“Out of Time” – compare and contrast
“Out of Time” was a Rolling Stones song from 1966, and not an especially big hit for them. I had the record it appeared on, “Aftermath,” and I don’t even remember the song. But I came across this cover version by the Bee Gees when they still were Australian teenagers in 1966, and it features Robin Gibb at the age of 16.
It’s an oddity for a number of reasons. One is that the Bee Gees almost never did cover songs, although when they were little kids they did lots of them. I guess this was a transition time for them, from being a kid act in Australia to being a teen act in Australia. It was shortly before they moved to England to get more global exposure.. Another odd thing is their choice of a Stones song, a group they don’t resemble, and one with a sound very unlike that of the Bee Gees – although on a few occasions later on (“Heavy Breathing,” for example) the Bee Gees went to more of a rock sound.
I’m putting it up because I think it’s a good example of the maturity of Robin’s voice at that age, and the remarkable range he had. The person manning or womanning the camera seems to have had a bit of a fascination with Barry’s flowered-pantsed butt, as well, and the go-go dancers are quite the thing, too:
Here are the Stones doing the original:
And this guy had a bigger hit with it than the Stones did. On this recording, apparently Keith Richards and Mick Jagger were singing backup:
Robin”s teeth at 16 WTF.
MichiganDoug:
They were too poor to afford fixing their teeth till they became successful. Not at all unusual in those days
Though Gibb and Farlowe have fine voices, I find I prefer the Stones version. Somehow, Jagger’s rough voice seems to fit the lyrics better. Nor is it bias, I’ve never been a fan.
Let’s not talk about Keith Richards’ original teeth.
I don’t know- I liked watching Robin Gibb at age 16, but I also loved watching the choreography of the go-go dancers too. I was in middle school then, but it brought back memories of “Hullabaloo” and hmm…what was that other show? Oh yeah, “Shindig”.
Geoffrey Britain:
I kind of agree, for this particular song.
But I find Robin Gibb’s voice fascinating and hypnotic, and in this song I like how he shows his range.
huxley:
The Brits were renowned for bad teeth.
neo:
I’m aware, but KR was a tough case. He’s got a great set of pearly-whites now.
Robin Gibb’s got a great voice and all, but, especially live, he just doesn’t have the necessary mean streak to gloat over his ex-lover like Jagger does.
Plus I love those mid-sixties Stones arrangements.
However, Gibbs’ cover is not as misplaced as the Stones’ singing “Under the Boardwalk” back then.
–Rolling Stones, “Under the Boardwalk”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGn9uPDH52k
Apparently, the Stones still do “Boardwalk” live with folks like Aaron Neville.
huxley:
Yes, no mean streak projected by Robin. He’s even smiling in that clip. But of course he was awfully young. He never did develop a mean streak, though. The Bee Gees were exceptionally nice (and funny) guys, and it came across in their interviews.
The odd thing is that as kids they really WERE bad boys, petty thieves and in particular Robin was an arsonist. He didn’t burn down buildings, but he set a lot of fires in Manchester (billboards in particular). Apparently the Manchester police suggested the parents emigrate to Australia with the kids and maybe it would keep the kids out of prison.
It did. When they were about 12 and 9 they threw away the penknives they had just stolen and made a vow to give up a life of crime and concentrate on becoming famous singers and songwriters. Which they proceeded to do.
huxley:
I’ll add that, in contrast, Jagger’s upbringing was solidly middle-class. I don’t think he acted out as a youngster, and he was a good student and even graduated from the London School of Economics. In contrast, not only were the Bee Gees dirt poor as kids (so poor that the 3 boys shared not just a room but a bed), and they dropped out of school at the ages of 13 (the twins) and around 15 (Barry). Nevertheless, their interviews show a lot of intelligence, and Robin was very into history later on.
And yet you are right – Jagger projects the bad boy swagger. “Under My Thumb” is another example, from the same “Aftermath” record.
Neo, I, in no uncertain terms, strongly urge you to spend some time listening to Chris Farlowe. He was one of the best, if not the best, British R’n’B singers of all time. Better, dare I say it, than Van Morrison. To my mind, Farlowe’s version of Out of Time is definitive, and his cover of Mike D’Abo’s Handbags and Gladrags makes Rod Stewart’s sound like bubblegum. He’s a lost treasure.
Speaking of mature voices – here is a 10 year old girl who sounds like she’s been singing in jazz clubs for 30 years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8kAL-sGJx8
The Stones version was used to great effect at the end of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.
