I’ll admit I posted that last thing about Mick Jagger after watching about a half hour of Let’s Spend the Night Together , and after watching most of the rest of it, it’s great. Keep in mind I don’t dislike the Rolling Stones nor Sir Mick himself; I do own a couple of their records which I enjoy and to a degree I was raised on this stuff. I was – I still am – flummoxed by Jagger’s onstage ludicrosity. But in sum total, you look at this band and they’re pretty damn great. I guess I got used to Mick over the course of the movie.

Things that I really like: Keith Richards’ clear, pure enjoyment of playing music and the band’s overall chummy interactions. Bill Wyman’s track suit. Ron Wood’s ***ed-up rat face, and poncy hair.

Beyond that the trippy highlight was when they trot out all these young women to “dance” to “Honky-Tonk Women” and one of them walks in front of Charlie Watts, and she looks exactly like Charlie Watts. There is some serious metaphysics going on there. Also it appears that they handed out garters to all these ladies – which is weird – cause they each had one on, and one of them put it around her neck instead of her leg. I thought that was suitably cheeky.

Then at the end, the band plays “Satisfaction” and Sir Mick is wearing a cape, and all these balloons start falling on the audience. And I remember when I was a little kid my older sister, having just gone to see them live, telling me about this moment, and how great that sounded, all those balloons falling. And watching it on TV, it did look pretty fantastic, especially intercut with a triumphant montage of the band playing, including Mick rolling around on the floor. So that’s what those knee-pads were for! See how important education is?

1791 – Composer Peter Joseph von Lindpaintner was born.
1837 – Composer Charles-Emile Waldteufel was born.
1882 – Composer Joaquin Turina was born.
1963 – The first Supremes album, “Meet the Supremes,” was released.
1964 – The John Coltrane Quartet recorded “Love Supreme.”
1972 – Elton John’s “Crocodile Rock” was released.
1974 – George Harrison released his first album on his Dark Horse label, entitled “Dark Horse.”
1984 – The Jacksons played their last show together in Los Angeles, CA.
1992 – Bill Wyman left the Rolling Stones after over 30 years with the group.
1993 – The musical revival of “My Fair Lady” opened.

Selling off some rare signed items, photos, etc., from my personal collection. All early and all the real deal on ebay this week.

Seller name evpcd.

Dando continuidade ao momento musical do blog e da série de remasterizações do catálogo dos Rolling Stones (de meados dos anos 70 para cá) pela Universal, chegou a hora de mais um (bom) CD ao vivo do grupo: Flashpoint.

Flashpoint foi gravado durante 1989 e 1990 e conta com alguns bons momentos. A bela versão de Ruby Tuesday, a interpretação do blues Little Red Rooster (com a participação de Eric Clapton) e os bons registros das conhecidíssimas Start Me Up e Jumping Jack Flash são audições mais do que recomendadas.

O som do novo lançamento não parece tão superior ao do último relançamento (ainda pela Virgin), mas só por manter o título em catálogo a Universal já merece aplausos.

Há um registro em vídeo de um dos shows da turnê, onde os grandes destaques ficam por conta das participações de Eric Clapton e do falecido bluseiro John Lee Hooker. Vale procurar, até porque é a última turnê com Bill Wyman no baixo.

Saiba mais sobre os outros relançamentos dos Rolling Stones clicando nos links a seguir. Parte I, parte II e parte III.

I guess when it comes to giving Mick Jagger a present, you got to think the guy has just about everything.
I mean what could you possibly give him he either couldn’t buy himself or doesn’t already own?
Clothes. Nah.
Wine. Boring.
Hmmmmmm, how ’bout a nice watch?

Well that’s exactly what Ahmet Ertegun gave Mick Jagger back
sometime in the early 70’s.
An Eterna Matic Concept 80 wristwatch.
He had engraved on the back, Mick Here’s to a Million or 2? Ahmet.
My guess he was talking about the sales of an upcoming album.
Maybe Sticky Fingers or Exile given the time period.
Since at this point The Stones had just recently come on board with Atlantic, it’s not unusual Ahmet was hoping for a long and successful relationship with them.

