Tell Me (You're Coming Back)

On February 8, 1964 the Rolling Stones embarked on their third UK Tour (All Stars '64), this time with, amongst many others, the Hollies and John Leyton. During the tour the band once again returned to Regent Sound Studios, London, to record one more track for their upcoming debut album. "Tell Me (You're Coming Back)" became the longest track on the album and also the most controversial.

It was the first Jagger-Richards composition to be released by the Stones, and the influences on the song stemmed from commercial-type Beatles songs and their Merseyside counterparts....a cross over into the pop mainstream. "Tell Me" is most notable for Keith Richards' cavernous, Hank Marvin-like twang during the break. Ian Stewart plays piano on a tune which sound and feeling were lightyears away from the Stones' American blues and R&B roots.

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.

The Spector and Pitney Sessions (not so clean)

After the successful recording of several single and album tracks, the February 4, 1964 recording sessions then degenerated into a hilarious, quasi-drunken free-for-all. Everybody involved had a great time cutting "Mr. Spector and Mr. Pitney Came Too" and "Andrew's Blues", both of which were quite rude. The first track perfectly encapsulates the uniqueness of the session.

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 rhythm and blues. Harmonica, Ian Stewart's boogie piano, lead guitars and a cognac bottle chiming in the background provide an alternate take to "Now I've Got A Witness".

At the very end of the sessions the air turned blue for a rude stab at manager Andrew Oldham and Decca, the band's record company at the time. Regarding "Andrew's Blues", Gene Pitney recalls with fondness the good fun and the 'pornographic' overtones of the track. Yes indeed, the sessions ended into a hilarious free-for-all.

Adapted from the following sources:
Martin Elliott, The Rolling Stones. Complete Recording Sessions 1962-2002, Cherry Red Books, 2002.
Andrew Loog Oldham, Stoned, Vintage, 2001.

The Spector and Pitney sessions (clean)

On February 4, 1964 the Rolling Stones recorded more tracks for their upcoming debut album, simply called The Rolling Stones. With the attendance of both record producer Phil Spector and pop singer Gene Pitney the sessions at Regent Sound Studios became quite special. Ian Stewart, pounding out basic R&B chords on his piano, played an important role during the sessions, which were originally intended to nail down the "Not Fade Away" single (recorded January 10) and to provide a B-side, since Decca were anxious to release a follow-up single.

Pitney and Spector, whom Andrew Oldham adored, had both been traveling in Europe and returned from Paris for an overnight stop before returning to the United States. The bottles of spirit they brought from France revived a flagging recording session with Pitney helping out on piano. Two members of the Hollies, Allan Clarke and Graham Nash, accompanied the Stones on backing vocals and Phil Spector grabbed Mick Jagger's maracas. All in all the band recorded five tracks, of which three ended up on their debut album.

Phil Spector created an ambience in the studio and a spirit which was hard to emulate. As a result the Stones, with the maestro, created a 'wall of noise', as opposed to the 'wall of sound' which Spector had created with the Crystals and the Ronettes. "Little By Little" is a composition made up of selections from various parts of Jimmy Reed's "Shame, Shame, Shame". It is essentially a 12-bar blues jam, made after the successful finishing of "Not Fade Away". Gene Pitney is on piano, and Phil Spector and Ian Stewart play maracas.

On "Can I Get A Witness", previously recorded by Marvin Gaye, Stu pounds out the basic chords and Mick Jagger contributes particularly up-front vocals. Following the recording of this Motown classic, Gene Pitney played on Stu's prized piano to create "Now I've Got A Witness (Like Uncle Phil and Uncle Gene)", basically a reworking of "Can I Get A Witness". Ian Stewart, having given away the piano to Pitney, plays very prominent organ with Brian Jones on outstanding harp complementing the prime drive of Ian.

Adapted from the following sources:
Martin Elliott, The Rolling Stones. Complete Recording Sessions 1962-2002. Cherry Red Books, 2002.
Bill Wyman, Stone Alone, Penguin Books, 1990.

