Cover Versions, Gone but not forgotten, Hard-to-find, Studio master tapes

Psssst! I heard through the grapevine that…..

Craig McAllister

…there were some Motown studio master tapes floating around on the internet. It took me by surprise, I must say. I mean, who’d have thought these things would ever surface? And guess what? After a bit of poking about in all the right places I found them. I have right here in my sweaty wee hands the master tapes for Marvin Gaye‘s ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’. That’s right. The master tapes for Marvin Gaye‘s ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’. 10 tracks of pure 60s soul. It’s no wonder the musicians who played on the track were known as the Funk Brothers, as the funk drips from every bit of bassline, every hiss of the hi-hat and every falsetto’d note from Marvin’s sweet voice. “Drums in my ear….just what I need!” he says, and off he goes….

Marvin at the BBC

As usual, download the tracks as one big file, open them up, insert them into Audacity and play God. Although how you can possibly improve on the finished article is beyond me. But you can have loads of fun trying. I particularly like the harmonising female backing singers track. Woop woop a shobeedowop! Here‘s Marvin’s vocal-only track for starters. Now get the whole lot.

Not many people know, but Marvin Gaye’s version was actually the 2nd time the song was a hit. Written by Motown staffers Norman Whittfield and Barrett Strong (‘Money’, ‘Papa Was a Rolling Stone’ amongst a ton of other big smash hits), it was first a hit in 1967 for Gladys Knight and the Pips. This version sounds nothing like Marvin Gaye’s. Faster and jazzier, it’s a call and response gospel-tinged belter. Think Aretha Franklin. I bet she does a great version of it somewhere. Anybody know?

Gladys and her Pips

Before Gladys and co recorded it, the writers had tried out Smokey Robinson and The Miracles doing a version. Their’s never made it outside the studio until 10 or so years ago, when an album called ‘Motown Sings Motown Treasures’ appeared. The album featured various Motown acts covering one another’s songs, with mixed results. Smokey’s version is more in keeping with Marvin’s, but is a touch faster. To be accurate, I suppose we should say that Marvin’s is more in keeping with Smokey’s, but a bit slower. It took Marvin 2 months to record his version, which is a marathon compared to how quickly records were knocked out in those days. The song was written in a key slightly too high for Gaye, a trick the producers used to ensure his voice achieved that rasp and pained sound in the high notes. The trick obviously worked – Marvin’s is of course the definitive version. Brooding, menacing and ideal music to sell jeans by. It was his first number 1 record, and Motown’s most sold single of the 60’s. It doesn’t get better than that. 

More recently, Paul Weller and Amy Winehouse had a go at it. October 25th 2006, BBC Electric Proms to be more precise. It’s not bad. But not a touch on Marvin Gaye’s.

I like to think I know tons about music. Useless facts that come in handy when writing stuff like this. After finishing this post I did a search for some information about ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’ and discovered this really indepth Wikipedia article about the song here. It repeats some of what you’ve just read but tells you way more. Have a look. And have fun with the remix, but remember, it can’t be bettered.

Cover Versions, Dylanish, Gone but not forgotten, Hard-to-find, Most downloaded tracks

Plain Or Pan-Global

Craig McAllister

A wise old man once sang “Reissue, revalue, repackage, reassess the song,” and that’s what this post aims to do. The number of people clicking on this site on a daily basis is quite astounding. In the past week alone I’ve had vistors from Brazil, China, Germany, Japan, Finland and New Zealand. I think all corners of the globe have found me. I never expected Plain Or Pan? to be as popular or as relevant as it is. I never thought people would bookmark it or that the casual browser could find it via a click or two on Google, and then want to come back again and again. Never in my mind did I imagine getting mentioned in proper music publications (see above left). In all honesty, I didn’t expect to still be here a year and a half down the line. But I am. Thanks to you. And you. And you. And you. And you. Yes, even you. And you. And…  

I know when I visit a blog I don’t read every page. I read a wee bit (or more, maybe even all of it, if it’s interesting) then scroll through to see what the downloads are. I don’t have time to read every page of every blog. No doubt I’ve missed some good stuff. And that got me thinking. If I don’t read every bit of every blog, then why should I expect anyone to read every bit of this one. Of course they don’t. So it’s logical to think that a lot of people visiting this site will have missed some of the more interesting posts. Not the ones that show up on a google click, but the ones that are buried deep inside the vaults of Plain Or Pan? Buried deep inside until now. Reissue, revalue, repackage? I’d say it’s more like recycling. Here’s some of what you may have missed (all links to the music are in the posts)…..

