Disco de The Rolling Stones: “Shine A Light (Deluxe Edition)”

Well, after an uncertain start to their Fall 2006 leg of the 'A Bigger Bang Tour', the band started to come together. Keith seemed to shake off the lingering effects of his 'coconut tree fall' earlier in the year. Woodie stayed sober and Mick and Charlie beat off colds. By the time they hit the Beacon for the Scorcese movie, they were ready to play at the top of their game. And that's what the listener gets here--the Rolling Stones playing damn near as well as ever. The song list, even if suggested by the movie, is fantastic and even the so-called 'warhorses' sound sweet with the superb sound and mix. The audio here is the best of all their (too?) many live albums. Of particular note--the guitars are cranked and gnarly in the mix. Mick's vocals are unusually well enunciated in spots and properly slurred in unexpected others and his ad libs are nice. Even Keith's vocals are spot on with his three (nice picks) tunes. Not a document of superb musicianship (although Watts is excellent throughout), but a high-energy, loose band of veteran rockers peaking past predictions!

Highlight--'Champagne And Reefer' with Buddy Guy joining in...smokin'!!

The Stones release another live album in a series of live albums that a few are real Gems (Get yer ya-yas out!, Still Life and Live Licks). Shine a Light is another one of those gems. Despite this movie and album many just state tho' that the Stones are dinosaurs...they've been doin' it since Kennedy and no longer "popular". We know that. There may be some legitimate facts in those criticisms. But what many don't know is that there are a bunch of critics who just love to slam whatever this band does.

I am not talking about the people who just aren't into the Stones. I understand that not all of us share the same tastes. Some people like Jazz others hip hop and so on. However there is a group (you can find them here on Amazon and even reviewing this album) who seek to slam the Stones any chance they get. 'They haven't done anything (good) since `67 or 'Exile on Main Street'' so on and so forth. To those persons I just again ask as I have asked in my other reviews concerning the Stones...why do you even bother? You're not fans and apparently if you were you haven't been since, oh, `67?!

The Stones have contributed immensely to music/rock genre. However since 1984 when Springsteen released the last great real rock and roll album 'Born in the USA'...rock and roll has left the center of attention of the commercial interests. Music changes, tastes change and thus rap/hip hop/pop (today's pop) and other music forms have dominated the supposed 'media' attention...the Stones are now grand fathers and possibly even great grand fathers...Jagger still moves and is in great shape but he isn't 38 or 28 or 18. He doesn't run and jump like he used to. He's pushing 68 and they haven't released an amazingly popular album since say `81...but what band of the 60s/70s has? McCartney's last studio album from what I've read was a major snooze. When Steely Dan won best album at the Grammys several years ago, many in the audience (the youth of that year) quietly mumbled, no doubt commented 'who is that?' and barely applauded when it was announced on the televised Grammy show Steely Dan had one the nomination. Same goes for Herby Hancock this last year.

This is just life folks...people get older, get old die, and time moves on...Tastes change. Didn't the Stones grow up to parents who listened to Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, and Bing Crosby plus all the famous (probably since gone) old acts native to England? The Stones grow up listening to them no doubt but set them aside and eventually embraced something newer. And speaking of Frank Sinatra, his last glory days were the sixties...did he stop recording or performing? no. Was Sinatra in `88 the same as Sinatra in 56? No. Yet he was the chairman he could still belt them out and was much appreciated even by those who didn't find Sinatra their cup of tee.

If the Stones are not your cup of tee, fine. They are nonetheless the chairmen of Rock. True, the Stones aren't the Beatles who made records containing 14 songs, 10 of which were gems and the other 4 "throwaway" songs" were still brilliant (an amazing body of work no doubt unparalleled to this day). However the Beatles were a phenomenon. The Stones are just a band who plays fun rock and roll and got rich & famous doing it. So what? The Stones did many albums and had great singles come from those albums. However as in this album there are some songs the Stones wrote and recorded that aren't well known or well known 'singles', (like Loving Cup) which are nonetheless 'true gems'. I disagree with some reviews here that state that Jack White killed the song. White is young, held a good sustain on his voice....Jagger can't (or won't out of selfishness or laziness) hit the high notes anymore....it's a fact...but that fact doesn't kill Jagger's greatness. That's what makes this band special. They're fallible, they're music, they're rock and roll, tho' they're old they embod(ied) youth, and I agree, they're an acquired taste. They don't need to be slammed just appreciated.

I am no Stones apologist. The last album in my opinion was a mess. It was an excuse to go on the road (something they love artistically and financially (what's wrong with that??)). They do need to come back with some new rock and rock/blues stuff. This album's gems beg the question "when's the next new/great album coming out?". Those gems are Live with me, Start me up, She was hot, All down the line, Loving Cup, Some Girls, Faraway Eyes, You got the silver, & Champagne and Reefer. Keep listening Rock on.

This is just not another live Stones album. In the last twenty years we've have several of these come out, including Flashpoint, No Security, Live Licks and so forth. But those had their flaws and were weak in several areas.

