The Rolling Stones - Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out [Remastered] (CD)

Still Worth Getting Your Ya-Yas Out...

By Scott  Oct 25, 2003

Pros: Peak Stones. What more do you need?

Cons: They would never make a live album this good again.

It seems odd to imagine now, but in late 1969 the Rolling Stones were a band with their backs to the wall. The screaming din of the British Invasion had died down, and with Swinging London no longer the center of the youth universe, The Stones watch...ed the winds of good fortune change. They were broke. And earlier that summer, founding member Brian Jones drowned in his swimming pool.But they were responding to the atmosphere with some of the most vibrant – and relevant – music of their career. The smash hit single “Jumping Jack Flash” came first, followed by the album “Beggars Banquet”. After three years of expensive and unsuccessful attempts to imitate the Beatles “Sgt. Pepper” the band returned to their gritty r and b roots and to the top of the charts. Now, in mid-1969, The Stones were minting another great album (“Let It Bleed”) and with new member Mick Taylor, anxious to take their new music on the road to American audiences.The Rolling Stones Mach 2 hit the road with gusto in the autumn of ‘69, and by the time they arrived in New York City around Thanksgiving, the change agreed with them. Audiences too had changed. While still enthusiastic, they were also listening. And with the invention of stage monitors so were The Rolling Stones, surprised – and impressed – with their considerable power. Little wonder tapes were rolling at Madison Square Garden, then.“Get Your Ya-Ya’s Out” is the live album that cemented MC Sam Cutler’s claim that The Stones were “the greatest rock and roll band in the world”. By the November shows at the Garden, Mick Taylor had been successfully forged into the lineup, and the Stones ripped through a set list that was anything but nostalgic. Of the songs featured on “Get Your Ya-Ya’s Out” only the Chuck Berry covers “Oh Carol” and “Little Queenie” predated 1967. Yet the concert setting brought out the raw power and danger in the Stones new music, and there was no place for pop hits. This was the blues, people.Live, The Rolling Stones transformed numbers like “Midnight Rambler” and “Sympathy For The Devil” into electric passion plays. In the case of “Rambler” the tame studio version is rendered obsolete with the razor sharp interplay between Keith Richards and Mick Taylor. “Sympathy” became something else altogether, as the band threw aside the studio creation for something different, yet even more primal. The live version, which would be a concert staple for years to come, shows the influence of San Francisco jam bands with the Stones now unafraid to stretch out their own considerable chops as a unit.Not that “Ya-Ya’s” is entirely a dark ride. There is a great joy in listening to The Rolling Stones once again find the roll in their rock. The clever production is certainly missing – most notably on a bare bones “Honky Tonk Women” – but the individual playing has attitude to spare, with their influences all out in the open. There would be other live albums, but those are merely a good band running through a great catalogue(at best). In 1969, this was the sound of the Rolling Stones grabbing the brass ring and finally living up to their arrogance - and their promise. Well alright! Read more Less