365 Rolling Stones (One For Each Day Of The Year)

During their second UK tour (January 6-27, 1964) the Rolling Stones returned twice to Regent Sound Studios to record tracks for both their upcoming first album and the Andrew Oldham Orchestra. The band helped Andrew Oldham out on some tracks that would mostly end up on B-sides. Eric Ford (guitar), Andy White (drums) and Reg Guest (piano), all members from the Nashville 5, were also to feature on the tracks

An instrumental song was released by the Andrew Oldham Orchestra as a single on April 10, 1964. In order to create some mystique that the Stones were involved it was given the title "365 Rolling Stones (One For Each Day Of The Year)”. It became the soundtrack for Ready Steady Go!, the ITV television programme launched to combat BBC´s Top Of The Pops.

Adapted from the following source: Martin Elliott, The Rolling Stones. Complete Recording Sessions 1962/2002, Cherry Red Books, 2002.

You Can Make It If You Try

On January 6, 1964 the Rolling Stones embarked on their second UK Tour (Group Scene 1964), this time with the Ronettes. A couple of days before the band started work on their first album at Regent Sound Studios, London. On January 3-4 the Stones recorded five tracks, among which "You Can Make It If You Try", a slow, hollering song led by Mick Jagger's pleading vocals.

Ian Stewart plays organ and Keith Richards and Brian Jones strum on acoustic guitars. Stu's gospel-type organ playing lends a warm feeling to this calm soul ballad, a 1957 Gene Allison original. Recordings for the band's debut album were continued on January 10, once again at Regent Sound Studios.

Adapted from the following sources:
Martin Elliott, The Rolling Stones. Complete Recording Sessions 1962-2002.
James Hector, The Complete Guide to the Music of the Rolling Stones, Omnibus Press, 1995.

There Are But Five Rolling Stones

The November-December 1963 sessions at Regent Sound Studios were Andrew Loog Oldham's first attempts to create a more 'poppier' line of music parallel to the rhythm and blues influenced music of his main band, the Rolling Stones. Early 1964 Oldham formed his own Andrew Oldham Orchestra; not a real orchestra that went on the road, but more of a permanent workshop in which musicians like Jim Sullivan, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and also the Stones participated.

On January 2, 1964 Andrew Oldham used the Stones as the backing band for his next (after George Bean) protégé Cleo Sylvester, who had auditioned for the band back in the Bricklayer Arms days. They recorded "To Know Him Is To Love Him", a hit for the Teddy Bears in 1958 and, more importantly, Phil Spector's first hit as a producer. Oldham admired Spector, and this was a fitting track to be recorded by Andrew trying to emulate the Spector magic.

Phil Spector, in order to focus the radio stations on the A-side, usually included an instrumental on the B-side. Andrew Oldham copied this technique but went one step further and used it to promote his main band. The track title, "There Are But Five Rolling Stones", more than hints at the backing artists. The instrumental was credited to session producer Mike Leander and Oldham himself. It was a B Bumble & the Stingers type of instrumental featuring the piano work of Ian Stewart, some nifty clap back and a guitar break at the end.

"There Are But Five Rolling Stones"...after everything that happened in 1963, it's hard to imagine Stu playing on a tune titled like that...or isn't it?

Adapted from the following sources:
Martin Elliott, The Rolling Stones. Complete Recording Sessions 1962-2002, Cherry Red Books, 2002.
Andrew Loog Oldham, Stoned, Vintage, 2001.

That Girl Belongs To Yesterday

Right after their first UK tour the Rolling Stones returned to De Lane Lea Studios, to record tracks for an upcoming EP. Produced by Andrew Oldham and Eric Easton the band recorded 'Money', Chuck Berry's 'Bye Bye Johnny' and 'I'm Talkin' About You', Arthur Alexander's 'You Better Move On' and 'Go Home Girl', and, once again, 'Poison Ivy'. The 14 November 1963 session, during which Ian Stewart's  piano playing wasn't used, was marred by erratic recording techniques, but that didn't hamper the record's success.

On November 20 Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Andrew Oldham gathered at London's Regent Sound Studios to work on demos of the very first Jagger-Richards compositions. These demos were intended as potential sale to other artists and were never released by the Stones themselves. The next day, and also on December 9, the other band members, this time including Stu, joined the Unholy Trinity, and some recordings were made.