1. The Coca Cola advert music. Here , here and here. And here‘s an mp3 of The Carpenters 1971 easy listening Coke jingle.

2. Morrissey doing ‘Moon River’. It’s magic.

3. ‘You Really Got A Hold On Me’  by The Jackson 5 and The Zombies. Oh, and look what I’ve found. It’s only The Small Faces doing the same track. Here. Equal measures distortion + soulful vocals = a belter.

4. Norman Blake from Teenage Fanclub does Dennis Wilson from the Beach Boys ‘Only with You’. Right here. There’s tons of Teenage Fanclub stuff scattered throughout Plain Or Pan? Go and find it, lazy bones!

5. The Raconteurs BBC Sessions. Here.

6. Lee Hazlewood‘s demo of ‘These Boots Are Made For Walking‘ here. Along with some kitsch Nancy Sinatra stuff.

6. Some Super Furry Animals hard-to-find stuff. Here.

7. What goes around comes around. Elliott Smith rips off Bob Dylan, who had previoulsy ripped off someone himself. Here. There’s a similar Led Zeppelin post here. And if you don’t know any Elliott Smith, shame on you! You could do worse than click here. Demos, acoustic, rare! Wooo!

8. A potted history of The Primitives. Fantastic guitar pop from a band named after Lou Reed’s first band. Everything you need to know (and 3 of their best records) here.

9. Ronnie Spector and The Ronettes singing accapella in the studio. This is astonishing.

10. Even more astonishing, Sandie Shaw‘s breasts. And some great cover versions too. Here.

Finally, you can never have enough Trashcan Sinatras in your life. it’s a crying shame that not enough people know about them. Here‘s their version of Randy Newman‘s ‘Snow‘. Released only in Japan, it’s a hard-to-find gem.

All links should be working. Don’t hesitate to let me know if anything’s broken. Cheers.

Cover Versions, Hard-to-find

Retro thrift shop fashion transvestites

Craig McAllister

Jellyfish were great. Power pop for the pre-Nirvana teeny boppers. Tunes by The Beatles. Backing vocals and guitar solos by Queen. Clothes by Hanna Barbera. Modern day insipid retro tunesmiths like The Feeling would give their stripey trousers and kerrrrazzzeee facial hair to be able to write half a tune as masterful as ‘Now She Knows She’s Wrong’. They must listen in jaw-dropping awe to ‘Bellybutton’ or cry over their copy of ‘Spilt Milk’ at least once a week.

Jellyfish-eye lens

Jellyfish only made the aforementioned 2 albums before splitting. I never got to see them live although I think they once played King Tuts. My pal’s band played a few shows with them in America and told me that for all the day-glo Californian sunshine and love image they projected, they were really a right grumpy bunch of selfish unfriendly bastards. Especially Andy Sturmer, the singing drummer. Fans of the Trashcan Sinatras may recognise the line, “There’s an anecdote about an argument with the singer from Jellyfish.” It’s a good anecdote too…

Baby’s Coming Back video shoot

Nowadays, the various musicians that made up the band can be heard on a multitude of off-shoots and side projects (including, but not exclusively Imperial Drag, The Moog Cookbook, Umajets, TV Eyes) all on a MySpace site near you. There’s actually too much music to investigate beyond Jellyfish, and I’ve never tried to (!) The 2 albums plus the 4CD Australian box set ‘Fan Club’ are all I need. The demos and live cuts below are taken from the long-deleted and hard-to-get box set. 

