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"...English Blood Runs Hot..."
There can’t be too many
Rolling Stones fans out there in the big wide world that won’t look at the
sleeve of "Sticky Fingers" and grin like a schoolboy watching the
English Ladies Hockey Team practice their down strokes. And I suppose if us
aging reprobates are to suffer yet another reissue of that absolute Classic
Rock Album – then this June 2015 two-disc rehash is a great way to massage our
hip-replacements - because frankly it’s a bit of belter. In fact fans of the
'Mick Taylor Era' of The Rolling Stones are going to flip for Disc 2. Once more
unto the bleach...
First things first – Disc 1
is not a new version in any way – it’s the remaster done by Stephen Marcussen
at Marcussen Mastering in 2009 and runs to exactly the same playing time –
46:25 minutes. Disc 2 presents us with 10 Previously Unreleased Bonus Tracks
mixed by BOB IRWIN and mastered by STEPHEN MARCUSSEN – five album outtakes and
five live cuts from the last date on their UK Tour – Sunday, 14 March 1971 at
The Roundhouse in London.
The 8-page basic inlay that
accompanied the 4 May 2009 reissue has been upgraded to 24-pages for this 2CD
Deluxe Edition (there is a single disc version that keeps the 8-page inlay).
The Andy Warhol torso and underpants photo that was hidden under the original
‘zipper’ sleeve is reproduced on Page 3 - with Pages 4 to 7 giving us new black
and white portrait photos of each member of the band (all were once considered
for the inner artwork). The photo that did grace the inner insert for the
original April 1971 LP is reproduced on the left hand flap as you open the
gatefold card digipak – but rather tastefully - an outtake I’ve never seen
before from the same photo session is on the right flap. Instead of Mick
yawning and Keith grinning in side profile – it has Keith and Mick staring
forward pensively with the other three doing the same in the rear (Bill Wyman,
Mick Taylor and Charlie Watts). You can see why they chose the one that finally
came out – its just more funny and a better snap (but what a lovely touch).
Beneath each see-through CD tray (yellow lips logo on Disc 1 and green on Disc
2) are pictures of tape boxes. The booklet also has shots of their initial
recording sessions at the famed Muscle Shoals Studios in Alabama (there’s even
a bill for $1009 for the recording of "Wild Horses"), black and
whites of the Stargroves Estate in Hampshire where further recording took
place, the artwork for the "Brown Sugar" UK 7" single picture
sleeve, a repro of the UK Tour 1971 poster, colour shots from the Roundhouse
gig in London and even photos of the album launch in France with Ahmet Ertegun
of Atlantic Records. Finally there are detailed credits for both discs.
UK released 8 June 2015 (9
June 2015 in the USA) – this reissue of "Sticky Fingers" by THE
ROLLING STONES comes in a dizzying TEN FORMATS - including Single and Double
Vinyl variants, differing Downloads versions and even a Spanish Cover Version
with its famously unique 'Fingers in A Tin Of Treacle' artwork. This review is
for the 2CD Deluxe Edition on Polydor/Rolling Stones 376 483-6 (Barcode
602537648368). Here are the details...
Disc 1 (46:25 minutes)
1. Brown Sugar
2. Sway
3. Wild Horses
4. Can’t You Hear Me
Knocking
5. You Gotta Move
6. Bitch [Side 2]
7. I Got The Blues
8. Sister Morphine
9. Dead Flowers
10. Moonlight Mile
Tracks 1 to 10 are the album
"Sticky Fingers" - released 23 April 1971 in the UK and USA on
Rolling Stones Records COC 59100
Disc 2 (54:02 minutes):
1. Brown Sugar (with Eric
Clapton) – 4:05 minutes
2. Wild Horses (Acoustic) –
5:47 minutes
3. Can’t You Hear Me
Knocking (Alternate Version) – 3:24 minutes
4. Bitch (Extended Version)
– 5:53 minutes
5. Dead Flowers (Alternate
Version) – 4:18 minutes
6. Live With Me – 4:22
minutes
7. Stray Cat Blues – 3:48
minutes
8. Love In Vain – 6:42
minutes
9. Midnight Rambler – 11:27
minutes
10. Honky Tonk Women – 4:14
minutes
Tracks 1 to 5 are Outtakes
from the original sessions produced by Jimmy Miller. "Brown Sugar" is
credited as (with Eric Clapton) when in fact it also has Al Kooper on Guitar
(Ian Stewart on Piano and Bobby Keys on Saxophone too). Tracks 6 to 10 are
highlights from a show at The Roundhouse in London on Sunday, 14 March 1971
(there is a CD3 only on the Super Deluxe Edition 12" x 12" Box Set
which is called "Get Yer Leeds Lungs Out" and was recorded 1971 at
Leeds University). The live band for the London show included Bobby Keys on
Saxophone, Jim Price on Trumpet and Nicky Hopkins on Piano. All songs are
Jagger/Richards originals except "Stray Cat Blues" which is a Robert
Johnson cover version.