Stu plays piano on 'My Only Girl', a song originally intended for singer George Bean, but later re-recorded (with Stu's piano lines intact), after he had changed the melody, by Gene Pitney under the title 'That Girl Belongs To Yesterday'. Pitney's version was released in March 1964 and reached number seven in the charts. This was the first time a Jagger-Richards song had gone top ten in the UK.

Adapted from the following sources:
Martin Elliott, The Rolling Stones. Complete Recording Sessions 1962-2002. Red Cherry Books, 2002.
Massimo Bonanno, The Rolling Stones. Aftermath, 2007.

Unholy Trinity

September 1963 also saw the birth of the so called Unholy Trinity, and the band's balance began shifting. Bill Wyman: After a show in Birmingham, Stu drove Brian, Charlie and me back to London, all of us completely exhausted, while Mick and Keith went back in Andrew Oldham's car. Who could realize, at this early stage, that the splitting of the group in that way would mark our future?

Stu said: 'Keith and Mick were quite prepared to go along with anything Andrew said. They fed off each other. We had very little contact with them in those days. Edicts would just be issued from the Oldham office'. A turning point in the band's relationships came quickly. Edith Grove was finally evacuated at the start of September 1963.

Mick and Keith moved into a flat in Mapesbury Road, West Hampstead, while Brian went to live with his girlfriend Linda Lawrence at her parents' house in Windsor. Shortly afterwards Andrew Oldham also moved into Mapesbury Road, and the Unholy Trinity, as Stu christened them, of Jagger-Richards-Oldham was born.

Adapted from the following source: Bill Wyman, Stone Alone, Penguin Books, 1990.

Stoned

July 1963 the Rolling Stones recorded two songs, the Coasters' 'Poison Ivy' and 'Fortune Teller', originally a 1962 US rhythm & blues hit for Benny Spellman. Both tracks were intended to be released as the Stones' second single, but the record was withdrawn. On September 23 the band recorded five tracks for a BBC 'Saturday Club' radio broadcast. The Stones rock on all the tracks despite Ian Stewart's piano again missing from the session.

At the end of September, following the BBC recording, the Stones embarked on their first UK tour, supporting the Everly Brothers, Bo Diddley and Little Richard. The tour extended for the whole of October and offered two shows a day. In the meantime the Stones, Andrew Oldham and Decca, having considered and refusing the 'Poison Ivy' single, sought a follow-up to their first single, 'Come On'. Paul McCartney and John Lennon lend the band a helping hand and offered one of their unifinished R&B songs: 'I Wanna Be Your Man'.

The Rolling Stones recorded the track on October 7 at De Lane Lea Studios, London, and with the session coming to a close, the group had just thirty minutes to deliver a B-side. Surprisingly, perhaps, they eschewed the idea of churning out another well-practised R&B cover in favour of a jam based around Booker T. & the MGs' 'Green Onions'.

A perfect chance for Ian Stewart to shine! On 'Stoned', credited to Nanker-Phelge (a pseudonym used for group-wriiten songs), Stu's honky-tonk barrelhouse piano trades blue notes with Keith Richards' guitar, Brian Jones' Delta harp howled menacingly, and Mick Jagger's dilatory "Stoned...outta my mind" was delivered in his best Willie Dixon 'Walking The Blues' drawl.

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

And the driver was...

And the driver was...Ian Stewart, as he had been doing right from the starting days of the band. Bill Wyman, early 1963: While gigs were more plentiful, money was not. Another significant problem was the lack of transport. We wanted to play more, which meant getting bookings out of London around the country, but how were we going to get there? We struck lucky when Stu was given some shares in ICI, under a scheme to encourage workers to become shareholders.

Good old Stu promptly sold them and used the profits to buy a Volkswagen van to carry us and all of our equipment to gigs. After Andrew Oldham entered the stage Ian had accepted the role of road manager as an alternative to full band membership. So, in addition to maintaining keyboard duties in the studio (let's not forget that!), Stu not only found himself driving the group around to gigs, but also loading and unloading gear, replacing guitar strings and setting up Charlie Watts' drums.

