FM and Soundboard

CDR

1

DVD 917; lineage: FM and Soundboard recordings. "How Britain Got The Blues" (Bad Wizard 6134) silver > EAC > flac (level 6)

Very rare early recordings including Mick Jagger with the Little Boys Blue in 1961.

This CD was pirated by an unidentified label and issued as "Beginning Of The English Blues." It was for sale briefly on Amazon (it's unavailable now and will probably remain so), where a reviewer left these (edited for coherence) comments:

A great compilation of obscure 1961-1964 recordings. What will pique the interest of the hardcore Stones aficionado the most are the first eight tracks: the very earliest Rolling Stones recordings, which have rarely, if ever surfaced on other CDs. The first four songs are labeled as dating from a tape of Little Boys Blue, a pre-Rolling Stones lineup of the group, recorded (probably at a private rehearsal) in late 1961. Dick Taylor (later of the Pretty Things), guitarist Bob Beckwith, and Allen Etherington (on maracas) were part of Little Boys Blue on this recording. While the track listings are vague as to what actual future members of the Stones also participated, it's certain that Mick Jagger's on lead vocals, and possible that Keith Richards and Brian Jones are on the guitars.

Included are unreleased versions of the Jagger-Richards compositions "It Should Be You" and "My Only Girl" (aka "That Girl Belongs To Yesterday"). There's also "Leave Me Alone," a Jagger-Richards original not released by anyone! There's also the unreleased studio effort "Goodbye Girl," a routine blues-rocker dated as having been recorded in November 1964 and written by Bill Wyman. While these are no doubt fascinating for the Stones fan, as well as historically important, the subsequent 24 BBC session tracks are better music. Those BBC performances include many songs that didn't appear on the group's early releases, such as covers like "Roll Over Beethoven" (a different version than a more commonly circulated one also recorded around this time for another BBC session), "Meet Me In The Bottom," Jimmy Reed's "Ain't That Loving You Baby," "High Heel Sneakers," and Bo Diddley's "Crackin' Up." The fidelity on these is generally very good, with the performances different enough from the studio versions to make them quite interesting!

917

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