60 YEARS AGO TODAY:
6/10/64 – The Rolling Stones record part of their "12 x 5" album at Chess Studios here in Chicago, Illinois.
At the suggestion of Producer Phil Spector, two of the tracks they laid down today were “It’s All Over Now” and “Time Is On My Side,” both of which would go on to become hit singles for the group.
They also got the chance to meet some of their blues idols this day while here in The Windy City: Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Buddy Guy and Chuck Berry.
Look for more Rolling Stones headlines in tomorrow's 60 YEARS AGO TODAY piece ...
In the meantime, last week's anniversay of The Rolling Stones' first US Concert prompted long-time FH Reader (and often FH contributor) Clark Besch to dig a little deeper ...
And you'll be AMAZED by what he came up with!
Thanks to Forgotten Hits blog for bringing this to my attention!
Despite the poster below listing the Stones' first concert as June 1, 1964, it took place on June 5, after they arrived June 1 and did two TV national appearances before the concert below.
As I sit eating my donut on National Donut Day, I reflect back on how Bobby Vee, The Chiffons, Bobby Goldsboro and Bobby Comstock went over as opening for the Stones 60 years ago when they started their first US tour. After all, that week's JJune 6th Billboard magazine would have this 2" ad for Bobby G's brand new single!
NO, I did not pay for that space, BUT I soon was a fan like everyone else, Beatles nut as I was.
As I read in San Bernadino newspapers from that concert review then, no one paid any attention to the opening acts -- none are even mentioned in either article below, as far as I can read.
The Stones first US LP was released just days earlier (renamed from just the group name title in most countries "The Rolling Stones" to US copies "England's Newest hit Makers THE ROLLING STONES."
. ... and their third US single would be released in about a week.
( The first two struggled here. )
A San Bernadino teen gave his report on their concert a week later:
Despite the hubbub of press and fan outpouring, the records did not take off fast, but things got better and better as the year went on.
Unlike the Beatles US LP versions, the Stones' first LP here only changed the cover, but included the same 12 songs from the UK counterpart. Despite the 12 songs on the first LP, the live set list from their first night shows they left off a few of those songs in favor of other covers including their first US 45, "I Wanna Be Your Man" -- good idea since it was a Beatles cover!
Later that week, it was on to the great live music city of OMAHA, NEBRASKA!!
They played Omaha June 13th and visited the world famous local Johnny Ray Gomez TV show!
(BTW, a buddy of mine knew someone who went to Stones' Omaha '64 and said only about 600+ attended.)
[yeah ... nobody really knew who they were yet ... but clearly the hype had already started! - kk]
It would be another two full weeks before the LP would jump into the Top LP charts to start the Beatles chase.
And Billboard would laugh off the new single as "Neanderthal Music" in their chart prediction column the same week.
Despite the fact that me and my brothers have "Tell Me" taped off WLS' Dex Card's Silver Dollar Survey countdown show that month as their new single, it failed to chart on WLS. Odd, since WLS pushed their "Not Fade Away" to #19 earlier in the year.
Tonight, June 7, 2024, the Stones play live in Atlanta! No one's laughing anymore.*
*(of course they STILL are uglier than the "Ivy League" Beatles)
Clark Besch
In an ever-evolving so far unpublished (till now!) piece ...
We keep telling you about new songs The Rolling Stones continue to add to their set list as they cross the country performing their 2024 Hackney Diamonds Tour.
The latest is “Emotional Rescue,” their #3 hit from 1980 … and a song they haven’t performed live in over a decade.
And then the following week, they slipped in the surprises “She’s A Rainbow” and “Dead Flowers!”
Then, in the Atlanta shows mentioned above in Clark's article, The Stones added "Happy" and "Sweet Virginia," (which fans chose over "Rocks Off," "Wild Horses" and "Let It Bleed.)
Cool, too, that they’re keeping some of these recent “adds” in the show … like “Bitch” (always a favorite) and “Midnight Rambler.”
And last week we celebrated the anniversary of The Rolling Stones’ first concert here in America as part of our on-going 60 YEARS AGO TODAY feature, mentioning that The Stones are STILL touring America today.
