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4 February 1964: Place: Regent, IBC, London, England.
Producer: Andrew Oldham. Engineer: Bill Farley
Track status: UK B-side Not Fade Away: 21 February 1964.
UK LP THE ROLLING STONES: 26 April 1964: No 1 - 51 weeks
USA LP ENGLAND'S NEWEST HITMAKERS: May 1964: No 11 - 12 weeks
UK & USA LP THE ROLLING STONES SINGLES COLLECTION - THE LONDON
YEARS: 15 August 1989
Rolling Stones with Phil Spector, Gene Pitney.
The 4 February session was intended to complete
the Not Fade Away single and to provide a B-side, since Decca were
anxious to release a follow up single. The session apparently did
not start well - the band were a bit jaded and were not talking
to each other. Andrew Oldham rang Gene Pitney and told him he needed
help because the band 'hated' each other. Gene and Phil Spector
had both been travelling in Europe and returned from Paris for an
overnight stop before returning to the United States. Gene arrived
at the studio and was followed later by Phil who discretely arrived
in a big black Rolls Royce. There were the obligatory bottles of
spirit brought from France. It was nearly Gene's birthday and he
said it was a family custom to drink cognac. The refreshments did
the trick and revived a flagging session and Gene helped out on
piano. Two of the Hollies, Allan Clarke and Graham Nash accompanied
the Stones on backing vocals and Phil, eager to help, grabbed Mick's
maracas. Little By Little was similar to Now I've Got A Witness
for Phil Spector was there to add his prowess as a co-writer with
the group (Phelge). While obviousy a strong influence in the studio,
production was firmly in the hands of Andrew Oldham (at least in
name). Phil Spector created an ambience in the studio and a spirit,
perhaps due to the empty bottles of cognac, which was hard to emulate.
As a result, the Stones, with the maestro, created a 'wall of noise'
as opposed to the famed 'wall of sound' which Spector had created
with the Crystals and Ronnettes. Listen to the high screams in the
background. Little By Little is a composition made up of selections
from various parts of Jimmy Reed's Shame, Shame, Shame. It is essentially
a 12 bar blues jam session made after the successful recording of
Not Fade Away the same night, but it is one which does not allow
the looseness of the gathering to infiltrate the song, written by
Phil Spector and Mick Jagger in the darkened corridors of the IBC
Studios. Gene recalls how small the studio actually was, hence the
need to step outside the studio. Phil plays maracas with Ian Stewart
and Gene is on the piano. The session was back on course.
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