The Beatles White Album vs. Black Album

Here's a cool poster from The Beatles' "Black Album" that has emerged from the underground in recent years.  The "Black Album" was a 1981 bootleg (not to be confused with the more recent mixtape) packaged as a mirror of the 1968 White Album (aka "The Beatles").  Even though the boot featured outtakes from the 1969 "Get Back"/"Let it Be" sessions, it was still great stuff, and the whole package set a new standard for illicit disks at the time.  Just like the original White Album, the Black Album included a large poster collage.  Somehow, one of the original bootleggers held on to a stash of those, and they've now turned up online for sale.  (More likely, someone has made an excellent facsimile of the original poster).  The Black poster is pictured above, and the White is below.

On the back of the White Album poster were the lyrics to the entire album; on the back of the Black album poster is something else... the entire contents of the book given away with original British (and other on-US countries) boxed-set copies of "Let It Be" in 1970.  Pretty amazing.  Finally, below we have a fan-made poster that pays homage to the White Album poster (source unknown).

Steve Martin punks Johnny Carson

Two days before Thanksgiving, 1978, Steve Martin fooled Johnny Carson... the film he refers to at the beginning is "The Jerk," and the man sitting-in for Ed McMahon is Joe Garagiola, who had the dubious honor of sitting-in for Johnny on May 14, 1968, when John Lennon and Paul McCartney made their only appearance on the Tonight Show.

Stray Cats and the Rolling Stones mono box

My sources tell me that the new Rolling Stones “Stray Cats” compilation will contain 24 tracks not on the other LPs in the set… and including most of what I outlined in this post and this one.

To recap: all of the Stones’ 1960s albums are being released in a new boxed set, using the mono mixes (which were the preferred and, usually, only mixes done back then… stereo was still new).  Because albums, singles and EPs were chopped up all over the world back then, many songs are not included on the group’s LPs.

“Stray Cats” aims to fix this.  Still, there are a few anomalies to this set.  Several 1960s Stones cuts are still missing:

-From the 1965 UK EP Got Live If You Want It: a snippet of crowd chanting ("We Want The Stones"), a snippet of "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love," and the song "Pain in My Heart" (otherwise unavailable).

-"Tell Me": there's actually two versions of this song, one without piano (2:52, briefly released by mistake) and one with (4:06, but edited down significantly on certain releases).  Early pressings of the UK debut album mistakenly included the 2:52 version; all subsequent releases have featured the long version with piano. The long version appeared on the UK LP after the mistake was corrected. Most other LP and CD versions of the UK debut album -- as well as the US debut album -- contain an edit of the long version, which fades out around 3:48.

-"Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Memphis Tennessee": These are outtakes that somehow were released on various foreign compilations (such as the German “Rolling Stones Story Part 2,” which attempted to do what “Stray Cats” has done).

-“Memo from Turner”/"Natural Magic": Two songs from the 1970 film “Performance,” starring Mick Jagger.  The A-side is a Stones recording (and was included on the 1990 London Singles box), but was originally released as a Mick Jagger solo single.  The b-side is a brief instrumental by Jack Nitzsche.  These likely weren’t included because they were released only in stereo.

Instead of these songs, “Stray Cats” includes a few items of limited necessity:

-Two versions exist of “We Love You”… one closes with a distorted-vocal coda (available on most compilations).  An alternate version ends with John Lennon saying "Your health!" (available on More Hot Rocks and GRRR!).  “Stray Cats” lists “the single version,” so it could be either one.

-“The Under Assistant West Coast Promo Man” is also listed as a “single version”; not sure what that means (the song is already on both the US and UK Out of Our Heads albums)

-“Street Fighting Man” is listed as the single version, which was an alternate mono mix.  As noted in the second post on the mono box, this song is on the album Beggar’s Banquet.  That entire album’s mono mix (except “Sympathy For the Devil”) is a fold-down, i.e. not a true mono mix.  Why not just place this single mix on the LP, which will already be included in the box?  Such a waste.

