Chapter 19: Time of the Season (July - December 1970)

20 July 1970

Allen Klein, 1969.

Beginning in 1965, the Rolling Stones' full-time manager was Allen Klein, having been brought abroad by Andrew Oldham for re-negotiation concerning the band's contract with Decca Records. With Klein's arrival, the Rolling Stones were now making more money than the Beatles, whom Klein had wanted to sign with RCA back in 1964, but Brian Epstein had shot his offer of $2 million down. Since Apple Corps was firing on all cylinders, there was no reason to bring Klein on board.

Whilst Mick Jagger was studying at the London School of Economics, he had become more weary of Klein's presence, especially with his ability to insert himself as a profit participant in the Rolling Stones' growing financial picture. As a response, the band hired London-based law firm Berger Oliver & Co to look into their finances whilst Jagger hired merchant banker Prince Rupert Loewenstein as his personal financial adviser. When David Bowie came into the picture replacing Brian Jones, and even presented himself as a quality singer/songwriter, Klein had wanted to exploit him as the new poster boy for the Rolling Stones.

MICK JAGGER: "We all liked David when he first came into the band, and exploiting him just for the sake of money seemed wrong. He was a songwriter like myself and Keith, and yet we wanted equal royalties amongst all five of us, regardless as to who wrote what." (1983)

DAVID BOWIE: "There were talks that all albums post-Space Oddity would be credited to Jagger/Richards/Bowie, which would've been fine with me. Charlie and Bill may not be the greatest songwriters, but they are, and always will be, good musicians. At the time, Klein was desperate to try and gain control of Apple, despite that it was doing fine without his presence." (1997)

Mick Jagger, 1970.

Things all came to a head that fateful summer day in 1970 when it came to negotiating a new contract with Decca. The Rolling Stones no longer wished to remain under contract with Decca and fired Klein as their manager, instead replacing him with Loewenstein. Klein was furious with this, and although the full details have not been revealed on what was said, it is clear, however, that there was a big shouting match between Klein and Jagger before the former stormed out of the building and drove away.

But no sooner had Klein begun to drive off, a lorry came from nowhere and ran smack into Klein's car, killing him instantly. Autopsies confirmed that Klein was not wearing a seat belt and had been drinking by the time the argument with Jagger had kicked off. Allen Klein was aged 38.

KEITH RICHARDS: "It had barely been a few hours when we sacked Klein that we got the news about his death. We didn't know what to think; it was a lot of information, but I thought, 'good riddance.' In retrospect, had he lived, we'd have gotten through a shitload of lawsuits with money that he owed us since 1965. But there were now two matters at hand; what was going to become of ABKCO, and where were we going to go?" (2009)[1]

6 November 1970

Imagine being in the shoes of Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle and Keith Moon. In the last three years, they've challenged the Rolling Stones' position as the bad boys of rock and roll, put out an album with over-the-top sexual innuendo and metaphors, put out another album as a two-weeks-later response to Stones' comeback album, put out a rock opera about a deaf, dumb and blind boy, and just months ago they've put out a live album called Live at Leeds. Basically, if The Who refuses to back down without a fight, what can they do next?

The answer: whatever the fuck they want.

The Who - 7ft. Wide Car, 6ft. Wide Garage

Released: 6 November 1970

Recorded: 1969, January - October 1970

Producer: Kit Lambert, The Who

Track listing[2]

Side A

The Seeker
Water
Heaven and Hell
Naked Eye
Here for More

Side B
I Don't Even Know Myself
Sally Simpson
Trying to Get Through
Postcard
Now I'm a Farmer

PETE TOWNSHEND: "We put out 7ft. Wide Car, 6ft. Wide Garage as a joke to our fans and critics. After something as serious and ambitious like Tommy, we thought, 'why not go the opposite direction just for the hell of it?' Some people didn't really get the joke at the time, but it was a nice little transition from Tommy to Lifehouse." (1999)

The main single from 7ft. Wide Car, 6ft. Side Garage, "The Seeker", was released back in March and reached #19 in the United Kingdom whilst it topped at #44 in the United States. At the time, Pete Townshend wanted to see if he could make an album even better than Tommy, and so he had the idea of the next concept album being set in a dystopian future where people lived in a virtual reality known as the Lifehouse. To people of the internet, this could easily be understood, but in 1970, it was a foreign concept, almost alien.

The Who performing live in Paris, 1970.

But there wasn't the time to fully realize Townshend's concept, so for the time being, like they did with Magic Bus, they would put out an album of self-contained tracks that weren't connected to any concept whatsoever. Among the tracks were two outtakes from Tommy, "Sally Simpson" and "Trying to Get Through"; the former was cut due to time constraints and the latter was cut as it didn't work in the main story.

Apart from re-purposing older tracks for album release, newer songs were written up including "Naked Eye", formed out of a live jam when they played "My Generation" live, "I Don't Even Know Myself", "Now I'm a Farmer", and John Entwistle's "Heaven and Hell" and "Postcard". The final track listing for 7ft. Wide Car, 6ft. Wide Garage totaled up to ten tracks running at almost 39 minutes, both sides at roughly equal length.

