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

I had a Still Life picture disc LP that has mysteriously gone missing.

I'll do a shot tonight of the LP cover with a bottle of single barrel Jack Daniels for you guys...and me.

 

you've got to make a screengrab for your avatar!


I've never really heard Still Life... guess now would be the time, if I can track down a copy.

 

I wouldn't say SL is better than LYL, but I like it better than the '78 tour recordings. It's short, yes, but full of charm: Ellington intro, Hendrix outro, Cochran and Smokey covers... lots of fun and boy, SL is more an invitation to a Stones show than a souvenir. You really want to go to another Rolling Stones concert when you listen to this record!!!

By the way, the 2011 flat transfer of this title sounds great.

 

Still Life is one of my least favorite Stones live albums. I feel the live Hampton Roads download is much better.

 

The '98 Virgin remaster (barcode 7243 8 45674 2 2) can be had VERY cheaply on the Discogs.com marketplace. I think it sounds even better than the SHM-SACD flat transfer, with much more midrange presence that helps bring out transparency in the guitars and bass.

 

Yeah, this!

Seriously, Still Life makes Flashpoint sound like Live at Leeds. I've turned my opinion around on lots of Stones albums - Black and Blue particularly - but I still feel the same way I did when I first heads Still Life back in the day, which is "yech".

 

On the bright side is the releases brevity. A quick listen and it's over. It's like the memory motel. You check in for a half hour and leave.

 

I was going to do one with a few joints, and drinking a-few-beers with it! It's legal in my home and in California.

 

I didn't know dogs preferred Foster's, Reb.

 

That's quicksrt, sniffing out the joint for the rescheduled Aussie tour.

 

He's upset that Jagger stopped barking through Rolling Stones shows!

 

Yup, I grew up with this one. It was the second Stones album I ever bought. Great review, thanks for not slagging it.

 

While I'm glad "Still Life" didn't get totally slagged, I can't understand preferring it to "Some Girls Live In Texas" Like whatever you like, but no way is that particular '78 show sloppy! It's f'ing fantastic.

 

So just curious as I haven't heard Still Life yet, but what is it that some people don't like about the album?

At first glance it looks like an interesting set list with a lot of songs not featured on prior live discs, and only a couple workhorses.

Mark

 

It has some fine moments, but I can't remember ever listening to the whole thing all the way through without getting bored. Still Life has better pacing. I like to dip in and watch parts of Texas in isolation, or listen to one side of the double-LP on its own, and that's it. Still Life entertains me from top to bottom (especially the Virgin remaster).

 

Gentlemen I couldn't wait so here you go.

 

What do you drink with The Beach Boy's Love You?

 

It's my counter drink coaster because that album sucks. I love The Beach Boys but not that album.

 

I saw the Stones at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas for the '81 tour so it was appropriately hot for the event. The Fabulous Thunderbirds opened and with their more simplified blues, which I like a lot btw, to their lack of a stage show, they looked pretty tiny on stage even though I wasn't that far away. ZZ Top handled the large stage a little better simply because their music was larger. Still, any band besides the Stones probably felt weird playing on that giant stage.
I never bought Still Life though and even though the write up was good, it was honest enough to keep me from buying it.

 

Well I like it, but Brian was hitting the soda pop pretty hard on that album.

 

IMHO the performances sound more workmanlike than exciting even though I like the set list better than on the 1978 tour. The Hampton download has more energy in my opinion.

 

I'm listening to (streaming) Still Life for the first time now because of this thread. I'd never given it a chance before based on bad reviews and a few video clips I'd seen which bored me.

After my first listen, Still Life seems an apt title. It's not horrible - it sounds like it must have been fun if you were there (let's make every song sound as frenetic as Shattered!). However, as an album, it comes off as energetic while mostly lacking in feeling. I can't fathom what stadiums have to do with rock and roll, and from here on out, the Stones' efforts don't change my mind much. Mick's vocals sound like he's running around, which he probably is, so they're just tuneless, like an aerobics instructor. Charlie and Bill sound tight, Keith and Ron are weaving nicely, the keys are just kind of there. I don't see any reason to revisit this one again any time soon.

 

Except for the numerous missed cues, out of tune guitars and vocals, guys mopping up the stage in the background, etc. It's very sloppy, though not without it's charms.
Check out the 2nd verse of "Let it Rock" Jagger comes in all most a full bar late, tonnes of **** like this on "Live in Texas". I'm not saying don't like it, but it's very sloppy.
"Sweet Little Sixteen" can hang though.

 

I don't care good a shape you are in, you can't run around most of a show and still have vocals that will stand up to scrutiny on a recording. It's no wonder Britney and her ilk don't sing live much at their shows.