Friday, July 26, 2013

(Mostly) Instrumental Backing Tracks of the Gods (An Occasional Series): Special Paging Lash Larue! Edition

From Pathe Marconi studios in Dayton Ohio Paris, France in 1978, please enjoy The Rolling Stones (featuring a mostly off-microphone Mick Jagger on barely discernible vocals) rehearsing and swaggering through the Some Girls classic "When the Whip Comes Down."




Words mostly fail me on this one, which is beyond great, but allow me two observations.

1. Anybody who claims the Stones didn't still have it at this point in their career is probably selling something.

2. Robert Christgau, who I don't agree with particularly often, was nonetheless on the money when he observed that "If you don't like the Rolling Stones, you don't like rock 'n' roll as a form."

I should add that you can download two CDs worth of similar rehearsal Stones stuff from the same period over here.

You're welcome.

[h/t Willard's Wormholes]

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love bootlegs. I remember all the excitement when these Paris rehearsals/outtakes bootlegs surfaced in the early 1980's. But I'd still rather hear studio stuff with Brian and Taylor.

When it comes to the Stones, I'm more partial to live stuff. The outtakes and rehearsals are cool for a quick peek, but the live stuff has more drive and staying power.

I was ready to give up on the Stones after It's Only Rock 'N' Roll. Goat's Head was disappointing, especially coming on the heels of Exile. IORR was better but not classic. So I wrote them off. But I still kept my tongue T-shirts and tank tops. After all, they were once the Greatest.

When they toured in 1975, I had to go. I went to all five nights at the Forum. Sandy and I, along with another girlfriend Jackie, rented a van for the hedonistic occasion. I still have the slip from National Car Rental for our fuck truck along with ticket stubs from the shows tucked inside the outer protective sleeve of the IORR album. I seem to remember having some very delicious honey oil and Thai stick. And a bunch of Uncle Siggy's cocoa powder for our sextet.

Those shows were pretty decent but they didn't compare with 1969 and 1972. Plus the 1973 European tour bootlegs were just amazing. 1975 wasn't even close, but not a disaster.

I think that the band got worse on the 1978 tour and even more so in 1981. But I saw them in fucking stadiums, which didn't help. I liked Some Girls and, for the most part, hated Emotional Rescue. Tattoo You was a comeback before two of their shittiest albums.

Since Steel Wheels I've enjoyed the tours. At least the gigs that were good. 1989 and 1997 were particularly good for me. Had great seats and got some wonderful tapes from 1997 when I saw them five times.

I also think the studio albums they've done since their regrouping are pretty good. But lots of songs should be trimmed in length.

Stopped seeing them in the 2000's because of stupid ticket prices. But did get comped for the 2002 Wiltern show. Did see their warm-up at the Echo for the most recent tour. They weren't the greatest but it was, after all, a warm-up.

You and Christgau are correct. If you don't like the Stones, you don't like rock 'n' roll. They were it's embodiment. But c'mon, the glory years are 1964-1972. The rest is just what we had to settle for.

I do love the vintage live "Starfuckers" loads though. Actually I kinda like the first three sides of Love You Live. Also they've never done "Shattered" worth a shit live.

Vickie Rock

Here's some stuff from 1975 luvs. Hope this works:

[url=http://www.divshare.com/download/24322530-47d]DivShare File - 07 KMET Ace Young May Day Stones tour ann.mp3[/url]

[url=http://www.divshare.com/download/24322533-20a]DivShare File - 08 KMET Stones tour ad for Forum shows.mp3[/url]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COV7f6qc-b4

Anonymous said...

Obviously I don't know what I'm doing. I think I need a tutorial.

Maybe this will work:

http://www.divshare.com/download/24322530-47d

http://www.divshare.com/download/24322533-20a


Anonymous said...

Well, here we go again.

http://www.divshare.com/download/24322530-47d

http://www.divshare.com/download/24322533-20a

This is a complete Forum show audio:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COV7f6qc-b4

Sorry for my general ineptitude and character defects. Gotta find my roogalator betwixt here and Timbuktu.

buzzbabyjesus said...

I have the "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others" boot from 1978, and "Shattered" is indeed terrible. It reveals how thin the song really is.
I'm currently kind of tired of The Stones. I read "Life" a few months ago, and Keef really fell off whatever pedestal he was on. A reminder that drug addicts are boring people.
I played Disc One of "Forty Licks" the other night because my 14 year old daughter asked me about them. One of her teachers is a Stones fan who doesn't like The Beatles.
I was previewing it to see how I felt about exposing her to the lyrical content. My favorite is "Beggars Banquet", but no way I'll play her "Stray Cat Blues". I was uncomfortable with "Under My Thumb". I don't want some asshole thinking that about her someday. She came in during "Paint it Black", which she was familiar with, and thinks is stupid.
I'll never fall for that "The best Stones album since 'Some Girls' bullshit again.

steve simels said...

the Bob Clearmountain remix of "Before They Make Me Run."

