'There was lots of waiting for the Rolling Stones to get their groove together'

Chris Kimsey remembers recording with Keith Richards and the Rolling Stones in 1970

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02783/Keith-Richards_2783453b.jpg
Photo: courtesy of Albert and Donald Maysles and the Rolling Stones

7:00AM GMT 09 Jan 2014

This was taken in Studio 2 of Olympic Studios in Barnes, south-west London, when the Rolling Stones were working on their live album Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out!. I had started working there in 1967 as a 16-year-old. I was living in North Cheam at the time but had a girlfriend living in Barnes. I had been involved in sound at school and was always called on to do the sound for school plays. I’d pop my head in at Olympic to see if they had any jobs going. After about a month of doing that, they took my name and phone number, and eventually I got an interview. A week later I started as a tape operator and tea maker on £11 a week.

After being assistant tea boy on Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out!, I got to work properly with the Stones on Sticky Fingers, released the following year. I actually got to do some engineering on that. I hadn’t really been interested in the music until then. I was more involved in film sound – I had worked on The Italian Job and The Thomas Crown Affair – so when it came to working with the Stones, it was a very different atmosphere for me.

I struck up a relationship with the producer and engineer Glyn Johns, who’d been working with the Stones since the beginning. I was his assistant on many albums and, after he finished working with them, I took over. They were fantastic to work with. It was very different because they would record everything live, so there were a lot of hours waiting for them to arrive and then a lot of hours waiting for them to get their groove together. But when it happened it was amazing. In the beginning I’d get to the studio diligently at 7pm and often be still waiting for them to arrive at 1am. I gradually learnt.

We’re still in touch. I was working with Ronnie Wood about eight months ago and also saw Charlie Watts recently. I’m more in touch with Ronnie and Charlie than Keith, who is in the States a lot, and I never know where Mick is but we do keep in contact.

The industry has changed now, some parts for the better. I miss the craft of the musicians. A lot of the young ones today think that with technology they don’t have to practise much and they expect it to happen overnight. You’ve got to pay your dues and know your craft; otherwise you’ll just be a flash in the pan.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rolling-stones/10555728/There-was-lots-of-waiting-for-the-Rolling-Stones-to-get-their-groove-together.html

I dont know if Kimsey has ever written a memoir on his career, but he really should.

This piece on how Tattoo You came together is always worth reading :

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr04/articles/classictracks.htm

I just finished reading Tony Visconti's excellent autobiography, and a similar book by Kimsey would be really good, I think.

Gazza wrote on Jan 9^th, 2014 at 6:31am:

I dont know if Kimsey has ever written a memoir on his career, but he really should. This piece on how Tattoo You came together is always worth reading : http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr04/articles/classictracks.htm I just finished reading Tony Visconti's excellent autobiography, and a similar book by Kimsey would be really good, I think.

Very interesting - especially all that information regarding Start Me Up.  Didn't know just how little work went into Tattoo You.  Wish they would have Kimsey create another album!

Gazza wrote on Jan 9^th, 2014 at 6:31am:

I dont know if Kimsey has ever written a memoir on his career, but he really should. This piece on how Tattoo You came together is always worth reading : http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr04/articles/classictracks.htm

>> Kimsey recalls. "However, when I played it back, Keith said, 'Nah, it sounds like something I've heard on the radio. Wipe it.' <<


Pretty damn near what I've always thought of SMU.

I can't stand this song.
Sounds like a bar-band's desperate attempt to come up with something to get them noticed.

No wonder it became such a hit.  :forfucksake

sirmoonie wrote on Jan 9^th, 2014 at 8:49am:

Gazza wrote on Jan 9th, 2014 at 6:31am: I dont know if Kimsey has ever written a memoir on his career, but he really should. This piece on how Tattoo You came together is always worth reading : http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr04/articles/classictracks.htm I just finished reading Tony Visconti's excellent autobiography, and a similar book by Kimsey would be really good, I think. Very interesting - especially all that information regarding Start Me Up.  Didn't know just how little work went into Tattoo You.  Wish they would have Kimsey create another album!

there was a bit more than that. They'd done some work on songs in Paris at the end of 1980 such as Heaven, neighbours (both new songs) and Slave and then after that Jagger session in Paris in spring 1981 there were some more overdubs etc done at Atlantic Studios in New York (thats when Sonny Rollins and Pete Townshend etc made their contributions)

I've always loved reading about his opinion on the Stones. One of the biggest myths he has cast doubt on is that Some Girls is Mick's album. He said he can't remember an album where they collaborated more.

A book would be fantastic. I've always thought that for all of Steel Wheels' 80s production, he, more than any other producer alive, gets to the core of the Stones sound because he was there when it was the real height of their songwriting. Don Was and the others always seem like they are trying to make the Stones sound like the Stones but Kimsey was there so he doesn't seem to have that problem. The only thing about these producers books is that they sometimes get caught up in the technical stuff, which is great for some people, but I'd prefer a straight memoir.

Neat article & links. Thanks for posting.

"Love You Live" still better than "The Song Remains the Same."

Thanks for the link to the SOS site - was not aware of what I was missing.

Edith Grove wrote on Jan 9^th, 2014 at 10:02am:

Gazza wrote on Jan 9th, 2014 at 6:31am: I dont know if Kimsey has ever written a memoir on his career, but he really should. This piece on how Tattoo You came together is always worth reading : http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr04/articles/classictracks.htm >> Kimsey recalls. "However, when I played it back, Keith said, 'Nah, it sounds like something I've heard on the radio. Wipe it.' << Pretty damn near what I've always thought of SMU. I can't stand this song. Sounds like a bar-band's desperate attempt to come up with something to get them noticed.

I must be one of the few Stones fans who think Start Me Up is a quality rocker.  It's no Brown Sugar, but it's closer to that than similarly situated songs like Silver Train, If You Can't Rock Me, Whip Comes Down, Let Me Go, Crazy Mama.