Drift Away-The Rolling Stones

I had no idea that the stones had ever covered Dobie Gray's classic Drift Away, apparently it was demo'd during the sessions for It's Only Rock And Roll in 1974. I became aware of the version yesterday whilst listening to Off The Record on 3RRR, as usual with the Stones it's rough and ragged but with some really nice honky tonk style guitar from I would assume Mick Taylor. According to Brian Wise who is the host of Off The Record, Keith Richard didn't participate in that particular session. What lets the song down is the exaggerated vocals of Mick Jagger, he tries to sing like his auditioning for the Grand Ole Opry and he never pulls it off. Maybe I'm being overly judgemental as I have never been a huge fan of his style.

Speaking of Dobie Gray he passes away last week, he had a great voice and even though Drift Away was his biggest hit he also had a huge soul hit in 1965 with the In Crowd. Drift Away features some fantastic backing from Reggie Young on guitar who played on a lot of sessions at Fame, American Sound etc and Mike Leach on bass who was also at American Sound in the late 60's.