Gimme shelter should have been the obvious single from "Let it bleed" in 1969. never was, why? The same happened to sympathy for the devil in 1968, also not released on single at the time! And also strange, why wasn't "Let it bleed" released until December 1969, the US tour was almost over when it came out! Mabye the thought different in those days?

Singles weren't mainly to promote an album in the 60's. 1968-1969, as you mention, Jumpin' Jack Flash and Honky Tonk Women were just singles, not on any album.

The Mark and Brian radio program just had a trivia question this morning: How many hit singles were on the Sgt Pepper album?

Answer: None.



If only one of us could go back in time and share our wisdom with the record people of the '60's. Think of all the extra hit singles...


While we're there, we should probably set them up with youtube and facebook as well.

And don't forget to share some good stock picks...

Quote
loog droog
The Mark and Brian radio program just had a trivia question this morning: How many hit singles were on the Sgt Pepper album?

Answer: None.

Every time I hear this Johnny Rivers song, where he sings about how the juke box kept on playing Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, I think to myself, "No it didn't."

I realize the practice was bit different in the UK but in the US singles were typically used to promote the albums with Beggars using "SFM" and while LIB was a bit out of the ordinary with no A side represented, "You Cant ALways Get What You Want" was the B side...

Maybe because Honky Tonk Women was a better single. Gimmer Shelter is obviously a masterpiece and an excellent track to start an album... but Honky Tonk Women has this unmistakable guitar signature in it, just like Satisfaction a couple of years before. For the Stones it defined their new sound like did Brown Sugar in 1971.

This is an interesting subject. Singles were much more important than album sales back in the 60's. The Beatles had a policy for a long time that their singles were not even on the album. They would release a single or two and then an album would come out with all different songs. Go figure.

Quote
tatters
Every time I hear this Johnny Rivers song, where he sings about how the juke box kept on playing Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, I think to myself, "No it didn't."

Ha! Good one!

.

Quote
Thommie
Singles weren't mainly to promote an album in the 60's. 1968-1969, as you mention, Jumpin' Jack Flash and Honky Tonk Women were just singles, not on any album.

Technically not true - they were on Through The Past, Darkly, the only official Stones album they are on, at least until Forty Licks.

Quote
WeLoveToPlayTheBlues

Quote
Thommie
Singles weren't mainly to promote an album in the 60's. 1968-1969, as you mention, Jumpin' Jack Flash and Honky Tonk Women were just singles, not on any album.

Technically not true - they were on Through The Past, Darkly, the only official Stones album they are on, at least until Forty Licks.

Technically it is true, Through The Past Darkly is a compilation album, not a studio album, so what he said holds true. And also, they did appear on Hot Rocks.

Quote
NoCode0680

Quote
WeLoveToPlayTheBlues

Quote
Thommie
Singles weren't mainly to promote an album in the 60's. 1968-1969, as you mention, Jumpin' Jack Flash and Honky Tonk Women were just singles, not on any album.

Technically not true - they were on Through The Past, Darkly, the only official Stones album they are on, at least until Forty Licks.

Technically it is true, Through The Past Darkly is a compilation album, not a studio album, so what he said holds true. And also, they did appear on Hot Rocks.

Compilation or not, it's an album. Hot Rocks was not sanctioned by the Stones, TTPD was.

Quote
WeLoveToPlayTheBlues

Quote
NoCode0680

Quote
WeLoveToPlayTheBlues

Quote
Thommie
Singles weren't mainly to promote an album in the 60's. 1968-1969, as you mention, Jumpin' Jack Flash and Honky Tonk Women were just singles, not on any album.

Technically not true - they were on Through The Past, Darkly, the only official Stones album they are on, at least until Forty Licks.

Technically it is true, Through The Past Darkly is a compilation album, not a studio album, so what he said holds true. And also, they did appear on Hot Rocks.

Compilation or not, it's an album. Hot Rocks was not sanctioned by the Stones, TTPD was.

I consider Hot Rocks official, even if the Stones didn't sanction it, it was legally done. It's ABKCO.

And I realize that a compilation album is technically an album, but when somebody says those songs didn't appear on any album, and were only singles, they mean Studio Albums. Both songs were released in '68 and weren't compiled for TTPD until '69

Quote
NoCode0680

Quote
WeLoveToPlayTheBlues

Quote
NoCode0680

Quote
WeLoveToPlayTheBlues

Quote
Thommie
Singles weren't mainly to promote an album in the 60's. 1968-1969, as you mention, Jumpin' Jack Flash and Honky Tonk Women were just singles, not on any album.

Technically not true - they were on Through The Past, Darkly, the only official Stones album they are on, at least until Forty Licks.

