I agree with Chas and Enchilada, this is as good a place as any to stop. For a real stones fan, the information is all over, and you watch it all and you read it all, and you know that you will never know everything, and why should you? The Stones were the unexpected flash that comes every so often - the right people, the right time, the right looks, the right circumstances, the right combination of personalities to make it work. And through it all, from the start, the iron-clad determination of one man that he would play this music, he loved it, it was his life, whether he was rich or poor. Good for him he turned out rich -- but he would still be playing it anyway, had he been poor. I learned a tremendous amount from a book written decades ago, Marianne Faithfull's autobiography.
I've seen all the movies and filmed concerts, read all the books and have gotten to see them live twice. I'm an American who cut her teeth on rhythm and blues, and their roots are my roots. Their later concerts became multigenerational, with kids and their grandads saying it was the best concert they had ever seen. I still learned a few things. Although I like slide guitar okay, I don't go out looking for it. I've always loved "No Expectations", especially for the slide, and the bass, but I never knew it was Brian's last useful contribution. Despite all the hype and rumours about his death, I thought that they handled that with feeling and good taste. It took a long time to recover from his loss, and some realized gradually over the years the differences his additions had made.
And my most favorite song - for years and years and years (Oh, don't play that !! It's so long !!") is considered their masterpiece - the great "Midnight Rambler". I heard it open-mouthed, on my feet, in Auburn, Alabama in 1969, and since I just had gotten the album, to me it was still a "new song" - I sure didn't expect to see it that night. Mick's black belt with white grommets cracked each time it hit the stage and he was wearing his famous black jumpsuit with the Omega on the front. Unforgettable.
No one can do what they have done. It's just too late for anybody to even start. Their mystique adds to the magic, and there is no need so strip it all away. To just watch, and listen, to the old and the new, from the nervous Jagger dragged out on the stage at the T.A.M.I. show, following what many still consider the very best film of an R & B act, James Brown and the Flames, to the elegant and decadent Keith telling his story about the concert he put together for Chuck Berry, punctuated by that laugh that sounds like a cough, to Mick's tossed hair when he sings "Well, I used to love her - but it's all over now". These are special people, doing special performances, and we'll probably not see their like again.
Yodi
reply
share
Pequod88
11 years ago
Great post, SGJane81.
Overall, this is a good documentary that mostly keeps the focus on the Stones’ best era. The image of the dangerous “black hat” band is played up to the hilt, which is a smart marketing tool for enticing a new generation of fans. In addition to being an exceptional singer and consummate showman, Jagger is a very savvy businessman. For me, the band’s glory days began to fade as soon as Mick Taylor left the Stones. While Ron Wood is a talented man, the interplay between Richards and Taylor produced some of the Stones' best work.
Some Girls was arguable the last “classic” Stones album, so it is fitting that the documentary does not linger much past this point. It is no small feat that the Stones were able to transition from the glory days of producing one landmark album after another, to an even longer era of the well-oiled touring & money-making live extravaganza. Younger music lovers tempted to dismiss the Stones as a corporate behemoth gifted only at raking in massive box office receipts every five years or so, will gain a much deeper appreciation for what the fuss was all about.
While there is no doubt that the documentary was produced to help market the 50 year anniversary of the band, there is no denying the power of the music and performances, most of which have stood the test of time quite well.
reply
share