Never been on CD, but it's vastly superior to the official album version.

http://powerpop.blogspot.com/2011/11/some-girls-week-remixes-of-gods.html

Anonymous said...

Being a kid can be pretty adult.

I grew up with the stuff when I was teen. The Doors, Stones, Zappa were all pretty "adult", but nothing I couldn't handle. But everybody's different.

With regard to Shattered: The 1978 tour pretty much sucked. I liked Some Girls, but think it's overrated. But the album was definitely better than the tour. I spent two days suffering under the summer sun at The Big A for the Stones in 1978. They didn't even have a decent opening act. The Outlaws, c'mon! What were they thinking? And the best thing about Peter Tosh was the visual of the baseball bat sized spliff he passed around to the crowd.

1981 was also a joke. They played two days at the 100K seater L.A. Coliseum. Need I say more? Performance wise, they were rinky dink. Completely devoid of any danger or grit. J. Geils Band blew them away.

We did the overnight line waiting thing. Everybody there semed to have coke. After all it was 1981 and I was living with the candyman. But lots of people ran out of it and money the next day. That can really ruin your outlook. Such a diabolical drug.

We didn't know it, but we made the L.A. Times the day after the concert. We had made a banner so that our friends could find us. It was pretty stupid. It said: "The Beatles were a fad but the Stones are bad." Some photographer got it and us for the paper. Thankfully the ounce of blow was not visible in said photo.

A bootleg of the 1981 tour was titled: "Cracked Mirror, Dull Blades and You." That pretty much summed it up.

With regard to not falling for that "Best album since Some Girls" bullshit: How pathetic is it when you have to refer to Some Girls as a mark of greatness. Before They Make Me Run was pretty good though. When A Bigger Bang came out they were comparing it with Exile. Even more ridiculous.

Another thing, I can't stand "You Got Me Rocking." It's really lame. But, much to my dismay, it is done at almost every show.

My favorite Stones LP is probably Exile. I dug it from day one. A lot of my friends didn't. I still remember them muttering. The only track I thought was weak was Just Wanna See His Face. Still do.

But the 1968 through 1972 run of albums, including the live one, are hard to argue with. Then add the 1973 Brussels show. Other than that, "The Rolling Stones Now!, "Aftermath" and "Flowers" crank. Plus you have to have Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass) for the awesome Guy (super nice guy) Webster photos.

The Hot Rocks sets were both very cool too. Especially the one with the fazed cookies. A history teacher at my school nicknamed me "Hot Rocks." Unfortunately it stuck. He also taught driver's ed and was pretty creepy to say the least. Every time he'd call me "Hot Rocks" I called him "Clam Balls." He didn't like that.

Even worse was when Prudential Insurance put out the slogan "Get a Piece of the Rock." I never heard the end of that one. It became very tiresome.

Vickie Rock

buzzbabyjesus said...

I grew up with that stuff too, but I found it on my own.

steves said...

steve simels said...
the Bob Clearmountain remix of "Before They Make Me Run."

Never been on CD, but it's vastly superior to the official album version.

http://powerpop.blogspot.com/2011/11/some-girls-week-remixes-of-gods.html



LOL...I remember back in the day when you were searching high and low for that track. And I grabbed that set last week...knew I meant to tell you something. ;-)

Hope you're feeling better!

Maude Lange said...

"But c'mon, the glory years are 1964-1972. The rest is just what we had to settle for."

Yes - exactly.

Anonymous said...

With regard to the Clearmountain remix of Before They Make Me Run:

The deluxe edition of Some Girls should have had these track as well. Why did they rework the outtakes???

01. Miss You (7" Edit)
02. Far Away Eyes (7" Edit)
03. Miss You (12" Special Disco Version)
04. Everything Is Turning To Gold (B-side)
05. Before They Make Me Run (Bob Clearmountain Remix)
06. Miss You (Extended 8-track Version)
07. When The Whip Comes Down (Unreleased Extended Version)
08. Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me) (Unreleased Alternate Take)
09. Some Girls (Unreleased Extended Version)
10. Lies (Unreleased Full Length Version)
11. Far Away Eyes (Unreleased Alternate Take)
12. Respectable (Unreleased Alternate Take)
13. Before They Make Me Run (Unreleased Alternate Take)
14. Beast Of Burden (Extended 8-track Version)
15. Shattered (Edited 8-track Version)
16. Everything Is Turning To Gold (Unreleased Extended Version)

Vickie Rock