BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1984
“Too Much Blood” is a single released only in the United States by The Rolling Stones taken from their 1983 album Undercover.
Credited to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, “Too Much Blood” is largely a Jagger composition. The song is a reflection of the many influences the Stones would have during their career in the mid-1980s. Jagger said at the time of its release, “I had made out a very honest burden of mind before everyone had arrived one night. It was just Charlie [Watts] and Bill [Wyman]. And one of our roadies called Jim Barber, he was playing guitar on it too. And I just started playing this riff I had, with this middle part, I didn’t have any words to it and then I just suddenly started rapping out these words which are the ones you hear.” (“Mick asked me if I could do an ‘Andy Summers’ on the track” – Jim Barber).
The song itself deals with the growing depictions of violence in the media at the time and the case of Issei Sagawa, with Jagger saying, “Well there was this scandalous, murderous story in France – it was a true story – about this Japanese guy who murdered this girl and it sort of captured the imagination of the French public, and the Japanese. The Russians wanted to make a movie out of it. So that was the first bit and then I started becoming more light-hearted about it, movies and all. …it came out as a sort of anti-gratuitous cinema of violence. And it’s a kind of anti-violent thing.”
“Did you ever see “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre”? Horrible, wasn’t it. You know, people ask me “is it really true where you live in Texas, is that really true what they do around there, people?” I say, “yea, every time I drive through the crossroads I get scared, there’s a bloke running round with a fucking chain saw. Oh! Oh! oh No, he’s gonna cut off, Oh no. Don’t saw off me leg, don’t saw off me arm.”
Jagger uses a half-hearted rap delivery for some lines, saying at the time, “I’m not a great rapper… It’s just made up on the spot as well. It’s completely extemporized, as well, most of it. A couple words I cleaned up. I don’t mean clean up, just made better sounds. That was just rap off the top of my head. I didn’t write it down, even.”
Recording took place at Paris’ Pathé Marconi Studios and New York City’s Hit Factory between October and November 1982. With Jagger on lead vocals, he also performs electric guitars with Barber and Richards. Horns are provided by Chops and percussion by Sly Dunbar.
A dance version of “Too Much Blood,” remixed by Arthur Baker, was released as a twelve-inch single in December 1984. A music video, directed by Julien Temple, was produced in support showing the band performing the song as well as Richards and guitarist Ron Wood chasing Jagger with chainsaws. The trio also appear, without chainsaws but still in character, on the record sleeve for the single. The video opens with an excerpt from the first movement of the String Quartet Number 3 by Béla Bartók. “Too Much Blood” has never been performed live by the Stones and appears on no compilation albums.
In the US the singles peaked at #44 on the Billboard Dance Chart and #38 on the Mainstream Rock Chart.
SIDE A:
Too Much Blood (Dance Version) 12:46
Edited By – Latin Rascals, The
Engineer [Remix Assistant] – Tom Lord-Alge
Engineer [Remix] – Chris Lord-Alge
Producer – Glimmer Twins, The
Remix – Arthur Baker
SIDE B:
Too Much Blood (Dub Version) 8:00
Edited By – Latin Rascals, The
Engineer [Remix Assistant] – Tom Lord-Alge
Engineer [Remix] – Chris Lord-Alge
Producer – Glimmer Twins, The
Remix – Arthur Baker
Too Much Blood (Album Version) 6:13
Mixed By – Chris Kimsey
Producer – Chris Kimsey, Glimmer Twins, The
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
CHART HISTORY:
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Too Much Blood | U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks | #38 |
| 1984 | Too Much Blood | U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play | #44 |
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Rolling Stones Records – 0-96902
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 ⅓ RPM
Country: US
Released: 1984
Genre: Electronic, Rock
Style: Dub
Credits: Art Direction – Bob Defrin
Mastered By – Greg Calbi
Recorded By – Chris Kimsey
Written-By – Jagger-Richards
NOTES:
From the album “UNDERCOVER”
Find The 12″ On DISCOGS
EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut III
Cartridge: Ortofon Super
Stylus: Ortofon OM Stylus 30
Pro-Ject Acryl-It platter
Pro-Ject Speed Box S
Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Scanner
SOFTWARE USED:
Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Adobe Photoshop CS5
ClickRepair
dBpoweramp
Playlist Creator
RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
Downsampled to 24bit/96kHz and16bit /44kHz using iZotope RX Advanced 2
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi
Fingers crossed that this one returns soon. I have never heard these remixes before.
DjPaulT, Hope this one returns again soon!
A classic 12″. Nice to have it in digital format. Thanks!
I’ve been trying to find this since I had the vinyl version when it was released! I had copied it onto a cassette! Wished that the Stones would have put it out on cd! But, That never happened. Thank You so much!
have a nice weekend and thank you
Thank you 🙂
Thank You Paul !!!
You’re welcome Guss 🙂
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! My favorite Stones track produced by my favorite produce and remixed by my favorite remixers. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank… Read more »
You’re welcome Jeroen De Haan!
DjPaulT!!!! Another slice of musical madcap mischief courtesy of Arthur Baker and the Latin Rascals!!! I’ve always wanted this to appear on CD, but that never happened. I even bought the expensive singles collection and it was no where to be heard. Thankfully we have you Paul. It’s actually kind of scary that you did this rip because I’ve noticed that your musical tastes are so much like my own. I’ve been obsessed with Arthur Baker, along with John Robie, his frequent collaborator, and Tony Moran and Albert Cabrera (a.k.a. The Latin Rascals)ever since I’ve discovered their recordings in the… Read more »
You’re welcome Jeff stay tuned for mor holiday madness and mischief 🙂
Oops. I’ve to make a correction of my previous reply: the only release on CD of the “main vocal” part was of course the Sad Sad Sad cdsingle, NOT the (vinyl)maxisingle.
Mea-mea-meanwhile back in the jungle.. I wonder if Michael Jackson had ever heard the dubversion?
But WTF, thanx to DjPaulT we have this awesome-sounding rip! Thank you thank you thank you.
I wondered if Michael heard this as well. Would be interesting to know his thoughts.
Another rarity! Thanks Paul.
I’ve been listening to a collection of your rips in my car the last few weeks. Brings back a lot of memories.
You’re welcome Stefano 🙂
Wow, you blow me away, again. Hands down one of my all time fave Stones songs, and the one that flipped the switch in be back then and made me pay attention. They were never quite this cool again, musically, but this is the record that made me start digging deep into their catalog.
Thank you OneCharmingBastard it’s one of my favorite Stones records too 🙂
I have been hoping you would post this one day. Your rip sounds amazing. Thank You! All the BEST.
Thank you Kookoo glad you like it 🙂
At last a excellent rip of this rare 12″! Thank you very much. Both remixes still remain unreleased officially on CD, except for the “main vocal” part (8’43”) of the Dance Version. That part was released officially only in Europe on the Sad Sad Sad Maxi-single and singleCD (1990).
You’re welcome LTE it is a truly fun mix Arthur Baker and Latin Rascals what a team!
brr… scary cover of the single..)) Thank you, Paul!
You’re welcome Spring 🙂