The Man I Used To Be

Calling Sarah (with ‘She Loves You’ “Yeah Yeah Yeah“‘s)

All I Want Is Everything

Baby’s Coming Back

Now She Knows She’s Wrong

interview on 91X, San Diego

No Matter What (Badfinger cover, live)

Jet (Wings cover, live)

(Flower) power chords

Still needing more? Can’t get enough of Jellyfish? How about this? Right click on the picture below, ‘save as…’ and print it off. Voila! Your very own official Jellyfish colouring-in page, taken from the promo coloring-in book (note American spelling) from 1990. Make them as sunny day-glo Californian or as grumpy as you want.

Hard-to-find, Studio master tapes

Rock Me Joe!

Craig McAllister

“There was a guy. An underwater guy…” The Pixies are currently going through a bit of a renaissance in our house just now. I was getting fed up with all the feyness of the Fleet Foxes and their ilk (as much as I still like them) and was looking for something to blow the cobwebs away. Something loud. Actually, something quiet then LOUD. Then quiet again. Then 10 times LOUDER. You know what I mean. So I played ‘Surfer Rosa’ and everything was alright again. Then by coincidence, about an hour later I found the demos to ‘Doolittle‘ on Dimeadozen! A sign? I thought so. So I downloaded them, went back to my other Pixies albums and bootlegs and have been going Black Francis crazy ever since. In the car, on the iPod, on the good old fashioned stereo in the living room, the Pixies are everywhere. Everywhere. And they sound grrrrrrrrrreeeeeaaaaatttt!!!

Pixies ’88

Who’d have thought anyone responding to an advert seeking musicians “into Peter, Paul & Mary and The Beatles‘ could join forces and create such an unholy tuneful racket? I have been playing a bootleg called ‘Rough Diamonds’ an awful lot. In fact, it just might be the best Pixies non-release there is. It combines all of their BBC sessions at Maida Vale (unlike the incomplete official BBC Sessions CD) with some other studio outtakes from various sources. The sound quality is Grade A excellent. You really should seek it out. While it was never my favourite Pixies track (that would be Number 13 Baby. Or Broken Face. Or Gigantic. Or River Euphrates. Or…), I have been fairly taken by these versions of ‘Monkey Gone To Heaven’

First, we have the demo version of the track that would appear on the Doolittle album. Slightly sparse and a wee bit less rocking than the released version, this version sees the band find their feet around the track. Kim Deal’s backing vocals are buried way too deep in the mix and the band sound quite restrained. By the time the band went to Maida Vale Studio 5 on 18th August 1988 (almost 20 years ago! Shite, I’m getting old), the tune had been transformed into something of a behemoth. It sounds like a ton of reverb has been chucked over the whole thing. The bass sounds fantastic and KIm’s breathy schoolgirl vocals are higher up in the mix. There’s even a wee bit of echo during the “If man is 5 then the devil is 6” bit. Frank Black/Black Francis is at his shouty best. This version goes quiet, LOUD, quiet, LOUDER. It’s a winner!

Pixies ’08. Peter, Paul, Mary and Ringo

If this isn’t enough for you, how about this? It’s only the studio master tapes of ‘Monkey Gone To Heaven’!!!! 16 tracks of Kim, Black/Frank, David and Joseph Alberto Santiago. One complete ogg vorbis file. Open as usual in Audacity and remix away. More cello? Certainly! Loop the ‘Rock Me Joe’ bit. No bother. More reverb on the snare drum? Certainly sir. Here‘s the double-tracked vocals only version. God, the internet is great, isn’t it?

