Friday, February 17, 2012

A funky piano

Autumn 1970 (August 30 - October 9) the Rolling Stones toured Europe, for the first time in more than three years. It happened to be the first Stones tour to include other stage personnel in order to enhance the sound. Brass instrumentation (Bobby Keys, Jim Price) now was a standard part of the set. Ian Stewart joined the band on five or six songs every night, although still not visible to the audience.

Here's how New Musical Express reviewed one of the shows: "But the biggest surprise was the appearance of the Rolling Stones Plus Three, which brings the performers on-stage up to eight. The Plus Three are unbilled and unadvertised. They are Jim Price, Bobby Keys, and the Stones' own Man Friday, Ian 'Stu' Stewart, who plays a funky piano".

Quite obviously Stu appeared on the show's three Chuck Berry tunes: the well-rehearsed 'Little Queenie', 'Let It Rock' and 'Roll Over Beethoven', which replaced 'Carol' in the setlist, but also on three original Stones compositions: 'Honky Tonk Women', 'Brown Sugar' and the country-tinged 'Dead Flowers'.


Adapted from the following sources:
Martin Elliott, The Rolling Stones. Complete Recording Sessions 1962-2002, Cherry Red Books, 2002.
Christopher Hjort, Strange Brew. Eric Clapton & The British Blues Boom 1965-1970, Jawbone, 2007.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Stop Breaking Down

On 1972's "Exile On Main St." the Rolling Stones touched base with what inspired them in the first place. On 'Stop Breaking Down', another "Exile" track that dated back to the 1970 recording sessions, the band, with Ian Stewart in fine boogie woogie form, once more returned to their blues roots. The song, a Robert Johnson twelve-bar classic, got arranged by the band into a semi rhythm & blues mould.

Instrumentally the lead on this Johnson rendition is shared by Mick Taylor, who plays a rasping slide solo, and Stu, with his rhythmic timing on piano. Mick Jagger plays rhythm guitar and harmonica. At the overdub stage echoed compressed 'oohs' were used to good effect. According to author James Hector this was exactly the kind of song Brian Jones wanted the band to make during the "Beggars Banquet" sessions. They didn't, but two years later, Mick Taylor was on hand to turn in some measured slide guitar.


Adapted from the following sources:
Martin Elliott, The Rolling Stones. Complete Recording Sessions 1962-2002, Cherry Red Books, 2002.
James Hector, The Complete Guide To The Music Of The Rolling Stones, Omnibus Press, 1995.

Suggested further reading:
Bill Janovitz, Exile On Main St., Continuum, 2005.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Sweet Virginia

During their 1970 recording sessions (March-May, June-July, and October) at Stargroves (with the Rolling Stones Mobile) and Olympic Sound Studios the Rolling Stones worked on some 30 tracks, which ended up on the upcoming* "Sticky Fingers" album, but also on the band's 1972 masterpiece, "Exile On Main St.". Piano and organ parts during these sessions were shared by Ian Stewart, Nicky Hopkins and newcomer to the Stones' inner circle Billy Preston, who had found brief pop fame with the Beatles in 1969 when he had played keyboards on 'Get Back' and 'Don't Let Me Down'.

'Sweet Virginia', which was finished in 1971-1972 and included on "Exile", originates from the June-July sessions, and features Stu on piano. Author James Hector on this pure (but also drug-related) country song: "The nearest the Stones ever got to a round-the-campfire song, though Baden-Powell probably wouldn't have appreciated the refrain. "Got to scrape the shit right of your shoes" suggested that the song may have been an obscure slant on the old standard 'Walkin' Blues', but the blues (and the reds and the greens for that matter) referred to in the song were in tablet form. If one Stones' song was written by Keith Richards and Gram Parsons up in the Blue Ridge Mountains, 'Sweet Virginia' must have been it".


* The "Sticky Fingers" album, now almost complete, was left in the can until the outcome of publishing rights trials. The album featured a host of musicians and took seven months to record but, due to protracted record company deals and various law suits, was not released for a further six to eight months.

Adapted from the following sources:
Martin Elliott, The Rolling Stones. Complete Recording Sessions 1962-2002, Cherry Red Books, 2002.
James Hector, The Complete Guide To The Music Of The Rolling Stones, Omnibus Press, 1995.

Suggested further reading:
Bill Janovitz, Exile On Main St., Continuum, 2005.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

And on piano....

In the last couple of weeks I've had other things on my mind, but I will resume posting soon. In the meantime I would like to recommend an awesome book on....Nicky Hopkins. Author (and musician) Julian Dawson wrote a great book about "the extraordinary life of rock's greatest session man". Ian Stewart and Nicky Hopkins were good friends, but their ways of treating the keys were quite different.

Stu's widow, Cynthia, had a lot to say about her husband's and Nicky's time with the Rolling Stones. Both men died too young but one positive memory spoke eloquently of their talents: "I can remember Nicky coming round to the house where there was a little sunroom and in this tiny space was Stu's old 'joanna' upright piano and a baby grand that the Stones had lent him. I remember Nicky sitting at the grand and Stu at the upright, making unbelievably beautiful music.

Stu never read a note of music in his life, whereas Nicky was a classically trained pianist, and I noticed the difference between their hands. Nicky's fingers were long, pale, thin and hairless and Stu's were hairy with strong fingers. Stu did not finger the keyboard the way a proper pianist would, but Nicky changed chords professionally, classically. Their music was very beautiful".

Adapted from the following source: Julian Dawson, And On Piano....Nicky Hopkins, Backstage Press, 2011