Back to the subject of rare recordings that I have and are being made more readily available, I have this RS bootleg, subtitled "The Stones in Studio with Jeff Beck". Now, I know that the new Black And Blue reissue contains outtakes featuring Jeff Beck, so does that include what I have here? Apart from "Sexy Night", which is retitled "I Love Ladies", there are also three jams featuring Jeff Beck on the Deluxe edition of the new reissue, but the titles are different ("Blues Jam", "Rotterdam Jam" and "Freeway Jam") so who knows? Back to the sessions for Black And Blue, Mick Taylor had just quit The Stones feeling creatively stifled, as well as unable to follow the others' frantic pace of non-stop gigging and partying. So the band reconvened in Rotterdam and Munich to try out new material and audition guitarists. Among those considered: Peter Frampton, Steve Marriott, Harvey Mandel, Wayne Perkins, Robert A. Johnson, Ronnie Wood, Rory Gallagher, and Jeff Beck. Clapton was apparently also there, but doesn't seem to have recorded anything or to have been seriously considered. Perkins, Mandel, and of course Wood, can be heard on the final album. Marriott also being a singer, was vetoed by Jagger. Gallagher impressed everyone and was leading the race, but had to go off on a Japanese tour; when he came back, the seat was filled. Later he recognized a riff he played during his audition as the main riff on "Start Me Up", released a few years later on Tattoo You (1981). It's not surprising, as The Stones hadn't written any new songs for that album, raiding their archives for any useable half-finished stuff instead. Two more outtakes from the Black and Blue sessions appearing on Tattoo You were "Worried About You" (here under the title "Sometimes I Wonder Why") and "Slave" (here in an instrumental version under the title "Black 'N' Blue Jam"). The former is a nice ballad with a falsetto vocal by Jagger, a bit too similar to "Fool To Cry", which explains why it wasn't included on Black And Blue. According to Wikipedia, the solos are played by Wayne Perkins, not Beck - but then, they may have tried it with different guitarists during their Rotterdam residency. The latter is a funky jam with lots of organ, quite good, and showing a different direction for the band. As is relaxed instrumental "Reggae 'N' Roll", apparently also known from other bootlegs as "Munich Reggae". "Back To The Country" aka "Cellophane Trousers" is another, more rock'n'roll, instrumental and "Memory Motel" a shorter instrumental version of the track that ended on the finished album. "Sexy Nite" is a slow funky piece with a falsetto vocal - the version on the 2025 Black and Blue deluxe reissue is obviously heavily overdubbed, with better sound. But that's not to say that this bootleg suffers in the sound quality department. After all, it's not an amateur concert recording: it was recorded on the RS' own mobile studio. The last song "Come On Sugar" (aka "Let's Do It Right") may probably be the best unreleased RS song (well, after "Cocksucker's Blues" of course). It is a very danceable funk jam with Jagger on top form, as is everyone really. Does Jeff Beck play guitar here, too? I wouldn't know; I think that the title is misleading; probably he plays on some, but not all, of the tracks here. Truth is, he found The Stones' rock'n'roll playing style rather limited (he was in his virtuoso jazz phase at the time) and elected to continue his solo career. In the end, The Stones chose to go with Beck's former bandmate (he played bass in The Jeff Beck Group) Ronnie Wood, mostly because he was an English lad, and a member of a similarly hard-partying band, The Faces. Now, this bootleg is (probably) a Dutch release, but I've never seen it in all the years I've been living here. Instead, I found it in Tokyo. I'm not a big fan of bootlegs, given their questionable sound quality, but the price (I think slightly over ¥1000, so less than €10) and my curiosity as to what a combination of The Stones and Jeff Beck would sound like, convinced me to get it. Which was a good choice, because I love the masterful playing and relaxed vibe of it - you can really tell that the lads are enjoying themselves. I might even like this bootleg better than certain official RS albums.
**** for Sometimes I Wonder Why, Memory Motel, Sexy Nite, Black 'N' Blue Jam, Come On Sugar
*** for Reggae 'N' Roll, Back To The Country
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