Technically it is true, Through The Past Darkly is a compilation album, not a studio album, so what he said holds true. And also, they did appear on Hot Rocks.

Compilation or not, it's an album. Hot Rocks was not sanctioned by the Stones, TTPD was.

I consider Hot Rocks official, even if the Stones didn't sanction it, it was legally done. It's ABKCO.

And I realize that a compilation album is technically an album, but when somebody says those songs didn't appear on any album, and were only singles, they mean Studio Albums. Both songs were released in '68 and weren't compiled for TTPD until '69

Alright, yes, you're right, from that perspective. I remember reading an article eons ago where Mick or Keith said the only album they were available on was TTPD and they didn't mention any other compilation album! Probably because that was the original album they were on and it was a big LP in the UK.

Singles are an interesting subject and the Stone's choices can be perplexing over the years. JJF was a GREAT single, but why, for the love of God did they leave it off of Beggar's Banquet? It seems to belong on it, to me. Maybe they knew they'd sell more copies of JJF if they left it off the album; greedy bastards, lol. Same thing with the "real" HTW; should've been on Let it Bleed. Country Honk is a novelty that could've been released as a B - side or something...Years later - Black and Blue - 1st single: Fool to Cry? Should have been one of the rockers, but I digress....A lot of my friends automatically thought the Stones had totally gone soft, thinking Fool to Cry represented what their new album was going to be like.

Quote
Kuntaman
And also strange, why wasn't "Let it bleed" released until December 1969, the US tour was almost over when it came out!

the release was delayed because the Stones weren't happy with the mastering.
(and the tour per se was over when it came out - it was released december 5th,
and technically the tour ended november 30th. Altamont was a stand-alone event, not part of the tour.)

another oddity is the mixed-up track listing on the cover, which doesn't match the order on the record -
i've never seen anyone involved with making the record or the cover explain that

the single question ... yeah singles were a big deal in the early/mid 60s
but in the late 60s it was a Seriously Important Issue that albums were the main vehicle by which artists conveyed their messages -
that was something artists had to fight for, and their victory was a glorious triumph -
non-establishment creative power overcoming the business side of the "music industry"
i was at the right age to be enormously impressed by that change at the time,
and i feel regularly hurt and bewildered nowadays that the practise of "download cherry-picking"
has undermined the significance of albums



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-04-23 09:44 by with sssoul.

Regarding the track listing order on the LIB cover, the designer has said he did it based on how it the song titles looked set out together.

* His Majesty, Prince Jones smiled as he moved among the crowd *



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-04-21 13:31 by His Majesty.

As great a song as it is... and it's one of the best if not the best.. songs about "rape and murder" were not going to get on the UK Radio 1 breakfast show.

It was not single material.

They were different times.

Quote
His Majesty
Regarding the track listing order on the LIB cover, the designer has said he did it based on how it the song titles looked set out together.

thanks HM. that's sure a stupid way to design cover art! but it's good to know

Quote
with sssoul
the single question ... yeah singles were a big deal in the early/mid 60s
but in the late 60s it was a Seriously Important Issue that albums were the main vehicle by which artists conveyed their messages -
that was something artists had to fight for, and their victory was a glorious triumph -
non-establishment creative power overcoming the business side of the "music industry"
i was at the right age to be enormously impressed by that change at the time,
and i feel regularly hurt and bewildered nowadays that the practise of "download cherry-picking"
has undermined the significance of albums

Important points, and well put. I think the album is - and will be remembered in future - as the ARTISTIC highpoint of pop music culture. From the late 60's to late 80's or so. The ideal to create an artistically significant wholeness is a thing of the past, unfortunately now. My picture is that CD format actually started the artistic downhill of pop music, even though - of course - the change didn't happen in a day. The amount of music to include to one side of vinyl album offered a great way to divide the music to different stories, and keep the drama of the album going on and in focus. It sounds like the born of CD broke that, and the albums started to end up like being faceless sequences of songs (and there was too much room to include there; the quantity took over the quality). The 'progress' to "download cherry-picking" was set there. People just don't feel like listening album from start to beginning anymore (and I don't blame them).

I think The Stones in many ways repsrsent the times very well, VOODOO LOUNGE being first album made the CD format in mind. Just reading Jagger's rememberings of creating EXILE and of its four sides, and what artistic possibilities it offered... Those days are gone...

- Doxa



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2012-04-21 13:48 by Doxa.

Quote
Duane in Houston
This is an interesting subject. Singles were much more important than album sales back in the 60's. The Beatles had a policy for a long time that their singles were not even on the album. They would release a single or two and then an album would come out with all different songs. Go figure.

