Five By Five. The Rolling Stones

Five by Five is an EP released by The Rolling Stones in 1964 and contains five songs the band recorded in the legendary Chess Studio in 1964 during its first tour of the U.S. A hommage to its musical heroes. The sleeve picture shows five young men with already longish hair, a bit defiant in a we against the world pose. Jagger in a striped shirt he was often seen in at the time.

As I already wrote some years ago, my father was a merchant marine, see the Louis Armstrong/Wonosobo post. In 1978 he sailed from Rotterdam to London twice in a few months and I took the opportunity to sail along on the Mississippi Lloyd. The second time was the ship's final voyage, as it was sold to another firm. Symbolically, the trip went from to New Orleans, sailing up the Mississippi river, as my dad told us later to the sound of Pussycat's number one hitsingle of 1975, 'Mississippi'.

In London I sought out the local record shops for unique records. In one, in some street we just happened to pass, and for the life of me have no clue where it was located, they had this bunch of The Rolling Stones' early singles, that I'd never seen before. 'Got Live If You Want It', is the other EP I bought. The singles were in blue and white Decca sleeves. They must have been reprints, but welcome nonetheless.

Why Five By Five on the blog today? With my band Sweetwood we are playing 'Around And Around' for years, as did my previous band, Flopsband, that will celebrate its 50th anniversary in January. It is one of the most exciting rock and roll songs I know. Everything The Rolling Stones were at the time seems to come together in this song. Wild, exciting, defiant and the willingness to explore the outer edges of a genre. 'Around And Round' rocks, big time.

I remember playing the EP at home for the first time that I was utterly disappointed with the A-side. The B-side starting with 'Confessing The Blues' and ending with 'Around And Around' was my favourite alright. Now I never was much of a fan of The Stones' early albums, as in pre-1968. That has not fully changed over the years. For most singles from the 1963 - 1967 era that is totally different though.

Yesterday, my wife and singer of Sweetwood, started singing 'Around And Around' and I decided to get out the old EP. Starting of course with the B-side. As always, it was instantly pleasing. That nice blues rendition followed by some good old rock and roll never fails to work. My surprise was in turning the single over and hearing 'If you Need Me', followed by 'Empty Heart'. I really loved hearing the songs and what one of my favourite bands of all time did with them. (O.k., the 2120 etc. song is a bit of a filler.) The Stones managed to capture the excitement they caused by playing live on tape, that much is certain. The band was on fire recording these songs, perhaps fully inspired by the environment they were recording in.

What remains to write are two things. 1) The anecdote Keith Richard told about the painter in the studio being Muddy Waters. Waters has always denied ever having painted the Chess studio at any time. So either a) Keith's story is a fantasy, b) Muddy was too ashamed to admit having to paint to earn money, or c) someone pulled Keith's leg. Whatever it was, it is a nice anecdote. The music remains what is for ever. Five By Five is a great EP. 2) The EP should have been called Five By Six, as Ian Stewart's keyboard and boogie-woogie piano contributions are such an integral part of the band's sound here. He must have been one of the most gracious men ever, the way he was kicked out of the band, yet remained as a sidekick for the rest of his far too short life.

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