Holy shit is this revelatory. Wonderfully demonstrates how the Rolling Stones sound is more than just the sum of its parts, with the component tracks of one of their key songs, “Gimme Shelter,” from 1969’s Let it Bleed album.

The vocal harmonies of Mick Jagger and Merry Clayton are nothing short of astonishing, heard naked here. Clayton’s performance was one of the most significant contributions of a woman to a Stones number.  “Rape, murder; It’s just a shot away, It’s just a shot away…” Listen to what happens to her voice at about 2:30 to 3:00 minutes in. Fantastic! (Clayton’s great cover version of “Gimme Shelter” would enter the Billboard Top 100 charts the following year).
 

 
Keith Richards’ rhythm guitar track:
 

 
Keith Richards’ second guitar and Nicky Hopkins on piano:
 

 
Bill Wyman, was, of course one of the greatest bassists in rock music history, up there with John Entwistle and John Paul Jones, but less showy than either. Listen as he holds down the maelstrom that is this song with this bass-line. Outstanding!
 

 
And Charlie Watts is just a human metronome here. Have you ever head a more perfect drum track this side of Jaki Leibezeit??? (Jimmy Miller, who produced Let It Bleed on percussion here, too).
 

 
Thank you, Tara McGinley!

Thanks for this. Amazing.

A while back, I spent a long afternoon exploring versions of “Gimme Shelter” on YouTube and cataloguing my favourites.

http://miniver.blogspot.com/2009/05/gimme-shelter.html

Obviously I need to add these tracks to the list.

Every beginning musician just starting to record should be given these tracks. What they highlight more than anything to me is that even the gods the Stones were, they weren’t perfect.

My first session I got so bent out of shape about 2 bum notes on my bass track. The engineer told me that there were more mistakes that made the final mix in Stones records. The imperfections give it life.

I wish I could get these MP3s!

Sick. Thank you…

Thanks for bringing these to the surface here. Just when I was about to give up on the internet, and cause it to self-destruct by turning my network cable in on itself, some redeeming material appears and the ‘net remains safe for a little bit longer…

I feel like I need to have these tracks embedded under my skin…

I could sync the first four together but couldn’t get the drums in on the mix

let’s hear it for engineer Glyn Johns and his near-flawless punch-ins on Keef’s guitar!  couldn’t have been easy….

Great post!  Thanks, Richard.

@Jesselun - you might like to try using this if you want the mp3’s…

http://www.clipconverter.cc/

Awesome!  But who is on harmonica with Keith & Nicky?

This is an awesome post. It gives the listener a great idea of what the ‘craft’ of songwriting is all about.
That being said, Bill Wyman isn’t simply ‘less showy’ than John Paul Jones - he straight doesn’t have those kind of chops. I know Billy Boy bedded tens of thousands of women, or whatever, but John Paul Jones would take that cat out to the woodshed…
All while simultaneously playing the Hammond, scoring a string section, and fleshing out the rest of the arrangement.

Holy Shit!!!  Thankyouthankyouthankyou….

It’s interesting how the bass and drums especially seem to be played in a very relaxed style. Neither Wyman nor Watts seem to be pounding their instruments, but the effect of the whole song put together is so powerful nonetheless.

The isolated vocal track made my hair stand on end. Awesome.

I’ll take someone who “straight doesn’t have those kind of chops” but who knows, and can play, exactly what the song needs ANYday.

Thanks for these.

This is excellent, but isn’t that Bernard Purdie on drums?

It’s Mick on harmonica.

This is stupefyingly awesome. Thank you so much.

Love the bleed in the mix. Um… no pun intended.

Is it really Bill on bass, or Keith as usual during studio recording ? can’t decide just by listening…

This is fantastic. There is so much personality in Charlies playing- you don’t NEED anything else. ditto w keith. And that’s why the stones are great.

Charlie Watts - the acknowledged fixture he is - isn’t fit to tap Jaki Liebezeit’s foot.  Just sayin.

anyone looking for the multitracks:
http://rapidshare.com/#!download|418tl2|151793549|gimme-shelter-multitrack.mogg|22910

(you can open a mogg in audacity)

Brilliant post! You’ve made my entire week, thankyou! /fires up Ableton…

thanksalot for this!
Great to hear Merry Clayton, al of Keith’s guitar parts and of course Charlie’s great drumming.

DANKE !
Eure Seite ist genial !!!

