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Rolling Stones unreleased: Summer Romance (early version)

Recorded: Pathé Marconi Studios, Boulogne-Billancourt, France, June-October 1979 (Emotional Rescue sessions)

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Summer Romance is a high-energy, guitar-driven track that perfectly embodies the late ’70s Rolling Stones. Like many of Mick Jagger’s songs from this era, it features three distinct guitar layers. On the right channel, Mick delivers a distorted rhythm guitar, while Ron Wood counters on the left with a palm-muted rhythm. Holding it all together, Keith Richards takes the lead, firing off electrifying Chuck Berry-style licks that give the song its signature punch.

The Stones first worked on Summer Romance during the Some Girls sessions in January 1978. That summer, they revisited it at Wally Heider Studios (formerly RCA) before wrapping it up at Pathé Marconi Studios between late June and early October 1979, and available in a huge number of bootlegs.

Early versions of the song had a much faster tempo and a raw, almost punk-like feel. These early takes packed more intensity than the final version on Emotional Rescue, capturing the band’s no-frills rock approach at the time. The rougher, more urgent feel of the initial recordings arguably made for a more powerful track than the polished version that ultimately made the cut.

While Summer Romance remains a solid rock song (sadly, it was never played live), the final mix smooths out some of its rawness, making it sound more polished than it might have been. In its earlier working mixes, Ian Stewart’s piano was a more prominent feature, adding an extra layer of grit to the track. Unfortunately, in the official release, his playing is buried in the mix, only surfacing briefly towards the end. Despite these changes, the song still captures the youthful, reckless energy of the Stones in this era, standing as a testament to their ability to blend rock ‘n’ roll grit with a more refined studio sound.

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