-“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” is listed as the single mix; as far as I know, that just means the French Horn intro from the album has been removed.  If you know more, please leave a comment!

More on the Rolling Stones Mono box

A few follow-ups to this post about the Rolling Stones in Mono boxed set.

The German compilation "The Rolling Stones Story, Part 2" features a number of the stray cuts that will likely end up on "Stray Cats."  The German box also features the following tunes, which never seemed to make their way into the 2002 SACD reissues:

-"Tell Me": there's actually two versions of this song, one without piano (2:52, briefly released by mistake) and one with (4:06, but edited down significantly on certain releases).  From Wikipedia, here's some information on which version is where...
Early pressings of the UK debut album mistakenly included the 2:52 version; all subsequent releases have featured the long version with piano. The long version appeared on the UK LP after the mistake was corrected. Most other LP and CD versions of the UK debut album -- as well as the US debut album -- contain an edit of the long version, which fades out around 3:48.
-"Natural Magic": the b-side to "Memo From Turner," it's a brief instrumental by Jack Nitzsche and was probably released only in stereo
-"Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Memphis Tennessee": These are outtakes that somehow were released on various foreign compilations
-"Con Le Mie Lacrime": Italian Version of "As Tears Go By," also released on foreign compilations

In addition, the consensus on "Let It Bleed" seems to be that the mono version -- whether a fold-down or an alternate mix -- is different enough from the stereo to be worthy of inclusion.  ABKCO may have also wanted to avoid the situation with the Beatles' Mono box in which their entire output is in one place EXCEPT for two albums ("Abbey Road" and "Let It Be") and three songs (the single "Ballad of John and Yoko"/"Old Brown Shoe," plus the single version of "Let It Be").  A discussion on the "Let It Bleed" mono version is here, and there are several other interesting threads on that same website (stevehoffman.tv).

As for "Beggar's Banquet," the consensus seems to be that the mono LP contains a dedicated mix of "Sympathy For the Devil," while the rest is a fold-down.  The 45 of "Street Fighting Man," however, also contains a dedicated mono mix (available on the 1971-2006 singles box).  Maybe the new boxed set will contain both dedicated mono mixes?

P.S. RIP Elvis.

The Rolling Stones in MONO boxed set!

This new boxed set is coming in September, and I've been waiting for it for years.  Like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones' 1960s output is best experienced in mono.  Unlike the Beatles, the Stones' stereo mixes were often very sloppy and annoying, and that's what most people my age have grown up with.  In 1986, ABKCO (which owns the rights to the Stones' 1960s output) released the first CD versions (and accompanying LPs) sourced from terrible-sounding digitized, sometimes-fake-stereo tapes.  Numerous songs were missing from this campaign, which was rectified with the excellent 2002 SACD reissues of the Stones' catalog.  However, the SACDs included the US and UK versions of many of the albums, since they generally contained (slightly) different track listings.  After doing all sorts of cross-referencing, I found that the way to go with SACDs was to buy the following:

-The Rolling Stones (England's Newest Hitmakers) -- US version

-12x5

-The Rolling Stones Now!

-Out of Our Heads -- US version

-December's Children (And Everybody's)

-Aftermath -- UK version

-Between the Buttons -- UK version

-Flowers

Beyond that, the US/UK versions line up, although you'll still need the later compilations London Singles Collection and More Hot Rocks (Big Hits and Fazed Cookies) for completeness.

The new Mono set mostly sticks to this, but will be adding a compilation -- "Stray Cats" -- with some of the songs that aren't on the original albums.  Based on my calculations, the Mono box does still have some serious overlap issues...

-The mono box uses the UK version of the band's debut LP, instead of the US (resulting in an errant track, "Not Fade Away")

-Rolling Stones No. 2 (UK) overlaps with the rest of the set, except for two songs.

-All of Out Of Our Heads (UK) overlaps with the rest of the set

-All but one track ("Paint It, Black") of Aftermath (US) overlaps with the rest of the set

They could have saved three LP's worth of resources (and money)!  Oh well.

