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View Full Version : The Stones FINALLY release "Brussels Affair" legitimately (about fucking time!)



FORD
11-19-2011, 02:01 AM
http://static.musictoday.com/store/bands/3158/product_medium/BGDDRS67.JPG


The Rolling Stones have unlocked the door to their archive, full of music, film and memorabilia from their incredible, almost 50 year career. At www.StonesArchive.com you can listen to unheard music, view unseen photographs and films, and look at rare merchandise. Fans have the opportunity to buy items such as signed lithographs, deluxe box sets, even personalized merchandise and tour gear in our shop.

The first item the band are releasing is the long-awaited download of a legendary 1973 concert, recorded at the Forest National in Belgium. Long hailed by die-hard Stones fans as one of the band's greatest live performances, The Brussels Affair has been a mainstay in the underground music world for years. The original bootlegs, sold under such titles as Europe 73, Bedspring Symphony and Brussels Affair, were cobbled together from assorted radio broadcasts, including the syndicated radio programme King Biscuit Flower Hour, and usually contained songs performed at other venues. The new edition, pulled exclusively from the two Brussels gigs, was taken from the original multi-track masters recorded by Andy Johns on the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. Longtime Stones collaborator Bob Clearmountain applied the final mix.

Brussels was the penultimate stop on a European tour that the Stones embarked upon in the autumn of 1973 to promote the album Goats Head Soup. At the time, the Stones were by far the biggest stars on the planet, and the 21-city tour was met by ecstatic crowds, causing the band to frequently perform two shows a day, as they did at the Forest National arena in Brussels. Despite the frenetic pace, the road trip yielded some of the band's greatest music on stage.

The Brussels Affair captures that greatness. From the opening chords of "Brown Sugar" to the closing crescendo of "Street Fighting Man", the Stones were firing on all cylinders: Keith and Charlie churning out a locomotive-like rhythm section (can any song be played faster than this rendition of "Rip This Joint"?), Mick Taylor delivering a barrage of blistering leads, and Jagger growling and grinding in his blue-sequined best.

Although the Stones began readying a live album of the show for commercial release, the idea was ultimately shelved - a tragedy given the ferocity of the set and the definitive live versions of Stones classics that it presents. Fortunately, that has all changed today. If there was one Rolling Stones bootleg that needed to find its way into the mainstream, Brussels '73 was it.

Sounds like there could be more Stones archives to come. Only downside (if any) is that it looks like this might be a digital-only release. You don't have to use that proprietary Itunes bloatware to get it though. MP3 and FLAC downloads are both available from the Stones own site.

http://www.stonesarchive.com/

Best fucking live Stones album ever - and finally official. Now I have something else to be thankful for, just in time for Turkey Day.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkX4Fi8GFe4

chefcraig
11-19-2011, 07:30 AM
I never could quite figure out why the Stones chose to release the turgid, slow as molasses and insomnia-curing Love You Live instead of the Brussels recording, other than the fact that Mick Taylor is blazing throughout and was no longer in the band. The truth is, the 1975-77 Stones had as much in common musically with the 1973 band as the 1972 Dolphins have with their current incarnation.

SunisinuS
11-19-2011, 08:00 AM
Do they have more than 3 chords?

Matt White
11-19-2011, 08:58 AM
WOW! That is cool! Pre-bloated backup singers STONES!

hain23x
11-19-2011, 08:35 PM
This is the boot I always point people to when I say "they were once world champions". I love the slide work that MT did on Brown Sugar. They were on fire during that 72-73 run. The energy is just amazing on those recordings.

They probably figure they can release some of that stuff to curb the bootlegging. Glad to see they released it. You can take a couple of those 72 shows (Philly and Texas) and then this one and put together a KILLER live set.

Hardrock69
11-20-2011, 05:03 AM
Now MAYBE, just MAYBE Ed will take notice of this sort of thing. :mad:

Pink Floyd has opened their vaults as well.

About time! I do agree.....one of the best Stones boots I have ever heard, and I would gladly pay for an official release over a bootleg any day.

ThrillsNSpills
11-20-2011, 11:15 AM
Well we just released the whole thing in this thread to celebrate. :lookie: :beers8:



As usual, the YouTube Taylor fans know what's up: (I saw this tour (and 8 others) their is NOTHING in rock like Mick Taylor taking full flight in person.)

Terry
11-20-2011, 05:56 PM
I never could quite figure out why the Stones chose to release the turgid, slow as molasses and insomnia-curing Love You Live instead of the Brussels recording, other than the fact that Mick Taylor is blazing throughout and was no longer in the band. The truth is, the 1975-77 Stones had as much in common musically with the 1973 band as the 1972 Dolphins have with their current incarnation.

I quite enjoyed the version of Sympathy on Love You Live...I mean, I wouldn't say Love You Live is the ultimate live representation of the Stones on record, but it's miles above Still Life, Flashpoint or Stripped.

However, these 1973 recordings being released is good, good news. 1968 to 1978 was the Stones' highwater mark, and 1969 to 1973 was the peak of that era.

