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While the 50th anniversary edition of The Rolling Stones' Their Satanic Majesties Request is short on archival material, a newly announced title looks to add some variety to Stones fans' Christmas lists. This time, it's the first wide release of any of the band's live BBC sessions, recorded during the beginning of the band's storied career.
On Air, an audio companion to the recently published book of the same name, features a bevy of tracks recorded between 1963, when the group appeared on Saturday Club just months after the release of their debut single, a cover of Chuck Berry's "Come On," and 1965, when the band returned to the show armed not only with more great blues and soul covers but a new original, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." In between, there were appearances on shows like Top Gear, Blues In Rhythm and The Joe Loss Pop Show--all of which featured Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts tackling a wide variety of their favorite American blues records as they began their plot for musical world domination in the wake of the British Invasion.
None of these tracks have appeared on CD before (four from a 1964 session were included on a 7" EP with a deluxe edition of the band's latest career-spanning compilation, GRRR!, in 2012)--and, between the two discs included in the deluxe edition (which adds another 14 tracks to the 18-track offering of the standard CD), eight of these tunes have never been recorded in studio or commercially released by the band.
Each recording has been painstakingly restored through a process called "audio source separation," described in a statement as "de-mixing the transcripts and allowing engineers at Abbey Road access to the original instrumentation and voices within each track, so that they could be rebuilt, rebalanced and remixed to achieve a fuller, more substantial sound." All in all, it looks like a fascinating overview of the band's early years, available officially for the first time.
A number of editions will be available on December 1, including the standard program on CD or double LP and the deluxe offering on two CDs. The band's official store is offering bundles with the On Air book as well as a limited yellow vinyl variant.
On Air (UMe, 2017)
1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada (TBD)
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
* denotes song previously unreleased commercially
Disc 1 (standard edition CD and 2LP)
- Come On (Saturday Club, 10/26/1963)
- (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (Saturday Club, 9/18/1965)
- Roll Over Beethoven (Saturday Club, 10/26/1963) *
- The Spider and The Fly (Yeah Yeah, 8/30/1965)
- Cops and Robbers (Blues In Rhythm, 5/9/1964) *
- It's All Over Now (The Joe Loss Pop Show, 7/17/1964)
- Route 66 (Blues In Rhythm, 5/9/1964)
- Memphis, Tennessee (Saturday Club, 10/26/1963) *
- Down The Road Apiece (Top Gear, 3/6/1965)
- The Last Time (Top Gear, 3/6/1965)
- Cry To Me (Saturday Club, 9/18/1965)
- Mercy, Mercy (Yeah Yeah, 8/30/1965)
- Oh! Baby (We Got a Good Thing Goin') (Saturday Club, 9/18/1965)
- Around and Around (Top Gear, 7/23/1964)
- Hi Heel Sneakers (Saturday Club, 4/18/1964) *
- Fannie Mae (Saturday Club, 9/18/1965) *
- You Better Move On (Blues In Rhythm, 5/9/1964)
- Mona (Blues In Rhythm, 5/9/1964)
Tracks 5, 7 and 17-18 first released on 7" EP with deluxe edition of GRRR! (ABKCO/Interscope B0017664-02, 2012)
Disc 2 (deluxe edition 2CD)
- I Wanna Be Your Man (Saturday Club, 2/8/1964)
- Carol (Saturday Club, 4/18/1964)
- I'm Moving On (The Joe Loss Pop Show, 4/10/1964)
- If You Need Me (The Joe Loss Pop Show, 7/17/1964)
- Walking The Dog (Saturday Club, 2/8/1964)
- Confessin' The Blues (The Joe Loss Pop Show, 7/17/1964)
- Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (Top Gear, 3/6/1965)
- Little By Little (The Joe Loss Pop Show, 4/10/1964)
- Ain't That Loving You Baby (Rhythm and Blues, 10/31/1964) *
- Beautiful Delilah (Saturday Club, 4/18/1964) *
- Crackin' Up (Top Gear, 7/23/1964) *
- I Can't Be Satisfied (Top Gear, 7/23/1964)
- I Just Want to Make Love to You (Saturday Club, 4/18/1964)
- 2120 South Michigan Avenue (Rhythm and Blues, 10/31/1964)
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Finally!! All of the other major 60's acts have had some (or all) of their output from the BBC released (The Beatles-twice, The Who, The Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, and Led Zeppelin). Looking forward to this release, especially the Stones' covers of songs they never released on any of their studio singles/albums.
Jumped on the yellow vinyl. you get 10% off when you sign up for the mailing list.
Actually, The Yardbirds, which preceded Jimmy Page's later band, got impressive BBC CD coverage. Also The Pretty Things, a band still dear to my heart, got their due with BBC CD recordings. And Manfred Mann!
Sandie Shaw got a really impressive BBC CD issue, too!
Very exciting. I'm glad they released the book separately and not included like with the Sgt Pepper-box and thereby I'll be able to make the choise myself. If I want to read I buy a book, if I want to listen I buy a CD (or in this case two).
Still waiting:
will Any of The Rolling Stones Mono Titles Be Released Individually?
No plans for standalone reissues of the mono titles have been announced as of now.
The double vinyl must run about 40 minutes. Lonesome and Blue strikes again!
Great album, great sound. The two CD version is a must. But why oh why do the liner notes have to be in such an incredibly small font with colours that make them almost impossible to read. This is a major problem for the last couple of pages. The same issue applies to the new double CD release of Hotel California.