Everything Flows: The Last Time

Cover version of the month #103
The Andrew Oldham Orchestra covers The Rolling Stones

I consider The Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra cover version of The Last Time by The Rolling Stones to be a complete re-imagination of the song rather than a cover. I just don't hear anything remotely familiar to The Stones version.

Andrew Loog Oldham was (and no doubt is still) a creative soul, bursting with ideas and energy. Loog Oldham was still a teenager when he offered to manage The Stones after seeing them in 1963. When Andrew wasn't managing/producing The Rolling Stones, he was busy crafting marketing campaigns, setting up Immediate Records, producing, guiding and also forming his own 'orchestra'.

One story that I love is how Loog Oldham locked Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in a room together until they had written a song of their own. The Stones, like many bands of that era, started as a covers band. That song they wrote was As Tears Go By, which became a hit for Marianne Faithful.

John Lennon also recounted a tale of taking the riff of I Wanna Be Your Man to Jagger and Richards and they liked it. Lennon and McCartney then went off to the corner of a room to dash the song off. The Glimmer Twins were amazed - a lightbulb moment! The song would become The Rolling Stones second single.

Although The Last Time was classed as an original composition, the song lifts the melody and lyrics from The Staple Singers This May Be The Last Time. Jagger adds a couple of verses, while Richards and Brian Jones bring a wall of sound rhythm and a distinctive piercing guitar riff to the party.

Everything rides on the riff, the groove behind it, Jagger singing along on top.

Well I told you once and I told you twice

But you never listen to my advice

You don't try very hard to please me

With what you know, it should be easy

Well this could be the last time

This could be the last time

Maybe the last time, I don't know

Oh no, oh no

After two verses and choruses there is an instrumental, still based around the lead riff, into the chorus and another verse. One final chorus then lead into 50-second outro, Jagger ad-libbing and screaming over his band singing maybe the last time. It sounds incredible, Jagger let loose and going for it. The song fades out, I wonder how long it went on for.

The Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra version completely reimagines The Last Time, to the extent that you wonder if it is actually a cover version at all. There is no raw guitar riff, there is no sneering Jagger or a version of him, there is no dirty groove and rhythm. Instead, we have a sprawling, symphonic statement; layers of lush strings that sound timeless, cinematic and melancholic.

The arrangement is sublime, this isn't a song anymore, it's a soundscape, an orchestral piece of music that flow, glides and soars effortlessly. If this is the first time you have heard this, it sure won't be the last time. I always have to listen to this 2 or 3 times if I play it. Once is never enough.

3 decades later, Richard Ashcroft and The Verve discovered the Loog Oldham version and were inspired, especially the section from 1-minute 37 seconds, to write and create Bittersweet Symphony. I'll maybe write about that incredible song another time.

The Rolling Stones version

Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra version

The Rolling Stones original and the sensational Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra cover version of The Last Time are added to my Everything Flows Cool Cover Versions playlist on Spotify which also features all of the songs listed below. Search for the title or CLICK HERE

Previous covers of the month blogs

1. You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'

2. Going Back To My Roots

3. Nirvana play The Vaselines

4. Slip Inside This House

5. Top 10 covers by Teenage Fanclub

6. Only Love Can Break Your Heart

7. Time For Livin'

8. Sound and Vision

9. All Along The Watchtower

10. I Am The Walrus

11. Guiding Star