Well, Noise 11 went into even greater depth, noting that thru the last stop of this year’s Hackney Diamonds Tour, The Stones will have played 803 concerts in America over those past sixty years. (And that’s not counting all of the surprise club appearances they’ve made during that time, especially here in Chicago, where they would regularly pop up at various blues clubs around the city as both audience members and spectators.)
They certainly have grown in stature since then, being still relatively unknown here in June of ’64 without a substantial hit on the charts yet. (“Tell Me” would be come their first American Top 40 Hit when it was released the following month … while “Time Is On My Side,” the recording anniversary of which we ALSO just recently celebrated, would become their first US Top Ten Hit by the end of the year.)
Their first set list, circa June 5th, 1964 …
Not Fade
Away (from England’s Newest Hitmakers, 1964) (The Crickets cover)
I’m Talking About You (Chuck Berry cover)
I Wanna Be Your Man (The Beatles cover)
Hi-Heel Sneakers (Tommy Tucker cover)
Route 66 (from England’s Newest Hitmakers, 1964)(Bobby Troup cover)
Walking the Dog (from England’s Newest Hitmakers, 1964) (Rufus Thomas cover)
Tell Me (from England’s Newest Hitmakers, 1964)
Beautiful Delilah (Chuck Berry cover)
Can I Get a Witness (from England’s Newest Hitmakers, 1964) (Marvin Gaye cover)
I Just Want to Make Love to You (Willie Dixon cover)
I’m All Right (Bo Diddley cover)
Their most recent Hackney Diamonds set list, performed June 3rd at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, FL …
“Start Me Up”
“Get Off of My Cloud”
“It’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll (But I Like It)”
“Angry”
“She’s a Rainbow”
“Dead Flowers” (with Tyler Childers)
“Tumbling Dice”
“Whole Wide World”
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want”
“Tell Me Straight”
“Little T&A”
“Sympathy for the Devil”
“Honky Tonk Women”
“Miss You”
“Gimme Shelter”
“Paint It Black”
“Jumpin’ Jack Flash”
ENCORES:
“Sweet Sounds of Heaven”
“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”
(They certainly have grown in stature since then, haven’t they?!?!) The Rolling Stones continue to dazzle audiences with their music and showmanship.
More on that first US outing here: https://www.noise11.com/news/the-rolling-stones-played-their-first-us-show-60-years-ago-20240606 (kk)
And then this via email from FH Reader Sam Ward ...
Sam Ward
It's interesting that The Rolling Stones got the chance to perform this song WITH Irma Thomas a few weeks ago on their Hackney Diamonds Tour. It was Irma's version that first inspired The Stones to cut this song themselves.
As I always understood it, the organ intro version was the UK single ... so the fact that that's the version you were hearing in 1964 kind of surprises me. Here in Chicago, we only knew it with the guitar opening intro ... but a bit more research shows that the organ intro actually DID come first ...
THAT's the version they recorded 60 YEARS AGO TODAY right here in Chicago.
Then in November, they went back into the studio to cut the much tighter sounding version with the guitar intro ... and THAT'S the one that came out in England on The Stones' second album (it was not released as a single there) ... so actually the REAL sequence of events is the exact OPPOSITE of what I've always believed to be the case. The guitar intro version seems to be the one you hear most often today - and is typically the version included on all of their Greatest Hits compilations.
They're also completely different vocals ... and the guitar version has a MUCH stronger lead vocal by Mick Jagger.
When I heard the organ intro for the very first time ... which wasn't until many years later ... I thought "Oh my God, they're playing an outtake! This is HORRIBLE!!! How could they not know this?!?!"
(I know ... a bit of an over-reaction ... but like you said, once you've only heard it one way, the OTHER way sounds totally foreign to you.)
That means that the track posted above is the more popular and widely-circulated UK album version ...
And, in the interest of "equal time," we've posted the original US single version below.
Thanks for asking! (See, I learn new stuff in Forgotten Hits all the time, too!!!) kk
