in Paris on January 16 and noted the audience reaction, which was frantic and in a frenzy. However, as the Beatles only performed the track live (and would not record it in the studio for another three months), Howes and Page both noted the commercial opportunity of putting the song on record before the Beatles had time to do so. Page quickly instructed the band to learn the track and only four days later, the group together with Talmy entered Pye Studios for the first time. They recorded five songs that session; "Long Tall Sally", "I Took My Baby Home", "You Still Want Me", "You Do Something To Me" and "I Don't Need You Anymore. Talmy was not too keen on Avory drumming, as he was new in the group, instead opting for session musician Bobby Graham. Release and reception The Kinks' version was a modernized arrangement of the song, omitting the frantic piano found in the original, along with moving away from R&B towards a contemporary rock sound. The rhythm of the Kinks rendition also changes, instead being more similar to Little Richard's later hit "Lucille". Unlike other versions, it features a "wailing harmonica solo" played by Ray. Rob Jovanovic writes that their arrangement is similar to the Beatles version, right down to a couple of phrasings in some verses. However, Thomas Kitts states that the merseybeat rendition "zapped energy" from the record and that the Kinks "lacked the necessary fire or punch to conquer both Little Richard and Paul McCartney". Kitts believes that Dave should have taken the lead vocals as his voice was more "gritty". The Kinks version would eventually be released through Pye Records on February 7, 1964, in the UK and later on Cameo Records in the US on April 1, 1964. The B-side was the Ray Davies original "I Took My Baby Home", which was a "beat-driven rhythm and blues" number. Though Page "aggressively" advertised and promoted "Long Tall Sally" in the media, it would fail to reach the Record Retailer charts. It did, however, reach number 42 for a week in Melody Maker's Pop 30, giving the Kinks their first commercial success. Following their breakthrough in America, "Long Tall Sally" managed to reach the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart in January 1965, staying there for two weeks and peaking at number 129. In Disc magazine, Don Nicholl gave the single three out