A release about the set is here, and below is a detailed description of the track listings.

-The Rolling Stones (UK, 1964): the US version of this album replaced "Mona" with the single "Not Fade Away" (see "Stray Cats" below)

-12 X 5 (1964): includes the entire "5x5" (EP)

-The Rolling Stones No. 2 (UK, 1965): all tracks on Rolling Stones Now! or 12x5 except... "I Can't Be Satisfied" (Hot Rocks); "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" (different version than the one on Rolling Stones Now, which is available only on the 2002 reissue of More Hot Rocks)

-The Rolling Stones Now! (1965): this includes "Mona," which was bumped from the US version of "The Rolling Stones."  Why not just include the US version of that LP in this set, since it has the otherwise unavailable "Not Fade Away"?  That would have left room on "Stray Cats" for another song!  The other items this offers are the singles "Little Red Rooster" and "Surprise, Surprise."

-Out of Our Heads (UK, 1965): all of these tracks are on either Rolling Stones Now!, December's Children, or the US issue of Out Of Our Heads.

-Out of Our Heads (US, 1965): along with a number of tracks from the UK issue, this includes the singles "Play With Fire"; "The Spider and the Fly"; "The Last Time" and "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" as well as one song ("I'm All Right") from the 1965 UK EP Got Live If You Want It!.  This album also includes the otherwise unavailable "One More Try"

-December’s Children (And Everybody’s): includes two songs unavailable elsewhere, "Look What You've Done" and "Blue Turns To Grey."  Other than that, this includes singles, tracks from the UK Out of Our Heads, a song from their debut EP ("You Better Move On") and two songs from the 1965 UK EP Got Live If You Want It!: "Route 66" and "I'm Movin' On."

-Aftermath (US, 1967): The US issue drops four songs but adds "Paint It, Black," so it seems totally unnecessary to include this album here.  Just add that one song to "Stray Cats"!

-Aftermath (UK, 1967): several of these tracks are also on Flowers, while "What to Do" is on More Hot Rocks.

-Between the Buttons (UK, 1967): I'm glad this is included and not the US version, which features two singles ("Let's Spend the Night Together" and "Ruby Tuesday") which can be found elsewhere.

-Flowers (US, 1967): usually viewed as superfluous, this compilation is needed here for collecting several singles, as well as two songs unavailable elsewhere ("My Girl" and "Ride On Baby").  "Sittin' on a Fence" is only available here and on More Hot Rocks, and the version of "Out Of Time" is also completely different than the one on the UK Aftermath.

-The US and UK editions of Their Satanic Majesties Request, Beggar’s Banquet and Let It Bleed all contain the same cuts, although there is some question whether the latter two are fold-downs; I've read that only "Sympathy For the Devil" is a unique mix.

-The set does not include the live releases from this period... 1970's Get Yer Ya-Yas Out is part of its own boxed set, and was only ever released in stereo.  The US LP Got Live If You Want It is just a boring mess.  Two songs, "I've Been Loving You Too Long" and "Fortune Teller," are just studio outtakes with crowd noise overdubbed.  The original, un-dubbed versions are on the 2002 reissue of More Hot Rocks.  See below regarding the 1965 UK EP also titled Got Live If You Want It.

-Also not included is 1975's Metamorphosis, an interesting compilation of outtakes (it's mostly stereo, and mostly disowned by the band).

-In 1971, ABKCO released the compilation Hot Rocks, 1964-71 (not included here).  All of those tracks are accounted for.  A follow-up, 1972's More Hot Rocks  (not included here), includes several hard-to-find singles, plus a whole side of then-rarities.  When this album was reissued in 2002, three more rarities were added.  All of those are accounted for below.

-Stray Cats: this is listed as a new compilation of singles and EP tracks.  My guess is that it will include some of the following...

-The Rolling Stones (EP): Three tracks ("Bye Bye Johnny"; "Money"; "Poison Ivy" Version 2) are available only on More Hot Rocks; the fourth track ("You Better Move On") is already on December's Children

-The 1965 UK EP Got Live If You Want It includes three songs accounted for above, plus a snippet of crowd chanting ("We Want The Stones"), a snippet of "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love," and the song "Pain in My Heart" (otherwise unavailable).

