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mr. spector
Rolling Stones unreleased:Mr. Spector and Mr. Pitney Came Too
Written by: Phelge/Spector Recorded: IBC Studios, London, England, Feb. 4 1964 Guest musicians: Phil Spector, Gene Pitney, Allan Clarke, Graham Nash
*From Martin Elliott’s book THE ROLLING STONES COMPLETE RECORDING SESSIONS 1962-2012: This track perfectly encapsulates the uniqueness of the session. Laughter at the beginning and someone shouts (possibly Ronnie Ronette), ‘I’ve never recorded before’. A false piano intro was laughed at before Phil Spector takes control and starts it off with a 1-2, a 1-2-3-4. The band charge in with an infectious assault of R’n’B. Harmonica, boogie piano and lead guitars and that bottle chiming in the background provide an alternate take to Now I’ve Got A Witness.
About ‘Mr. Spector and Mr. Pitney Came Too‘ by The Rolling Stones (from Dangerous Minds)
On February 4th, 1964, the Rolling Stones entered Regent Sound Studios in London for a session. The group had released a couple of singles at this point, and the studio was quickly becoming their go-to spot. For this recording, the band was joined by some special guests: singer/songwriter Gene Pitney, Graham Nash and Allan Clarke from the Hollies, as well as genius record producer Phil Spector. By night’s end their combined efforts resulted in a few completed tracks, including one called “Andrew’s Blues” which is quite possibly the raunchiest song the Stones have ever committed to tape—yes, rivaling even this infamous number.
In his autobiography, Stone Alone: The Story of a Rock ‘n’ Roll Band, bassist Bill Wyman wrote about the wild session, which was produced by their manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, the subject of “Andrew’s Blues”: “We’d become friendly with Phil Spector and attended a star-studded party in his honour thrown by Decca a week earlier; so he continued the friendship by dropping in our recording. Graham Nash and Allan Clarke of the Hollies also came and later Gene Pitney arrived direct from the airport, with duty-free cognac. It was his birthday, and his family custom was that everyone had to drink a whole glass. Pitney played piano while Spector and the Hollies played tambourine and maracas and banged coins on empty bottles. We recorded three songs, ‘Little by Little’, ‘Can I Get a Witness’ and ‘Now I’ve Got a Witness’ which we invented on the spot. The session then degenerated into silliness, but everybody had a great time cutting ‘Andrew’s Blues’ and ‘Spector and Pitney Came Too’-—both of which were very rude.”
