Magazine of the Week #43

"He's a good egg, isn't he?" - Patti Hansen

Trying to get back on track here, here's the "Magazine of the Week" that should have been posted last week.







The October 1983 issue of THE RECORD (published by ROLLING STONE magazine) featured an exclusive KEITH RICHARDS interview for its cover story, "Flowers and Thorns: Reflections of a Rolling Stone" by DAVID McGEE.



Keith talks about the early Stones years, his relationship with MICK JAGGER, songwriting, KEITH MOON, and how MTV doesn't show enough black artists.








Here's a little of what Keith had to say:

On The Beatles: "I think the only reason The Beatles didn't get back together again was the fear of the anticlimax. I have no doubt really that if it was left up to those four guys themselves, they might have just taken a vacation for a year or two then carried on again. Sometimes people take the most drastic steps when they're totally unnecessary. Witness Mick Taylor. Not that he didn't want to play with the Stones, just that he wanted to do other things. But in the Stones there's enough free time to do anything you want to do. In actual fact, Mick Taylor did virtually nothing. And the same situation really applies to the Beatles. There was no need for them to break up. They could've taken a couple of years off, resolved their problems and still carried on. It would have been an intriguing thing, and probably better for music all around, if they'd stuck it out."


Also in this issue, articles on EURYTHMICS, JAMES BROWN, EDDY GRANT, CARLENE CARTER, and a look at the recording of NEIL YOUNG's "Everybody's Rockin'" LP.







And in their list of the "Top 100 Albums", we find THE POLICE's "Synchronicity" at #1, followed by MICHAEL JACKSON's "Thriller", and the "Flashdance" soundtrack.

Click on images to enlarge.

Happy Halloween

"Down in the graveyard
Where we have our tryst
The air smells sweet
The air smells sick....."

Here's a Halloween-appropriate song from THE ROLLING STONES. Its a live version of their scary "Dancing With Mr. D", from September 13, 1973, in Newcastle, featuring BILLY PRESTON.

Happy Halloween!

DANCING WITH MR. D - 9/13/73

"Lord have mercy - fire and brimstone!
I was dancin' with Mrs. D....."

Wyman's 70th

Born WILLIAM PERKS on October 24, 1936, BILL WYMAN celebrated his 70th birthday last week. I was unable to connect to the internet at the time, so I'll have to settle for a belated birthday post. Sorry Bill!




Anyway, here's an early Wyman tune, recorded by THE ROLLING STONES on November 8, 1964, but never officially released. Its a fun little song called "Goodbye Girl":

GOODBYE GIRL - THE ROLLING STONES


















And here's something that I posted a while back - from 1981, the very cool 7-minute 12-inch remix of Bill's international hit "(Si Si) Je Suis Un Rock Star".

(SI SI) JE SUIS UN ROCK STAR - LONG VERSION

And to go along with that, here are the two versions of "Si Si" from Bill's underrated "Green Ice" soundtrack LP:

SI SI ("GREEN ICE" SOUNDTRACK)

SI SI - REPRISE ("GREEN ICE" SOUNDTRACK)


















Also posted before, here's a live BILL WYMAN AND THE RHYTHM KINGS show from April 25, 2000 in Germany. Its a 15MB wma file. Click here to see my original post, including the track list (they even do The Stones' song "Melody").

RHYTHM KINGS 4/25/00


And here's a re-posting of a rare video of Bill (with The Rhythm Kings) singing CHUCK BERRY's "You Never Can Tell" from 2005. Click here for my original posting, with some more info.

YOU NEVER CAN TELL - WYMAN VIDEO

Happy birthday Bill!

Connection

"Connection
I just can't make no
Connection
But all I want to do
Is to get back to you."

So after nine days of not being able to connect to the internet (don't get me started!), I'm finally back online. And I've got some catching up to do.

Stay tuned.

20th Anniversary Collector's Kit, part 1

In 1983, THE ROLLING STONES OFFICIAL FAN CLUB issued "The Rolling Stones 20th Anniversary Collector's Kit", an LP-sized package filled with cool Stones stuff.

