All Mixed Up (Dog N Cat DAC-111)
(71:26): All Mixed Up, Looking For Trouble, Cook Cook Blues, I Can’t Help It, You Can’t Cut The Mustard, Had It With You, All Mixed Up (instrumental), Chain-Reaction-Groove, Golden Caddy, Down In The Hole, Munich Hilton, Munich Hilton. Bonus tracks: Too Much Blood, She Was Hot
Another homage to a classic vinyl title, The Rolling Stones All Mixed Up is a silver pressed version of the title on Outsider Bird Records (OBR 4790133) along with two bonus tracks. Most of the tracks originate from the November 11th to December 17th, 1982 Pathé-Marconi Studios sessions which produced Undercover in 1983. But this release contains songs from other years and sessions as well making it more eclectic than Chain Saw Massacre (Dog N Cat DAC-110) and Think You Like It (Dog N Cat DAC-109).
The first four tracks date from late 1982. “All Mixed Up” is an unreleased slice of blues. It first existed as an instrumental and then later with lyrics added beginning with: “Well I’m a mix-up, mix-up / Baby and I’m a yellin’ / I wanna dance / And I don’t know / I’m a little mixed up / Talkin’ about you.” Both takes have a loose, jam feel as if it’s being improvised on the spot.
“Looking For Trouble” is a brilliant cover of the Eddie Taylor tune. It’s a tight piece of Chicago urban electric blues, a style of which the Stones excel. “Cook Cook Blues” features Ian Stewart on the piano. It’s the first take of a great blues track that would later be released on the B side single to “Rock And A Hard Place” in 1989.
“I Can’t Help It” (aka “Love You Too Much” and “Shaved Stone”), a song Richards wrote about Anita Pallenberg, was first demoed in 1977 and was recorded again in 1985 as a slower, acoustic song with Richards on vocals and Ronnie Wood on steel slide guitar. This version is a fast-tempo electric instrumental.
The following two tracks jump to the Dirty Work sessions at Pathé-Marconifrom April 8th to June 17th, 1985. “You Can’t Cut The Mustard” is an early version of “Had It With You,” a song that would be officially released on the LP. Sung by Richards, but Wood also interjects while they are playing Chuck Berry riffs over Chuck Leavell’s blues piano.
“Had It With You” continues the fun, but instead of singing “you can’t cut the mustard” they begin singing “had it with you.” Neither of these takes bears much similarity to the final version of “Had It With You” on Dirty Work, which is sung by Jagger and Woodie plays saxophone!
“Chain-Reaction-Groove” is another name for “Break Away” from the early 1979 Emotional Rescue sessions in Nassau. It has a very heavy beat, theatrical flourishes in the bridge and barely audible guide vocals. “Golden Caddy” is the fourth take on tape, a purely instrumental run-through of the contemplative tune.
“Down In The Hole” dates from the Emotional Rescue sessions from the latter half of 1979. This is the seven minute long take of the piece that would be substantially edited down for the album. This version had extended guitar passages playing off of Sugar Blue’s distorted, diabolical harp.
Finally, “Munich Hilton” makes it final appearance in the studio. The track first surfaced during the initial sessions for Some Girls in 1977 and would also appear (with vocals) in 1979. These takes are instrumental and include the memorable “Brown Leaves” melody.
The bonus tracks are two songs from Undercover, “Too Much Blood” and “She Was Hot,” taken from their respective video soundtracks. Both have substantial amounts of sound effects corresponding with the little “story” enacted in each. The music remains the same, however.
All Mixed Up is another good but redundant DAC release of well known Stones outtake material. The tapes run at the correct speed and the sound is very bass heavy. DAC also print the old vinyl cover on the inside of the insert.