Cf. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Out of Time scene (HD)
(from YouTube)
Barry`s butt and Mo`s hair+glasses )))))))))
For me Mick`s version is more perfect however I really love Robin’s voice
neo:
Yes, Mick and Keith’s swagger hardly came from the wrong side of the tracks. Even the Beatles qualified as more working-class. However, class is not the proper yardstick to measure the Stones bad boy character.
In their first blush of fame they were not nice people. That much was authentic. They were like the Most Popular Kids on the Planet, who could play status games like blood sport. They were not all that nice to each other either. When Brian Jones (a founding Stone, though largely forgotten and a demon in his own right) grew weak from drugs or mental illness, they were cruel to him as well and Jones wound up drowned in his swimming pool.
Of course, that darkness was no small part of the Stones’ attraction. Instead of “She Loves You” the Stones sang “Under My Thumb” or “19th Nervous Breakdown.” It was refreshing to hear the cruel side of young love laid bare and to have the chance to identify, for the duration of a song, with a winner of those games.
One of the very best “live” rock performances on record is Chris Farlowe and Colosseum’s “Lost Angeles,” which after all these years has still not lost its power, from the driving Dave Greenslade organ intro, to Farlowe’s Jolson-like bellowing and then mellow middle solo, to Dave “Clem” Clempson’s extended outstanding guitar work in the second half of the tune, to the driving drums of Jon Hiseman to the very end. Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctzpnaLlGOs
huxley:
Oh, I know. Who could avoid knowing something of the Stones’ varied escapades? The women, etc.. And of course the drug destruction for some.
the Stones version was the theme song for ” Coming Home”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coming_Home_(1978_film)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8GzIdqTlVQ
@neo:
” On this recording, apparently Keith Richards and Mick Jagger were singing backup”
Wouldn’t be the first time they’d backed up a band:
https://www.npr.org/2021/09/02/1033382555/charlie-watts-jazz-remembrance-rolling-stones
And it’s Robin Gibb for the win – Barry’s flowered britches may have tipped the balance! Like Neo, I appreciate the “surprise factor” of The Bee Gees. Always something fresh and engaging. It’s thrilling to glimpse their origins – what a wild ride lay ahead!
Regarding “Out of Time,” what’s technically “best” may not be the most memorable. It’s not the thing that touches the heart.
In pulling for Robin, you couldn’t say that the Rolling Stones version is lacking. After all, it’s their own song. Not dull – but no surprises. They deliver exactly as expected: a swagger-y, bad-boy song from a rock & roll band. We’re hearing professional musicians in their mid-twenties recording a studio album with expert production values and techniques.
By contrast, a 16-year-old Robin Gibb does surprise us – with his controlled, confident, and even charismatic LIVE performance on Australian television.
I pick up on Neo’s description: “hypnotic.”
There’s suspense: Can he really pull this off?? And then he does.
Robin connects. No additional swagger required….
My thoughts: “So fun! And brave! I need to hear him sing something else!”
Happily, that’s just a few clicks away….
Elvis Costello performed Out of Time last month when he played in Omaha NE. It was introduced as a tribute to the late Charlie Watts, and it was wonderful.
Adrian:
I’ll bet Costello could do a respectable version of “Out of Time.” He also specialized, at least on his early albums, in the dark side of young love.
Although Costello’s persona usually played the burned boyfriend — “Alison,” “Red Shoes” and “I’m Not Angry.” No one covered that territory better.
huxley,
You called Brian Jones ‘a founding Stone’ when in fact he was THE founding Rolling Stone. He was a deeply troubled guy but seemed to be loved by many and was basically steamrolled by Mick and Keith in the end.
I found an interesting and sympathetic book about Brian Jones at a used book store a while back called something like ‘Brian Jones: His Untold Life and Mysterious Death’ and it was a pretty good read about an extremely important but mostly forgotten figure in rock history.
Let us not forget this version with strings, released on the 1975 outtakes album Metamorphosis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02FTsdj0Ges
Griffin:
I recall the initial situation as being more fluid than Brian Jones, “THE Founding Rolling Stone.” Jones, Jagger and Richards were already playing together informally. But, credit due, Jones was the main force who created the group and he was the leader of the Stones in the early years when they were basically a blues-oriented covers band.
However, once the Stones upleveled their game to songwriting as well as performance, Jones lost his edge. He was a musical whiz but he couldn’t write a song to save his life (too true as it turned out). So Jagger and Richards took over the band. Since they were not Nice People, as I’ve said, they weren’t all that nice to Jones either.
It’s not clear to me whether Jones’ decline was because of his loss of status or because of the drugs and craziness or both, but his contributions tailed off, so J&R pushed him out. Jones died in his swimming pool not long after.
