Nicky Hopkins
Jackie Lomax - Sour Milk Sea
Discovered
by Brian Epstein, Liverpool singer/songwriter Jackie Lomax was one of the
artists signed to Apple Records. In June 1968, he recorded the George Harrison rocker
Sour Milk Sea with a superb backing band, consisting of Eric Clapton and George
Harrison on guitar, Nicky Hopkins on piano, Paul McCartney on bass and Ringo
Starr on drums. It was released as a single in August but didn’t chart in the
UK and only managed to make it to number 117 in the US. After recording more
songs in Los Angeles with the Wrecking Crew, Lomax’s debut album Is This What You Want was released on
Apple Records in March 1969.
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Beatles - Revolution
On July 11,
1968, Hopkins overdubbed electric piano on a faster and louder re-make of the
Beatles’ Revolution, which John Lennon wanted to have released as a single.
Paul McCartney and George Harrison however argued the original White Album track was too slow so Lennon
rewrote the song. It featured Lennon on lead vocal and lead guitar, Harrison on
rhythm guitar, Hopkins on piano, McCartney on bass and Hammond organ and Starr
on drums and was released in August as the B-side to one of the most popular
singles ever, McCartney’s Hey Jude.
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Rolling Stones - She’s A Rainbow
Rolling Stones - Angie
Rolling Stones - Angie
As a
session musician, Nicky Hopkins is probably most associated with the Rolling
Stones. Although he already played on one song on Between The Buttons, his studio tenure with the Stones really
started with 1967’s Their Satanic
Majesties’ Request. From then on, he would perform on every Stones album up
to 1981’s Tattoo You, including the
classic string of albums consisting of Beggars
Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main St., on which his playing is probably most prominent.
You can hear Hopkins on classic tracks such as She’s A Rainbow, Sympathy For
The Devil, Street Fighting Man, Gimme Shelter, Tumbling Dice, Angie, Fool To
Cry and Waiting On A Friend. He also accompanied the Stones on tour from 1971
to 1973, including the notorious 1972 North American tour.
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Jeff Beck Group - You Shook Me
Jeff Beck
invited Hopkins to join him again in the studio in May 1968 to record his debut
album, Truth. Beck had recruited
guitarist Ronnie Wood, who would play bass, and singer Rod Stewart, who
recommended drummer Micky Waller for his new band. Hopkins appeared on four
tracks on the Jeff Beck Group’s debut album: Bonnie Dobson’s Morning Dew, Muddy
Waters’s You Shook Me (also done by Led Zeppelin on their first album), Beck’s
Bolero (credited to Jimmy Page solely) and Blues Deluxe, a Stewart / Beck
original inspired by B.B. King’s Gambler’s Blues.
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Jeff Beck Group - Girl From Mill Valley
After
Truth, Hopkins joined the Jeff Beck Group, touring with them at the end of
1968. After replacing Waller with power drummer Tony Newman, the quintet
recorded another album, Beck-Ola, in
April 1969. Included were two Elvis Presley covers and five originals, one of
which, the instrumental Girl From Mill Valley, was written by Hopkins.
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Donovan - Barabajagal
As a favor
to their producer Mickie Most, the Jeff Beck Group cut three instrumental
tracks for Donovan, two of which would end up on a single, released the same
month as Beck-Ola: Barabajagal, also
written as Goo Goo Barabajagal (Love Is Hot), which would later be the title
track of Donovan’s August 1969 album, and the B-side Bed With Me, later renamed
Trudi.
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Rolling Stones & Ry Cooder - Edward’s Thrump Up
In January
1972, Rolling Stones Records released Jamming With Edward!, an album recorded
in April 1969, after Keith Richards had stormed out of the Let It Bleed sessions
for a few days in protest at producer Jimmy Miller’s decision to bring Ry Cooder
in to beef up the guitars as Dave Mason had done during the Beggars Banquet
sessions. So Mick Jagger, Ry Cooder, Nicky Hopkins, Bill Wyman and Charlie
Watts jammed on some blues songs and a few originals, written by Cooder,
Hopkins and Watts, such as Blow With Ry and Edward’s Thrump Up.
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As for the title, the story goes that Brian Jones was tuning his guitar and asked Hopkins to give him an E on the piano; with other noise interfering and Nicky unable to hear what he was saying, Brian eventually shouted out “Give me an E, like in Edward!” Hopkins also contributed to the Jamming With Edward! cover art.
Sweet Thursday - Gilbert Street
Around the
same time, Hopkins joined Sweet Thursday, who released an eponymous album in August
1969. Singer, guitarist and songwriter Jon Mark, who had previously played with
Marianne Faithful and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, was the focus of the band,
which also included guitarist and singer Alun Davies, who later played with Cat
Stevens, bassist Brian Odgers and drummer Harvey Burns. The only song not
written by a band member was the moody ten-minute Gilbert Street, generally
claimed to be the best track on the album.
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