The Rolling Stones - Some Covers, Volume 1 (1977-1978)

There are some artists where I've run into roadblocks that has hindered me from continuing posting stray tracks albums chronologically. Lately, I've been putting in extra effort to try to get past those blocks. One such case in the Rolling Stones. 

So far, I've posted stray tracks albums all the way up until their 1978 album "Some Girls." That album is very tricky to deal with because in early 1977, guitarist Keith Richards was arrested in Canada for a heroin charge that could have given him up to seven years in prison. In the end, his charge was reduced, and though he pleaded guilty, he didn't serve any prison time at all. But the Rolling Stones didn't know that at the time. So, starting in late 1977, they recorded pretty much every musical thought they had at the time, so they'd have years of music to release in case Richards spent years in prison. 

As a result, there's a ton of recorded music from around that time that didn't end up on "Some Girls." In 2011, the band put out a double album version, with a second album of previously unreleased outtakes. Later this year (2021 as I write this), they'll be putting out a deluxe edition of the 1981 album "Tattoo You" that will include a few more outtakes from that 1977-1978 pile. But even those releases are only a portion of all the worthy material the band recorded at that time.

I've decided to split up this material into four albums of about 45 minutes each. Two of them consist entirely of cover versions, and two of them are originals. One of those will closely follow the extra songs from the 2011 "Some Girls" release, with some other songs added. Here's the first of the covers albums.

By and large, when it came to covers, the band chose favorite songs they knew growing up, from the 1950s or earlier. So you get Chuck Berry songs, blues classics, and the like, but also a couple of reggae songs, and the occasional country song done by Keith Richards alone on acoustic guitar. 

Only four of the performances here have been officially released. "Tallahassee Lassie" was one of the 2011 "Some Girls" bonus tracks. "Run Rudolph Run" and "The Harder They Come" were released as the A- and B-sides of a Keith Richards solo single in 1978, but I credit those to the Rolling Stones since that band in fact backed him on those supposed "solo" songs. Finally, "Sweet Little Sixteen" was done in concert and was released on the live album "Live in Texas '78." 

The studio sessions from 1977 and 1978 have been bootlegged at high quality, so everything here sounds good. The only other live track is "Hound Dog," but that's from a soundboard bootleg, so it sounds as good as the rest.

By the way, the song "Don't Look Back" was originally done by the Temptations in 1965 in the typical Motown style. In 1978, Peter Tosh and Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger released a reggae version as a single. I'll include that version on another stray tracks album. This is a different, unreleased version, also done in reggae style, but with all of the Rolling Stones and without Peter Tosh. 

This album is 51 minutes long.

Here's a list of the original artists who made each song famous:

01 Tallahassee Lassie - Freddy Cannon
02 Back in the U.S.A. - Chuck Berry
03 Shame, Shame, Shame - Jimmy Reed
04 Run Rudolph Run - Chuck Berry
05 The Harder They Come - Jimmy Cliff
06 I Ain't Superstitious - Willie Dixon / Howlin' Wolf
07 Blues with a Feeling - Little Walter
08 Say It's Not You - George Jones
09 Don't Look Back - Temptations / Peter Tosh
10 Summertime Blues - Eddie Cochran
11 Hound Dog - Big Mama Thornton / Elvis Presley
12 My First Plea - Jimmy Reed
13 Key to the Highway - Charlie Segar / Little Walter
14 Sweet Little Sixteen - Chuck Berry
15 What Am I Living For - Chuck Willis
16 She Still Comes Around [To Love What's Left of Me] - Jerry Lee Lew

Here's the usual song list:

01 Tallahassee Lassie (Rolling Stones)
02 Back in the U.S.A. (Rolling Stones)
03 Shame, Shame, Shame (Rolling Stones)
04 Run Rudolph Run (Rolling Stones)
05 The Harder They Come (Rolling Stones)
06 I Ain't Superstitious (Rolling Stones)
07 Blues with a Feeling (Rolling Stones)
08 Say It's Not You (Keith Richards)
09 Don't Look Back (Rolling Stones)
10 Summertime Blues (Rolling Stones)
11 Hound Dog (Rolling Stones)
12 My First Plea (Rolling Stones)
13 Key to the Highway (Keith Richards)
14 Sweet Little Sixteen (Rolling Stones)
15 What Am I Living For (Rolling Stones)
16 She Still Comes Around [To Love What's Left of Me] (Keith Richards)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15256655/TRollngS_1977-1978_SmeCovrsVolume1_atse.zip.html

There are a zillion photos of the Rolling Stones. So, for this album cover, I wanted to use something different. I found a really interesting concert poster for a 1973 concert that features a dragon. I had to crop it to get the rectangular poster to fit into the square space, and I added the text.