And what a driver Stu was. Bill Wyman's Stone Alone contains a lot of little anecdotes about Stu driving the band around. In his own autobiography Ron Wood, at that time guitarist with west London based band the Birds, sums it all up: In the early days of the Stones, their now sadly departed keyboard player Ian Stewart would drive them everywhere in a minivan. They'd be booked somewhere up north one night, then down south on the next, then back up north on the night after that.

Stu was a killer driver and would never stop, no matter what the others wanted. So Mick, Keith, Brian and Charlie would pile into the rear of the van, while Bill had everyone conned into believing that he had some sort of condition which flared up if he sat in the back and could only be cured if he was up front with Stu. The others would all be rolling around in the rear while Bill was comfortable and Stu careered along, criss-crossing England. If anyone wanted to pee, they had to do it in a bottle. That was their apprenticeship.

Adapted from the following sources:
Bill Wyman, Rolling With The Stones, Dorling Kindersley Limited 2002.
Ron Wood, Ronnie Wood, Macmillan, 2007.

Out in the country

Throughout June, July and August 1963 the Rolling Stones performed virtually every night on the local London residency circuit of the Ricky Tick Club, Eel Pie Island and Ken Colyer's Studio 51, but increasingly odd gigs were being booked further afield, like in Birmingham, Middlesbrough and Wales. It was as if the band entered a whole new, completely different world, as Bill Wyman and Ian Stewart recall.

Bill: We started to play ballrooms outside of London. We'd play this stuff to people's faces and we'd see their mouths gape. They'd never heard the original record, you see, especially with the kids we'd play for in small places like Peterborough or Luton or Guildford or some place outside of Birmingham. But it wasn't only that they didn't know many of the songs, they didn't know how to dance to the music because the rhythms were quite different. They couldn't sing along or even clap. It was a shock.

Stu: In the beginning, those ballroom gigs were awful. We used to go to these terribly thick places like Wisbech and Cambridge, and all the yokels they'd heard of these Rolling Stones, but they hadn't the foggiest idea what to expect in the way of music. To start off with, some of them just gawked. But after a year or so some of these ballroom dates began to get really fucking wild.

Adapted from the following source: www.timeisonourside.com

Looking back (3)

As was said before, Ian Stewart never made one move of payback to Andrew Loog Oldham for what had happenend back in 1963. But he could have done it...or couldn't he? Here's a little bit more from Andrew Oldham, just to finish off the story.

One day in the early 70s I was staying with Cynthia at the Ealing house she shared with Stu for a day and a half between flights. Cynthia was out. I was in their kitchen brewing coffee when in walked Stu, back from a morning of golf with Glyn Johns. We'd never been alone in a room and we both attempted to warm above the cutting edge. I nursed my coffee, and we small-talked. I kept thinking, Christ, if Stu ever wanted to beat the shit out of me, here was his big moment.

No Reg the Butcher, no weapon, no sturdy steel-tipped shoes. My elegant monographed suede slippers left me less than the tea leaf gangster Chris Stamp had so fondly labelled me, and my paisley morning jacket probably invited a bashing from the likes of the golf-clad Stu. Nothing happened. We chatted on and I noticed for the first time the wonderful warmth and soul that smiled through his eyes. That morning in his and Cynthia's kitchen I stood and talked with a good-looking man named Ian Stewart. We closed the cycle and we knew where we stood with each other.

I realised that day, and forgot until I cleared up my mind, that Stu knew all along what I was about and what I had done; and finally he knew, better than anyone, and took to his grave, what everybody else had not done about it. Now, Cynthia has told me that this exchange I've recalled as taking place between us never happened, and that I've dreamt it up. So be it; I've just given you the truth of my recall.

Adapted from the following source: Andrew Loog Oldham, 2Stoned, Vintage, 2003.

Looking Back (2)

'It's so sad', said Cynthia. 'You know, I never thought that Stu ever felt that it was you he should hate'. 'I didn't either, but it was never spoken about'. 'I think, in the end, that's what Stu hurt the most. He thought Brian was disgusting. He despised him, the little dwarf'. 'Yeah, well, Keith sounded still cut up about Stu's death'. 'He would be. Stu loved him a great deal'. 'I know', I heaved - now we were both drained by the whole exchange.