Double Nugget, Dylanish

If You Dug It…

Craig McAllister

…then it’s a Nugget. So says Lenny Kaye, as regular reader Ace K points out…

“During my “career” at a law firm that was slowly eroding me, I would play hooky on extended lunch breaks at the great used music stores in the Boston/Cambridge/Somerville (Massachusetts, USA) area.  One afternoon at the old, underground (literal) store Nuggets in Kenmore Square, Boston, Lenny Kaye strolled in.  He signed the wall “If you dug it, then it’s a nugget,” chatted with the clerks, probably bought something, and left.  I still kick myself for not busting my budget, buying their used Elektra 2-LP Nuggets set and getting his signature on it.”

Thank you, Ace. A nice story, and a great excuse to give you the next irregular instalment in Plain Or Pan’s ‘Double Nugget’ series. Todays tracks come from Texas and Chicago. Hold on. Not the groups. Christ, no. Not the groups. There’s other blogs out there that cater for blandness, but Plain Or Pan ain’t one of them.

Mouse & his Traps. Benny Hill top right.

Mouse And The Traps were from Texas. ‘Mouse’ was Ronnie Weiss and he formed the band in 1965. Clearly in thrall to that thin wild mercury sound of mid-6o’s Bob Dylan, ‘A Public Execution’ is almost as much a Dylan pastiche as the ‘Dylan Hears A Who’ post from a wee while ago. If you google Mouse And The Traps, every search mentions Dylan at some point. It’s that obvious. But taking nothing away from Mouse and co, it’s a fantastic record.

original single label
original single label

‘A Public Execution’ was written as an answer to a girl (of course) named Debbie who thought Mouse was up to stuff behind her back. Think ‘Positively 4th Street’ with added sneering. Does he really sing “You better find yourself a welder babe” at the end? It sounds like it! Some of the band’s other material is possibly even better. Faster, wilder and more out there, a future post will definitely feature ‘Maid Of Sugar, Maid Of Spice’. Keep your eyes peeled…

The Shadows Of Knight

The Shadows Of Knight were from Chicago. ‘Oh Yeah’ was a scorching garage blues cover of a Bo Diddley song. “Woah yeah! Everything gonna be alright this morning!” And then we’re off. Hang on…..that rhythm. That ryhthm! The guitar sound. And that dive bombing bass line. David Bowie! David Bowie!!! You little thief!!!!! There would have been no ‘Jean Genie’ without this record. None at all. And that’s a fact. Bowie likes to think he stays one step in front of the others, but going by this track he’s really just digging for gold in the gazillions of records that don’t quite make it past the lower reaches of the charts. Good spot, David! Bowie once talked of doing a ‘Pin Ups 2’, which would feature solely American music as opposed to the swinging London music from the original ‘Pin Ups’ album. That would have been interesting. Or maybe not. Altogether now, ‘The Jean Genie lives on his back…’

Cover Versions, entire show, Hard-to-find

Tan By Your Man

Craig McAllister

Man-bag wearing, perma-tanned soul/folk/rock crooning all round pie, mash ‘n’ jellied eels geezer Paul Weller played a ‘God’s Jukebox’ session recently on Mark Lamarr‘s Radio 2 show. And it was a belter.

Extremely well played (is that a mellotron?) and captured perfectly in the high quality files below, Weller and his “boys” run through a selection of tracks from his new album ’22 Dreams’, as well as a track from ‘As Is Now’ and a cover of Manfred Mann’s ‘Pretty Flamingo’. All in all a good days work at the office and a nice session to own. You could be impatient and download just the music from the links below, or you could download the entire session, interview included in high quality flac files. I’d go for the latter.

All I Wanna Do Is Be With You

Cold Moments

Push It Along

Pretty Flamingo

Misty Morning

The interview is informative, but fairly light hearted. It pokes fun at Sting, compares chord sequences to Abba’s ‘Take A Chance On Me’ and alludes to the band playing standing back-to-back à la Thin Lizzy. Which doesn’t really work on the radio, but would have you thinking that Paul Weller isn’t the next gurmudgeon due on the new series of Grumpy Old Men after all. He sounds like he’s having fun, both in his playing and his chat. Enjoy the session. (Recorded on July 5th, if you need to know these kind of things)

 Soul, man!

