Do I have anything good to say about the late Allen Klein? No, I don’t. He was an opportunistic, dishonest, unscrupulous scumbag. Eric Idle and John Belushi were dead-on with their Ron Decline parody in “The Rutles”. Hey look, there’s Al Franken, the new senator from Minnesota, with his old comedy partner Tom Davis.
The first LP I ever bought with my own money was “Let It Be” the day it was released, and I immediately noticed that Apple Records had become “an abkco managed company”. Even as a kid of fourteen I was suspicious of what that meant.
In this picture the second scan is from an 80’s British LP copy of “Let It Be”, and you’ll notice that the name Harold Seider is missing. Seider was Klein’s attorney, and later he was John Lennon’s lawyer.
Since “Let It Be” I have tried to avoid Allen B. Klein Company products, with the only exceptions being on vinyl. As a consequence, my Rolling Stones collection is minimal. One of the exceptions is the Stones outtakes LP, “Metamorphosis”. I bought it for a couple of bucks in college as a cut-out, only a year after its release in 1975.
“Metamorphosis” has a some tracks worth noting, including the Dylan-influenced “Memo From Turner” and a good alternate version of “Out Of Time”. The best song, I think, is “Each and Every Day of the Year”. Unfortunately, it’s in fake stereo that includes phase shifting as well as frequency separation, so it sounds lousy if forced into mono.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/JUL/EachAndEveryDay.mp3]
Great post! Both the hysterically funny “Ron Decline” (yet another impossible choice for senator gets in!) and the great song. Man, Belushi was funny. Drugs did him in, too. But unlike Michael Jackson, I LIKED Belushi. Thanks, Dougie. I’ll have to see if I can watch all of the “The Rutles” on YouTube or get it cheap on Amazon. Screamingly funny, natch.
Thee’s version, produced by Oldham, makes me think that the sound of the Stones’ version was mostly thanks to Brian Jones. The other songs at that link are also fun. I love listening to tunes from that era that I don’t already know. They give a real feeling for the time.
Wow! I like a lot the version of ‘Thee’ 🙂 thanks for the link, Doug. Great song!
Yes with Spanish music!
“Each and Every Day” has a sort of Spanish sound to it, don’t you think? According to the Rolling Stones archive, the recording was made during the first two weeks of July, 1964 — exactly 45 years ago. It ended up being used as a demo for another British band produced by Andrew Oldham, called Thee, who released their own version of the song in ’65. You can hear Thee’s recording at this link:
http://thee-newbreed.com/music.html
I think “Each and Every Day of the Year” is a real gem, especially considering it pre-dates “Lady Jane” by two years. What I’m not sure of, is how much of its sound is due to Oldham, and what it owes to the keen ears and creativity of Brian Jones.
I love “Each and Every Day of the Year” ! 🙂