Got Live If You Want It! (EP)
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Got Live If You Want It! (capitalized got LIVE if you want it! on the cover) is the final official EP by The Rolling Stones and was released in 1965. The band's first live recording to be released, it was captured during selected dates at Liverpool and Manchester during their British tour in March that year.
Recording
Renowned for its raw-sounding quality, got LIVE if you want it! has endured as a live artifact, more for its historical than musical appeal. Reportedly engineer Glyn Johns had hung microphones over the balcony for the recording; however, this is called into question as "I'm Alright" on the Got Live If You Want It! LP (recorded and released a year later) contains the same backing track but with different vocals. This would have been impossible if the recordings were made as described. Additionally, "I'm Moving On" features (at the very least) a harmonica overdub as the instrument can be heard underneath Jagger's vocal during the first verse while Brian Jones (the group's other harmonica player) is playing slide guitar. These two tracks may even be studio recordings re-tooled to give the impression of being live. The lack of studio documentation relating to The Stones' Decca recordings makes this difficult to confirm but this approach was used the following year on the US Got Live If You Want It! LP.
The title is a pun on the blues song "I Got Love If You Want It" by Slim Harpo. Another recording from those concerts, "Down the Road a Piece", has meanwhile surfaced unofficially. Two other songs from the setlist, "Little Red Rooster" and "The Last Time", have undoubtedly been recorded but remain unreleased. "Time Is On My Side" was also recorded and released on the US Got Live If You Want It! LP in 1966.
Release and reception
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [1] |
Got Live If You Want It! reached #1 in the UK EP chart in June 1965,[2]
Richie Unterberger of AllMusic writes in his review: "The EP was crudely recorded, but the raw energy of the group's early performances does shine through, particularly on the two best tracks, the cover of Hank Snow's 'I'm Moving On', and 'I'm Alright'."
Although it was never released in the US, three of its songs were used to fill up the American albums Out of Our Heads ("I'm Alright") and December's Children (And Everybody's) ("Route 66" and "I'm Moving On") later in 1965.
Unavailable for decades, got LIVE if you want it! was reissued on CD in 2004 on the Singles 1963–1965 box set. In November 2010, it was made available digitally and in 2011 as part of the 60's UK EP Collection digital compilation.
On November 29, 2013 the EP was reissued on 7-inch vinyl record as a part of Record Store Day Black Friday 2013.
Track listing
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "We Want The Stones" (Nanker Phelge) | 0:13 |
2. | "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" (Solomon Burke, Jerry Wexler, Bert Russell) | 0:36 |
3. | "Pain in My Heart" (Naomi Neville) | 2:03 |
4. | "Route 66" (Bobby Troup) | 2:36 |
No. | Title | Length |
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5. | "I'm Moving On" (Hank Snow) | 2:13 |
6. | "I'm Alright" (Ellas McDaniel) | 2:22 |
Personnel
- The Rolling Stones
- Mick Jagger – lead vocals, harmonica, percussion
- Keith Richards – guitars, backing vocals
- Brian Jones – guitars, backing vocals
- Charlie Watts – drums
- Bill Wyman – bass guitar, backing vocals
Chart positions
Year | Chart | Position |
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1965 | UK EP Chart[3] | 1 |
References
- ^ Allmusic review
- ^ List of number-one EPs (UK) in 1965
- ^ http://www.everyhit.com/ Type in "Rolling Stones" under "Name of Artist"