ODShowtime
11-22-2011, 07:14 AM
It's so thoughtful of Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones to release the FM broadcasts we've all had for decades. I'm sure it wore them out going through the work of mastering a fully mixed show.

Any multi-tracks out there that we haven't heard? Anything that's actually worth my money?

Yeah I'm still gonna buy this anyway. One of the Street Fighting Man's from these shows is absolutely smokin'

Jérôme Frenchise
11-22-2011, 12:18 PM
Great news!!

I'll be glad to listen to Brussels Affair with an adequate sound pretty soon.
I've had the boot on CD for 20 years, a great one!

Keith had been banned from France in 1973, so there had been a special train that
took French fans from Paris to Brussels to see them at the Forrest National Stadium.
Guess the smell and atmosphere in those compartments! :biggrin:

And Mick Jagger spoke French between songs. Just classy.

Let's just hope VH will think of duely release the 1983 Heavy Metal Day by... 2023... (ouch!)

FORD
11-23-2011, 04:38 AM
They might have kicked them out of France, but not for long apparently, since most of the "Love You Live" album was recorded in Paris, and then they came back in 77 to record Some Girls at Pathe-Marconi Studios.

Jérôme Frenchise
11-23-2011, 12:53 PM
Sure the Stones weren't vindictive...

The first half of Love You Live was recorded in La Villette, Paris in '77,
and the second in Toronto the year before.
They had recorded Exile in Keith's villa in Nice on the French Riviera in 1971,
where they were harassed by dealers.

I don't really know what made the Stones more acceptable in 1977 than in '73.

Anyway, I'd much rather listen to Brussels Affair than Love You Live: the former is
raw, brilliant, pure excitement, while the latter sounds weaker, less skillful, even...

FORD
11-23-2011, 01:20 PM
The Stones were kind of a mess on the 75-76 tour, because Keith was a mess

For example, the Knebworth "train wreck" version of "Let's Spend The Night Together".......


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNJuJj_LEXQ

Hard to believe they released a live album from that tour at all.

Jérôme Frenchise
11-23-2011, 02:28 PM
Hardly listenable... though I tried, but oh my... :biggrin:

BTW, my bad, I was mistaken, they toured in Europe in 1976 and carried on in the US in '77,
they played at La Villette in '76.

The 1981-82 tours gave good versions of Let's Spend the Night Together - Sill Life was my first
live album by the Stones.
But when I got Brussels Affair later, it made my day as far as the Stones.
And Ladies and Gentlemen is another of their tops IMO.

Jérôme Frenchise
11-23-2011, 02:46 PM
http://static.musictoday.com/store/bands/3158/product_medium/BGDDRS67.JPG


I think I'll never get tired of this Tour poster. :cool:

And to think they're going to reunite once again...
Last time they did, I didn't go and see them in Switzerland though
I could have with some friends (who were happy with the concert
they saw), but after what I heard on a few youtubes I thought they'd
better stop by then.
I wouldn't snob another album but it would be a pain to see them get wrecked
on stage - unless they do a club tour like in 1995, which would be more comfortable
than the same old stadiums where the way they play suffers IMO.

Hardrock69
11-24-2011, 12:31 AM
Saw them in Boulder, CO in October 81 and they were lame.
Saw them 9 years later in KC on Steel Wheels tour and it was a complete turnaround. They came out and kicked my fucking ass.

Mr Walker
02-03-2012, 08:31 AM
Hampton '81 now available from the archives... mp3 or flac.
Sounds excellent!!! What a brilliant idea!

gbranton
02-03-2012, 01:21 PM
it's miles above..........Stripped.

I have to disagree somewhat with this, while the Stones aren't on fire on Stripped like they are on Brussels or Some Girls, once I get past the first very bland first three songs I REALLY enjoyed the re-arranged versions of the songs presented here, starting with Shine A Light. There used to be a boot available on Ebay that was called Stripped Companion which included versions of No Expectations, Beast of Burden and Memory Motel recorded at the same time that are fantastic.

ODShowtime
02-03-2012, 06:48 PM
So can anyone confirm that this release is any better than the best FLACs out there? Is it worth the loot?

FORD
02-03-2012, 09:52 PM
I haven't heard the "official" Hampton '81 release yet, but what I've read on other boards seems to be a mix of good and bad things.

Apparently what's good about Clearmountain's mix is that he's got a clear separation of Keith in one channel and Woody in the other, so the "weaving" guitar interplay between the two sounds better than the original bootleg tapes, or probably even better than the official "Still Life" album, parts of which were taken from this show. Bad news is that Bill Wyman is apparently much less audible in this new mix than in the original recordings.

For the record, I wasn't too impressed with the way Clearmountain turned Mick Taylor down in the Brussels mix either. He's still playing the solos obviously, but far less noticeable the rest of the time. That's just a crime to tamper with something like that.

Mr Walker
02-04-2012, 09:28 AM
So can anyone confirm that this release is any better than the best FLACs out there? Is it worth the loot?

For less than ten bucks... absolutely.