.” However the commercial response was very different: Tattoo You was the last Stones LP to hit number 1 in the US, a position it held for over two months.
Side One
Start Me Up
Start Me Up was the first single from the LP and its immediate international success was instrumental in re-establishing the Stones as a valid commercial entity. Jagger claims credit for recognising the possibilities of this tune, which started life during the 1975 Munich Black & Blue sessions as a lengthy Keith Richards reggae track entitled Never Stop. ” I found it, put it together, wrote the lyrics and put it on and Keith said ‘I can’t believe it, it’s just wild’ “. The track had received a less enthusiastic reception when it was revisited during the 1978 Some Girls sessions – Richards sighed “Oh it’s Brown Sugar again” and ordered it to be wiped. Final studio touches were applied in New York in December 1979.
The result is a remarkably sparse dance groove that highlights the central guitar riff, underpinned by propulsive handclaps. All backing vocals are provided by Jagger, doing his best Richards impersonation.
A live version can be found on the Still Life 1981 tour LP, whilst a video version features in the tour movie Lets Spend The Night Together, filmed at Brendan Byrne Arena, New Jersey on 5-6 November 1981. For many fans it remains the last “real” Stones single and it has been played at virtually every Stones gig since 1981. Microsoft licensed Start Me Up to soundtrack the launch of Windows 95 and the track featured extensively throughout the London 2012 Olympics.
Hang Fire
This was the third and final single released in the US. It had originally been written as Lazy Bitch with different lyrics. The original track wasrecorded for Some Girls at EMI Pathe Marconi studios in Paris between January 1978 and October 1979. The track was shelved as Some Girls already had a preponderance of fast numbers. Musically Hang Fire is as close as the Rolling Stones have ever got to doo-wop inspired surf music. A six minute outtake exists with extended guitar solos by Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood, interspersed with piano solos by Ian Stewart. Played frequently on the 1981 US and 1982 European tours but not thereafter.
Slave
First recorded during the 1975 sessions in Rotterdam, this song had variously been known as Black And Blue Jam and Vagina. Finishing touches were applied between October 1980 and June 1981 in Paris and New York. The finished version features Sonny Rollins on tenor sax. Sonny Rollins had played with Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie so his presence would have been warmly embraced by jazz fanatic Charlie Watts. Jeff Beck is allegedly on this track. He was rumoured to be the replacement for Mick Taylor and this track was a tryout see how he got on with the band in the studio. Pete Townshend’s presence on the track is harder to understand, or indeed hear. Out-takes exist which run up to nine and half minutes, and when Virgin remastered the Tattoo You CD in 1994 they added another minute and half to the familiar take.
Little T&A
T&A = Tits and Ass. This solo Keith Richards number was originally called Bulldog and contained the lyric “She’s my little rock’n’roll, my tits and ass with soul ” which offended some people who found it sexist: one who did not was its inspiration and Keith’s new love, NY model Patti Hansen. They met in December 1979 and were married exactly four years later. Musically we are in familiar Chuck Berry territory, although the song has a more playful feel than some of its predecessors such as Star Star. A breakdown towards the end reveals the biscuit-tin sound of Charlie’s drums. The track was released as the B side of Waiting On A Friend where it contains the production credit ‘Chris Kimsey for Wonder Knob’. The song was played frequently on the 1981 US and 1982 European tours, and again on Keith’s solo tours when he was backed by the Xpensive Winos. Is the line ‘the pools in but the patio ain’t dry” coded language for something salacious or a complaint about shoddy decorating? Only Keith knows. Possibly.
Black Limousine
This is a Jagger-Richards song started in 1973 in Munich. Ronnie Wood was given a rare songwriting co-credit in credit in exchange for relinquishing his writing credit to the song It’s Only Rock’n’Roll (one wonders how he feels about the deal today). The track was finished in Paris between January 1978 and October 1979. Ronnie Wood described its traditional structure and arrangement as a tribute to Muddy Waters or Jimmy Reed. Ian Stewart reluctantly joins in on piano but termed the result “bloody Status Quo music”. A live version was recorded at the ‘small club’ Brixton Academy gig on July 19 1995, and it was released on the UK CD Like A Rolling Stone.