THE ALBUM:
Right from the opening riffs
of "Brown Sugar" (slightly distorted it has to be said) - you know
you're in the presence of a different beast. This (2009) thing rocks - the
guitars and rhythm section filling your speakers with incredible energy. I can
hear the 'loudness wars' naysayers already - sure these things are loud and
sure they're hissy in places too - but at least I feel like I'm in the presence
of the real master tape. The power and clarity of instruments on say
"Can't You Hear Me Knocking" and "Dead Flowers" is
astounding. Ry Cooder's Slide Guitar and Jack Nitzsche's Piano on "Sister
Morphine" is so good too, Paul Buckmaster's gorgeous Strings on
"Moonlight Mile" and Keith's beautiful acoustic playing on "Wild
Horses" - all fabulous. But if I was to isolate one track that shows
massive improvement on this SHM - it's the Side 2 nugget "I Got The
Blues". Everything about it rocks - Keith Richards and Mick Taylor on
guitars, Bobby Keys and Jim Price on Horns, Jimmy Miller's Percussion and especially
the Billy Preston Organ solo - it sounds truly fabulous. There's just that
little more pep in the step of every track on this format - and somehow that
amazing Cooder Slide on "Sister Morphine" seems more in your face
(but in a good way), the sexy Saxophones on "Bitch" - the guitars on
their fantastic bluesy cover of the Mississippi Fred McDowell/Gary Davis
dead-and-dying tune "You Gotta Move". There are many who hated the
2009 remaster saying it was too loud or something like that. I think this is
crap of the highest order. I bought the Japanese Platinum SHM-CD version with a
flat transfer (which is what many of these detractors wanted) and it 'was'
awful. It's a matter of Audio taste I know - but I frankly get weary of
Audiophile types telling me what I'm hearing is lousy when my ears tell me
different.
I had expected Disc 2 to be
a disappointment – five lesser versions with a bunch of live stuff that should
have stayed in the can – neither let the side down thank God. To hear “Brown
Sugar” in ‘any’ variant is a blast - yet you can so hear why Jagger toned down
the “get down on your knees...” lyrics and how the twin slide guitar work of
Clapton and Kooper is good but still feels too ramshackle. Bobby Keys comes
blasting in with that Saxophone solo pretty much intact but the finished album
cut is sharper and their decision to go with a cleaner more concise version was
the right one. It’s odd ‘not’ to hear the opening acoustic strums of “Wild
Horses” be accompanied by that second guitar – this time we get a sort of
unplugged original – and what a gorgeous song it is too. Lyrically there’s not
much that’s different except that you can you hear the words more clearly on
this Alternate. We then get a weird reversal – the finished album masterpiece
“Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” gets cut down from 7:16 minutes to 3:24 minutes
and is really the band ‘feeling’ for something. In fact on the amazing near
12-minute live version of “Midnight Rambler” where Keith and Mick solo like
crazy – you can hear the finished licks and solos creep in because it was March
1971 – after they’d recorded this early attempt.
But then comes an absolute
jewel – the extended “Bitch” where Bobby Keys (Saxophone) and Jim Price
(Trumpet) add so much to the song. It’s absolutely fantastic and I actually
shouted “More” at the Marantz as it finished – not wanting this bad sucker to
end. After such excitement the Alternate of “Wild Flowers” isn’t nearly as
Country as the finished album version and suffers for it. Fans will be
disappointed that the five live cuts don’t actually feature a single “Sticky
Fingers” track but that’s not to say that they’re inferior fare – far from it.
This is the 1971 band cooking (with Mick Taylor) on 1969 “Let It Bleed”
material like “Live With Me” and “Love In Vain”. There is already a huge step
forward in the overall sound and impact – a band finding their Rock feet. The
Robert Johnson cover of ”Stray Cat Blues” is just fantastic while the huge
“Midnight Rambler” sees Mick give it some fabulous harmonica fills inbetween
those Bluesy guitar moments (“Spotlight on Keith’s arse...” he say before they
launch into the jam). After introductions of the band – Mick tells the crowd to
“open your lungs on this one” as The Stones go into a stunning version of
“Honky Tonk Women”. Very tasty stuff...
I don’t know if I’d plum up
the dosh for the Super Deluxe Version – but I have to say that this 2CD Deluxe
Edition is a triumph.
In the Jake
Gyllenhaal/Dustin Hoffman/Susan Sarandon movie “Moonlight Mile” from 2002 –
Jake’s character is in a bar, goes over to a jukebox and puts on the movie’s
title track. It starts to play and then as the stunning Paul Buckmaster strings
kick in – Jagger sings - “I’m riding down your Moonlight Mile...” And I
remember watching it - and not for the first time did a chill go up my arms –
reminding me of how much I loved this band and in particular this album that I
played to death as a teen in Dublin.
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are more Zimmer-Frame Twins these days than Glimmer Twins – but that doesn’t stop this 2CD reissue from being magical to me. Lick your lips folks...because here we go again...
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are more Zimmer-Frame Twins these days than Glimmer Twins – but that doesn’t stop this 2CD reissue from being magical to me. Lick your lips folks...because here we go again...