What about:
Help, Yesterday, Ticket to Ride and the album Help
Please, Please Me and Love Me Do and the album Please, Please Me
Yellow Submarine / Elonor Rigby from Revolver.
Etc.
Yeah, Sgt. Pepper didn't have singles, but most of the other ones did have included the last one Let it Be.

Quote
Doxa

Quote
with sssoul
the single question ... yeah singles were a big deal in the early/mid 60s
but in the late 60s it was a Seriously Important Issue that albums were the main vehicle by which artists conveyed their messages -
that was something artists had to fight for, and their victory was a glorious triumph -
non-establishment creative power overcoming the business side of the "music industry"
i was at the right age to be enormously impressed by that change at the time,
and i feel regularly hurt and bewildered nowadays that the practise of "download cherry-picking"
has undermined the significance of albums

Important points, and well put. I think the album is - and will be remembered in future - as the ARTISTIC highpoint of pop music culture. From the late 60's to late 80's or so. The ideal to create an artistically significant wholeness is a thing of the past, unfortunately now. My picture is that CD format actually started the artistic downhill of pop music, even though - of course - the change didn't happen in a day. The amount of music to include to one side of vinyl album offered a great way to divide the music to different stories, and keep the drama of the album going on and in focus. It sounds like the born of CD broke that, and the albums started to end up like being faceless sequences of songs (and there was too much room to include there; the quantity took over the quality). The 'progress' to "download cherry-picking" was set there. People just don't feel like listening album from start to beginning anymore (and I don't blame them).

I think The Stones in many ways repsrsent the times very well, VOODOO LOUNGE being first album made the CD format in mind. Just reading Jagger's rememberings of creating EXILE and of its four sides, and what artistic possibilities it offered... Those days are gone...

- Doxa

Some bands have been focusing on at least making their LPs a better length, which results in being 'more listenable' I guess. For example, The Cult's last LP Born Into This is 40 minutes long, although one could add the extra tracks from disc 2 to make a litle bit longer. Van Halen's newest LP is 50 minutes long. U2's No Line On The Horizon is 53 minutes long. Jason Isbell's fantastic LP Here We Rest is 39 minutes long. Chris Isaac's Before The Sun is 35 minutes. Even the way too many songed A Bigger Bang is 54 minutes long.

Oh wait, that's because I removed two songs. Nevermind, it's 64 minutes.

To expand of what Gravity Boy said, Gimme Shelter and Sympathy For the Devil were not the kind of singles being played on radio in the late 60s. JJF and HTW are three minute blasts of rock and roll fun. It's kind of hard to imagine JJF as being on Beggars Banquet, even though they're related. There's a real acoustic vibe to most of BB and JJF would kind of overwhelm that. HTW would also have lightened the tone on LIB.

Quote
24FPS
To expand of what Gravity Boy said, Gimme Shelter and Sympathy For the Devil were not the kind of singles being played on radio in the late 60s.

Released October 1969. Peaked at #12.




Billboard chart for January 31, 1970 has Whole Lotta Love at #4. There would have been room on top 40 radio for Shelter and Sympathy. They would have been hits, but it was by not releasing killer cuts like those as singles that forced people to shell out for the albums.

Shelter and Sympathy would have been hits but the one that always makes me scratch my head is Under My Thumb. That song might have been a number one hit. Also Time Waits For No One was imo the best song on IORR but never released as a single.

Speaking of singles, as great as Beggars Banquet was how much better would it have been with JJF and COTM? Would it be on most people's top ten albums of all time list?

"There's a guy in my block, he lives for rock he plays records day and night. And when he feels down, he puts some
rock 'n' roll on and it makes him feel alright. And when he feels the world is closing in he turns his stereo way up high.
He just spends his life, living in a rock 'n' roll fantasy."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-04-21 22:52 by FrankM.

Quote
FrankM

Speaking of singles, as great as Beggars Banquet was how much better would it have been with JJF and COTM? Would it be on most people's top ten albums of all time list?

Yes, but if you had just recorded a track as great as JJF would you be able to keep it under your hat for eight months while you finished the rest of the album? Hell, no. You'd want the whole world to hear it ASAP.

COTM ?

Child Of The Moon. One of the most underrated Stones songs.

"There's a guy in my block, he lives for rock he plays records day and night. And when he feels down, he puts some
rock 'n' roll on and it makes him feel alright. And when he feels the world is closing in he turns his stereo way up high.
He just spends his life, living in a rock 'n' roll fantasy."

Under My Thumb, SFTD and Gimme Shelter - all HUGE radio hits that were not singles and to my knowledge the only (Stones) songs that get regularr air play that were not singles.