Ahmet co-founder and executive of Atlantic Records used his personal skills in negotiating the signing of The Rolling Stones to Atlantic when they were shopping for a record company to distribute their independent Rolling Stones Records label.

He personally “did the deal” with Mick Jagger, when other labels had actually offered the band more money.

This watch was later donated by Jagger to an auction run by LA radio station KMET-FM back in 1973 in a week long auction they ran to raise money for the victims of the Nicaraguan Earthquake.
Mick was of course married to Bianca at the time, and her having family there got Mick very involved in this worthy cause.

The Stones gave a benefit concert in LA and donated at the proceeds to help the victims.

A unique piece of memorabilia owned by Jagger with a great history behind it .

A RARE TICEKT STUB FROM THE STONES NICARAGUAN BENEFIT SHOW IN LA.

You really don’t want to piss of your partner.
Especially when he’s Keith Richards.
But Mick needed to test himself in 1985 by going solo for the first time in his career
with She’s the Boss.

When The Rolling Stones signed with CBS Records in 1983, one of the options available to them was for individual projects, and Jagger – ready to spread his wings after recording exclusively with his famous band for twenty years – eagerly began working on She’s the Boss.

Following the release of Undercover, Jagger began composing material for his first solo project, sanctioning the help of various musician friends in the studio when recording began in May 1984. Of those involved were Pete Townshend, Jeff Beck, Carlos Alomar and Herbie Hancock, while Jagger would share production duties with Bill Laswell and Nile Rodgers.

Keenly aware of the current musical trends – and taking advantage of his freedom – Jagger endeavored to make She’s the Boss sound hip and contemporary, giving the album a very mid-1980s character with its use of synthesizers and drum machines.

Keith Richards, Jagger’s longtime musical partner in The Rolling Stones, was not pleased that Jagger was pursuing solo work, feeling that their band should be each others’ first priority. The growing friction between both musicians would erupt – in a most publicized way – in 1986, before they resolved their differences a couple of years later.

She’s the Boss was released in February 1985 – preceded by its lead song “Just Another Night”. Both the album and its first single became worldwide hits, with “Just Another Night” reaching #1 on the US Mainstream Rock chart and #12 on the US pop chart, and She’s the Boss going to #6 in the UK and #13 in the US, where it went platinum. Follow-up single “Lucky In Love” would be a Top 40 US hit. Although critical response to the album was warm, many later reviewers consider She’s the Boss – with its distinct 1980s production techniques – to sound somewhat dated in style.[citation needed]

The success of the album – impacted by Jagger’s solo appearance at Live Aid that July and his rush-recorded duet hit cover of “Dancing In The Street” with David Bowie – influenced Jagger to record a successor, Primitive Cool, which would be released in 1987.

Although originally released by CBS, She’s the Boss was acquired and reissued by Atlantic Records in 1993 following the release of Jagger’s third album, Wandering Spirit.

In 1986, Jamaican reggae singer Patrick Alley attempted to sue Jagger over the song “Just Another Night,” which Alley claims he had recorded in 1979 and released on his 1982 album, A Touch of Patrick Alley. Alley claimed that Sly Dunbar (who played drums on She’s the Boss) also played on his recording. The case was cleared in 1988, with Jagger stating “My reputation is really cleared. If you’re well known, people stand up and take shots at you.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/She%27s_The_Boss

The following are direct from the files of a former publicist and personal assistant to Mick Jagger.
Typed and xeroxed lyrics with hand written annotations by Jagger.

Concert used memorabilia in collecting is rare and difficult to find. Authenticating that the item was concert used is even more difficult and documentation is even harder to find.

Which makes the pictured item rare indeed.

Concert used and signed drumsticks belonging to Charlie Watts of The Rolling Stones.