Where in the world did you get these? I’d love to hear more of this sort of thing.

Really, really interesting. As has been mentioned before, it’s great to hear those slight glitches, as well as the way they’ve chosen which tracks to dub together (in the days before you could have dozens of individual tracks on your average home PC, naturally!) - and very interesting to hear that there is bleed from other tracks too. Shows that the ‘perfect’ take isn’t always the best. Right, time to listen to the original with everything in place!

someone playing gourd on drum trax. This is killer. Thanks for this post. Please post more like this.

and marracas

Greatest rock ‘n roll song!!!  I recall where I was when I heard it for the first time….monumental!

Thank you!

Ever since I was a kid I’ve loved the break in Claytons vocals on this song. Simply powerful on many levels and when it comes up in my random iTunes playing, I always back it up to that point in the song and crank up the speakers. Now I know I was not the only one to appreciate it.

Great post as usual guys. Thanks.

That’s Bill on bass. Keith played bass on a few tracks throughout their time but he was far from the regular studio bassist. Bill could use more credit for his input.

wow. look out. some producer is gonna pounce on that drum track.

Just goes to show how much a lot of classic tracks could do with a good, tasteful remix, like Deep Purple did with Machine Head. Can you imagine listening to a mix of this song in a broad stereo spectrum where you could hear the definition and grace notes in all the parts clearly? Would be epic. Just listen to the drum track, or any of these tracks, then listen to the mixed version on Let It Be, and see how much is lost. We have been in the era of remasters for the past 15 years. Here’s hoping an era of remixes gets ushered in.

to all the naysayers above….....
what tracks were you laying down and writing like
this in your mid-twenties, fuck, at any age you
oh so experts are? ......uh, huh, just as I thought.
granted, the stones are now past their prime, but
jeez, what a back catalog to be able to rest your
laurels on. so,I’ll be waiting to hear your tracks
mr.sullyskin and benny ol’boy.but for now,shoo,go back to being the nice little computer geek whiners/experts that you are.

“Let It BLeED”, natch : )

Definitely Wyman on bass. Keith always used a pick. Also, NOBODY would ever punch in their guitar solos over their rhythm guitar track these days. Balls.

Although Bill is obviously using a pick here. Duh.

John Entwhistle is “showy”???  Don’t let your hero worship distort reality, dude.

“Naked” vocals? You gotta be kidding. They’re already heavily processed.

>> John Entwhistle is “showy”???

I think you can be showy on many levels - without even moving your feet.

Big spider fingers flailing about… over-the-top busy riffing… and insane wardrobe choices.

Watts really plays those drums hard man. You can tell he is a real rock n’ roll drummer. From the style to the tuning of them drums. If a band wanted to learn this tune correctly, here is all they would need to do it. Of course, you’d have to be able to play it with that feel that the Stones have. Not an easy task to say the minimal.

Merry Clayton had already recorded on one of Lee Michael’s lp’s before being scooped up by that English group.  Which is not to say she’s not completely and utterly boss.

so much has been said as to who did what on which records…took me many years to realize, doesn’t matter who does what, lol…countless ppl have told me glyn johns did many of the drums tracks during this era of the stones…not sure i believe that. regardless as to who did what, it doesn’t matter, and i don’t care….pointless to over intellectualize something i’m not getting paid for, lol. but these guys are and always will be masters of their craft. those were fun listens…always wanted to hear those tracks isolated, and to this day that womans back ups give me chills…it gets no better.

calling Bill Wyman one of rock’s greatest bass players is a bit specious, esp. when you include John Paul Jones, who’s you know, JUST OKAY, and leave out Paul McCartney, who’s as important as James Jamerson.

Nevermind the fact that Keith Richards played half those basslines himself.

I totally agree on those vocals though. Awesome to hear. And thanks for posting this. Forgive my crankiness.

bill wyman, meh.  the rest is THE SHIT!!! fuck auto-tune!!!

Ha ha.  I started all the videos at once.  How fun.

BTW, to DL this in .mp3 check out AnyVideoConverter.

I think this is fantastic. One of my favourite tunes of all time. I have mixed Jumpin’ Jack Flash before but always struggled to break down the parts of tracks.

You need them seperated like above to make something decent enough to play to people.

Music always gets re-discovered and I’d like to think people will discover and love the Rolling Stones throughout the decades to come.

However a few mixes here and there wouldn’t go a miss. Some of their riffs (particularly basslines) would work really well if the likes of UNKLE got hold of them and could really unleash.

