Having had fun with his recent Bob Dylan project, Martin Scorsese decided to reclaim his throne as king of the rockumentary with a Stones concert. And as long as there was a movie, why not issue a soundtrack? After all, it had been only four years since the last Stones live album.
We haven’t decided if the credit for “digital editing” refers to any post-dubbing, and it’s also not clear why Bob Clearmountain needed to mix the album at two different studios. But Shine A Light gets a slight edge over their previous five live albums in that the Beacon Theater setting is more intimate than any stadium, and the energy is more apparent. The horn section and vocalists don’t get in the way, and Darryl Jones’ bass manages to be heard. Charlie crackles as ever, even trying to add some life to “As Tears Go By”. Mick uses the f-word a lot, and has fun with “Faraway Eyes”. The biggest cheers are saved for Keith’s harmonizing. He sings three songs on his own, and even engages the crowd with conversation and a mention of the X-pensive Winos, which must have thrilled Mick no end. Unfortunately, whoever’s in charge decided that the greatest rock ‘n roll band in the world shouldn’t be left to stand on their own, so the album is graced by the presence of three so-called special guests: Buddy Guy, which makes sense; Jack White, which is a stretch; and Christina Aguilera, which is a crime to humanity.
Despite the performances of over half the songs from A Bigger Bang on their current tour, the newest songs on Shine A Light were first released in 1983. And to their credit, only four songs are repeated from Live Licks (a strategy Paul McCartney should consider for his next live album). There’s a single-disc version, but what fan’s gonna settle for that?
Rolling Stones Shine A Light (2008)—3
As blasphemous as it may be, I think Aguilera actually did a pretty good job at Live With Me. She worked well with Mick and didn't do much of her annoying vocal howling that she usually does. It's kind of a sexy and slinky song anyways and even though I hate her own music, I might be a bit biased because I find her sexy as hell, especially now that she packed on a few pounds. I like me a woman with curves.
ReplyDeleteWorst concert film in history. Marty's having kittens because he doesn't have the set list. All he had to do was walk over to the band's sound and lighting desk and ask for a copy. Or just look at the perspex screens next to Charlie's kit, where the songs have been written since the 1989 tour.
ReplyDeleteCharlie is the heat in that engine, and it's going to be a sad day indeed when he's not around.
ReplyDeleteHis drumming style is very, ahem, unusual. I often got a real close look when they went to the b-stage, which granted must have had horrible sound. There's no way he would be replaced.
ReplyDeleteAnyway enough rock stars from that era have died already that I think I am braced for the demise of those that are left. It's not like they will have died prematurely, tragically or on the verge of career comebacks (John Lennon, Marvin Gaye, etc). When the time comes it comes. They're my parents' age, the 1941-43 range, so this issue does occur to me a lot.
Dig up Michael Nesmith's glorious 242-word elegy to Davy Jones on his Facebook page. It will put your whole life into context.
I took a young friend of mine to see the film when it was released. I have seen few things scarier in a theatre than the face of Keith “Night of the Living Dead” Richards blown up to silver screen size. At least he has a sense of humor about such things (“It’s nice to see you. [pause] It’s nice to see anybody”).
ReplyDeleteRandom thoughts:
The biggest elephant in the room, of course, is that Jagger’s range has thinned down considerably over the years. But he compensates by his astounding physical energy. He was 61 at the time!
The interaction between Richards and Wood is interesting, with neither of them playing strictly lead or rhythm. Wood looked like he was playing some sort of electric sitar om “Paint It Black”.
Keith sang three songs. His nonchalant demeanor is amusing. One of the three was “Connection”, which suggests that it’s really a Keith solo composition.
In contrast with his lackadaisical appearance in music videos, Charlie was totally intense.
A big surprise was, of all people, Blondie Chaplin in the backing band.
The setlist, as always, was interesting. About 25% “Hot Rocks”. Four tracks from “Some Girls”, for some reason. The only dud was the stupid “She Was Hot”. “As Tears Go By” was quite the nice inclusion. It would have been a nice gesture is he had mentioned that the “someone” he gave the song to was Marianne Faithfull.
As for the guests -– I agree that two out of the three were unnecessary pandering to the “young people”. Jack White was superfluous. I don’t think that the lyrics of “Live with Me” lend themselves well to a duet. Nonetheless, between her voice and her stage moves, she tore up the song. Buddy Guy, of course, was the most natural fit. Great interaction with the band.
In the end, the movie proves that, at least live, the Stones were still a force to be reckoned with.