I was driving home from meeting with my prof the othe day, when I tuned into the oldies station out of Denver (it’s KXKL, aka KOOL 105) and the Stones’ “Satisfaction” came on. At first I thought there was something wrong with the radio station’s signal, because there was this acoustic guitar coming out of the right channel, as pretty as could be. Keith Richards’ fuzzbox guitar riff, which is what all of us old rockers remember from “Satisfaction” was kind of in the background. A little later, I sat up and thought, “what the hell…is that a piano!?” Sure enough, I heard a baby grand coming through. Long story short, it was a pretty awesome rendition of “Satisfaction.”
Now, I know music geeks are doing all kinds of amazing stuff by digitizing our old rock favorites, so I gotta’ ask: Is this a re-mastering of an old favorite? Or is this how the original should have sounded. And most of all, where can I get a copy of this awesome rendition of one of my favorite rock songs of all time?
Could that have been the stereo mix of “Satisfaction?” Such a mix was released on the German and Japanese reissues of “Hot Rocks 1964-1971.” It was also on a promo disc that was circulated among U.S. radio stations in the mid 80s. Your radio station may be in possession of such a recording and played it on the air.
Doesn’t answer the OP’s question but as a piece of trivia I’m pretty sure I’m correct when I say that the main riff in Satisfaction was actually played on an acoustic guitar and the sound distorted further down the recording chain.
It’s compression and the I-pod generation that has done it. Here is one explanation of how the dynamics have been eroded from pop. Early Stones is a good comparison. I recently did the same thing with an Easybeats (early 60s - 70s Aussie band), listening in the car and marvelling at the size of the sound.
cochrane is correct; you must have heard the rare true stereo version of “Satisfaction.” That’s the only way you would have noticed the piano, which is pretty much inaudible on standard releases of the song. It’s nothing to do with compression.
BACI, the guitar that plays the fuzz riff is not acoustic; it is the same electric guitar that plays the non-distorted lead parts during the verses. Nor was the distortion applied after the fact. This becomes obvious if you listen carefully to the transition between the two sounds, for example at 0:35. You can plainly hear the lead guitar stop, followed by the click of the fuzzbox being switched on.
To expand on what Biffy said, Richards didn’t even want to keep the fuzzbox in the final recording. He had written that part for horns and played the fuzzbox track as a demo for what the horns would play, to be added in a later recording. He was outvoted by the rest of the Stones as well as manager Andrew Loog Oldham and sound engineer Dave Hassinger. The song’s success was also good for Gibson. Their entire available stock of fuzzboxes sold out by the end of 1965.
Damn! You’re right - it wasn’t Satisfaction that was recorded with acoustic guitars it was Jumping Jack Flash:
“On the record, I played a Gibson Hummingbird [acoustic] tuned to either open E or open D with a capo. And then I added another [acoustic] guitar over the top, but tuned to Nashville tuning [tuned like a 12-string guitar without the lower octave strings]. I learned that from somebody in George Jones’ band, in San Antonio in ’63. We happened to be playing the World Teen Fair together. This guy in a Stetson and cowboy boots showed me how to do it, with the different strings, to get that high ring. I was picking up tips.”
I wonder if there’s any way to talk the radio station into making a copy of that for me. I’m a former radio jock myself, and I can’t think of any contractural reason not to, except that if they do it for one, they’d have to do it for everybody.
Thanks for the explanation. It’s amazing that whoever is in charge of re-releasing material like that never released the stereo version – it’s far superior in all aspects. And if Richards really did mean for the fuzz box to temporarily stand in for the horns, then the stereo version really is closer to the original concept of the song, because it’s definitely downplayed in the version I heard.
Yeah, but the piano sounds like it’s being played by Aunt Bea’s friend Clara. I thought it was a joke the first time I heard it.
Remember that old 45s were mixed to sound good on cheap record players and AM car radios. There wasn’t a lot of auditory depth and things would just disappear.
All fifty?!? Apparently they learned their lesson, and moved out of the stompbox category entirely. Seriously, this is the first I heard that Gibson had ever made guitar effects boxes, and I started playing guitar around 1975.
Seriously, this is the first I heard that Gibson had ever made guitar effects boxes, and I started playing guitar around 1975.