Through The Vaults Darkly Volume 3 The Last Time (Godfather GR 249/250)
We Got A Good Thing Going is a rarity that is nowhere listed but was according to our reels of a January 1964 recording session in London's IBC Regent Studios. Sometimes Happy, Sometimes Blue was recorded on December 5 1966 in London's Olympic studios. The Last Time is from January 17 at De Lane Lea Studios in London. Family is a Beggars Banquet outtake about a family with 2 daughters that want to become prostitutes. The song was only finished half a few times; together they finally make the entire song on this CD. From those same sessions in the Summer of '68 comes Stray Cat Blues in its original incarnation. I Don't Know Why (I Love You, Baby) is a song with a story. This Stevie Wonder cover was recorded in the night of July 3 1969 in Olympic Studios, while mixing the song the session was interrupted by a phonecall form the wife of Brian Jones' chauffeur announcing the death of Brian. Stewed And Keefed was often referred to as a" Jamming With Edward" outtake but is actual an instrumental from as early as 1964 recorded at Chicago's Chess Studios with Keith on guitar and Ian Stewart on piano dueling on this master piece. Blood Red Wine brings us back to the' 68 Olympic Studios sessions for Beggars Banquet. Nellcote, France. January 1972 and the recording of their masterpiece Exile On Main street. All Down The Line, Sweet Virginia, Shine A Light And Shake Your Hips are all taken from these sessions. I'm Going Down was also recorded at Nellcote but the take here is from 1969's Olympic Studios sessions. Angie was written by Keith for his daughter Angela and was recorded in Jamaica at Dynamic Sounds in Kingston in December 1972. The final 3 tracks on CD one are 'till The Next Time (We Say Goodbye), Time Waits For No One and Ain't Too Proud To Beg. All were recorded for It's Only Rock And Roll in 1974 at Munich's Musicland studios. These versions are quite different and more hard edge than the originals! Miss You is from the lengthy Pathe Marconi sessions in Paris in the Fall of 1977. This version is similar but longer with different lyrics and solos than the final released version. Let's Go Steady Again was recorded on the Bahamas at the famous Compass Point studios in Nassau in February 1979. This amazing Sam Cooke cover is a duet between Keith and Chrissy Kimsey, Chris Kimseys wife who was producing and engineering. Unfortunately it was never released on CD until now. It was played though in the New Barbarians setlist during some of their concerts.
Beast Of Burden brings us back to Pathe Marconi with a totally different version, lyrically that is! Ain't No Use in Cryin was also done at Pathe Marconi, the Stones'2nd home in the late 70's, during the Summer of 1979 and would later wind up on Tattoo You'. This version however is lengthier with great piano and organ work by Hopkins and Stewart. We jump to 1988, nearly 10 years later with this very early take of Slippin' Away. Possibly recorded for Keith's first solo album. It was dropped or simply never finished properly until Keith and Mick gave it a second change and a c1assic was born. These sessions were recorded at the famous AIR studios in Montserrat. The next 4 tracks all come from the Windmill Lane studios in Dublin where the Stones recorded Voodoo Lounge with producer Don Was. First is the rare long version of Thru And Thru with percussion and Pierre de Beauport, Keith's guitar tech, on guitar. The song was written after a night out and once returning home Keith insisted on recording the track with Pierre. This is the 3rd take/attempt with percussion by Bernard Fowler. Love Is Strong is a final rehearsal take recorded at Ron Wood's Sandymount Studios in Kildare, Ireland. Ivy League is a sister of Moon is Up. This version has a first set of lyrics but unfortunately it was never finished as it was too similar to Moon Is Up. Sparks Will Fly is also from Winmill Lane and is an outtake version. The final 3 songs bring us to the present day. These are all A Bigger Bang outtakes that are different to the versions released on CD or DYD and recorded in St. Vincent on the West Indies. Under The Radar and I Don't Wanna Go Home are great songs that were dropped from the final album tracklist but made it as DVD bonus tracks on the Bigger Bang Bonus DVD. These versions however are different, early studio takes as is The Streets Of Love which closes this final part of Through The Vaults Darkly in style.
review:
The Last Time: Through the Vaults Darkly Volume 3 is the newest Rolling Stones’ release through Godfather Records, apparently the final release in this recent series. Enclosed in a foldout digi-pack cover, the inner sleeve notes that they ‘skipped the material that wasn’t worth releasing,’ which will presumably be followed by the sound of hands slapping the foreheads of collectors the world over. That said, this is a nice, succinct collection of high quality alternate takes and unreleased material that mostly have seen release elsewhere, though, the sound quality here is generally superior.
The collection begins in January 1964 with ‘We Got a Good Thing Going’ but is already at the familiar ‘Stewed and Keefed’ jam by the halfway point of the first disc, before stepping back in time again for the acoustic blues of ‘Blood Red Wine’ from the ‘Beggars Banquet’ sessions. Part two of the first disc is devoted to the mid ‘70s, with outtakes and alternates (some barely distinguishable from the officials) from ‘Exile on Main Street’ and ‘Goats Head Soup’ before finishing up with three barely-different-from-the-released-versions of ‘It’s Only Rock And Roll’ tracks ‘’Till the Next Time We Say Goodbye,’ ‘Time Waits for No One,’ and ‘Ain’t Too Proud to Beg.’
The second disc begins with an alternate version of the hit ‘Miss You,’ touches on a couple of highlights from the late ‘70s/early ‘80s (including an interesting alt take on ‘Beast of Burden’), then jumps to an excellent outtake of Keith’s ‘Slipping Away.’ This is the highlight of the second CD, as the remainder focuses on much later releases up to and including ‘A Bigger Bang,’ which ultimately don’t compare with what has preceded, but, are still of interest. By the 00s, the Rolling Stones had settled into their roles as the elder statesmen of Rock, and while they were still pushing the ‘Greatest Rock ‘n Roll Band in the World’ angle, material like ‘Sparks Will Fly,’ ‘Under the Radar,’ and ‘I Don’t Wanna Go Home,’ while certainly enjoyable, most resembles a shadow of that once great band.
If the third volume of a three volume series is, by necessity, scraping the bottom of the barrel, Godfather Records has certainly provided a service by compiling all of these rarities in one handsome package. The sound quality is always fantastic and the notes are interesting and mostly informative, even if the music itself is sometimes less than compelling.