Rolling Stones Album-by-Album Thread (Part 12)

at this point, the thread could really use someone who hasn't known the band all that well but has been following the discussion to come in and comment on the long strange trip from the London years to the American football stadiums -- how did we get here? is it hard to see it all as the work of one group? how much does the band appear to have been shaped by its times? etc. A point of view from someone who's neither a Beetles disciple/Sir Paul apprentice nor a Stones diehard and can try to put things in perspective for those of us more on the inside of fandom...

 

Just making sure there is Still Life left in this thread:

 

Yes! Bring on the Still Life!

Oh wait, does this mean I have to listen to it again? Zoinks!

 

Isn't this from around this time?

 

Sorry to backtrack but I just found this information while contributing to the Free album by album thread.

Even when successful with Free, Kossoff was a restless soul. He put himself forward for audition for both The Rolling Stones and Jethro Tull in mid-1969 - Mick Taylor and Martin Barre eventually got the gigs.

This would have been interesting.

 

Is that a box set on the left? Mine has a different cover:

 

On the left is the '81 tour program booklet. The 3 thumbnail pics are from inside the booklet.

 

So beyond cool...just too much.

Keith's crisp, perfectly-placed licks (and vocals!) and Jerry Lee's straight Louisiana swagger. And the locked-in interplay. If I had to sit a 15 year-old down and try and sell him on Fifties country and rock 'n roll, this is probably the clip I'd use to do it.

There are moments when I've seen the Stones onstage and they do the impossible by vaulting way beyond even their own stunning work. For me they can actually, for a few moments, become all of rock 'n roll itself. "Little Queenie" in '97-'98 was one of those. I saw a performance of "Queenie" after the MTV "Live at the 10 Spot" broadcast had ended where the band drew the tune out...Keith was hitting the Chuck licks and Woody was answering with a Bo Diddley thing. The sheer joy of the band was dazzling--felt like wind in the audience's face. "Champagne & Reefer" at the Beacon was like that, too. To realize in that moment that the Stones had been at Chess when Buddy was just a young'un--that they had been contemporaries and fellow recording artists there--flattened me.

I guess it goes to that big burden of the Stones' work since '81: That the incredible achievements, the aging of their audience, and the size of the shows gave them progressively less and less room to do anything other than be the Classic Rock Legends The Rolling Stones. For all the great performances of "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Brown Sugar," it has often seemed to me that the band has mainly existed on a human level in its own almost-secret blues work ("Cook Cook Blues," "Fancy Man Blues," "The Storm," "Back of My Hand") or in its covers--"Nighttime Is The Right Time," "Your Precious Love," "Queenie," "That's How Strong My Love Is," "Route 66."

Those are the moments when the legend falls away beautifully, and you can feel the band absolutely at the source.

 

Oops, I see, thanks.

Gorts, feel free to delete my previous post if I violated a forum rule. Sorry!

 

F

or sure, I used to listen to that version of "Little Queenie" a lot! I love when they get back to their roots, and the B-stage was always the best for that for the tours when they had it. I was lucky enough to get "Route 66" at my first Stones show ever, and I think a lot of the covers were one of the many highlights of the later late period Stones.

Also, their cover of "Your Precious Love" is so good it's hard to understand why it wasn't released.

 

Cook Cook Blues," "Fancy Man Blues," "The Storm," "Back of My Hand")

Some of my favorite songs from this era of the Stones.

 

Still Life lives up to its name. There are good moments to be had from recordings of that tour and the European swing the following year, but not much on that album.

 

While I agree with you, none of those songs were recorded in the early 80's, I think "Cook Cook" and "Fancy Man" are Steel Wheels and "the Storm" is Voodoo Lounge and "Hand" is ABB.

Do you consider everything from '81 on to be the same era? I think the band changes a lot once Darryl Jones comes in.

 

The Ronnie Wood era but especially after Tattoo You.

 

for me, RW is not enough of a factor to be the definition of an "era" in the Stones -- plus he was there for almost 40 years!

anyway, I thought we were still in the Pathe Marconi, pre-'80s-breakup era.

 

I am just commenting on the post from Bonus above.

 

true, there is something consistent about their stadium tours from '81 on, a higher proportion of "oldies," for one thing.

there was actually kind of a wave of '50s rock nostalgia in the '80s. In that sense, the Stones were somewhat ahead of that curve, somewhat participating in it, with the rockabilly covers they did, and the pastel/neon color scheme of the tour and of Still Life.

 

Sure but the Wood era starts with Billy Preston in the lineup and continues to the present day, I think a distinction is necessary somewhere from 89 to 93 either with the post reunion "Vegas Review" style shows or the departure of Bill Wyman.

There's a pretty huge difference between the lineup and arrangements on the 81 tour and the Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle presentation, to say nothing of the completely different approach to bass guitar the Darryl Jones has vs. Bill Wyman or that the lineup from Voodoo Lounge ends up being the longest serving consistent lineup in their career.

 

I doesn't really matter to me how you define the eras, they are still some of my favorite tracks with Ronnie in the band.

 

I've got that. The cut up a tour program and made a cover out of it. I think they did a pretty nice job on that record. I remember buying it. I found a guy that sold boots at a flea market. He had one box of records at a card table, his wife had tables of stuff she sold. He gave me his number, and I used to call him and he'd come over and let me look through what he had. It was pretty cool, and he beat everyone's prices. I think that one was 18 bucks, 6 bucks a record. Those were the days!

 

Darryl who?

You know, the bass player that is visible but inaudible.

Oh that guy.

 

While it lasted certainly, though I fear he may’ve died all the sooner had he joined the Stones. Based on Mick’s experience.

Mark

 

Stepping back to the Brian era for a second, what do people feel are the best live recordings from that era. The only ones I am familiar with are the TAMI show (quite good), GLIYWI (probably my least favorite Stones release), and R&R Circus (by which time Brian's input was pretty minimal).

Anything other than TAMI show I should look out for as good live representations of that era? Obviously not asking anyone to identify the source of a bootleg or anything, in keeping with forum rules.

 

You might be right Mark.

 

Never knew about this, despite being around at the time. Thanks for posting!

So the Stones beat That Other Band to the post by issuing the UK version of their Let It B.... album - complete with accompanying limited-edition book - fully five months before The B**tl*s' Let It B.... album and accompanying limited-edition book.