The Stones and Martin Scorsese partnered up to produce one of the finest live albums released by the Stones since "Get Yer Ya Ya's Out"... I even think this one is better than Love You Live. There are several reasons for this...

Throughout this album you can really hear Keith and Ronnie, and hear a vibrant lively band. Mick too was great on the vocals even after all these years. Of course we have our standard classic set of tracks like Jumping Jack Flash, As Tears Go By, Tumbling Dice and so on...

But we get others in this album (two disc version I'm reviewing), such as She Was Hot. A dusted off 1983 track from the Undercover album I've heard performed live in Dodger Stadium myself. Keef (Keith Richards) really enjoyed playing that track apparently and was lively in that. No more quiet Keef... loud Keefer is what we want. Ronnie also was more lively in this. Heck both were more lively in this album than any other live album I've heard since "Get Yer Ya Yas"... Some Girls was another one of my favorites from my favorite album, Some Girls. Other tracks of interest are "You Got the Silver", "Just My Imagination", "Shine A Light", and "I'm Free" (CLASSIC!)...

And lets not forget "Champagne and Reefer" with Buddy "Mother****er" Guy (quoting Mick)... bluesy brilliance. You'll find a bit of everything in this album.

This isn't just another simple live album. There is an obvious quality increase here compared to the last live albums. Even the Flashpoint album lacks something in this one. Lively, swaggering, dirty. All reasons why I love the Stones.

Top live cut. If you don't like the thought of the Stones releasing another live album, put the bias away and listen to this one. And don't post reviews without listening to it first.

Over the past 40 years, the Stones have released many live recordings. Unfortunately, they hardly ever were able to capture the excitement of a Rolling Stones show. That's where bootlegs came in. "Get Yer Ya Ya's out" was a pretty good collection of a 1969 Stones concert, but the bootleg "Live'r Than you'll ever be" truly captured the rough performance of the Stones at the time.

Following their masterpiece "Exile on Main Street", the Stones embarked on a fantastic US-Tour. Their sound was dark and (in parts) sloppy, but no official document was released. The excellent "Philadelphia Special" bootleg is a good substitute for anybody, who didn't get to see the Stones back then. Their next official Live release was 'Love you Live', a patch work of their 1976 Tour. The only interesting material on this double album, came from their Paris show (side 3 of the record).

Again, bootlegs like 'Hot August Night' captured the now slower, funkyer Stones sound much better.

In 1978 the Stones released 'Some Girls', which was followed by a fantastic tour, which featured a shorter live set,. Again, no official live album was released, but the excellent 'King Biscuit Flower Hour' captures the dirty sound of a 1978 Stones show in all its glory.

The next official live release was 'Still Life' of their '81 American tour. Again, being a single album, it only captures a small part of the Stones supporting their excellent "Tattoo You" album. Generally, they played most of their songs twice as fast on this tour, and the bootleg 'Hampton 1981' captures a complete show in brilliant sound quality.

After releasing one more decent album ('Undercover'), the Stones' studio work kind of went down hill. There were a couple of additional live recordings in the 90's and in the new millennium ('No Security' which showcases a very polished live sound, but again, a very standard set list - or 'Live Licks', which features edited versions of live recordings), but by now, the Stones released complete concerts on DVDs, so there is no need to buy any of these abbreviated concert documents.

The best live recording from their 90's period is, again, a bootleg called 'Atlantic City 1991'. 3 CDs full of clean, powerful stones material. The outstanding track here is `Salt of the Earth', featuring Axl Rose.

Which finally gets me to this new live double CD : "Shine a Light". Finally, the Rolling Stones ditched their standards in the set list (how many live versions of 'Honky Tonk Woman' do I really need) and they also realized, that none of their studio work after 'Undercover' can compare to the quality of their late 60's, throughout the 70's and early 80's material. They heavily showcase the "Some Girls" album here (now with a politically correct version of the title track) and of course, there are several gems from "Exile on Main St." as well.

They slow down most of their songs a bit, but the sound is dirty, just the way we love it. Keith is in excellent form (both, guitar and singing) and Mick is still one of the most charismatic lead singers and his vocals are still brilliant and cocky at the same time.

Definitely buy the double CD. To summarize you will get :

An excellent set list, brilliant live sound, and an overall outstanding performance. Thank you Mick, Ronnie, Charlie and Keith, for giving us finally a Rolling Stones worthy, official live release.

Surprise, surprise! Mick, Keith and the gang, now in their 60's, can still rock the house. I have every other Rolling Stones live recording and I would rate this one second behind the classic Get Yer Ya Ya's Out. Song selection is excellent, a great mix of standards and deeper album cuts. The guests, Buddy Guy, Jack White and Christina Aguilera add nice texture to the songs they contribute on. Bottom line, though, the Stones put on a great show. Sound quality is great, you can hear every riff distinctly and the band is very tight. Unlike some of the Stones' other live albums, there is not a laid back, going through the motions vibe - the band attacks these songs, the rockers stomp and the ballads groove. Stones fans will love this album and newcomers to the band will want to hear more.