I'd rather have been teasing the lovely Cyn, not torturing her or me. The laughs were too long ago. 'I don't know darlin', I just wanted everybody to stay the way I made them. I didn't want any...' 'Disappointments?' Cynthia finished my thoughts. 'Yeah'. 'Oh, you can be sure of one thing, Andrew, Stu knew...'.

I thought it was all clear and understood what and why he thought of me. Again, no words were spoken - big boys don't cry. First, I knew nothing about music as he knew music. He saw me in there in the thick of it with his Stones, and he could not quite understand why the Stones were letting me happen. He saw where Mick was going and didn't like what I was leading him to, or what was being allowed to happen to his idea of the group.

Stu also saw the handwriting on the wall for the eventual end of me and the Stones, so perhaps that knowledge removed the need to hate. He didn't gloat; he never used his position to move that ship into port, and he never made one move of payback for what had happened.

Adapted from the following source: Andrew Loog Oldham, 2Stoned, Vintage, 2003.

Looking Back

Years after, December 1989, when visiting Keith Richards' New York loft, Andrew Loog Oldham was confronted with his 1963 decision again. 'Stu hated you, Andrew', Keith informed me. He paused, allowed the dime to drop and continued, 'but not as much as he hated Brian; he wanted to kill Brian'. Keith let us both mull on that one, and I thought I heard him add, 'Maybe he did'. 'He never forgave you for kicking him out of the group, Andrew', was what I heard Keith say.

'Yeah, maybe, but I couldn't have done it without help', was how I answered. 'Well', I sighed, trying to move it further in to close the cycle, 'I'm just glad Stu captured my essence so eloquently before he died. He's gone and he did me a favour. I'll never have to wonder what he really thought about me'. 'What did he say? ' asked Keith. 'He said he wouldn't piss on me if I was on fire', I replied. We both laughed; Stu tied the knot and grinned. A few months later I'd stopped off in England and was catching up with Cynthia Stewart on the phone.

'So how was Keith towards you when you met?' Cyn had asked, cutting straight to the point in a way that reminded me of what a wonderful minder and ally she had been. 'He was fine, really nice', I said. 'Good', said Cyn, waiting for more. 'There was only one weird moment', I remembered, piquing Cyn's interest. 'It was about Stu. We were off at a tangent, first what Stu thought of me, then how he loathed Brian. Then I realised I was listening to Keith speculate on how maybe Stu hated Brian enough to kill him. Fucking blew me away, I can tell you. I'd never heard that one before'.

'Oh, I have.' Cyn flatlined. 'Back at the time Brian died I thought about it too, and, in fact, Andrew, I went through Stu's diary just to see if he could have, but he couldn't have. He just couldn't have been there when thingumajig, I mean Brian, of course, just couldn't have been there when Brian died. Anyway, what did Keith say Stu thought of you?'. Cynthia had opened the door I'd left ajar, so I could tell her. 'He said Stu hated me and never forgave me for kicking him out of the Stones'. 'Hmmm'. Even Cyn had to mark time on that one. 'He was a strange man, Andrew, was our Stu. He didn't show it, but he was always terribly hurt by what happened'.

Adapted from the following source: Andrew Loog Oldham, 2Stoned, Vintage, 2003.

Deeply hurt

While the impression may be that Ian Stewart resigned to the decision of Andrew Loog Oldham to take him 'out of the picture' of The Rolling Stones for rational reasons, there were -of course- emotional aspects too. Here's what Stu's wife, Cynthia Stewart (born Dillane), with whom he married in 1967 and who was, spicy enough, a personal assistant to Andrew Oldham for five years, has to say about the topic:

Whatever Stu or anybody else said, he did care about being relegated. He had enough to worry about because he was so painfully shy. But the bottom line for Andrew was that Stu's face didn't fit; Andrew loved the pretty, thin, long-haired boys. Stu felt bitter, not because he was not up there on stage, but about the savage way he was kicked to one side.

