Reviews Written by Scott
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March 11, 2004
Got Live Stones...If you want it.
Pros: Stones rolling in good shape...
Cons: Ah, what it could have been...
At first glance, “Four Flicks” appears a feast for Rolling Stones fans. Three DVD’s worth of live Stones plus a documentary, all taken from the band’s recent 40th anniversary “Licks” tour – at an affordable price. Better still, each disc in the collection represents a different show performed – one stadium, one arena, and more tantalizing for the Stones aficionado, a theater show.
And it ain’t hay, either. The “Licks” tour showed that while the band can’t help getting old, their art seems anything but. Few bands have their ability to present in a barn like London’s Twickenham Stadium and in the relative intimacy of the Paris’ Olympia Theatre. Yet the Stones pull off both with admirable skill and genuine passion – despite their professionalism neither show is hardly “another day at the office”. If anything, live performance is what defines the Stones circa 2003, not their current recordings.
The shows (and the discs) also benefit from the band’s willingness to not just coast through the usual crowd pleasers. Stones fans will delight in deliciously ragged versions of long lost nuggets like “Hand of Fate” “Worried About You” and “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking”. And for those of us who can only claim to have seen the band in the barns, catching the band work their mojo in a theater without the fireworks and inflatable women is a unique treat.
But after a couple of viewings, it’s obvious that this is yet another venture instigated not by artistic need, but to fatten up the balance sheet. Extras are impressive, but slight. The 40 minute documentary is nice, but how many times can we watch the band hug? As a Stones fan, I can’t help but feel that something is missing here.
Of course, the real need is for something more…well, satisfying. Instead of packing in another tour souvenir, why not commit to something like the Beatles “Anthology” and Led Zeppelin’s “DVD” – where the Stones history is rightfully put into perspective. They can still make a noise – but no one’s getting any younger, and its high time someone set the record straight. Once the Rolling Stones pass, we won’t see their likes again. ... -
October 25, 2003
Still Worth Getting Your Ya-Yas Out...
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 watched 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! ... -
Bootleg Series 5: Live 1975 (Ltd Ed) (Bonus DVD)
by Bob Dylan | MusicPrice: $9.99 to $13.42 Compare PricesJune 19, 2003
Rolling Thunder Rolling On...
1 of 1 Yahoo! Users found this review helpful This is a hell of a time to be a fan of The Man. In a surprising twist of fate (but not a simple one) Bob Dylan has rebounded with an autumn career revival that even the most ardent of Dylanologists couldn’t have seen coming. Fitting then, that we should be reminded of another peak moment in the Dylan career where he unexpectedly relit his creative spark– the 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue.
The Dylan of ’75 was coming off the hugely successful reunion tour with The Band. Yet for all its notoriety and success, the tour with The Band was less than pleasant for Dylan. He found himself without much control, performing in enormous hockey rinks to crowds of adoring fans eager to hear the classics but not much else. So after the tour Dylan retreated to the comfortable and controllable confines of the studio, resulting in the stunning “Blood On The Tracks”. Energized by the intimate new music, Dylan created the Rolling Thunder Revue as a reaction to the ’74 tour and the massive machine the music business had become, with it’s inflatable pigs and laser beams. Concerts dates were booked at random, in mostly small halls around the Northeast. The medicine show traveled by bus and consisted of Dylan, old friends such as Joan Baez, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, a crack band, and occasional guests such as Joni Mitchell and Roger McGuinn.
Culled from the tour, “Bob Dylan Live 1975” is more than a curio from the cabinets.
Equal parts rousing and reflective, this is Dylan investing new passion into material old and new. For some, his resparked passion might seem a bit unsettling as inspires Dylan to rewrite and rework more familiar numbers, such as “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” and the raucous opener, “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You”. The newer numbers are more faithful, but no less satisfying than the established classics. “Romance in Durango” and “Sara”, for example, are invested with real feeling and intimacy rendering them superior to the recorded versions. Overall, the sense is that Dylan is really pursuing a song, chasing it, instead of merely performing it. Even his singing – which lapsed into dangerous self parody in the eighties – sounds energized by the surroundings. His band – which included ex-Spider Mick Ronson – surely provides an additional boot in the ass, knowing where and when to lay back and also when to floor it (and they do on a vibrant and urgent “Hurricane”).
One minor point – though this is a Bob album, it would have been nice to hear what some of his fellow performers – especially Joni Mitchell – were doing on the tour. The only guests on the two-discs are Roger McGuinn and a somewhat awkward Joan Baez harmonizing with The Man. Perhaps I’ll seek out a copy of “Renaldo and Clara”, Dylan’s legendary five hour movie shot during the tour, for more of Joni, Ramblin’ Jack, etc.