The front cover featured a large Hot Licks with a front flap that opened about a third of the way from the top, die-cut along the bottom of the teeth:














The back cover had a picture of the kit's contents pasted on:















Included were these five color 8x10s:





























More from the kit to come.....

Magazine of the Week #42

This week we feature another magazine with an October 1978 cover date: it's HIT PARADER, from its golden age when LISA ROBINSON was at the helm.

Click on images to enlarge.






The cover story is the MICK JAGGER Hit Parader Interview, by Robinson of course. The interview took place before the release of the "Some Girls" LP.


















They discuss BIANCA:
Mick: "Well, I guess it's time for a change. I think, a change for Bianca. It's probably very good for her not to be with me."

And they discuss Mick's playing guitar on the new LP:
Mick: "I had a lot of fun playing guitar. The rest of the band was very cute about it to me and Keith gave me a guitar as a Christmas present. He had it specially made for me, it was nice."

Plenty of other cool stuff in this issue too. We get a "Patti Smith Update", where we learn that Patti was upset by the disco music being played at a post-gig party on Sunset Strip, and insisted that they play THE ROLLING STONES. When she threatened to leave, someone had to make a quick run to Tower Records for some Stones LPs, and "the evening was saved".


Also articles on TOM WAITS, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, LITTLE FEAT, "The Last Waltz", KRAFTWERK, KANSAS, EAGLES, and WINGS. Album reviews include Wings' "London Town", THE KINKS' "Misfits", and the LP of DAVID BOWIE narrating PROKOFIEV's "Peter and the Wolf".




Plus "Words To The Latest Hit Songs", including ELTON JOHN's "Ego", and ERIC CLAPTON's "Wonderful Tonight".

And there are ads for "ELVIS PRESLEY Memorial Posters", "Elvis Presley Jewelry", and a magazine called "Hit Parader Presents The Immortal Elvis".

Happy Birthday Chuck

Yes, today is CHUCK BERRY's 80th birthday.










And to celebrate, we go back to the early '60s at the BBC, where Chuck's songs got covered quite a bit by both THE BEATLES and THE ROLLING STONES. Here's a half-dozen from each, all recorded live at the Beeb in 1963 and 1964, back when Chuck was a grizzled old rocker in his late 30s.

First up, The Beatles:

I'M TALKING ABOUT YOU
SWEET LITTLE SIXTEEN
TOO MUCH MONKEY BUSINESS
ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN
CAROL
JOHNNY B. GOODE

And here's The Rolling Stones:

COME ON
MEMPHIS TENNESSEE
DON'T LIE TO ME
BYE BYE JOHNNY
BEAUTIFUL DELILAH
AROUND AND AROUND




Happy birthday Chuck!

I'm A Pink Bee

Here's a great early PINK FLOYD track that someone sent me, that I'd never heard before. Its their 1965 recording of "King Bee". Very nice. Many thanks!

KING BEE - THE PINK FLOYD

Even More Live Stones Covers

For some reason I'm not able to upload any images at this time, so here's yet another post with a couple of Stones covers and no pics.

This time its good ol' TERENCE TRENT D'ARBY with two pretty lively live tracks:

UNDER MY THUMB - TERENCE TRENT D'ARBY

JUMPIN' JACK FLASH - TERENCE TRENT D'ARBY

The Source, of course

One of the best sites out there, THE BEATLE SOURCE, is featuring "An October Tribute To John". They've got some excellent stuff, THE DIRTY MAC sessions, the "Cold Turkey" demos, acetates from the "Plastic Ono Band" and "Imagine" LPs, the Fillmore concert with FRANK ZAPPA, and more.

Of course I shouldn't have to be telling you this, because you should already be checking "The Source" regularly.....

BEATLE SOURCE - AN OCTOBER TRIBUTE TO JOHN

And you should also already know that they have lots of other cool stuff there too:

BEATLE SOURCE - MAIN

BEATLE SOURCE - AUDIO

In The Park

LAGRIMA PSICODELICA has posted MP3s of the audio from "The Stones In The Park", the film of THE ROLLING STONES' July 5, 1969 concert in London's Hyde Park. It was MICK TAYLOR's live debut as a Stone, just days after the death of BRIAN JONES. The MP3s include all the little interview bits from the film, as well as the musical performances.

