Part two of the rumored Steel Wheels session tapes identified last year, this batch a little earlier in the reunion window for the band in 1989 than the Monitor Mix gems we were presented in 2007. Earlier in that while the basic music tracks are pretty well constructed, here we get many guide vocals from Mick and Keith prior to the lyrics being scrawled and crafted for the compositions. Incredible to still be getting this sort of audio gift from the archive lords at this juncture! I will be providing more of a track-by-track breakdown shortly. I need to consult the Some Girls session tracks to identify which riff/melody/take that Keith resurrected for "Ready Yourself" here in this much later iteration of that particular composition. I want to say it's "Munich Hilton" but need to verify that yet.
While this batch isn't as dynamically 'wide' and finished as last year's Monitor Mixes, the tapes are clearly at least a first generation cassette skim of what perhaps were personal demos trying to be fleshed out in a studio setting, explaining the limitations of the stereo soundscape but, the tracks are crystal clear and of near-master quality. Simply great!...a must-have for Stones collectors for sure and this set will also be welcomed and enjoyed by those who trend to the more casual side of Stones collecting as the quality is fantastic. Another year-ending top contentender for any 2008 'best of' list!
The artwork and packaging for this inaugural release by the Social Graces Label is of consumer quality and very high standards, utilizing all the Steel Wheels-era graphics throughout and nicely silk-screening the discs to make this one appear quite official. Classy and well-thought out.
More assessments of the individual tracks ont way!
Review #2 by Riccar99 January 19, 2008
The second chapter has arrived. Focus is still on Steel Wheels sessions, this time we get tracks from the album in early versions. Not the polished tracks with different mixes (guitars upfront) we got last time from which many boots have come over the years (Monitor Mixes etc.) but these recordings aren't that primitive as claimed at times. The whole body of each song is there, well defined and most of the times the difference is due to mumbled vocals that appear as if the singer (Jagger but also Richards) hasn’t decided on which lyrics to sing (or maybe has yet to finalize them). Not much difference musically speaking from the finished product or even the previous chapter. This new label Social Graces has decided however not to follow the original album sequence, but starts the first Disc with "Blinded By Love" that does not have the historical pretentious lyrics talking about Mark Anthony's fate but a more evident guitar interchange, possibly with Jagger playing one of them. On "Continental Drift" for instance we hear Charlie Watts tablas and drums and a synthesizer for most of the track, while the instrumental take of "Slipping Away" presents the song just as we know it. "For Your Precious Love" is certainly the skeleton of the beautiful ballad that stuck everybody on the previously released Steel Wheels bootlegs because it lacks the chorus and presents just Jagger guiding vocals. Disc two is more interesting with different lyrics of "Rock And A Hard Place", the song "Ready Yourself" that was presented as an instrumental before is here sung by Richards. "Sad Sad Sad" has again a different set of lyrics (no elephant in the bathroom here…) and a different version of "Mixed Emotions" that ends with compliments of an engineer after a prolonged acoustic guitar stroll. It seems that also "Almost Hear You Sigh" is a reworked version of the song originally recorded by Keith in 1987 for his solo album; on this song the chorus sings on Watts drums that acquire the strength lacking somewhere in other songs here. Follows a completely new song "Giving It Up" that resembles "For Your Precious Love" as its sudden approach but it develops as a fine soul ballad with great rhythmic guitars over a steady drumming and keyboards in the back underlining the refrain: another mystery on why the Stones never considered this song that remains a hidden gem up to today. The last track "Hold On To Your Hat" begins with a couple of false starts and a laughter by Ron Wood before the band jumps into this fast song, a bit less obsessive than the released version. Artwork is certainly not impressive, replicating the dull official album both on front and back cover design, while the reverse front cover work reminds "Rock And A Hard Place" official single cover, while each disc has the same label design with swirls.
The audio quality is good with great stereo separation, however it is comprehensible that the audio cassette from which these songs come has lost some fidelity over the years: this is what happens to analogue recordings, not that there is evident hiss but a certain lack of depth presents the sound a bit too flat. Too bad it is barely over 80 minutes, since cassette tapes did last 90 minutes maybe there is still something that’s been left over. It is anyway a great discovery and despite the sad circumstance that has allowed this recording to surface we cannot help thinking how many cassettes are still kept in closed drawers slowly fading away year after year. We can call this release a nice surprise and in a world of copycat labels we are quite sure it is only the first of many replicas to come.
