THE ROLLING STONES - LADIES AND GENTLEMEN (DVD)

Well it seems as if Mick and the boys have figured out how to come up with some good stuff for the fans here in the dismal 21st century. Instead of trying to stay at the top of the current trends they have opted for what I consider to be a great idea. They have decided to trudge back into the past and re-release some of the stuff from what many consider to be the bands best period, the early 70's. Now I don't know if I'll come out and say that the early 70's were when the Stones were at there best, but depending on the day, I may nod my head in the affirmative if somebody were making such a claim. Of course, the next day I may be giving the approving thumbs up to that guy who says that the Stones during the 60's were at the top of their game, and turns his head in disgust at the bloated,corporate zombie superstar machine that they were starting to become. I just happen to like both and I'm sure that we can agree that whichever way you go, 60's or 70's, that period of the rolling ones is certainly better than the stuff they were foisting on us in the 80's (although I like a few of those records), 90's, and forevermore. I mean is there anybody out there who's favorite Stones records is Bridges To Babylon? I would certainly hope not.
Well we've recently seen the re-release of Exile On Main Street with some unreleased goodies added on, a documentary of the stonely ones making said record, and the release of LADIES AND GENTLEMEN...THE ROLLING STONES on DVD. I haven't gotten the other two things but I did plunck down a couple a bucks and picked up the latter. I used to have this on a bootleg video tape that I got at some record swap. Its nice to have this DVD where the picture is clear and clean, instead of fuzzy and distorted like when you were a kid and trying to watch the porn channel that your dad may have wanted to get but wasn't gonna 'cause he knew you were already a no good punk, and wasn't about to add fuel to the fire.

Anyway this was a movie shot during the 1972 tour, during I think three different nights, and shown in limited release in theaters. Maybe it made the Midnight Movie circuit in some places, I have no idea, but it would have been good in that kind of package. The film itself is the Stones laying it down live, with a kind of desperate, electric energy, going full throttle down the tracks.

You've got Mick Taylor laying down some nice leads, Bill Wyman whose body is playing bass while he may be sleeping; Charlie bashing the drums, smiling and cool as ever; Keith crunching out those great riffs we all know and love; and of course Mick, belting out the vocals with a calculated reckless abandon, and prancing around in that cocksure rooster strut swagger of his.

Say what you want about it but this is a pretty fine showing of the Stones, maybe a little bloated, maybe suffering from 60's hangover, possibly stumbling in some kind of 70's haze and miasma, but they still had some kind of line to that primal voodoo and they come off sounding great as far as I'm concerned. This is the Stones reaching for the brass ring and getting it. You can forget the Scorsese directed Shine A Light stuff get this instead.

The bonus features alone will make it worth the money. The rehearsal footage is maybe even more raw and powerful than the concert footage. The Teenage Head and Flamingo era Flaming Groovies were definitely on the same page here. Then there's the Mick interviews, one from '72 which is ok and one from recent which shows Mick to be an old man basically. So now that you've wasted all this time reading this piece of crap review you might as well do something a little better with your time, such as get a case of beer and rent or buy this DVD and watch it. Or even better yet, go out and start your own band and try to top these guys. The world could really use such an endeavour right now.