For starters, they are Ludwig drumsticks.
Charlie used and played Ludwig back in the 80’s.
He now uses Vic Firth.
Secondly they were played at a very unique concert.
December 18, 1981 Hampton, VA, the last show of the “Tattoo You” tour, Keith Richards birthday and a specially taped show for television.

Read the letter from Stones President Art Collins on how he obtained the sticks from Charlie after the show.

A few items signed by Charlie that aren’t as difficult to sign as drumsticks.

RARE STICKY FINGERS STORE DISPLAY FEATURING AN ALMOST LIFE SIZE MICK JAGGER.

Back in 1971 The Rolling Stones were at the height of their craft.
It’s hard to believe any band could produce back to back to back albums the likes of Let it Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street in the span of 3 years.

Unheard of even today.
My guess it will never be matched or done again.

The following is a review from Rolling Stone magazine back in 1971 on the release of Sticky Fingers,
arguably one, if not the definitive Stones record.

In my mind not only did the Stones break new ground recording Sticky Fingers, once again broke the rules, no make that smash and destroy the rules, of record album design.

SIDE ONE

“Brown Sugar:” It begins with some magical raunch chords on the right channel. In the tradition of great guitar intros (“All Day and All of the Night,” “Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown,” and “Satisfaction” itself) it transfixes you: instant recognition, instant connection. Suddenly the electric guitar is joined by an acoustic guitar on the left channel, an acoustic that is merely strumming the chords that the electric is spitting out with such fury. It washes over the electric to no apparent purpose, stripping it momentarily of its authority and intensity. and so, in the first 15 seconds of the albums first cut we are presented with its major conflict: driving, intense, wide-open rock versus a controlled and manipulative musical conception determined to fill every whole and touch every base.

As soon as the voices come on, the acoustic recedes into inaudibility: on “Brown Sugar” wide open rock wins by a hair, but it is a hollow victory. Opening cuts on Stones albums have always been special, fro the early ones – “Not Fade Away,” “Round and Round,” and “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love: – with their promise of rock and roll to come, to the tour de force openings of the later albums – “Symphony for the Devil” and “Gimme Shelter” – which served as overwhelming entrances into a more complex musical world view.

At their best these opening cuts were statements of themes that transcended both the theme itself and the music that was to follow. As I listened to “Sticky Fingers,” for the first time I thought “Brown Sugar” was good, but not that good. I certainly hoped it wasn’t the best thing on the album. As it turns out, there are a few moments that surpass it but it still sets the tone for the album perfectly: middle-level Rolling Stones competence. The lowpoints aren’t that low, but the high points, with one exception, aren’t that high.

As to the performance itself, the chords, harmony, and song are powerful stuff. The instrumentation however, is too diffuse, occasionally undermining the vocals instead of supporting them. But when Richards joins Jagger for the last chorus they finally make it home free.

“Sway:” Vaguely reminiscent of “Stray Cat Blues” but not nearly so powerful. The sound is characteristic Rolling Stones messiness enhanced by the unusual degree of separation in the mix. Charlie Watts bashes away with the smirking abandon that made him such a delight on songs like “Get Off My Cloud” and “All Sold Out.” But unlike early Stones messiness, “Sway” lacks intensity. It never reaches a goal because it doesn’t seem to have one. Rather, it remains a series of riffs whose lack of content is obscured by prolonged and indifferent guitar semi-solos and a fine string arrangement that suddenly enters towards the end.

“Wild Horses:” A good song with lots of good things in it that doesn’t quite come off. The acoustic 12-string stands out over everything else in the arrangement – perhaps a little too far out, as the rest of the instruments sound like mere fragments, wandering in and out of the track at arbitrary intervals.

Jagger’s vocal is clearly audible for the first time on the album and I don’t care for it. It is mannered, striving for intensity without being wholly convincing. Musically, the more complex the Stones get the m ore inadequate he sometimes sounds. The man is a stylist as opposed to a singer. He has always lacked power and range: on 15 albums he has never really grabbed hold of a note and let it ring. At his best, he sings around the notes – plays with them – dancing in and out with precision.