Brian Jones provided many of the musical touches which made the early Stones songs special. (For instance, in “Out of Time” Jones played the marimba.) It would be worthwhile to revisit and tease out his contributions to the Stones. Much of what made the mid-sixties Stones unique was Brian Jones.
Their sound changed markedly after his death, not worse, but different and some would argue better. Keith Richards really came into his own and forged the signature Stones sound as we know it today.
Let us not forget this version with strings, released on the 1975 outtakes album Metamorphosis:
Marisa:
There is a story to that version connecting it to Chris Farlowe which I hadn’t known until now.
__________________________________
The song also appeared on the Stones’ 1975 ABKCO album Metamorphosis, which was created under the direction of former Stones manager Allen Klein and released on his ABKCO Records label. (Klein owned the rights to the pre-1971 Rolling Stones catalog.).[3] This version was, in fact, the backing track from Farlowe’s version, but with a Jagger lead vocal, recorded in London in April 1966 as a demo for Farlowe.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_Time_(Rolling_Stones_song)
huxley,
Yes, in the early days Jagger was still going to school and was apparently quite serious about it so it was Jones sort of driving the band forward as he was the most committed to it.
Jones also played the sitar part on ‘Paint It, Black’. Not being a songwriter was definitely a major factor in the power shift in the band although there is a little gray area around whether he did write some parts of their songs but was too weak in many ways and was just stampeded by Jagger/Richards/Oldham.
His is a sad story and he left a raft full of kids including one who was adopted by Donovan Leitch.
Huxley: That is a fascinating piece of information, and I can hear it now on Farlowe’s version. BTW I had never heard of him before this post.
Griffin:
Well, Mick and Keith weren’t gracious or financially generous about acknowledging others’ contributions. Notably Mick Taylor, the guitarist who replaced Brian Jones.
Taylor was a phenomenal rock guitarist. The Stones’ prime period, late 60s/early 70s, was when Taylor played with them. All those gorgeous melodic guitar leads you heard from “Let It Bleed” to “It’s Only Rock’n’Roll” — that was Mick Taylor. He drove Keith Richards green with envy.
A wonderful, yet atypical Stones song was “Time Waits for No One,” credited to Jagger and Richards, but:
_____________________________
The song’s most noteworthy elements, however, are Mick Taylor’s extended guitar solo and Jagger’s lyrics. Taylor credits inspiration for the solo to a visit to Brazil following the Stones’ European Tour 1973. Taylor’s solo guitar piece carries the song to its conclusion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Waits_for_No_One_(Rolling_Stones_song)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRJXyn0od9g
_____________________________
Wiki goes on to note that the Stones never played “Time” live. One may guess why.
An unpleasant section of Richards’ memoir was his victory dance for outlasting Taylor in the Stones.
My “Six Degrees” story about the Stones is that my San Francisco dentist treated Mick Taylor, when Taylor stayed in Marin in the early 70s.
Taylor told my dentist that the Stones scene was crazy (it was) and might implode at any moment (entirely possible).
Taylor quit the band in 1974. He said that he hadn’t gotten credit for songs he made possible and that he never intended to be a Stone forever.
Later he admitted that he had developed his own drug problems while with the Stones and doubted he would have physically survived within the band.
Keith Richards jokes, “I’ll outlive you all.” But in addition to his talent he was gifted with an iron constitution and a remarkable amount of luck.
I’m with Ruth – Robin for the win! When I close my eyes, I have a hard time believing it’s a 16-year-old kid singing.
I’m still working my way though their song catalogue but have been impressed at how they could adapt their voices and songwriting abilities to excel at nearly any musical style they chose, from baroque pop and Beatlesque psychedelic to r&b funk, soul and even touches of gospel and country. I had no clue how crazy talented the Bee Gees really were until neo started posting about them.
“Keith Richards jokes….”
Claims were made by not a few that if the Nobel Prize committee members decided, in their wisdom, to bequeath the Nobel Prize for Literature to Bob Dylan, they at the very least should have given Keith Richards the Nobel Prize for Chemistry…
Out Of Time was not included in the American release of Aftermath (1966). It appeared the following year in the Stones‘ outtakes compilation album Flowers but overall got little American airplay in the ‘60s
Legend has it that when Ringo Starr heard that the latest Stones album was called “Aftermath” he joked that the Beatles should call their next album “After Geography”
huxley: “Robin Gibb’s got a great voice and all, but, especially live, he just doesn’t have the necessary mean streak to gloat over his ex-lover like Jagger does.”
Nailed it.