-"Not Fade Away": single, on the London Singles Collection and the US version of 1964's "The Rolling Stones"

-Unreleased single: "Fortune Teller"/"Poison Ivy" [Version 1], which was eventually released on a "Saturday Club" compilation; currently on More Hot Rocks.

-Singles (currently on Singles Collection: The London Years and Hot Rocks 1964-71): Jumpin' Jack Flash; 19th Nervous Breakdown; Honky Tonk Women

-Singles (currently on Singles Collection: The London Years and More Hot Rocks): Long, Long While; Come On; I Wanna Be Your Man; Child of the Moon; We Love You; Dandelion

-Songs from Singles Collection: The London Years which are unavailable elsewhere: Memo from Turner; I Want to Be Loved; Stoned; Sad Day; Who's Driving Your Plane?

-I am not sure if ABKCO will once again include "Brown Sugar" and "Wild Horses," which are already on 1971's "Sticky Fingers."  A link to the legal wrangling over these two cuts is here.  They've always been in stereo, and since "Sticky Fingers" is essential on its own anyway, I'm hoping they don't take up space here.  In the UK, the single was released with a third cut, a live version of "Let It Rock" (also stereo, recorded in 1971 at Leeds University) which has turned up on recent compilations ("Singles 1971-2006," "Rarities 1971-2003"), but would otherwise be a welcome addition to "Stray Cats" for completeness sake.  It's not an ABKCO-controlled cut, nor was it even recorded in the 1960s, so it's doubtful.

-Did I miss anything?  Leave a comment!

Jack Paar's first sidekick

After Steve Allen left "The Tonight Show" in 1957, NBC planned to fill the 90+ minute slot with several nightly game shows, all hosted by Jack Paar.  But putting all of that together proved too much, so they scrapped the idea and put Paar on as atalk-show host.  For the next 8 years (both in late night and, later, in prime time) he was a master of the game.  His sidekick for much of that time was Hugh Downs, who stepped in after the original sidekick (actor Franklin Pangborn) was let go.  Apparently, Pangborn did not exhibit enough "spontaneous enthusiasm."  I find that hard to believe judging by this clip:the intro from the very first Jack Paar "Tonight" show.  I'm wondering if he just was too old to keep up with Jack during the interviews.  All those shows are long-gone, so we may never know.

Late Night with Triumph and the Beastie Boys

It's kind of sad to see Conan O'Brien, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and the Beastie Boys all healthy and happy, considering what would happen to them within a few years of this clip.  Still, the Beasties clearly appreciate Triumph's imitation, and Robert Smigel is clearly a Beastie Boys fan.  As a bonus -- since it's always getting removed -- here's Triumph at the premiere of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002) and an article on the event.

Family Guy asks a sloth

Family Guy asks a sloth about timing. #SNL4Kidz

Intellivision's terrible commercial for BurgerTime

This Donkey Kong knock-off was one of the early centerpieces for Intellivision.  The game is actually quite good and, given my preference for hamburgers to Donkey cake, I like "BurgerTime" a lot better.  The commercial, sadly, is poorly done and completely terrifying.  #SNL4Kidz

Saturday Night Live theme song

The SNL theme song has been pretty much unchanged from the show's earliest days.  In the last episode of season 6, castmember Robin Duke introduced musical guest Junior Walker by saying that the SNL theme is based on his "sound."  In the 2002 Tom Shales book, "Live From New York!," original musical director Howard Shore says he wanted the theme to be a piece of jazz on which future musicians could expand (and they have): occasionally, they'll pep it up (such as the late 1990s) or give it more structure (season 6).  From season 7-10, the band (under Tom Malone) produced this ridiculously exciting take on the theme, which seems impossible to find otherwise.  I once told Malone that the theme "sounds like a Saturday Night," but he just gave me a bemused smile, patted me on the head and gave me a cookie.