I think if the rolling stones could vet a whole host of mixes and produce a mixes album it could be amazing. Radiohead is another group i’d like to see mix the Stones

These most certainly don’t represent what is on tape, they are stems for Rock Band and are ‘rips’ from that source. So NO, there were no ‘balls’ punching, as represented here, though I’m sure he had them if the case arose and it certainly did.

Nice to hear this stuff, but out of context, this kinda crap is what starts false rumor and much misunderstanding of process (the last thing this fading industry needs), an ancillary effect of technology throwing us….backwards.

Because in five years, these will still be floating, and younglings will CERTAINLY be misguided as some of you ALREADY are about what’s going on here.

“Dude! They printed verb on the vox”. Uhmm NO!

I mean READ about the sessions. Merry was recorded LATER at Sunset Sound in America for chrissakes, not at Olympic….ie her and Mick would be on different tracks. Not to mention there are alternate vocal mixes on various albums floating about in the world…again.

Learn before you leap. These are just stems for a game, as sad as that is, as a sign of what our culture has become.

Our band has been covering Gimme Shelter for a few months now, really great to hear the isolation - especially that great bit where Merry’s vocals breach and Mick goes ‘Whoo’ - love it!

You can hear our version here - all recorded live at rehearsal earlier this year:

http://www.houdinifeel.com/tracks/Gimme Shelter.mp3

Fantastic song, great, cool thing to post here, etc. etc, but I complete agree with @Ben and @Jed:  “Bill Wyman, was, of course one of the greatest bassists in rock music history, up there with John Entwistle and John Paul Jones, but less showy than either.”  What?  Seriously?  I really LIKE Bill Wyman, I have no problem with Bill Wyman, I think he’s a good bassist and extraordinarily cool dude, but “of course”?  Suck my balls.  Not even close to an “of course”.  And he would be the first to tell you he’s not in the same league as Entwistle (who’s the very definition of “showy”, I don’t know how you can argue that @Cadillacula), Jones, or McCartney.  Which is fine.  He’s still great.  But one of the greatest bassists of all time?  Hell no.

stop ‘notify[ing] me of follow-up comments’

It is nice to hear these separate tracks for a base reference for beginners who want to play this stuff.

It’s clear that Charlie is holding this whole thing together; but we always knew this.  Wyman is shaky at best, and its a little embarrassing to listed to him iso’d. Great vocal arrangements, natch.

@iVanGoo….I think you’re missing the point. Not everyone aspires to be an archivist and historian on the details of various recording techniques of the 20th century. Nascent and less-informed RS fans don’t need to be chastised for not understanding the kind of technical details you’re focusing on in your nevertheless well-informed and carefully-considered post.

Trust me, real music historians have it straight….they’re not going to be confused by the color of these tracks or the content of this DM post. For some reason you seem to have appointed yourself as chief of the Accuracy Police with a mandate to belittle anyone with less information than yourself.

“Gimmie Shelter” is not a precious relic to be enjoyed only by those elite listeners that truly and completely understand its origins. It’s just a f’n song recorded by some very talented twenty-somethings about 40 years ago. I’m delighted that all kinds of folks including those born after 1995 are enjoying it, and I don’t think that they need to understand where reverb comes from to have a sense that this song is a rare work of collective genius. Nuff sed.

And to the poster: “Bill Wyman, was, of course one of the greatest bassists in rock music history, up there with John Entwistle and John Paul Jones…” Ahem. No. Dude, sorry, but you are very obviously not a musician.

The person who wrote the commentary needs to simmer down and take a chill pill.  Bill Wyman was not the greatest bass player and Charlie Watts is no Billie Cobham or whoever he was comparing him to. These tracks are very, very interesting for another reason. The Stones were way far from technically perfect, but that is what makes their music so interesting the way that Robert Johnson and company is interesting…compelling lyrics with a raw and soulful sound. As a band, the stones are inimitable and special, “as a band” they are in the pantheon.

I’d like to hear Hendrix’s All Along the Watch Tower deconstructed. That too would be very interesting.

Charlie is not Billy Cobham because he’s not TRYING to be Billy Cobham. He’s being himself. If he wanted to be Billy Cobham, you’d know it, brother…

And to think… all of this and all that came before and just now we’re finding out that Mick has a “tiny todger”.. LOL…!!!

