Notes and Quotes: "It's All Over Now"

Beginning with Jones' guitar chords echoing through Chess Record's hallways, this recording is remarkable in that it has a white British act covering a black American blues standard in one of the great bastions of Chicago blues. The Stones recorded several songs here in what must have felt like a pilgrimage for these Brit devotees of American electric blues. Compared to the cramped demo studio in Denmark Street where they had previously been recording, 2120 South Michigan Avenue must have been exciting, especially as they met some of their icons during their visit.

Oldham: Nothing sensational happened at Chess except the music. For those two days, the Stones were finally true blues artists and legend has it that true blues artists don't have producers—they just came in and got it done.

I was producing the sessions in the greatest sense of the word: I had provided the environment in which the work could get done. The Stones' job was to fill up the available space correctly and this they did. This was not the session for pop suggestions; this was the place to let them be.

Oh, I may have insisted on a sordid amount of echo on the under-belly figure to "It's All Over Now," but that was only ear candy to a part that was already there. I remember being impressed with the order of things and how quietness and calm got things done. I remember meeting Leonard and/or Phil Chess, and being cognisant of the fact that there was no suppressive limey stymieing from the head office to the factory floor. (Oldham 2003: 11)

Schedule

27 February, 2012