For all the outward swagger the Rolling Stones projected, there were certain situations that could intimidate even England's bad boys of rock 'n' roll.
Near the top of the list: performing before a TV or radio audience of millions of listeners, such as when the BBC extended an invitation to appear on one of its many music programs of the mid-1960s.
"At the time we were doing this, we were, like, 'Oh, my God -- the BBC!'" Stones songwriter and guitarist Keith Richards, 73, said.
That period is captured in On Air, a new two-CD, 32-track set featuring recordings live and in the studio that the Stones made from 1963 to 1965.
The Stones' hard-hitting groove is front and center in many of the tracks. The set includes such cornerstone original songs from its early years as "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," "It's All Over Now" and "The Spider and the Fly," as well as blues and R&B chestnuts that had been important parts of the band's repertoire before the Jagger-Richards songwriting team fully kicked into gear.
Those days, the BBC refused to play studio recordings by musicians who were spotlighted on various programs. Instead, the British government-run broadcast service insisted that artists record different versions for TV and radio, or perform them live. The upshot is that the BBC created a trove of alternate studio and live versions of some of the biggest hits of the '60s.
On Air provides a counterpart to two volumes of already released BBC recordings the Beatles made during the same period.
Along with the original material chosen for On Air, we hear the Stones' take on Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven" -- one of the few times listeners can compare songs recorded by the Beatles and the Stones.
"The BBC wanted us and we didn't know really why or what we were doing," Richards said. "We were playing blues in bars ... but then we got a top 10 record and suddenly we're the other alternative to the Beatles, bless their hearts," he said. "Yeah, I mean, they broke the doors down, especially Johnny [Lennon]. We always got along."
The set also features spirited versions of Berry's "Memphis Tennessee," Buster Brown's "Fannie Mae," Hank Snow by way of Ray Charles' "I'm Moving On," Bo Diddley's "Cops and Robbers," and Willie Dixon's "I Just Want to Make Love to You."
"When I hear it, I hear a lot of energy and enthusiasm -- and then I want to go in and remix it," Richards said, laughing.
Nevertheless, while the quality of the recordings varies considerably, many sound remarkably crisp, clean and potent. Some of that is attributed to an "audio source separation" process that Abbey Road Studio engineers used to bring more fidelity out of the original BBC tapes.
"On those shows," Richards said, "you had no idea what the microphones were picking up and what was actually coming out of the radio. You just winged it and hoped for the best. Listening to it now, I think they captured the spirit of it all."
"I'm really happy with the last album [Blue & Lonesome]" he said. "It was one of the things we felt we had to do, but it worked out really great."
Does that mean we might see a sequel?
"There's a new album in the works," he said. "We're slowly putting it together."
Style on 12/17/2017