Jeremy Nielsen, who recently revealed he possessed
a tape of Rolling Stones tracks thought to be previously unheard,
said in an interview he has been in touch with an archivist who
confirmed the tape is a rarity. “I am in contact with and recently spoke
(with) an acknowledged expert regarding
the Rolling Stones.
He has listened to the tracks and is very impressed at the "fabulous
quality" and confirms that one of the tracks is unheard of and to all
intents does not exist.”
The tracks on the tape are “Diddley Daddy,” “Roadrunner,” “Bright
Lights, Big City,” “I Want To Be Loved,” “Baby's What's Wrong,” “As
Tears Go By,” “Congratulations” and “No One Loves You More Than Me,”
plus a second take of “As Tears Go By.” The first five tracks, from
“Diddley Daddy” to “Baby's What's Wrong,” were recorded in March of 1963
at IBC Studios and have been widely bootlegged and were recently
included with the Stones'
“Grrrrr” album.
But the other songs are a mystery. The unreleased track 8, “No One
Loves You More Than Me” is an upbeat song with a great vocal by Jagger.
And the second version of “As Tears Go By,” track 9, which features
Jagger singing backed by the Stones and without orchestra backing of any
kind, was not even known to exist and has never been documented.
According to Nielsen, the archivist confirmed that the three other
tracks are different versions to those released. As to precisely where
these song tracks were recorded, the archivist told him he can make a
good guess but actually does not know.
“The first version of 'As Tears Go By' is effectively the same as the
record in that the words are the same, but the composition is different
and I think the tape version of Jagger's voice is stronger and is not
'sanitized' as the record,” Neilsen says. “I also think the 'group'
version (the second one) is better than just Jagger and possibly
Richards, but could have been Big Jim Johnson and his 12 string guitar.”
Nielsen says, though, that the four tracks were not likely recorded
during the March 1963 IBC recording session, because they “show a much
'broader' sound pattern on a spectrum analyser and therefore could not
have been recorded on the same recording equipment.” But, he says, this
does not mean they were not recorded at IBC at a later date, because IBC
were upgrading their equipment continually.
“It is most likely they were done prior to Marianne Faithful's 'As
Tears Go By' release and the official recording of 'Congratulations' on
the 12th May '64.” It also is a possibility, he said, that the outtake
version of “As Tears Go By” may be an orphan track. But, Neilsen said,
“the tape as a whole is really only a collectors dream come true.”
And it's for sale. “I have owned this tape for almost 50 years and
kept it secure and the nine-song tracks are as good as if they where
recorded just yesterday. I would now like to sell it and for a Stones
collector, the tape is a dream because the quality is better than
anything released, song tracks six, seven and nine are different
versions to those released. And song eight is unique and “effectively
doesn't exist.” It is not referred to by the Stones, or any publication
or archivist and now has no mechanical copyright and no one knows who
wrote the song. This makes it an 'orphan work', which for the
Rolling Stones is unique and to a collector, very collectable and valuable.”
FY!
