The Rolling Stones: Metamorphosis (compilation)

  

This was a sort of official release by Decca/ABKCO records five years after severing their ties with The Rolling Stones, brought about by a drawn-out and unpleasant legal dispute with ABKCO majordomo Allen Klein. 

It was, for many years, the only album of Rolling Stones outtakes around. It has no chronological arrangement, however, the tracks are included willy-nilly. 

Let's see what's on here....

Out Of Time - recorded in 1966. Shorter than the extended version that appeared on Aftermath
Don't Lie To Me - 1964
Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind - 1964
Each And Every Day Of The Year - 1964
Heart Of Stone - 1964 (with Jimmy Page on guitar)
I'd Much/Rather Be With The Boys - 1965
(Walkin' Through The) Sleepy City - 1964
We're Wastin' Time -1964
Try A Little Harder - 1964
I Don't Know Why - 1969 - on the night the news broke of Brian Jones' death. For the "Let It Bleed" sessions
If You Let Me - 1966 - for the "Aftermath" sessions
Jiving Sister Fanny - 1969 - for the "Let It Bleed" sessions
Downtown Suzie - 1969 - for the "Let It Bleed" sessions
Family - 1968 - for the "Beggars' Banquet" sessions
Memo From Turner - 1968 - a different version to that released by Mick Jagger in 1970
I'm Going Down - 1969

The quality is varying, although all the tracks are of interest - the impressive blues rock of Don't Lie To Me would not have been out of place on any of the early albums. Dating from 1964, it actually sounds quite ahead of its time. The early Eastern-influence on Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind is a definite pointer toward later material. 

I'd Much Rather Be With The Boys had a huge early Beatles influence and it was probably better left off albums, leaving The Stones to forge their own identity. The track was impressively covered by Ronnie Spector, replacing "boys" with "girls" on her 2016 album, English Heart. Try A Little Harder is upbeat and punchy with a blues vibe dating back to the group's 1964-65 sound. That's because that's where it comes from, you idiot! 1964. It has definite hints of I Want To Be Loved in it.

If You Let Me is fairly typical of the group's 1966 output, featuring that distinctive keyboard sound and acoustic guitar backing. 

Later period numbers include the superb, buzzy and earthy blues rock of Jiving Sister Fanny and Memo From Turner are excellent, but Downtown Suzie, with its airs of Dylan's Rainy Day Women and awful backing vocals, was best left on the cutting-room floor. Having said that, each time I listen to it, its lazy appeal grows on me. Family is an unnerving prototype of Sister Morphine, with its controversial lyrics about prostitution - they were probably why it was ultimately left off Beggars' Banquet. 

Their cover of Stevie Wonder's I Don't Know Why is muscular, with a rocking guitar solo and powerful brass backing. One of the best cuts on the album. They make it sound like a bluesy Stones rocker. The guitar-driven rock of I'm Going Down uses a riff they would apply a lot more in the seventies and eighties. This is another good one. 

The album ends strongly. Incidentally, The version of Memo From Turner that appears here is more raw, edgy and faster than the one released by Mick Jagger in 1970. It is almost punky in comparison to the drawly, guitar-dominated later version. I prefer the longer, later version, although I like both of them. The vocals are clearer on the latter too. 

Overall, this is an interesting album for completists, but certainly not essential.

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