Hard-to-find, Sampled

Get Filthy with Sarah Cracknell

Craig McAllister

Wouldn’t you love to? The ironic thing is, the track in question doesn’t even feature Sarah Cracknell on vocals, but it is one of the best Saint Etienne tracks you’re ever likely to hear. This is not a media hype…

‘Filthy’ began life in 1991 on the b-side of ‘Only Love Can Break Your Heart’ and features the enigmatic (and 15 year old) Q-Tee on vocals. It’s dubby and spacey. There’s a bit of wah-wah which may well have been sampled from an obscure 70s soul record, a looped drum break that could’ve come from the same record, a cracking (sampled? probably) bassline that’s been looped to infinity and even a glockenspiel solo at one point. I used to get quite annoyed that my copy on 12″ sounded like someone was frying bacon on top of it. Years later I got ‘Filthy’ on CD and I realised the vinyl crackles and pops had been added for effect. Actually, maybe they haven’t. They might be crackles from the original vinyl that had been sampled when jigsawing the track together. I hadn’t thought of that until now! 

Q-Tee

On top of the fantastic music and the snaps! crackles! and pops! you get Q-Tee’s vocals. Starting out like a sexy version of PIL’s ‘Public Image’, “Hello? Hello? Hahahaha!”, they are husky, half-rapped, half-spoken and half-sung (can you have 3 halves?) and they make the track what it is –  a b-side that should’ve been an a-side. I think Saint Etienne themselves recognised Q-Tee’s contribution to the track, because they got her back to rap on ‘Calico‘, when they recorded the ‘So Tough’ LP. They also appear to have realised how good a track ‘Filthy ‘was, because it’s been available in at least 2 other versions since 1991.

In 1995, Saint Etienne teamed up with French chanteuse Etienne Daho, to form St Etienne Daho. They released a 5 track ep, half in French, half in English. (Halves again!) On it you’ll find a re-working of ‘He’s On The Phone’ called ‘Accident (Week-End à Rome)’ that’s pretty good, but the ep is worth getting just for the track ‘Jungle Pulse‘, which is ‘Filthy‘ sung in French. Etienne Daho sounds like MC Solaar rapping on the top. Sarah adds a whispered French thingy in the background and the whole track rolls along nicely. C’est magnifique.

In February this year, Saint Etienne released ‘Boxette‘, which compiles all their hard-to-get and highly collecatble fan club only ep’s and albums. A collector’s wet dream, it has all the Saint Etienne you’ll ever need spread over 4 CDs. It was only available through their fan club and sold for £25. It now goes for around £100 on eBay, so start saving or look below…..The first disc is brilliant. There’s not one bit of filler on it. ‘Filthy‘ makes an appearance, this time under the guise of ‘Studio Kinda Filthy’.  A bit less dubby but a bit more echoey and a whole lot more spy film, it’s equally worth having. Extra points too for the old-school sampled BBC announcer at the start.  

Do di do di do, do, di, do di do, do di do di do di do di, do di do di do!

Elsewhere on ‘Boxette‘ you’ll find their version of David Bowie’s ‘Absolute Beginners’ (Not very good to be honest. Neither was it when I saw them play it live in 1991). Anyway. I don’t normally post whole albums of stuff that are available and/or new, but as ‘Boxette‘ was limited to 3000 copies and has long since sold out and been deleted, in these credit crunch times save your eBay pennies and click on these links:

CD1               CD2               CDs 3 & 4

Poke about and you’ll find all the artwork you need and you can fashion your own Blue Peter-style Saint Etienne ‘Boxette‘ box set. I did and it looks great!

entire show, Gone but not forgotten, Hard-to-find

Liz luvs Jeff (IDT INDT)

Craig McAllister

* Broken link for ‘Grace’ fixed!!!

