Todd Shuffler with Mark Doyle and the Maniacs - Stoned and Lonesome Again (CD)

The Stones, Blues and B Sides The Rolling Stones loved the blues. Their worship of American bluesmen inspired them to become a band, and their early albums were mostly covers of their heroes‘ material. But as London became the center of all things groovy, Mick and Keith realized they needed to update their blues roots for the Swinging Sixties. As they began to write and record their own original songs, blues purist Brian Jones, whose vision had started the band, found a new role by enhancing and coloring their recordings with more exotic instrumentation. But the same mid-Sixties sessions that recorded hits like “Let’s Spend the Night Together” yielded many purer blues tracks as well. Some appeared on U.S. or U.K. albums, but others were relegated to the B side (also known as the “flip side”) of their hit singles. For those too young to remember, “singles” were 7-inch, 2-song, 45-rpm discs with a donut hole in the middle. Record companies released singles to pique the interest of fans and disc jockeys for a group’s upcoming album. B sides were usually songs that were not going to be on the album, since no executive expected fans to pay for the same songs twice. While the A sides got frequent radio airplay and created demand for the album, only those fans who bought the singles ever heard the B sides.  Stoned and Lonesome Again aims to bring a second life and a new audience to these bluesy Stones B sides and album tracks from that era. Recorded live in the studio, the opening rarity “Don’t Lie to Me” shows the band and singer/harp player Pete McMahon hitting on all cylinders. Singer Joe Whiting steps up next for the psych-blues B-side “Who’s Driving Your Plane?,” followed by Michael P. Ryan’s perfect reading of Aftermath’s countryish blues, “Doncha Bother Me,” with Mark Doyle playing slide guitar. From there, the three singers take turns, each playing to their strengths and maintaining that Stones swagger throughout. Lead guitarist Doyle, superb as always, leads the band in a joyful romp through slow blues, mid-tempo shuffles and full-steam-ahead rockers, powered by the spot-on drumming of Frank DeFonda and bolstered by the second guitar and backing vocals of Terry Quill. Everything’s anchored by Todd Shuffler, who Blue Wave label president Greg Spencer once called “the only bass player who truly understands Bill Wyman’s playing.” And that’s not all: in a nod to Brian Jones’ Elizabethan influence, there’s even a rare lead vocal from bandleader and producer Mark Doyle on “Back Street Girl.” When the Stones first reached American airwaves in the mid-1960s, most of the young listeners who heard their hits on the radio had no knowledge of nor affinity for blues music. For many, the Stones provided a gateway--and the credits and liner notes on their records a road map--to the origins of the music they grew up with and loved. These recordings should leave current listeners similarly inspired. - Mike Greenstein, 2026