Monday, June 17, 2024

Rolling Stones - Aftermath Isolated Trax (4CD) [SBD]



The Rolling Stones
Aftermath Isolated Trax (4CD)
(4-Track Recording is Assumed)
Sourced from the London CD.

Studio Soundboard Recordings
Encoded: FLAC & MP3@320 Kbps


Recording order isn't known. Songs are sequenced with instrumental 
backing first, then vocals, song by song in random mostly alphabetical order.
Photos show that at least some monitoring was done with headphones. 
Mixing dates aren't known. No official mono or stereo mixes are included. 

Also not known is whether or not any reduction mixes or internal bounces were done (it sounds like there had to be, on many of the songs). On all of the Dec '65 sessions, it sounds like the music on the left ch is all one complete band basic take (minus Brian?) while the instruments on the right were all overdubbed.

The Mar '66 sessions sound like the basic take was recorded to two tracks split left and right, with bass and drums left and guitars right. Many of these songs sound like an overdub has been added left or right or both, which would have necessitated a reduction mix or internal bounce to accomodate the extra instruments.

Track List: (Covers Included)
Disc 1: Sessions Dec 3-8 1965 - 70:55
01. 19th Nervous Breakdown - backing rhythm track - from L ch of UM7 stereo mix. Some piano heard at the end. Mick's vocal is double-tracked so R ch must all be one take of overdubs unless there was an internal bounce. 
02. 19th Nervous Breakdown - overdub track from R ch - must be Brian on guitar, Keith on fuzz guitar doubling left-ch riff, bass run must be an overdub by Bill.
03. 19th Nervous Breakdown - alternate vocals C - might be live vocal for tv show, with studio backing tracks.
04. 19th Nervous Breakdown - master vocals C
05. Sad Day - mono
06. Mother's Little Helper - backing L
07. Mother's Little Helper - overdub R - (The strange guitar sound is) a 12-string with a slide on it. It's played slightly Oriental-ish. The track just needed something to make it twang. Otherwise, the song was quite vaudeville in a way. I wanted to add some nice bite to it. And it was just one of those things where someone walked in and, Look, it's an electric 12-string. It was some gashed-up job. No name on it. God knows where it came from. Or where it went. But I put it together with a bottleneck. Then we had a riff that tied the whole thing together. And I think we overdubbed onto that. Because I played an acoustic guitar as well. -Keith 2002 
08. Mother's Little Helper - vocals C
09. Doncha Bother Me - backing L 
10. Doncha Bother Me - guitar overdubs R - 3 guitars in the R ch, one in the L ch.
11. Doncha Bother Me - vocals/harmonica C
12. Goin' Home - Keith speaks
13. Goin' Home - false start
14. Goin' Home - backing L - Mick on tambourine must mean his lvs were an overdub, otherwise those lvs would have bled all over this track on the tambourine mic.
15. Goin' Home - overdubs R - lead guitar and bvs, overdubs stop at 3:10
16. Goin' Home - lv overdub C
Bonus:
17. 19th Nervous Breakdown - stereo backing LR
18. Mother's Little Helper - stereo backing LR
19. Doncha Bother Me - stereo backing LR

Disc 2: Sessions Dec 3-8 65 and Mar 6-9 1966 - 76:05
01. Take It Or Leave It - backing L - has both koto and harpsichord, Brian is supposed to be playing both. Maybe Jack Nitsche is on harps and Brian overdubs the organ in R ch.
02. Take It Or Leave It - overdubs R - bvs and organ
03. Take It Or Leave It - lead vocal C
04. Think - backing L - lv is double-tracked so everything in R ch must be an overdub, unless they did a reduction or internal bounce.
05. Think - overdubs R - sounds like 3 guitars here though: acoustic, electric and fuzz. Or is it fuzz bass?
06. Think - double-tracked vocals C
07. Ride On Baby - backing L - no leakage of C or R ch's
08. Ride On Baby - overdubs R - heavy leakage of vocals on some R ch instrument mics (?) might indicate lv or bv performed with inst overdubs while being recorded to another track. Or R ch overdub recorded after the vocals
09.  Ride On Baby - vocals C
10. Sittin' On A Fence - backing L - no leakage from R or C ch's. 
11. Sittin' On A Fence - guitar R - Keith (?) overdub (?) or Brian
12. Sittin' On A Fence - vocals C
13. Paint It Black - instrumental (edited) - Black Box
14. Paint It Black - stereo backing LR - Stictly Stereo
15. Paint It Black - vocals C - Strictly Stereo
16. Long Long While - mono 45
17. Lady Jane - instrumental - Black Box
18. Lady Jane - backing R
19. Lady Jane - bass and harpsichord L - harpsichord overdubbed? song played live?
20. Lady Jane - vocals C
Bonus:
21. Take It Or Leave It - stereo vocals CR
22. Think - stereo backing LR
23. Ride On Baby - stereo backing LR
24. Sittin' On A Fence - stereo backing LR
25. Lady Jane - stereo backing LR

Disc 3: Sessions Mar 6-9 1966 - 62:11
01. Stupid Girl - stereo backing LR
02. Stupid Girl - vocals C
03. Flight 505 - stereo backing LR - bass and fuzz bass on L, sounds like lead guitar overdub on R. Maybe internal bounce of guitars to R, fuzz bass overdubbed on 4th track panned L?
04. Flight 505 - vocals C
05. High And Dry - stereo backing LR - song performed live?
06. High And Dry - vocals C
07. I Am Waiting - stereo backing LR - vocal in R ch must be live with those instruments because of double-tracked vocals in C.
08. I Am Waiting - double-tracked Mick vocals C
09. If You Let Me - stereo backing LR - sounds like this song done "live" 
10. If You Let Me - vocals C
11. It's Not Easy - stereo backing LR - 3 guitars in R ch, the guitar solo might have been overdubbed after the extra chorus vocal since it's heard in the R ch probably from monitor playback during tracking
12. It's Not Easy - double-tracked vocals C
13. Out Of Time - stereo backing LR - internal bouncing? On R ch we can hear the bvs but not the lv.
14. Out Of Time - double-tracked vocals C
15. Under My Thumb - stereo backing LR - Problem: L ch has drums, bass, marimbas and fuzz bass. R ch has acoustic and electric guitars and piano. Keith is supposed to be playing both guitars. Electric guitar and fuzz bass must be overdubs.  
16. Under My Thumb - vocals
17. What To Do - stereo backing LR
18. What To Do - double-tracked vocals

Disc 4: Bonus Trax - 68:55
01. Paint It Black - L
02. Paint It Black - R
03. Stupid Girl - L
04. Stupid Girl - R
05. Flight 505 - L
06. Flight 505 - R
07. High And Dry - L
08. High And Dry - R
09. I Am Waiting - L
10. I Am Waiting - R
11. If You Let Me - L
12. If You Let Me - R
13. It's Not Easy - L
14. It's Not Easy - R
15. Out Of Time - L
16. Out Of Time - R
17. Under My Thumb - L
18. Under My Thumb - R
19. What To Do - L
20. What To Do - R

"I did all the parts on half the album that Brian normally would have done. Sure I was mad. It wasn't like now where you spend 4 to 6 months making an album. Those albums had to be done in 10 days, plus another single. That was a fact of life... With Brian becoming a dead weight on top of the work, it threw a lot of the pressure on me." - Keith 1979

The half of the album Keith is referring to could be what was recorded in Dec 65.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.