Neighbours
An ode to Keith Richards’ domestic problems, this raucous track alludes to the problems caused by his liking for loud music late at night. It was released as the B-side to Hang Fire in the US. Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s witty video featured copulating couples and the gory hacksaw disintegration of a missing wife. Unsurprisingly it was banned by MTV, which may have been the point. Played frequently on the 1981 US and 1982 European tours: a version recorded at the Paris Olympia features on the Four Flicks DVD.
Side Two
Worried About You
One unusual feature of Tattoo You is that the songs were separated into a noisy side and a quiet side. After the preceding six rockers the soulful Worried About You provides welcome sonic relief.
The track is another relic from the January and February 1975 Rotterdam Black and Blue sessions and features Wayne Perkins on lead guitar, a track recorded during his audition for the vacancy subsequently filled by Ronnie Wood. Also prominent is Billy Preston on electric piano, sympathetically backing up Jagger’s falsetto croon which is deployed more effectively here than on Fool To Cry from the same sessions. Subsequently the track was worked on in Paris between June and October 1979.
The song was only occasionally played live, although an embryonic version with a lyrical Ronnie Wood solo can be found on bootleg recordings of the Toronto El Mocambo gigs from March 4th 1977. These small club gigs were recorded for the 1976 double LP Love You Live, but only one side came from the El Mocambo so the live version of Worried About You remained unreleased. The band clearly like the song since a version recorded at the Paris Olympia features on the Four Flicks DVD
Tops
This track was started at Dynamic Sounds in Jamaica in late 1972. Even the most cursory listen reveals the presence of Mick Taylor on lead guitar . Despite this Taylor was forced to sue for royalties and for credits. In lyrical terms Jagger is unusually honest as he reviews the casting couch mentality prevalent in showbiz. Billy Preston’s electric piano provides a suitably sleazy support. The band tried playing Tops on the opening dates of the 1981 US tour but it did not persist in the live set beyond this.
Heaven
Heaven is the least Stones-like music on Tattoo You. It is an eerie ambient piece, begun relatively recently in Paris (October 1980) and finished in Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland studio in New York during June 1981. Jagger plays guitar, Chris Kimsey plays piano, Bill Wyman plays synthesizer. Amidst delicate percussion and whispered vocals this track could have become a chill-out classic had it not been completely forgotten. Never played live although recently remixers such as CJ Jeff and Mr Jools have put a dance beat under the track to good effect.
No Use In Crying
Ronnie Wood gets another co-writer credit on song that was released on the B side of Start Me Up. Originally recorded in Paris during summer 1979 the track was subsequently remixed between April and June 1981 at Electric Ladyland. At least four different outtakes exist, each with minor differences in piano, backing vocals and echo. A charming if slight song it has never been played live.
Waiting On A Friend
The final track on the LP began its life in Dynamic Sound Jamaica towards the end of 1972 and features Mick Taylor on guitar and Nicky Hopkins on characteristically delicate piano. Sonny Rollins’ saxophone was added to the song’s coda during later overdubs in New York. Michael Lindsey-Hogg filmed a touching video promo for the track in June 1979. Compadres Jagger and Richards saunter down to St. Marks Bar and Grill in New York where the rest of the band await, Keith with spliff in hand. The promo was made available on the highly entertaining “Video Rewind – the Rolling Stones Great Video Hits “, scandalously never released officially on DVD. The track was played live consistently throughout the 1981 US tour but did not make the transition to the European tour of the following year. Jagger is in reflective mood on the line “making love and breaking hearts – it is a game for youth.” It would be interesting to get his perspective forty years later…
Only Rock 'n' Roll 