As Cameron Crowe’s liner notes to “Biograph” point out, Dylan can be all things to all people – Folkie Bob, Rock and Roll Bob, Preacher Bob. During this handful of performances though, Dylan the icon let the guard down and became just Bob – a guy armed with more than a few good songs up his sleeve. There were less triumphs in the months and years ahead – his “Born Again” phase, halfhearted albums, and sonambulistic mega-tours – but “Live 1975” is proof that Dylan magic works best when he needs it most – and we expect it least. How does it feel, indeed. ... -
May 29, 2003
In The End
1 of 1 Yahoo! Users found this review helpful Roger Ebert once described “A Hard Day’s Night” as “springtime in the life of the Beatles” and he was certainly right. Joyous and uplifting, it is the greatest and most energetic rock and roll movie ever made. Nothing on MTV has ever come close to it, period. Or ever will, for that matter.
But if “A Hard Day’s Night” is springtime, then “Let It Be” is nothing short of a long, cold winter. The original idea was – like most Beatle ideas –an ambitious one. The band would write and rehearse an entire album, then perform that album live in front of aa audience. And the cameras would capture it all on film. But the Beatles of 1969 weren’t the same inseparable Fab Four of only a few years earlier. Relations within the band had grown as cold as the English winter, and with attentions being diverted in individual directions, no one had the patience for the project – or each other.
“Let It Be” captures this moment in time, just before the fall. The talent was certainly still there – months later they would regroup to record “Abbey Road” – but clearly little joy. Instead of seeing the natural charisma and camaraderie that defined the band, viewers see an unmotivated George taking heat from Paul about a guitar chord, John consumed by his passion for Yoko, and ever loyal Ringo watching it all fall apart from behind the drum kit. We’re there – dead center – for the rock and roll equivalent of “Scenes from a Marriage”. “Let It Be” is further haunted by the fact that things would disintegrate further still and the coming decade would be eaten up by animosity and dysfunction. Time that proved more valuable than they thought.
But the music - as always – transcends. These are still the Beatles after all, and the band rises to the occasion, most notably the historic impromptu roof concert. Here, if for one last moment, the Beatles recapture a little lost glory and mutual affection while peeling off a few killer licks. There will still plenty of those to be had – “Get Back” and “Two of Us” remain standouts from the sessions – but lighting the spark took more time and energy.
“Let It Be” proves that there are very few happy endings in rock and roll. The stories always start out great, as poets and prophets are plucked from out of nowhere to speak for a generation. But the endings are more often than not sad, as friendships fall to pieces, addiction takes its toll, or the ideals once cherished are lost. Like Fat Elvis, it is hard to watch the Fab Four lose their passion. It’s tougher to watch them turn on each other, especially when together they took on the world. ... -
March 9, 2003
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The "Animal" Kingdom...
2 of 2 Yahoo! Users found this review helpfulPros: This album is no dog...
Cons: Cheery, this ain't...
To the casual Pink Floyd fan, “Animals” is the lost one. Squeezed in between the masterworks “Wish You Were Here” and “The Wall”, this is the neglected middle child that never finds a place on today’s radio. Unconventional and uncompromising, the three songs that make up “Animals” – “Dogs”, “Pigs (Three Different Ones)” and “Sheep” – aren’t comfortably squeezed into a “power hour” or “Two-for Tuesday”.
Of course, there’s good reason “Animals” hardly shows up on classic rock’s radar. If “Dark Side of the Moon” had soul, and “Wish You Were Here” had melody, then “Animals” is all attitude. Those looking to put this on the turntable and ride out a good buzz are in for a rude awakening. Gone were the gentle chord passages, the soothing female voices, and the collage of sound effects. In their place were snarling guitars, unfettered production, and the singular voice of a very agitated Roger Waters.
On “Animals”, Waters has taken Orwell’s “Animal Farm” and updated it to late-seventies England. Unlike previous albums which had taken on a more inclusive world view or sympathetic longing, the new album was about Modern England – its politics and people. Waters turned his sharp eye for detail on British society and set them into three separate casts – pigs, dogs, and sheep. The “dogs” are the wealthy capitalists, pigs the self-righteous, and the sheep are the masses who follow blindly their false leaders – into the awaiting slaughterhouse.
Waters spares nothing and no one – this is some of the bitterest music ever put to tape(no small statement, considering “Animals” was released during the birth of punk, 1977). Yet, as the lyrics vomit forth bile the music soars – especially guitarist Dave Gilmour, seemingly relishing the chance to kick a little dirt into the Floyd’s usual smooth sound. Gilmour’s guitar techniques range from subtle animal noises to wails, shrieks, and more than a few blistering solos. On “Animals” , Waters is clearly the captain of the Good Ship Floyd – but its Gilmour down in the engine room, providing thrust and steam.
“Animals” ushered in the end of Pink Floyd’s rich middle dynasty. From this moment on, Waters assumed creative control of Pink Floyd, relegating his fellow members Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright to mere sidemen. Roger Waters, the critic of the dogmatic and pigheaded, became the very thing he despised . ...