Love Is Strong

Infobox Single
Name = Love Is Strong


Artist = Rolling Stones
from Album = Voodoo Lounge
Released = July 5, 1994
Format = 7" vinyl, cassette, 3 x CD
Recorded = July - August, November - December 1993
Genre = Rock
Length = 3 min 49 s
Label = Virgin
Writer = Jagger/Richards
Producer = Don Was & The Glimmer Twins
Chart position =

• #14 (UK)
• #91 (US)
  Reviews =
  Last single = "Ruby Tuesday"
  (1991)
  This single = "Love Is Strong"
  (1994)
  Next single = "You Got Me Rocking"
  (1994) |

  "Love Is Strong" is the lead song, and first single, by English rock and roll band the Rolling Stones from their 1994 album "Voodoo Lounge".

  Inspiration and recording

  Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, "Love Is Strong" is a brooding number about an encounter between the singer and an unnamed person which leads the singer to a "love at first sight" immediate attraction and longing for the couple to unite despite the obstacles.

  The song was written in Ireland by Richards and originally had the name "Love is Strange". Popular bootlegs of the sessions abound, as Ron Wood, Richards, Ivan Neville and producer Don Was worked the song while Jagger was supporting his record "Wandering Spirit". Later takes have Richards changing the title to "Love is Strong"; although the final release was significantly altered by Jagger's contribution of lyrical innovation and use of a harmonica, a trademark instrument for him rarely utilized in the Stones' middle period work. Jagger said at the time of its release, "We ran through it a bunch of times and I was playing harmonica, and I started singing through the harmonica mike, so you get this strange sort of sound. And then I started singing down an octave, so you get this kind of breathy, sexy tone... It was good to put harmonica on a track like this. You always think of playing it on a 12-bar blues, and it's kind of fun to put it on one which isn't. It's good to work with another sequence."cite web| last =| first =| title = Love Is Strong| work = Time Is On Our Side| publisher =| url = http://timeisonourside.com/SOLoveIs.html| accessdate = 2006-09-25]

  Recording began in September, 1993 at Wood's home studio in Ireland and continued at A&M Recording Studios in Los Angeles in 1994.

  Release and aftermath

  Released as the first single from the album, "Love Is Strong" performed below expectation, barely making it into the "Billboard Hot 100" singles chart in the United States. It became the lowest charting first single ever by the band and marked a change in the composition of the singles chart as well as the Stones role on it. Five years earlier "Mixed Emotions" was a Top 5 pop chart single. Considerable promotional expense was spent on the "Voodoo Lounge" CD release, as it was the first on Virgin Records, including a popular music video directed by David Fincher and edited by Robert Duffy at Spot Welders; the black and white video shows giant versions of the Stones, as well as a few residents locked in romantic embraces, rambling about New York City.

  The single's weaker than expected lead dampened CD sales despite positive critical reviews and even an eventual Grammy Award. In time, the track proved popular in Europe going to number 14 in the United Kingdom and received significant airplay in the United States and is regarded as a lasting favorite from "Voodoo Lounge" by Rolling Stones fans.

  The Rolling Stones performed the song at the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards.

  Although it had disappeared from several recent concert tours setlists in favour of the more live friendly "You Got Me Rocking" (the follow-up single from "Voodoo Lounge"), the Stones reintroduced "Love is Strong" to their A Bigger Bang Tour setlist on July 22, 2007 at their Brno, Czech Republic show.

  It was included on their 2002 career compilation album "Forty Licks".

  Track listing

  *7" VS1503
  #"Love Is Strong" (Album Version)
  #"The Storm"

  *Cassette VSC1503
  #"Love Is Strong" (Album Version)
  #"The Storm"

  *CD VSCDE1503
  #"Love Is Strong" (Album Version)
  #"The Storm"

  *CD VSCDT1503 - "Special Collectors" edition
  #"Love Is Strong" (Album Version)
  #"The Storm"
  #"So Young"
  #"Love is Strong" (Bob Clearmountain Remix)

  *CD VSCDX1503 - remix edition
  #"Love Is Strong" (Teddy Riley Radio Remix)
  #"Love Is Strong" (Teddy Riley Extended Remix)
  #"Love Is Strong" (Teddy Riley Extended Rock Remix)
  #"Love Is Strong" (Teddy Riley Dub Remix)
  #"Love Is Strong" (Joe The Butcher Club Remix)
  #"Love Is Strong" (Teddy Riley Instrumental)

  References

  External links

  * [http://www.rollingstones.com/discog/index.php?v=so&a=1&id=377 Complete official lyrics]