Stu was contemptuous of Andrew - understandably as he kicked him out of the band. Stu just thought it was Andrew who was responsible for the decision. Stu was deeply hurt because he wasn't good looking in the genre of the day. I don't think he felt anything except hurt. Stu was very honest, he was painfully shy, but he always said what he thought.

Adapted from the following sources:
Bill Wyman, Stone Alone, Penguine Books, 1990.
Andrew Loog Oldham, Stoned, Vintage, 2001.

Laird of Pittenweem

In his autobiography, Life, Keith Richards paints a very touching picture of Ian Stewart, sixth Stone since May 1963. Richards: Ian Stewart. I'm still working for him. To me the Rolling Stones is his band. Without his knowledge and organization, without the leap he made from where he was coming from, to take a chance on playing with this bunch of kids, we'd be nowhere. I don't know what the attraction was with Stu and me. But he was absolutely the main impetus behind what happened next.

Stu to me was a much older man - actually only by about three or four years, but at that time so it seemed. And he knew people. I knew nothing. I'd just come from the sticks. I think he'd started to enjoy hanging around with us. He just felt there was some energy there. Stu was solid, formidable looking, with a huge protruding jaw, though he was a good-looking guy. I'm sure much of his character was influenced by his looks, and people's reactions to them, from when he was a kid.

He was detached, very dry, down-to-earth and full of incongruous phrases. His natural authority over us, which never changed, was expressed as "Come on, angel drawers", "my little three-chord wonders" or "my little shower of shit". He hated some of the rock-and-roll stuff I played. He hated Jerry Lee Lewis for years - "Oh, it's all just histrionics". Eventually he softened on Jerry, he had to crumble and admit that Jerry Lee had one of the best left hands he'd ever heard. Flamboyance and showmanship were not in Stu's bag. You played in clubs, it had nothing to do with showing off.

Ian put his money where his mouth was, at least where his heart was, because he didn't talk a lot about it. The only fantasy Stu ever had was his insistence that he was the rightful heir to Pittenweem, which is a fishing village across from St. Andrews golf course. He always felt cheated, usurped through some weird Scottish lineage. You can't argue with a guy like that. Why wasn't the piano loud enough? Look, you're talking to the laird of Pittenweem.

In other words, this is not worth discussing, you know? I once said, "What's the tartan, then, of the Stewart clan?" He said, "Ooh, black-and-white check with various colors". Stu was very dry. He saw the funny side of things. And it was Stu who had to pick up all the crap after the mayhem. There were loads of guys that were technically ten times better, but with his feel on the left hand, they could never get to where he was. He might have been the laird of Pittenweem, but his left hand came out of the Congo.

Adapted from the following source: Keith Richards, Life, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2010.

Step down (2)

All band members didn't do very much to avoid Ian Stewart having to step down from the Rolling Stones, perhaps because they thought Andrew Oldham's decision was indisputable and that the olive branch he offered was the only possibility to keep Stu in their ranks. According to Keith Richards "it was a very hard thing. Stu wasn't surprised, and I think he'd already made his own decision about what he would do about it if it turned up. He understood it totally.

We expected Stu to go "Fuck you. Thanks a lot". That was where the largeness of Stu's heart really displayed itself. From then on, OK, I'll drive you about. He was on all the records, he was only interested in the music. To us he never was fired. And he understood it totally. "Don't look the same as you, do I?". He had the largest heart in the world, man. He was instrumental in putting us together and he wasn't about to let us drop because he was put in the background".

When author Stanley Booth worked on his biography on Keith Richards, he played Ian Stewart the tape of Keith saying that Stu's decision to stay as the band's road manager was incredibly big-hearted. Stanley Booth: "I played Stu the tape of Keith saying that about him, and Stu was very touched, so much so that he said "Oh, bollocks", or words to that effect. I figured I could still enjoy what I was doing and stay around. But you have to be a little bitter. After all, it wasn't nicely done. But this isn't a very nice business".

Adapted from the following sources:
Keith Richards, Life, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2010.
Stanley Booth, Keith: Till I Roll Over Dead, Headline Book Publishing, 1994.