Anyone else let down by the Rolling Stones' Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out?

I dislike live albums in general, but GYYYO is that rare exception. A document, if you like, of a band in its prime on a night when all members were in top form.

 

What is it

 

Which one song don't you like?

 

This album just flat-out kicks ass. Top ten for me

 

I like it, but have never felt it justifies its reputation. It's a long way, I'd say, from being 'the greatest live album ever made.'

 

For me the greatest rock live album !!...

 

Agreed.

The amazing chugging groove of Midnight Rambler is worth the price of admission alone!

 

Essential Stones IMO.

.

 

I love the live version of 'Stray Cat Blues' on this lp, totally kills the studio version.

I do have to agree that Keith's guitar is often horribly out of tune on many of the live recordings from this era... GYYYAO isn't that bad, but it's really obvious on the Hyde Park and Gimme Shelter DVDs.

 

I totally agree about Stray Cat Blues............... it's got to be the definitive version.

 

GET YER YA-YAS OUT is the best officially sanctioned live Stones album, period.

That may change, though, with the plethora of new and recently released FROM THE VAULT LP/CD/DVD/Blu-ray-Audio & -Video Disc projects hitting the street. I mean, I treasure the live stuff we've gotten from the '72, '73, '75, '78 and '81 tours BIG TIME but it'll take a little more time to determine whether or not any of them best GET YER YA-YAS OUT.

 

Not if their expectations were set by Got Live If You Want It or the Hyde Park bootleg.

 

Sympathy for the devil. Worst song the Stones ever did.

 

Not in the slightest. I think it's a smoker !.....

 

Please elaborate.

 

Maybe you had to be there. That said, I saw the Stones live and was underwhelmed.

 

I think it's great but it was one of the first Stones albums that I bought so I am a little biased. The Brussels Affair vault release from 1973 is equally good in my opinion along with the Ladies and Gentlemen the Rolling Stones dvd from the 1972 tour.

 

So you dislike the song in general. It is not just the version on Ya-Ya's only that is particularly bad in your mind.

 

For me, Ya Ya's captures a moment in time, late 69. Arguably one of the great periods in rock history.

Brian Jones had died earlier that year, the Stones had played Hyde Park that summer very soon after. Mick Taylor had been recruited.

A week after the Ya Ya's concerts in Late Nov 69, the Stones would release Let It Bleed (previewing Midnight Rambler on the tour) and Altamont would bring the decade to a close.

The week before Xmas 69 would see what some have called the best ever Top 10 best selling Albums, including Abbey Road, Let it Bleed, Led Zep II, Easy Rider, Creedence's Green River, the Temps Puzzle People, Easy Rider soundtrack, and the debuts by CSN, Blood Sweat and Tears and Santana. Some list...

The Stones start with Jumping Jack Flash, go into a great version of Chuck Berry's Carol, go into blues mode with Stray Cat Blues and Love in Vain, and then start going through the gears and ramping up the throttle with Rambler, Sympathy for the Devil, Live with me, more Chuck with Little Queenie, Honk Tonk women, and finally Street Fighting Man.

The Stones would arguably go on to better things - Sticky Fingers and Exile. But this captures them half way through the classic period, after Beggars Banquet and with Let It Bleed just about to hit the stores. So pretty much close to their peak.

For me Ya Ya's captures that time. It's part of the history. It's the Stones at or close to their best, honed by the previous gigs as they moved across the States from the West Coast to the East. Hendrix was backstage. Janis Joplin in the crowd. BB King and Ike and Tina Turner as the support acts....

It may not be complete. It may have been tinkered with. There may be better live Stones. But if you really think Ya Ya's is a let down and not that exciting I don't think you begin to understand 69, rock concerts, rock history, or the Stones. IMO, of course.

 

But when did you see the Stones live? I'd seen them myself for Steel Wheels and was also underwhelmed...

 

Get Yer Ya Ya's Out is the only live Rolling Stones album I need. It's as good as they get.

 

1981

 

This is a great album. And its greatness would be accentuated by a decent mix...

 

So which version do you folks enjoy more - the original edited album not in the correct order, or the reconstructed full concert (using the anniversary edition)?

 

I burned myself a cdr of the complete show in order that I listen to most of the time now.