The Rolling Stones - Sweet Black Angel: The Lost Sessions, Vol. 1

Title: Sweet Black Angel: The Lost Sessions, Vol. 1 Artist: The Rolling Stones Label: Empress Valley Supreme Album Type(s): Greatest Hits Genre: Rock Moods: Bravado, Confident, Energetic, Rebellious, Rowdy, Swaggering, Brash, Exciting, Fiery, Freewheeling, Greasy, Intense, Menacing, Raucous, Reckless, Rollicking, Rousing, Sexy, Street-Smart, Trashy, Urgent, Visceral, Acerbic, Amiable/Good-Natured, Angry, Cynical/Sarcastic, Earthy, Fun, Hedonistic, Malevolent, Messy, Sexual, Sleazy, Stylish, Nocturnal, Ominous, Playful, Trippy, Whimsical, Aggressive, Bitter, Bittersweet, Boisterous, Eerie, Exuberant, Harsh, Sardonic, Thuggish, Druggy, Humorous, Irreverent, Lively, Melancholy, Organic, Poignant, Reflective Total Copies: 0 Members Wishing: 2 Number of Discs/SwapaCD Credits: 1

Year Type Label Catalog # ------ CD Empress Valley Supreme 332

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The late '60s and early '70s didn't yield many (as far as we know) unreleased studio recordings of completed, otherwise unavailable Rolling Stones songs. But it did produce a wealth of fairly interesting alternate/working versions and song embryos that never got polished off, sixteen of which are presented on this compilation. As the title Sweet Black Angel implies, many are from that murky early-'70s period when the Stones were working, in fits and starts, on Exile on Main St., and several of these tracks are different versions of songs that ended up on that album. Some of these aren't much different from the familiar renditions, but others are, like an early, much less fully formed version of "Tumbling Dice" with different lyrics (here titled "Good Time Woman"); a long version of "Shake Your Hips"; "Stop Breakin' Down" with no harmonica; and an instrumental backing track for "Sweet Black Angel" itself.

Also on hand, and perhaps of somewhat greater interest in most cases, are a bunch of instrumentals that obviously contain seeds of possible songs, but which somehow never quite got there. At the very least, these have that appealing rough'n'ready, scratchy soul- blues-rock feel so typical of the Rolling Stones in the early '70s. While some of them are on the generic side as far as the riffs go, some of them seemed to hold real promise, making one hope that tracks of these tunes with sung lyrics might miraculously be found one day. "Aladdin Story" in particular is a luminously sluggish, jazzy tune with entrancing guitar-horn-vibes interplay, perhaps abandoned because the key guitar riff is very close to the one that had been used on "Paint It Black." Closing out the disc are a few late-'60s cuts with vocals, and while a couple of these songs were used on Metamorphosis, the likably wistful if slight soul ballad "Hamburger to Go" never did find release anywhere.

Although all of this material had been around for quite a few years before this 2005 bootleg, the sound quality of this disc is much superior to many earlier circulations of these tracks, so much so that much of it could be used as bonus cuts on official CD reissues without raising any eyebrows (and those that aren't quite as spiffy still have fidelity almost as good as most officially released recordings). While these efforts are either too close to the official versions or too undeveloped to interest non-fanatics, anyone whose interest in the Rolling Stones' music from this era extends beyond what's been approved for the marketplace will enjoy this collection. (Note that some of the dates listed for the recordings do not jibe with those listed in other sources.) ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide

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