Let
s start reporting the accompanying line notes to this release, already copied
by some sharks in Japan:
Here
we have the return of JEMS' Foxes In The Boxes series featuring unreleased
Rolling Stones-related studio recordings circa 1978-85. Based on our research,
along with the expertise of Stones sessionologist nzb/RDP who helped us sort
through these tapes, we believe Foxes In The Boxes was able to offer Stones
fans a trove of previously uncirculated material.
The
series is titled Foxes In The Boxes in homage to its source: boxes of in-house
cassette tapes obtained by JEMS from persons on the inside of a major record
label in the '70s and '80s. It is also a rhyming nod to the bootleg Static In
the Attic (Midnight Beat), which mined some of the same sessions for kindred
material and to which we believe Foxes makes a worthy companion.
Volume
Four departs from pure Rolling Stones, but doesn t stray too far, presenting an
alternate version of perhaps the most Stonesy side project that came out from a
member of the band, Ron Wood s Gimme Some Neck. It has been called Stonesy for
several reasons, notably the participation of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and
Charlie Watts (plus Ian McLagan) on the album sessions. NZB notes it was
recorded in the same studio at the same time as Some Girls was being mixed and
it includes a song the Stones cut for that album but never released.
Jim
R points out that in 1978, while he was in the Stones, Ron Wood was not an official
partner in the band as a business, that wouldn t happen until Bill Wyman left
in 1993, at which point Ronnie took his share of the band s underlying four-way
split. So, the participation of Mick, Keith and Charlie in Gimme Some Neck was
out of friendship and respect for Wood.
As
nzb explains in great detail below, the early version of Gimme Some Neck
features alternate mixes, earlier vocal takes and longer cuts of the key songs
from the album. It also includes two unreleased and previously uncirculated
recordings of the songs I Got Lost When I Found You and the long-rumoured Tiger
Balm.
Like
the sources used on Vols. One-Three of the Foxes series, the provenance of the
cassette tape source we transferred dates back to 1979 when it was presumably
pulled from the studio to provide a reference to outside stakeholders on the
progress of the album. The overall quality and stereo separation are excellent,
though not perfect, likely owing to the original dubbing of the tracks to
cassette from different sources. Still it will not disappoint. no noise
reduction was applied to this recording.
Some
songs are entirely new, others a little different and some are for trainspotters
to notice the differences. Fortunately, nzb has written a fantastic tour guide
below for which we thank him immensely. He s been a partner on the Foxes In The
Boxes series since the start and there is simply no way we could do this
without him. RG made a substantial contribution as well, because this fox was
in his boxes. Equally essential is mjk5510, post-production chief on nearly all
JEMS releases. Shoutout as well to Prof. Goody for blessing the pitch and
getting excited about the material and to ethiessen1for his cover art
contributions.
BK
for JEMS
JEMS
dug out 13 previously unheard rough mixes, alternate versions and outtakes
recorded by Ronnie Wood for his third proper solo album Gimme Some Neck. The
recordings started at French Pathé Marconi Studios in Boulogne-Billancourt (a
suburb southwest of Paris) with a 10-day session in February and/or March 1978.
Ron Wood was probably filling downtime while The Glimmer Twins, Mick &
Keith, did the mixing for Some Girls in the other studio of the building. Bill
Wyman was probably long gone by then, but Charlie Watts stayed around and
Robert 'Pops' Powell flew in to handle bass duties. Both Mick Jagger and Kith Richards
can only be heard on a couple of the tracks each but Charlie is all over them.
I
can't tell if producer Roy Thomas Baker (Queen, The Cars, Journey) was already
involved during the early sessions in France, but he surely supervised the
later overdubs/mixing/editing sessions in Los Angeles which took about three
months starting in September 1978, doing great work polishing up the tracks.
The
six month hiatus following the basic recording session in Paris was caused by
the many Stones activities during that period: the release of Some Girls,
rehearsals and the 1978 US tour and sessions at RCA Studios in Los Angeles.
First rule: The Stones always come first!
After
finishing his Stones duties, Ron Wood moved into his new house in Mandeville
Canyon in Los Angeles, and Keith, Ronnie and Ian McLagan together with the late
roadie Chuck McGee moved in with him to lend a helping hand with his upcoming
work at LA-based Cherokee Studios.
Gimme
Some Neck, Ron Wood s third solo album (if you don t count Mahoney's Last
Stand, a soundtrack collaboration with Ronnie Lane) was finally released on
April 20, 1979 and soon after promoted with a US tour of Ronnie s infamous
group The New Barbarians. The band featured three members who also played on
the album (Richards, Mac and Bobby Keys), but enlisted a totally new rhythm
section with Stanley Clarke on bass and Joseph 'Ziggy' Modeliste (from The
Meters) on drums.
