Licorice Pizza: Play it Rough

3/30/2008

Play it Rough

The Rolling Stones’ 1976 album Black and Blue has sometimes been called an audition album; the disk was recorded while the band was looking for a replacement for departed guitarist Mick Taylor.

After Taylor left the Stones in late 1974, the band returned to Musicland Studios in Munich and began recording their new album. Following the holidays, the remaining four Stones regrouped in the Netherlands to continue working – all the while auditioning new guitarists as they recorded. Among the hopefuls were Jeff Beck, Rory Gallagher, Harvey Mandel, Wayne Perkins, Peter Frampton, and Ronnie Wood (although only Mandel’s, Perkins’ and Wood’s guitar work would appear on the finished album).

Following the conclusion of their 1975 Tour of the Americas, the Stones went in October to Montreux, Switzerland, to complete overdubs, then returned to Musicland Studios in December for additional work. Upon their arrival, the Rolling Stones were reportedly amazed that Led Zeppelin had recorded and mixed Presence there in a mere 17 days, with Jimmy Page having stayed awake for two days straight to perform all of the guitar overdubs just before the arrival of the Rolling Stones.

After some final touch-ups, Black and Blue was completed in New York City in February 1976.

If the finished product serves as a document of those “auditions,” the session jams and outtakes on Play it Rough give an even deeper look behind the scenes. Included among these recordings is an almost 12-minute “Hey Negrita,” and a couple of instrumentals that are early versions of the final songs. There are also early versions of “Worried About You” and “Slave,” both of which would appear a few years later on Tattoo You.