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The Rolling Stones in the press: “The Rolling Stones Confess to a ‘Noisy’ Headache” (by Richard Green)
While many artists strive to capture on stage the same sounds as they get on record, the biggest headache for the Rolling Stones is getting their stage noise on wax. Judging by their chart successes, they manage pretty well.
Their co-manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, who produces some of their discs, told me: “When the Stones go into a recording studio, they enjoy themselves. They don’t look upon it as an ordeal. They can go right on and play a number perfectly first time. But when we want to get the same sound as they produce on stage, we so often have to double-track.”
But whatever tricks the backroom boys get up to in the studios, the end product is always welcomed by the fans. Seven weeks ago, their EP entered the charts. It is still there.
For a record that costs almost twice as much as a single to sell that well, there has to be something different about it. And that is — the Stones all over — they are different. “We are so surprised that the EP has sold so well,” Mike Jagger confessed.
R-and-B
“We do ‘Poison Ivy’ and ‘Money’ on the record, but they have already been hits. ‘Money’ was a Beatles EP effort and sold fantastically for them,” he said. “So we couldn’t have been more surprised when the disc did so well.”
Chart success for the EP is even more remarkable because it is pure r-and-b — Eric Burdon’s favourite form of music. Eric picks the Stones as the best r-and-b outfit in Britain and the Stones take it all very seriously. Their love for it shows.
The disc hit the market just as Beatlemania was beginning to wane a little, and it came along just at the right time to plug the gap between “I Wanna Be Your Man” and “Not Fade Away,” which jumps into the Chart this week at No. 10.
Perhaps the most requested number on the EP is “You Better Move On.” People have been devoting a lot of radio and jukebox time to it.
Andrew Loog Oldham puts the Stones’ much-talked-about toughness and r-and-b image down to this: “The Stones are individuals. You can always pick out who is playing. It’s not just sound for sound’s sake, and that’s why it works.”
He also disclosed that the next Rolling Stones session will include “Carol,” “Mona” and “Route 66.” Not the usual type of choice, but then there is always a lot of difference between the Stones and other recording stars. The most recent session had its share of excitement. The only addition is a sixth member of the plays maracas — Phil Spector!
Keith Richard explained the situation: “We had been working on the number for about five minutes when everything was turned up, then turned down, and Phil Spector and the Stones’ road manager, Ian Stewart, sat down at the same piano. It was a fantastic scene!”
The session ended up with everyone cutting private tapes and lunnes with Spector-type titles, such as “And the Rolling Stones Met Phil and Gene” and “Mr. Spector and Mr. Pitney Came Too,” being written and recorded on the spot.
Tapes
Those tapes are ever issued as discs, they will be a knock-out. One of them has, in fact, been used as the ‘B’ side.
“We were fooling around to recording machine when I grabbed hold of a harmonica and was shaking the maracas at the same time. We really had a good time. Then you hear us trying to finish it in the next couple of minutes. But what with touring and everything else, we can’t say when it will be done. ‘Carol,’ ‘Mona’ and ‘Route 66’ are on it, and we plan to include some numbers that people wouldn’t associate with us.” It will probably prove another winner for the Rolling Stones. (Ref. The Rolling Stones Headache)
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