MICK: "I don't believe in Western bereavement - you know, I can't suddenly drape a long black veil and walk the hills, but it still is very upsetting..."

Here's the page:

LAGRIMA IN THE PARK

Flamin' Covers

The TWILIGHTZONE! blog has a pretty cool FLAMIN' GROOVIES post featuring some bootleg stuff and tracks from an old EP that are "unavailable on album".

Lots of covers, including "Paint It Black" (produced by DAVE EDMUNDS), "Jumpin' Jack Flash", "Sweet Little Rock 'n Roller", and "Little Queenie".

Here's the page:

TWILIGHTZONE! - FLAMIN' GROOVIES

Cover Power

What do THE ROLLING STONES, VELVET UNDERGROUND, and DAVID BOWIE have in common?

Well, for one thing they all had songs of theirs covered by CAT POWER at her May 14, 1999 show at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. That would be The Stones' "Satisfaction", VU's "I Found A Reason" and "The Ocean", and Bowie's "Wild Is The Wind".

And RBALLY has MP3s of the show, but be careful - its some seriously sad music - not for the easily depressed!

Here's the page:

RBALLY - CAT POWER LIVE

(And "The Ocean" is listed as "Unknown Song").

Magazine of the Week #41

US Magazine featured a MICK JAGGER cover story by ROBERT HILBURN on its October 3, 1978 issue.


Click images to enlarge.







Of course, with "Us", there's always some hot gossip, and here Hilburn gives us the lowdown on Jagger's women, including BIANCA ("filing for divorce"), JERRY HALL ("whom he has been seeing steadily since last winter"), and LINDA RONSTADT ("still good friends").


















And there's this interesting paragraph:

"The gossips had a field day with the recent paternity suit launched against Jagger by MARSHA HUNT, an English actress now living in L.A. According to Hunt, Jagger has been paying $17 a week in child support since he allegedly fathered her daughter eight years ago in London. Annoyed at the attention the suit has drawn, Jagger - who has never acknowledged paternity - has kept mum on the subject..."

Recent LPs in the "Don't Miss" column include "Some Girls", "Who Are You", and DYLAN's "Street Legal".

Also in this issue, an article on CARLENE CARTER - "Country's third generation", ADRIENNE BARBEAU, MIKE WALLACE at 60, TAMMY WYNETTE, PETER SELLERS, TONI TENILLE, and two pages on how Bingo is "picking up steam as America's grass-roots game of chance".

It's Johnny's Birthday

Today, of course, would have been JOHN LENNON's 66th birthday. I'm sure there's lots of Lennon material being posted around the blogs today, so here are just a few odd but birthday-appropriate items.





We'll start things off with GEORGE HARRISON from 1970 with "It's Johnny's Birthday", recorded for John's 30th birthday and sourced from the long out-of-print original UK pressing of the "All Things Must Pass" CD:

IT"S JOHNNY'S BIRTHDAY

Then we have what's known as "Let's Have A Party". Recorded on October 9, 1971, John and Yoko and a roomful of friends including RINGO STARR, PHIL SPECTOR, and others celebrate John's 31st birthday with a birthday party sing-a-long. Its a single 43-minute file, about 12MB. Songs include "What'd I Say", "Yellow Submarine", "Goodnight Irene", "Tandoori Chicken", "Maybe Baby", "Crippled Inside", "Give Peace A Chance", "Happy Birthday", and a whole lot more:

LETS HAVE A PARTY (43-MINUTE AUDIO)

And there's also a video from the party, basically a 2-minute 40-second home movie with an accompanying audio track excerpted from the longer audio tape:

LETS HAVE A PARTY - (2-MINUTE - 40-SECOND VIDEO)

And we finish off with PAUL MCCARTNEY leading a live-in-concert "Happy Birthday" sing-a-long from October 9, 2005 for what would have been John's 65th birthday:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY - PAUL MCCARTNEY

Happy birthday John!