On the 12th May 1995, Jeff Buckley was playing at Prince‘s club, ‘First Avenue’, in Minneapolis. On the same night, a session he recorded in Atlanta a couple of weeks earlier (probably) on the 22nd April was broadcast on the radio. It was later released on a bootleg CD simply titled ‘Sessions‘. I paid about £15 for my CD at the Barrowlands market one Sunday, way back before the internet was freely available and file sharing was all the rage. Of all the Jeff Buckley bootlegs and odds ‘n’ sods I have, the ‘Sessions‘ CD is probably the one I go back to the most, so in the spirit of the internet and Plain Or Pan’s ‘Hard To Find’ policy, the whole session is available for download below.

Played in front of a small studio audience, this is a mostly acoustic session even though Buckley plays with his band. It sounds intense, focussed and crystal clear. The one minor gripe I have with the session though is the way he bends, twists and strangles his voice into different sounds. I know that’s supposed to be part of the appeal, but sometimes during this session it can all get a bit much. He growls, yelps, warbles and yodels, and makes sounds that probably only dogs can hear. Round about this time he was shagging Liz Fraser (Cocteau Twins). There was a documentary on the telly when she said so and admitted her undying love for him. Who knew?!?!? Whereas some unfortunates get STD’s for their troubles, it seems Ms Fraser passed on some of her annoying vocal tendencies to lucky Buckley instead.

I am now ducking…

Of course, he also sings. And that’s what I always focus on when I listen to him. Well, that and his fantastic guitar playing. I still don’t know how he does it both at the same time.

Last Goodbye
So Real
Mojo Pin
Grace
Lover, You Should Have Come Over

Reduce! Reuse! Recycle! For those of you who are relatively new to Plain Or Pan?, you’ll find various Jeff Buckley stuff scattered around the site. You could look here, or here, or just click on a month on the sidebar and see what turns up. You won’t be disappointed. You could also do worse than check out Buckleyesque, a decent wee blog that has loads of Jeff rarities (although it could do with a bit of an update).

voice of an angel, wings of an angel

  

Double Nugget

Double Nugget

Craig McAllister

Part 1 of a new series in which previously underpraised records/bands get the praise they deserve. Nuggets was the brainchild of Lenny Kaye, guitarist with the Patti Smith Group and garage rock enthusiast. ‘The Original Punk Rock’ claims the sticker on my box set. ‘Last Seen In Rolling Stone’s List Of 200 Essential CDs of the Rock ‘n Roll Era!’ 

In 1964 when America went Beatlemania crazy watching the Ed Sullivan show, anyone who had a TV and a guitar grew their hair overnight, got together with some like-minded souls and thrashed away in their garage until the 2 or 3 chords they had nicked from the Fab 4 or the Kinks or the Who had been fashioned together into something approaching a tune. Often, there were fantastic results. FANTASTIC RESULTS! Some of these results even made it onto record. Unfortunately, 99.9% of these records remained firmly outside the charts, but they proved to be the training ground for such future stars as Todd Rundgren, Ted Nugent, Warren Zevon, Glen Campbell and many others. 

Originally a double album, ‘Nuggets’ basically celebrates these no-hit wonders by compiling tons and tons of stuff onto 4 CDs. It is my favourite box set, one I go back to again and again. At least once a year I will wait until I have the house to myself and blast it out while I do some menial chore like cleaning the floor or changing the bed. It’s great music to strip wallpaper to. It’s great music to make the tea to. It’s great music to clean the toilet to. It’s great music full stop.

Double Nugget? I’d rather have a Knickerbocker Glory. The guy in the bottom left hand corner would later change his name and go on to play for Glasgow Rangers. Derek Johnstone, anyone?

Today’s Double Nugget comes courtesy of The Knickerbockers and The Amboy Dukes. New Jersey’s The Knickerbockers released ‘Lies’ in 1965 and it is so obviously under the influence of The Beatles it could easily have slotted onto ‘With The Beatles’ between ‘Don’t Bother Me’ and ‘Little Child’. You should try it in iTunes – it works! The harmonies throughout, the Ringo-style drum rolls, the George Harrison-indebted vocals. There’s even a McCartney-esque “Waaaaaaaaaa!” scream leading into the middle eight. You can just about picture him bobbing his head while he plays his Hofner bass along to this one. Even the adlibs at the end have that whiff of Fab Fourness about them. This track is a cracker!

