The Rolling Stones Revue's Top Rolling Stones Covers

Hot Australian Rolling Stones tribute band The Rolling Stones Revue will be hitting the road throughout June, July, and August. Today, the band’s Musical Director and incredible backing guitarist Jak Housden (The Whitlams, The Badloves) has shared his top Rolling Stones covers.

In case you missed it, The Rolling Stones Revue is a raucously fun all-Australian rock and roll outfit honouring one of the most popular bands of all time. Led by Magic Dirt’s Adalita, Grinspoon’s Phil Jamieson, The Cruel Sea’s Tex Perkins, and the one and only Tim Rogers (of You Am I fame), the supergroup have lined up a tour commemorating the 1971 classic album, Sticky Fingers.

The Rolling Stones Revue plan to pay tribute to The Rolling Stones with two sets per night—the first playing Sticky Fingers in its entirety, then running through the hits, including Satisfaction, Jumping Jack Flash, Gimme Shelter, Start Me Up, Honky Tonk Woman and Sympathy For The Devil.

Joining Housden as part of the star-studded backing band is guitarist James Christowski, bassist Dario Bortolin (Baby Animals), drummer Gordon Rytmeister (Glenn Shorrock, Hamilton), keyboardist Rob Woolfe (Ian Moss), and saxophonist Winston Smith.

From Satisfaction to Jumping Jack Flash, Housden has revealed his favourite Rolling Stones cover for The Music ahead of The Rolling Stones Revue’s massive Australian tour.

Jak Housden. Source: Supplied

(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction - Devo (1978)

Unruly Ring Modulators, homemade electronic percussion, and that kinda “get-ready-‘cause-in-the-next-decade-many-people-are-gonna-sing-like-this” voice… Hearing this for the first time at around age 11 was a bewildering experience. And it wasn’t until a fair way into it that I actually realised I was listening to a song that I already knew!

Fast-forward a bunch of decades, and Devo’s reimagined take on this classic is without doubt a classic in its own right. I sometimes wonder what Mick Jagger’s reaction would’ve been when he first heard it!

Satisfaction - The Twilights (1966)

A ferocious, fuzzed-out nugget, taking all of the upbeat energy of Otis Redding’s version of the song but stripping back its instrumentation to the direct-driving raw guitars of the Stone’s original. Pounding drums and looping Bass, with Glenn Shorrock delivering the most snarling of vocals on top. Shorrock would surely have become satisfied, having gone on to great success firstly with Axiom and then Little River Band. Likewise, guitarist Terry Britten would later write and produce numerous mega-hits, including What’s Love Got To Do With It, for Tina Turner.

Under My Thumb - The Who (1967)

Busted! Mick and Keith Richards spend the night (together) in the clink and thereafter await trial for their famed ’67 drugs bust at Keith’s house, Redlands. In protest, The Who hastily recorded a couple of Stones covers and put them out as a double A-Side single. Under My Thumb stands as the strongest of the two and is a nice, fast-paced, guitar-driven alternative to the Stones' more subdued Marimba-flated original. 

Paint It Black - Eric Burdon & The Animals (1967)

Give Eric Burdon a great song to work with and he’ll deliver it like it’s his own baby. Paint It Black is no exception. With the original House Of The Rising Sun, The Animals having recently disbanded, Eric reformed the group and relocated to California, enjoying sunshine and LSD in fairly equal measures. The new Animals lineup, which features the electric violin of John Weider, serves up a slightly elongated, trippier version of the song. Stoned and free with wild abandon, yet at the same time punchy and to the point. And, of course, Eric sounds as soulful as ever. As a bonus to the studio recording, check out the live at the Monterey Pop Festival version.

Jumpin’ Jack Flash - Marcia Hines (1975)

A funky, left-field take on this classic of classics, this is likely to be the first version I ever heard of the song. And I heard it because my older brother Stephen played the guitar on it! He was playing in Marcia’s band at the time, and so we had the 7” single kicking around the house and getting plenty of airtime on the Astor 3 in 1 (3 in 1 = Record Player / Radio / TV). Family history aside, this track really does cook! With a groove arranged by the band themselves, including horns by then-recent Hungarian-Sydney transplant and funk luminary Jackie Orszaczky. Think Shaft on uppers.  

I Wanna Be Your Man - The Beatles (1963)

I mean, it’s a cheeky inclusion, but when the Stones released I Wanna Be Your Man as their second single, it was just a song that John and Paul had given away to them. So, despite The Beatles version likely nowadays being the more wildly known of the two, it wasn’t yet available at the time the Stones put theirs out, though it would be released several weeks later. As much as I enjoy hearing The Stones take, I really think The Beatles got it right. What do you think?

Street Fighting Man - Rod Stewart (1969)

Having recently left the Jeff Beck Group, Rod Stewart opens his debut album with this loose, bluesy version of Street Fighting Man. Featuring future Rolling Stone Ronnie - credited here as “Ronald” - Wood prominently on slide guitar, Rod’s version differs radically from the original while staying true to the blues stylings on which it was based. And, as a bonus, there’s even a little nod to We Love You on the piano at the end! Lightyears away from the peroxided jet-setting Rod of the last several decades, this is the sound of a band ripping it up in a room together.

Let’s Spend The Night Together - Muddy Waters (1968)

The Stones learned their craft from American bluesmen like Muddy Waters, and they would soon be instrumental in helping reintroduce such artists back to their own country, opening the eyes and ears of a new white audience and giving the blues a respect it never had before. Here, Waters takes on one of his students’ poppier tunes from the psychedelic era and turns it into a classic late 60s-sounding blues powerhouse along the lines of Cream.

Have You Seen Your Mother Baby, Standing In the Shadow? – Tina Harvey (1973)

There’s scant little info about Tina Harvey. She seems to have made one album and a handful of singles, all covers, all produced by British pop “personality” Jonathan King. Regardless, this is certainly an interesting and fairly pleasant, mellow, orchestrated alternative to the upbeat, amphetamine-fuelled original. As an aside, she also does a pretty wild-flavoured version of Lou Reed’s I’m Waiting For The Man, recorded in ’76. 

Wild Horses - LaBelle (1973)

A radical reimagining of the country rock-styled original, LaBelle flips Wild Horses on its head, turning it into a short, sharp, sultry-sounding early 70s soul piece. It could be argued that some of the original's sensitivity is lost here, but from the moment the track starts, there’s a feel and groove that’s impossible to resist. 

THE ROLLING STONES REVUE

(ADALITA + PHIL JAMIESON + TEX PERKINS + TIM ROGERS)

2024 ‘STICKY FINGERS’ TOUR

Saturday June 29 – Thirroul, Anita’s Theatre
Wednesday July 3 – Birdsville, Big Red Bash (Tickets)
Friday July 26 – Melbourne, Palais Theatre
Saturday July 27 – Brisbane, The Fortitude Music Hall
Friday August 9 – Canberra, Llewellyn Hall
Saturday August 10 – Sydney, State Theatre
Sunday August 11 – Newcastle, Civic Theatre
Friday August 16 – Broken Hill, Mundi Mundi Bash (Tickets)

Tickets here