The
twelve tracks here (plus one additional alternate mix) are not merely the basic
tracks which RW took from France to LA for overdubs, mixing and editing. For
instance Ian McLagan, who did all his overdubs at Cherokee, can already be
heard on these takes, but other additions, such as the sax overdubs of Bobby
Keys on Don t Worry and some of Woods guitar overdubs and final vocals are
still missing. Unfortunately, some of Keith s contributions are also not yet
present.
But
on the positive side, we get a rare chance to hear earlier versions of all the
tracks we know from the finished album (minus the short instrumental Delia),
some of which are unedited (four are much longer than the officially released
album versions) and others feature alternate lead vocals.
Best
of all are two totally unreleased songs, the first is a surprising re-recording
of I Got Lost When I Found You, a tune Wood already released on his 1975 solo
album Now Look. See the notes below for some theories on why he would redo an
already released song. The second is the semi-legendary Tiger Balm a title listed
on the album s fantastic but all too tiny liner notes/inner sleeve design. Tiger
Balm is also referenced in Wood s autobiography Ronnie but totally unheard
until now. Unfortunately, the credits on the inner sleeve are incomplete and
confusing, so we did some research in an effort to present the correct and
complete musician line-ups here.
Breakin’
My Heart II (4:22)
Drums:
Charlie Watts (CW)
Bass:
Pops Powell (PP)
Lead
vocal: Ronnie Wood (RW)
Backing
vocals: MJ (same take as heard on version II), RW
Guitars:
RW
Organ:
most probably Ian McLagan (Mac) (uncredited)
The
only track for which we have two alternative rough mixes in this collection.
Version 2 is the more developed one, as it already has the finished lead vocal
which we know from Gimme Some Neck (GSN), but it also includes guitar licks not
heard in the final mix. Mick Jagger does some nice backing vocals doubling Ron Wood
s chorus, which can be heard much better on this early take than on the
released version. It s most probably Mac who plays an uncredited organ. The
finished version was later used as the B-side to the US edition of the Seven
Days single.
Lost
And Lonely (4:35)
Drums:
CW
Bass:
PP
Lead
vocal: RW
Backing
vocals: RW and ?
Guitars:
RW
Organ:
Mac
Percussion:
Jim Keltner
This
version is unedited and thus twenty seconds longer than the GSN version. All
the (uncredited) backing vocals are already there, but it is hard to identify
who was singing them, apart from Ron Wood. In the end section of the final mix
the various vocals are panned left and right (the Lost And Lonelys to the
right, and the Lonely, looking for yous on the left). That stereo split is
still missing here. It s hard to make out Jim Keltner s percussion
contribution, but I assume it is the percussive clicks which ping pong from the
left to the right channel.
Worry
No More (2:33)
Drums:
CW
Bass:
PP
Lead
vocal: RW
Backing
vocals: RW and Jerry Williams
Guitars
incl. dobro: RW
Piano:
Jerry Williams
The
rough mix of the opening track of the album is very close to the final version,
just lacking some guitar overdubs. Jerry Williams, who penned the song, plays
great piano here and sings backing vocals.
We
All Get Old (4:29)
Drums:
CW
Bass:
PP
Lead
vocal: RW
Backing
vocals: RW, Jon Lind and Richard
Guitars
incl. pedal steel: RW
Piano:
Mark T. Jordan or Harry Phillips > not yet present on this early mix.
Organ:
Mac
Another
song that is twenty seconds longer than the finished track on the released
album. The backing vocals were provided by songwriter Jon Lind along with Richard.
Some sources suspect this ´Richard´ might be Keith Richards, who stayed in the
guest house of Ron Wood s home in Mandeville Canyon for some time during the
Cherokee sessions, but it s most likely someone else (maybe Rick Danko? Ed.note).
The piano on the album version is uncredited, but the lyric sheet on the inner
sleeve includes a scribble which says H. Philips (sic!) or Mark Jordan. Maybe Ron
Wood could not remember not only the surname of Jon Lind s friend Richard, but
also which piano player s contribution he used in the end?
Seven
Days (4:14)
Drums:
Mick Fleetwood
Bass:
RW
Lead
vocal: RW
Backing
vocals: still lacking from the mix
Guitars:
RW
Pedal
steel: RW
Organ:
Mac
Ronnie
Wood got this Bob Dylan composition handed to him by Dylan himself, when both
were doing a session for Eric Clapton s No Reason To Cry album in March 1976.
It is the only song on Gimme Some Neck with a different rhythm section (Ron Wood
on bass and Mick Fleetwood on drums), so it is possible that the song was first
recorded in Los Angeles. This early version has a different lead vocal and
still lacks Keith Richards backing vocals. The finished version became the only
single release from the album.
I
Got Lost When I Found You (3:56)
Drums:
CW
Bass:
PP
Lead
vocal: RW
Backing
vocals: RW and (Jerry Williams?)