Handsome

The Amboy Dukes are a totally different kettle of fish. Less pop for a start. Much less. Look at the picture above. This is heavy blues way before Eric Clapton even invented heavy blues. Listen to the feedback drenched opening to their version of ‘Baby, Please Don’t Go’. Originally a Big Joe Williams folk/blues song from the deep south of America, The Amboy Dukes were clearly taking notes from the Them version. I always liked that version until I heard this one. Released at the start of 1968, it sounds like Vietnam. An incessant, nagging rhythm section coupled with Ted Nugent’s amps set to 10 (and ‘stun’) this is the true sound of Detroit, pre-dating the MC5, Stooges et al by a few years. A few years later and Nugent was a gun lovin’ maniac. Listening to his playing on this track, we should’ve guessed. You’ll want to learn this version on guitar, trust me. Oh, and listen out for the Hendrix riff in the middle of the freak-out section.

England, 1966

(every Scotsman’s least-favourite phrase)

*Disclaimer. There’s a million great garage band websites out there. Most of them are way more knowledgeable and obsessive about this music than I’ll ever be. And I love this music! Click on the ‘Little Steven’ link on the left hand side for starters. I’m no expert on these things, and I don’t claim to be. As Lenny Kaye himself says in the original sleeve notes, “The notes enclosed are intended to provide a frame of reference in which to approach these hand-picked tracks, and have no pretense either to complete enlightenment or total truth” Happy downloading1 

Cover Versions, Hard-to-find

They tried to make him go to rehab…

Craig McAllister

…and he went. Poor Ronnie Wood. Making Pete Doherty look like a total lightweight, he’s been on a bit of a bender recently, going off without his wife of 23 years, instead taking with him a 20 year old Russian ‘cocktail waitress’ (and escort) to Ireland for a massive drink, drugs and how’s yer father session. And now he’s in rehab trying to save both his vital organs and his marriage. Being a Rolling Stone, surely that’s all part of the job? Just ask Keith Richards or Bill Wyman. At least Ronnie’s girlfriend was above the legal age of consent. To paraphrase Rod Stewart in his MTV Unplugged concert, “This song was written before some of you were born……….mind you, me wife was only 1!” Until he recovers, let’s remember Ronnie Wood for what he’s good at – making rock ‘n roll records (and painting – all the pictures here are his work).

Here’s a couple of lesser-known tracks from his extensive pre-Stones back catalogue. ‘You’re On My Mind’ by The Birds (with an ‘i’ not a ‘y’) was the first song he ever wrote. Released by Decca in 1964, it was apparently inspired by The Yardbirds. The b-side to the above track was a cover of Bo Diddley‘s ‘You Don’t Love Me’, a staple for many a blues-inspired garage band in the early 60s. Ronnie also played with The Creation (‘Midway Down’) before going on to play bass in the Jeff Beck Group, where he played with Rod Stewart for the first time.

‘Plynth (Water Down The Drain)’  from the ‘Beck-Ola’ album sounds like a blueprint for everything Ron ‘n’ Rod did in The Faces. It’s loose, bluesy, funky and has a great slide guitar riff and a fantastic bassline from Ronnie. You know his other work – ‘Stay With Me’, ‘Miss Judy’s Farm’, ‘Cindy Incidentally’, Gasoline Alley, ‘Maggie May’, the list is endless. Any decent Rod Stewart 70s compilation has the lot. Of course, he’s not really allowed to write for the Stones, even if he has the best haircut out the lot of them, but that surely is Mick ‘n Keith’s loss. Get well soon Ronnie!

Hard-to-find rarity alert!!! Here‘s the full-length version of ‘Maggie May’, complete with the neatly picked acoustic guitar intro that’s missing from just about every version of the song that’s ever been released. As Frank Carson used to say, it’s a cracker.