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Most bands toss half-finished studio jams in a drawer and forget them, whereas The Rolling Stones treat their tape vault like a fine wine cellar that needs half a century to breathe. Enter Fast Talking, Slow Walking, a swaggering groove that bounced between France, Jamaica, Miami, and Munich in the early seventies before finally receiving modern polish for Tattoo You’s 2021 reissue. For decades, only dedicated bootleg hunters knew this infectious rhythm existed. Now, we are peeling back the studio tape to trace how one of the Glimmer Twins’ most elusive outtakes survived fifty years of rock history.
And ain’t it hard to find/ A guide in this life at all?/ I’m not alone/ But I’m feeling lucky…
Written by: Jagger/Richards Recorded: Musicland Studios, Munich, West-Germany, Feb. 8-13 and Feb. 20-March 3 1974; Overdubs at RAK Studios, London, Spring 2021
Mick Jagger: vocals Keith Richards: guitar Mick Taylor: guitar Bill Wyman: bass Charlie Watts: drums Guest musicians: Nicky Hopkins (piano)
More about Fast Talking, Slow Walking by The Rolling Stones
*By Marcelo Sonaglioni
The Munich Soundboard Evolution
The genesis of the track traces back to the pristine, high-tech confines of Musicland Studios in Munich, West Germany, where the band decamped between February 8–13 and February 20–March 3, 1974. Far removed from the damp basement chaos of earlier years, these West German sessions provided a controlled, polished environment to experiment with fresh material. Amidst these productive winter dates, a good-natured, piano-driven outtake channeling an Elton John-style honky-tonk swagger came to life. It was an immediately infectious, surprisingly bright composition that felt entirely worthy of completion, yet it was quietly shelved as the group’s massive catalog priorities shifted through the mid-seventies.
Decades in the Tape Archive
For nearly fifty years, this piano-led Munich recording remained strictly the stuff of myth for dedicated bootleg collectors and archivist enthusiasts. While countless other tracks from the mid-seventies recording blocks circulated on underground tapes, this specific upbeat piano gem stayed carefully guarded within the Glimmer Twins’ legendary storage vaults. It stood as a fascinating glimpse into a productive writing window, capturing a lighter, pop-leaning sensibility that contrasted sharply with the heavier guitar-driven workouts dominating their official album releases of the era.
The Spring 2021 RAK Studios Overdubs
The long wait for the track finally ended when the band took the original Munich multi-tracks into RAK Studios in London during the spring of 2021. Modern overdubs breathed new life into the decades-old session tape, updating the instrumentation while preserving the original 1974 rhythm section’s infectious groove. This meticulous studio revival bridged a nearly fifty-year gap, transforming a forgotten West German outtake into a pristine, studio-quality production ready for contemporary ears.
The Ultimate Deluxe Redemption
The triumphant journey culminated with its official release in 2021 as a standout addition to the Tattoo You deluxe edition box set. Hearing the track fully polished and properly mastered offered a striking reminder of just how deep the Stones’ mid-seventies working drawers truly ran. What began as a forgotten Munich piano experiment transformed into a beloved modern discovery, proving that even the band’s unreleased vault tapes could easily rival their finest era-defining cuts.
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