Despite being seen as a step down from Tommy in terms of ambition, the general consensus was that 7ft. Wide Car, 6ft. Wide Garage showcased some of the best music The Who had ever put down to record, just hitting #10 in the United Kingdom and reaching #15 in the United States. Many people were now looking forward to hearing what they had next to offer, some wondering how their rivals were taking it.

4 December 1970

The Rolling Stones - The Men Who Sold the World

Released: 4 December 1970

Recorded: 2 December 1969 - October 1970

Producer: Jimmy Miller

Track listing[3]

Side A

The Width of a Circle
Brown Sugar
All the Madmen
Wild Horses

Side B
Can't You Hear Me Knocking
Black Country Rock
I Got the Blues
The Man Who Sold the World
Moonlight Mile

CHARLIE WATTS: "After Klein's death after we sacked him, we were in a tight situation. We had planned to form our own label like the Beatles had under Atlantic Records, but Loewenstein suggested that we sign up to Apple instead. Mick and Keith felt a bit dodgy about performing under our longtime rivals, but David was in favor of the idea, as was I. Bill was indifferent." (2006)

Whilst negotiations were made in transferring labels, the Rolling Stones held their European Tour and brought in a horn section, including Bobby Keys, when performing songs that required them. The band would make first time appearances in cities such as Helsinki in Finland, Stuttgart in Germany, and Amsterdam in the Netherlands. It was during the tour that Jagger would be introduced to his future wife Bianca Rose Perez Moreno de Macias in Paris, who then followed the group for the remainder of the tour.

As the tour was taking place, Decca Records released Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert, featuring the band's best performances in Baltimore and New York City shortly before the release of Space Oddity. It is noteworthy for being the first live album to reach #1 in the United Kingdom, and some speculate that it was a response to the bootleg Live'r Than You'll Ever Be, but Jagger claims that it was also a response to The Who's Live at Leeds from May.

David Bowie, 1970.

Once the tour had completed, the Rolling Stones were back in the studio to finish up their final album under the Decca banner with "Moonlight Mile", "The Width of a Circle" and "Black Country Rock". The resulting album was The Men Who Sold the World.

DAVID BOWIE: "I'm quite fond of The Men Who Sold the World. It showed off some of our greatest strengths after the Klein debacle, and it ended our time with Decca on a sort of amicable note before we moved to Apple. 'Brown Sugar' remains a personal favorite of mine from Mick and Keith." (2013)

The album reached #5 and #4 in the United States and the United Kingdom, respectively, and the lead single preceding the album, Jagger and Richards' "Brown Sugar" with Bowie's "Black Country Rock", topped the charts in the United States whilst it kept off of the top by Freda Payne's "Band of Gold". The Men Who Sold the World was met with good reviews upon release, with Melody Maker's review saying that it had more coherence than 7ft. Wide Car, 6ft. Wide Garage, to which Pete Townshend had not taken kindly to when the Rolling Stones' album came out, fueling his desire to make Lifehouse as The Who's magnum opus.

All in all, a new chapter was just beginning for the Rolling Stones...

Footnotes

1. After Allen Klein was fired by the Rolling Stones, there were years of litigation between both parties over American publishing rights and their discography up to Exile on Main Street fell under ownership of ABKCO until Klein's death in 2009 in OTL.
2. "The Seeker" is sourced from Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy, "I Don't Even Know Myself" is from the 1995 reissue of Who's Next, and "Sally Simpson" and "Trying to Get Through" are from the 2003 reissue of Tommy. All remaining songs are either from Odds & Sods or Who's Missing.
3. Tracks are sourced from Sticky Fingers and David Bowie's The Man Who Sold the World.

Author's Comments

Wow, we've almost come to the end of Phase One, and it seems like yesterday when I first posted the first chapter! As of this chapter, I've created 40 albums with music ranging from 1966 to 1970; 36 studio albums, three compilation albums (one being from 2008 with music from 1968-1969), and one album that is completely fictional (The Beatles' Tribute to Brian Wilson). That's quite a lot of albums to take in, especially within nineteen chapters.

Right now, the rivalry between the Rolling Stones and the Who is really heating up; the Monkees have fallen apart and lost the battle, and others (whilst not mentioned very much) just couldn't beat the Stones at their game. Allen Klein being killed earlier was an idea I had when it came to developing the Rolling Stones' portion of the story; without Klein taking control of the Stones' early music or of Apple Corps (another idea I had from the get-go), the Stones and the Beatles don't have to go through all the financial and litigation bullshit they did with Klein in OTL. It's also another reason I spared Jimi Hendrix. Whether that's a good thing or not will be a matter of personal opinion, of course.

Album cover for 7ft. Wide Car, 6ft. Wide Garage was made by The Reconstructor on his own blog.