Longtime Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood has begun posting short videos on his social media pages promoting his upcoming career-spanning compilation, Fearless: Anthology 1965-2025.
Videos by American Songwriter
In one recent clip, Wood reminisced about his first band, The Birds. Ronnie co-founded the R&B-influenced group in 1964 in the London suburb of Yiewsley when he was just 17 years old. The Birds are represented on the two-CD version of Fearless by the song “You’re on My Mind,” which Wood wrote.
As he explained in the video, “My friend Kim Gardner and I, he used to live around the corner, we formed The Birds. And I wrote my first song, called ‘You’re on My Mind.’ And that’s what begins [Fearless:] Anthology.”
Wood continued, “It’s quite a trip down memory lane, because we cut it in a little recording studio, Tony Pike Studios in [London’s] Putney [district]. And … we did four tracks in one day with The Birds, from start to finish. And ‘You’re on My Mind’ was one.”
“You’re on My Mind” was released as the B-side of The Birds’ debut single, “Leaving Here,” a cover of 1963 song recorded by famous Motown songwriter Eddie Holland.
Wood went on to talk about the other songs The Birds recorded at the session.
“[W]e did another song, ‘How Can It Be,’ which is another one self-penned. The second song I ever wrote,” he shared. “And that was the B-side of a [cover of a] Marvin Gaye song, … ‘No Good Without You Baby.’ Beautiful song. Haven’t heard it before or since, but The Birds did cut it.”
He added, “Anyway, there’s not enough room to fit them all on the [Fearless] album.”
More About the Fearless Compilation
As previously reported, Fearless: Anthology 1965-2025 will be released on September 26. It will be available as a 38-track two-CD set and a 20-song two-LP vinyl collection. The compilation, which can be pre-ordered now, features highlights from the various bands and artists with whom Wood has recorded, as well as from his own solo releases. In addition to The Birds’ song, the 78-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer’s work with The Creation, the Jeff Beck Group, the Faces, Rod Stewart, and, of course, The Rolling Stones is represented on the CD compilation. The LP set doesn’t include songs by The Birds or The Creation.
Most of the songs on the retrospective were written or co-written by Wood.
The compilation ends with the four new Wood recordings. Two of those tracks, a cover of “You’re So Fine,” a 1956 R&B tune originally recorded by The Falcons, and the new original “Mother of Pearl” were released as advance singles from Fearless. Both feature acclaimed Irish singer Imelda May on backing vocals.
The other two new Wood songs on the compilation are covers of the 1961 Ernie K-Doe R&B classic “A Certain Girl” and Jamaican-born singer Hopeton Lewis’s 1966 rocksteady hit “Take It Easy.” The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde lends her vocal talents to Wood’s rendition of “A Certain Girl.”
(Photo by Scott Legato/Getty Images)
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