I mentioned this album back in April 2020 when I did the 10 album challenge, but now that I'm going more in-depth it needs another entry.
This was the start. This was my very first album.
It was 16th August 1964, two weeks before my 14th birthday. I went to Robells Music Box in the Market Hall in Harrogate with 13/6d - thirteen shillings and sixpence, my weeks wages for delivering newspapers at 6a.m. I came away with a piece of history.
The album didn't stay pristine for long. I was so excited that as soon as I got it home I wrote my name and the date on the back cover. Then I went one better and wrote my name, address and date on the inner sleeve.
Now, almost 60 years later, the cover lamination is cracked and bubbled, the back cover is dirty and stained and the inner sleeve is covered with dates and addresses of places I have lived and worked through 5 different countries over the years, taking this album with me everywhere I went. The thing is, the album plays and sounds as good as the day it was bought and has that essential quality - the smell of vinyl.
Andrew Loog Oldham wrote the sleeve notes and makes a very bold opening statement ..
"The Rolling Stones are more than just a group - they are a way of life." He goes on to say that it's 8 months since they embarked on their pop career !! Not bad, claiming a way of life after less than a year.
Of the 12 tracks on the album, 9 of them are covers (very good covers) 2 of them are credited to Phelge, which was the name used for group compositions, and one track - 'Tell Me (You're Coming Back) was by Jagger, Richard.
Of note is the list of additional musicians used. On the track 'Little By Little' there are a few famous names. Playing piano are Gene Pitney and Ian Stewart, on maracas we have Phil Spector and doing backing vocals, Graham Nash and Allan Clarke (both of Hollies fame, Graham Nash going on to Crosby, Stills & Nash). The first 3 are credited on the album but Nash and Clarke don't get a mention.
If the name Ian Stewart doesn't ring any bells, just think of Stuart Sutcliffe. Where Sutcliffe was referred to as 'the fifth Beatle' so Ian Stewart could well be called 'the sixth Stone'.
He was actually a co-founder of the group, but when Andrew Loog Oldham took over as manager he didn't think Ian 'fitted the image' so he was taken out of the official line-up.
He appears on the album because, even though he wasn't part of the main group anymore he became their road manager and pianist - a job he held for over two decades.
He passed away in 1985 aged just 47, but in 1989 he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the rest of the band. Good.
When this album was released in the States it was renamed 'Rolling Stones - England's Newest Hitmakers' and the track 'Mona / I Need You Baby' was replaced with 'Not Fade Away'. That must have been a culture shock for America. 'Not Fade Away' was originally written (under his first and middle names, Charles Hardin) and sung by Buddy Holly in 1957. To hear a raw heavy version with .. 'a Bo Diddley beat' must have been a no-holds-barred intro to the group.
There are about 20 versions of the original British pressing of the album. They all have identifying features, some are run of the mill and others are incredibly valuable.
Let's get the technical stuff out of the way for the purists. Here's my copy ..
Mono recording on a red/silver Decca 'ear' label.
Label V: The label rim reads on top 'Made in England. The Decca Record Co. Ltd.', the NCB (no full stops) and B.I.E.M. captions are on the right hand side on side A. On side B the BIEM caption is omitted and N.C.B. caption appears with full stops.
Cover B1: The back cover lists 'I Need You Baby' as track A4, the cover has ''flipbacks'': top and bottom are folded over the back cover.
It has tax code K/T.
A3 'Honest I Do' has Hurran Calvert credits on label, Reed credits on cover.
A5 Subtitle of "Now I've Got a Witness" written "Like Uncle Gene and Uncle Phil"
B3 'Tell Me' has a running time of 4:06.
Matrix / Runout stamp side A: XARL-6271-2A
Cat # is LK.4805 (with the .) on label LK 4605 (without .) on cover.
No comments:
Post a Comment