The Rolling Stones: The Rolling Stones EP - 1964

This was The Rolling Stones' first EP and it came out three months before their first album, in January 1964 (the album came out in April). Its lead-off track and the most popular was their cover of You Better Move On. Overall, it is vastly the inferior relation to the subsequent 5 x 5 EP. If anything, it is a little disappointing when compared with their first two singles and their debut album.

Don't you just love sixties sleeve notes too - "whichever way the present musical trends develop The Stones are likely to stay there swinging at the top with their uniquely refreshing contribution to popular music". Love it. I guess it is important to remember however, that at the time of writing, The Stones' future was by no means certain. 

Bye Bye Johnny

The Stones loved a Chuck Berry cover and this was one of several from this stage of their career. It is covered in suitably lively, rocking fashion, with Keith Richards' guitar to the fore. The vocal is confident too. It is almost punky in its frenetic pace. Like the next track, though, the sound isn't great.

Money (That's What I Want)

The Stones and The Beatles both covered this iconic Berry Gordy/Janie Bradford song made famous by Barrett Strong. You may think that The Stones would do it really well, better than The Beatles in fact. However, for me, that is surprisingly not the case, The Beatles do it much better. The Stones' version is muffled sonically, full of grainy sound only lifted by a spirited Jagger vocal. Not their best. Nowhere near it. 

You Better Move On

Jagger delivers the cover of an Arthur Alexander song soulfully, showing that he wasn't just an upbeat blues rocker. It showed a softer more sensitive sound to The Stones, both musically and image-wise. The Stones' version has a rather sweet, innocent appeal to it but, actually, my favourite cover of it was by Mink De Ville on their 1982 Coup De Grâce album.

Poison Ivy

A much covered song in the sixties - The Dave Clark Five, The Paramounts, The Hollies, Manfred Mann are among many others to record it. The Stones recorded two different versions in 1963, the first version appeared on this EP, released in early 1964. The second version appeared on a 1972 compilation called More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies), the follow-up to the popular Hot Rocks collection. I prefer the slightly faster first take. I've always loved the line "you're gonna need an ocean, of calamine lotion". The sound is much better on both versions of the song when compared with that found on Bye Bye Johnny and, particularly, Money (That's What I Want).

Relevant album - The Rolling Stones 

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