"The Rolling Stones" Thread

[Terry]

I recently went through the whole Let's Spend the Night Together compilation from the 1981 tour again. I hadn't done so for about 20 years (had it on videotape), remembered it and found it on the net.
I had almost forgotten how masterful the show was. My first Stones album was Undercover and first live album was Still Life.

The behind the curtain moment and the very beginning of Under my Thumb are very impressive. They all look so laid down while a whole stadium is waiting for them to start, and the way they walk on stage as if they were rehearsing...

I mean, by that point in their careers, merely performing to a stadium full of people in and of itself wasn't really going to faze The Stones, in terms of the sheer amount of people there or whatever.

From what I can gather from what I've seen of the tours prior to the 1981 one, the Still Life/Tattoo You/20th Anniversary/Whatever The Hell Else One Wants To Call It tour was - in comparison to the other tours before - a very organized tour. Very organized in terms of how it was laid out beforehand regarding the logistics, lining up the promoters and the venues, the corporate sponsorship of the tour via Jovan fragrances. It was also very structured in terms of how the band band rehearsed for it, laid out the setlist and pretty much stuck to the plan night after night and show after show.

I'd say maybe a decade or so ago, before the band started releasing the 70s and 80s shows officially, when full setlist length video of 1981 US tour stadium shows from...where the fuck was it...Seattle, Dallas, Chicago and the like were being put out in bootleg form, it was interesting to compare it to the Let's Spend The Night Together footage of the first half of the movie that concentrated on the stadium show (vs. the 2nd half which was from the indoor arena)...and even comparing those various stadium gigs to one another...the setlist didn't vary much from night to night...nor the arrangements.

As has been said, the 1981 tour was the template for subsequent tours, and that streamlined, highly thought-out and professionally-executed series of gigs. The band were able to perform consistently throughout a tour. As opposed to the tours prior to 1981, which could be more hit-or-miss at times in terms of the quality of the performance...sometimes you'd get these spectacular shows, and other times the band as a whole would barely get through a gig by the seat of their pants and the strength of their name/legend rather than anything they were necessarily doing onstage on a particular night.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

All right, but regardless of how used to playing before stadiums they were, being so relaxed a few seconds before starting just cracks me up.

[twonabomber]

I recently went through the whole Let's Spend the Night Together compilation from the 1981 tour again. I hadn't done so for about 20 years (had it on videotape), remembered it and found it on the net.
I had almost forgotten how masterful the show was. My first Stones album was Undercover and first live album was Still Life.

The behind the curtain moment and the very beginning of Under my Thumb are very impressive. They all look so laid down while a whole stadium is waiting for them to start, and the way they walk on stage as if they were rehearsing...

The At The Max intro was similar. Milling around backstage and then Start Me Up.

[twonabomber]

This played before they hit the stage on the No Security tour

[twonabomber]

I mean, by that point in their careers, merely performing to a stadium full of people in and of itself wasn't really going to faze The Stones, in terms of the sheer amount of people there or whatever.

From what I can gather from what I've seen of the tours prior to the 1981 one, the Still Life/Tattoo You/20th Anniversary/Whatever The Hell Else One Wants To Call It tour was - in comparison to the other tours before - a very organized tour. Very organized in terms of how it was laid out beforehand regarding the logistics, lining up the promoters and the venues, the corporate sponsorship of the tour via Jovan fragrances. It was also very structured in terms of how the band band rehearsed for it, laid out the setlist and pretty much stuck to the plan night after night and show after show.

I'd say maybe a decade or so ago, before the band started releasing the 70s and 80s shows officially, when full setlist length video of 1981 US tour stadium shows from...where the fuck was it...Seattle, Dallas, Chicago and the like were being put out in bootleg form, it was interesting to compare it to the Let's Spend The Night Together footage of the first half of the movie that concentrated on the stadium show (vs. the 2nd half which was from the indoor arena)...and even comparing those various stadium gigs to one another...the setlist didn't vary much from night to night...nor the arrangements.

As has been said, the 1981 tour was the template for subsequent tours, and that streamlined, highly thought-out and professionally-executed series of gigs. The band were able to perform consistently throughout a tour. As opposed to the tours prior to 1981, which could be more hit-or-miss at times in terms of the quality of the performance...sometimes you'd get these spectacular shows, and other times the band as a whole would barely get through a gig by the seat of their pants and the strength of their name/legend rather than anything they were necessarily doing onstage on a particular night.

That was probably Bill Graham's influence.

The Stones reportedly never did soundchecks. When they got back together for the Steel Wheels tour, Benji Lefevre asked if they'd consider doing soundchecks, as it would show the crew that the band was serious about putting on a great performance and making the tour work. One of the Stones (maybe Keith, I'd have to go dig out the book) said "put a snooker table backstage and we'll do a soundcheck before every show."

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Rolling Stones: 50 Unreleased Tracks Leak Online

The article dates back from March 9th. I heard about it on the radio only one hour ago. It seems an insider posted the whole stuff (50 fully finished songs with great sound) on youtube, but it isn't available there anymore.
I found a source that offers FLAC versions. I can pm a link to you (if I know your user name, that is).

I'll listen to those tracks in my car tomorrow and the rest of the week.Artwork (Digipack) front-back.jpg

https://wmmr.com/2021/03/09/rolling-stones-50-unreleased-tracks-leak-online/

[FORD]

Found a website that had brief sound clips from this set. (and then immediately forgot where the site was so I can't post the link) Tracklist looks like a bunch of stuff that's already out there, but from the clips, the sound quality definitely seems to be worth the download. Don't know who put this out, but if they have access to tapes of this quality, I wish they would make their next "project" a complete release of the Some Girls sessions.

And BTW, I found the FLAC files on bittorrent. Which is good, because those other download sites are trying to con you into a "paid" membership (which probably forwards your info directly to the RIAA trolls)

[FORD]

The big YouTube file disappeared quick, but some of the tracks are surfacing on their own.

This song was previously only available as a demo from the Dirty Work sessions with some scratch vocals from Keef. So I'm beginning to think this is some sort of Tattoo You type project with a bunch of new vocals slapped on vault tracks. Mick must have been bored in his mansion?

[FORD]

The RIAA trolls will probably zap this one quick... It's the goddamned original version with Bowie & Woody, recorded in Woody's basement. Listen while you can!!

[FORD]

The oldest song on this new compilation would be "She's Doing Her Thing" from 1967. Mick recorded this one right, because it sounds like an old song.... but apparently there were no vocals on the original at all. Just found the original session. And it's all instrumental. And it took the boys several false starts to get in the groove....

Keef is playing the only guitar here, while Brian Jones is on the congas.

[FORD]

Track by track "review" of this collection can be read here

[FORD]

Here's another newly surfaced boot. This one from the 40 Licks sessions in 2002....

The first song has the same vocal melody as "Trouble" from Keef's last solo album, though entirely different lyrics (and Mick singing this one)

[FORD]

Nazi RIAA Prick Censors FUCK OFF!!

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Now I've listened to the whole thing, there's nothing in there that would break three legs to a duck (sorry, French slang ).
I even got bored...
The sound is fine, all right, but you can clearly get why the tunes didn't make it on the albums.

There's a documentary interest in the proto-"It's only rock 'n' roll" but frankly I prefer the definitive version by far.

I still wonder who put all this on the net, and why.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Nearly all these tracks sound like watching top sportsmen practicing.
There are quite a few studio boots circulating that are 50 times as interesting, containing less tunes.

Were there any reactions from the Stones about those leaks?