This is fantastic to hear. Anyone know of any more links to studio deconstruction of famous recorded songs? I’ve spent quite a bit of time in the studio myself and it’s fascinating to me to hear the individual parts. Gestalt (sum of the parts is greater than the whole)

No sheet, brother. Not comparing him to Cobham in any way. Just illustrating how preposterous the track comments are.

Here’s a live version by Merry Clayton. One listen to the band backing her on this show how great the Stones are:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6smX2E5GduI

I am on Skype right now with my dear old fiend Emmaretta Marks and she is not only hearing this but recreating the parts that Her you are hearing on this Deconstructed Vocal Track…it’s incredible..!

  The entire first 33 seconds are not Merry Clayton, but Emmaretta Marks who laid down 7 tracks as she recalls at A&M studios in Los Angeles California and created the Iconic Intro that launched this mega hit tour de force of Gimme Shelter…She was also going out with Keith Richards at the time and can be seen with the Rolling Stones at Altamont in certain rock documentaries you may be aware of…

  Also Emmaretta says those incredible “Rape Murders” are her and that is her voice breaking on command this site so reveres…!

  It’s high time the Rolling Stones give credit to one of America’s greatest most diverse Rock backing Vocalists EMMARETTA MARKS..!

  This Deconstruction finally for those who know the real story is the best evidence of the Rolling Stones failure to give credit where credit was more than do…not to mention fiduciary recompense…! 

  So now you know the Real Story of Gimme Shelter…!  TJ

Bill Wyman said is his autobiography “Stone Alone” that he always got a kick out of people he would meet telling him he was the greatest bass player ever and then citing his bass performance on a track that Keith played on the record.

This reminded me of a game we used to play where we tried to figure out what song is in the background of the left channel on You Can’t Always Get What You Want circa the :50 mark: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZJgPPMcR4Y

for the glue-eaters on here who knock the Stones supposed lack of virtuosity, you fail to realize they were never about that. its called creativity. thats what it takes to write rock classics, not nerdy perfection and over-produced shite. then you get Yes. in 69 there were only 4 tracks, maybe 8 to work with, so that must be why the bass and guitar share a track for a bit. who the fuck are cobham and leibezeit and who gives a fuck? and yes Entwhistle overplayed quite often, and his songs are shit!

....oh and now we’re supposed to believe Mary Clayton’s really not singing on this track? Get the fuck outta here with that nonsense and stop looking for attention. She also sang on Sweet Home Alabama a couple of years later, she was way in demand back then. idiot!

Wow.  I wouldn’t have commented my mere appreciation of the post (above) if I’d fathomed so many comments flooding my email.  I guess I could have un-checked the “follow-up comments” box but I usually like seeing those.

I don’t suppose there’s a way to opt-out after the fact.

Oh well.  Live and learn.

I believe that is Keith on the bass. His basslines are much simpler than Bill Wyman’s which tend to have more movement in them

in the immortal words of Keith “good to see ya man. Where’d you get the records?
  Got any more of this kind of stuff? I had a friend that had an album, all white on the cover, nothing on the label, that he bought at a yard sale for a dollar. It was on one side the Rolling Stones on the Ed Sullivan Show doing “You better move on” and “Under My Thumb”
Side B was just practice when they were fleshing out Sympathy for the devil and stopping many times and arguing with each other. Mick: “Fucking hell, You’ve got to come up and out of it Charlie”
Then they jammed for a while on a blues thing that sounded just like La Grange from ZZ top and then they go back to sympathy and half way through somebody sits down at the piano and starts just fucking jamming.
  The dude that gave me this record was a keyboard player and went to jail for a couple of years and I never really thought I’d see him again.
  Several years later I was bartending at a different place and he came in out of the blue and the first thing he asked me was “Hey man do you still got that bootleg Stones album?”

I agree w Rumble. I think that’s Keith on the bass because it’s obviously played with a pick and Bill never used a pick (point of pride I guess with bass players, couldn’t give two fucks in a cats ass myself, whatever works)

Wow.  Just…wow!  Stunningly, perfectly, imperfect.  The world’s greatest garage band at their best, kicking ass and taking no prisoners.  This was spectacularly enlightening.

Thanks so much…inspirational for the musician in me.

Did someone mention Deep Purple? Machine Head?  ‘Scuse me, just noticed another gap in my iTunes library….

Not as world shattering for the musically inclined/educated but kudos on the deconstruction