Guitars:
RW
Electric
piano: Mac
Strange
that Ron Wood did a re-take of I Got Lost When I Found You (which he penned
with Bobby Womack) as this was already released as the opening track on his
second solo album, Now Look in 1975. Ron Wood said in an interview that he
really likes the song; maybe he was not satisfied with the Now Look version for
whatever reason. With GSN, Wood was aiming for a well-produced sound, hence the
engagement of top producer Roy Thomas Baker. As Ron Wod said in a May 1979
Rolling Stone interview: All I wanted on those first records was a one-off,
backroom sound. This time, I got a backroom sound produced to the full.
F.U.C.
Her (3:21)
Drums:
CW
Bass:
PP
Lead
vocal: RW
Backing
vocals: still lacking from this mix
Guitars:
RW
Acoustic
guitar: Dave Mason
Piano:
? (uncredited)
Harp:
lacking from this mix (haven t detected this on the GSN version either)
Ron
Wood s funniest lyrics on the album, but maybe too sleazy for Mr. Charlie
Watts, who was left out on the album credits with a blank for this song. Dave
Mason is on the track playing acoustic guitar with either Ian McLagan or Mark
T. Jordan on piano. Ron Wood is also credited playing harp but you cannot hear
him playing it on either version.
Don
t Worry (3:28)
Drums:
CW
Bass:
PP
Lead
vocal: RW
Backing
vocals: RW and ?
Guitars
incl. dobro: RW
Piano:
? uncredited, maybe Mac or Mark T. Jordan
Tenor
sax: still lacking from the mix
Bobby
Keys sax overdub is not featured on this version and the cacophony of guitars
is much louder and more direct in this rough mix. In the final mix the guitars
are toned down for a blander blend (hard to tell if any guitar bits are left
off or added) in favour of the sax. I also hear something that resembles
trumpet (possibly synthesized) to recreate the Jim Price/Bobby Keys vibe. We
hear an uncredited piano (Ian McLagan or Mark T. Jordan?) again as well.
Infekshun
(4:05)
Drums:
CW
Bass:
PP
Lead
vocal: RW
Backing
vocals: The odd word from MJ
Guitars:
RW, maybe also MJ
Piano:
Harry Phillips
On
Infekshun Mick Jagger had an uncredited hand in the composition and wrote most of
the words. You can pick him out in the last two words of the lyric, "Ýou re
killing all the life here, but it ain t in me to turn you loose that starts at
the 1.25 minute mark. Given he was clearly present during the recording of this
take, it s even possible that he plays one of the three guitars. The Stones
themselves did an unreleased recording of this composition (under title Infection)
during the Some Girls sessions, so it seems natural that Mick Jagger was
involved himself in the recording of Ron Wood s basic track. The rough mix has
some different guitar parts compared to GSN and Harry Phillips from Detroit
plays a rollicking piano.
Tiger
Balm (4:49)
Drums:
CW
Bass:
PP
Lead
vocal: RW
Backing
vocals: RW and ? (Mac?)
Guitars:
RW
Organ:
Mac
Electric
Piano: Mac
Tiger
Balm is the totally unheard composition in this collection, a real outtake so
to speak. Ian McLagan is all over it on Hammond organ, also playing electric
piano and maybe singing backing vocals. In Ronnie, Wood writes that he gave Tiger
Balm to Ringo Starr, but there is no known Starr recording of this song.
Buried
Alive (4:12)
Drums:
CW
Bass:
PP
Lead
vocal: RW
Backing
vocals: MJ
Guitars:
RW
Electric
Piano: Mac
Percussion:
Jim Keltner
Many
Stones fans favourite song on Gimme Some Neck, as it has Ronnie Wood, Keith
Richards, Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts on the same track. Almost a real
Stones-song! Unfortunately, Richards backing vocals and guitar part are still
missing in this rough mix. But this great early version is more than half a
minute longer than the officially released track, it features an alternate,
early lead vocal take and you can make out much more of Mick Jagger s backing
vocals. Jim Keltner s contribution might be an added snare played with brushes.
Come
To Realize (4:18)
Drums:
CW
Bass:
PP
Lead
vocal: RW
Backing
vocals: Jon Lind, RW plus Richard
Guitars:
RW
Piano:
Mac
Electric
Piano: Mac
At
this point the song was probably still under it s working title, Over Before It
Begun. This rough mix is about 25 seconds longer than the final version and has
less backing vocals and some different guitar parts. The GSN-version was later
used as B-side to the UK-release of the Seven Days.
Breakin’
My Heart I (4:22)
Drums:
CW
Bass:
PP
Lead
vocal: RW
Backing
vocals: MJ, RW
Guitars:
RW
Organ:
uncredited, most probably Mac
An
alternative, earlier mix of track 1, with less guitar, a different lead vocal
and Mac s organ in a higher register and more prominently mixed to the
foreground.
Liner
notes and research by nzb/RDP.
So,
what to say of this newly released sessions? They are pretty raw, in true Wood style
with the guitars upfront and an organ pretty much everywhere; there is still
some hiss heard on this tape due to its origin, but the music can really be dig,
despite a production which is not what I particularly appreciate (especially the
drums). However, this is a great find which proves there is still so much unheard
stuff around waiting to come out.