The next best thing

This is another track from THE BEATLES' bootleg "Anthology More". It's an "outfake" of "Free As A Bird", which uses extractions from the commercial version together with John's original demo. An absolutely beautiful bootleg "remix", complete with a new Beatlesque trick-ending:

FREE AS A BIRD - OUTFAKE

Magical Mystery Mixes

I downloaded these "Magical Mystery Mix" tracks from a BEATLES bootleg discussion group a couple of years ago. They're "analog audio extractions" of a few songs from JOHN LENNON's 1970 Plastic Ono Band LP, which let us hear the songs (or parts of) in a whole new way. Very interesting stuff.

HOLD ON (MAGICAL MYSTERY MIX)

I FOUND OUT (MAGICAL MYSTERY MIX)

WELL WELL WELL (MAGICAL MYSTERY MIX)

For some "Magical Mystery Mix" podcasts, click here.

Magical Misery Tour

Here's a track that seems to get posted quite a bit around the blogs. Its "Magical Misery Tour", from a 1972 National Lampoon LP. Its a hilarious JOHN LENNON parody, using John's own words from the infamous JANN WENNER "Lennon Remembers" interview for the lyrics.

Here are some details, from MARK'S VERY LARGE NATIONAL LAMPOON SITE:

Magical Misery Tour (Bootleg Record), Performed by Tony Hendra (as John Lennon), Melissa Manchester (as Yoko Ono); piano: Melissa Manchester; drums: Jim Payne; bass: John "Cooker" LoPresti; composed by Christopher Cerf; arranged by Christopher Guest.

And here's the track:

MAGICAL MISERY TOUR

Bootleg #5069

Here's another interesting and somewhat obscure JOHN LENNON track. As far as I can tell, its the only available recording from the rehearsals with ELTON JOHN prior to Lennon's 3-song performance with Elton at Elton's Thanksgiving 1974 show at Madison Square Garden.



Lennon, of course, would come up on stage to play "Whatever Gets You Through The Night" (his current hit), "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" (Elton's new single), and "I Saw Her Standing There".

This is a rehearsal of "I Saw Her Standing There", introduced by Lennon as "bootleg number five-thousand-sixty-nine". The actual MSG performance of the three songs (and the rest of Elton's great show) is available on Elton's expanded "Here and There" CD.

I SAW HER STANDING THERE - REHEARSAL

John Lennon Poetry Slam

Here's a fun track from THE BEATLES' bootleg "Anthology More". Its "John Lennon Poetry Slam" - a 3-minute 50-second compilation of bits of John reading from his books "In His Own Write" and "A Spaniard In The Works" for various TV and radio shows back in 1964 and 1965.

Gotta like that "National Health Cow"!

JOHN LENNON POETRY SLAM

Bad To Me

I haven't had a whole lot of time lately, and it looks like another busy week, so I'll just start off our JOHN LENNON birthday celebration a little early.

Here's a great track that has never been officially released. Its a demo of John's song "Bad To Me" from a DICK JAMES acetate from 1963. The song was given to BILLY J KRAMER AND THE DAKOTAS, who had a bit of a hit with it in England:

BAD TO ME - LENNON DEMO

Stay tuned, there's more Lennon to come.....

Magazine of the Week #40

This week we take a quick look at the October 2, 1989 issue of FORBES.


(Click image to enlarge)







The issue gives us the rundown on "The Top 40: The World's Highest Paid Entertainers", with a cover story on THE ROLLING STONES by PETER NEWCOMB.

The Stones are big money now, as the story tells us:

"On the heels of recording their new album, STEEL WHEELS, the Stones have landed the fattest touring contract ever. Toronto-based promoter MICHAEL COHL, through his Concert Productions International, has guaranteed them $70 million, plus a piece of the profits, for the rights to promote the Stones' 1989 tour, their first in seven years."

With merchandising, pay-per-view TV, and sponsorships, we're told, "a $90 million gross for the Stones this year seems achievable."

And a quote from Keith:

"All this vast amount of money is generated by sitting down with this little wooden instrument. ....It's not like selling baked beans."