Or, he can let himself go entirely, with no attempt at stylistic posturing and thereby achieving an almost incredibly naturalism. But, on “Wild Horses,” there is a pint in which the only thing that will work is a good note, well sung, sustained and sufficient to stand on its own. It is not to be found. A musical attitude is not a replacement for a musical style and style is not a replacement for essential technique, which is what is missing here.

The longing of the song’s lyrics coupled with its ultimate hope constitute as much of a theme a there is on this record. Typically (since “Between the Buttons”) the Stones’ statement alternates between aggressive sexuality and warmer, more subtly erotic statements of emotional dependence and openness. The flirtation with social significance of the last two albums has been almost wholly abandoned in what appears to be something of a recommitment to more personal subject matter.

“Can’t You Hear Me Knocking:” Years ago, when I first heard that the Stones had recorded something 11 minutes long, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it, thinking it was sure to be the definitive rave-up and hoping it would finally put the Yardbirds and Them in their place. When I finally heard “Going Home” I realized the Stones couldn’t conceive of a long cut as anything but a vehicle for Jagger to project through. Given the time to stretch out, they went for the mellow down easy side with the emphasis on the voice rather than the instruments.

Now they have done something with a long instrumental break in it and it ain’t bad. On the other hand, I can’t see what it really has to do with the Rolling Stones. The song is good but once into the solos there is a touch of R&B, a touch of Santana, but nothing to really identify with. So maybe they had the right idea the first time. For old times sake I do hope that the really boring guitar solo is by Mick Taylor and that those great surging chords in the background are by Keith Richards, the original Sixties rock and roll guitarist, and mast of Chuck Berry music, and the soul of the Rolling Stones.

“You Gotta Move:” Anyway, for the present, Mick Taylor’s electric slide guitar is absolutely exquisite. Combined with Richard’s fine work on the acoustic they create one of the album’s few real moments. Charlie Watts’ bass drum holds it together perfectly, while Richard’s harmony smoothes off the more outrageous edges of Jagger’s lead vocal. In the end, all the pieces fit. A small but important triumph.

SIDE TWO

“Bitch:” Jagger in one of his most popular poses: demonic. here he flaunts naughty words and naughty thoughts as if he still thought they were naughty. The arrangement is straight-ahead. The horns sound great here as they are used primarily for purposes of syncopation and rhythm. The bass and drums – the Rolling Stones bottom that has driven its way through over 200 cuts and which is the true instrumental trademark of the group – burns like a bitch.

“I’ve Got the Blues:” In the tradition of the earlier R&B Imitations such as “Pain In My Heart,” “You Better Move On,” “If You Need Me,” and best of all their great “That’s How Strong My Love Is.” However, this is the first time they actually added Stax horns. It’s good as far as it goes, but lacks the feeling of the earlier imitations. It all seems pro forma. The worst cut the Rolling Stones ever released was “I’ve Been Lovin’ You Too Long” (which sounds very much like a studio recording even though it showed up on “Got Live I You Want It”). Jagger couldn’t sing it. Here he almost sings up a storm, but in the end its the part he didn’t sing that stays in mind. Somehow, it isn’t complete.

“Sister Morphine:” This was supposed to be stark, intense and realistic. Some hear it that way. I find it lyrically convincing, but labored to the point of being unlistenable musically. Perhaps that is part of the conception: obviously, a song about morphine should not be pleasant to hear. The question is, is the song unpleasant because it makes us uncomfortable emotionally, or simply because it is an awkward and unsuccessful attempt to depict reality through music?

“Dead Flowers:” I suppose somewhere along the line they thought of calling the album “Dead Flowers,” which would have justified this cut’s presence at some level. Despite its parodistic intentions, the mere thought of the Stones doing straight country music is simply appalling. And they do it so poorly, especially the lead guitar. The cut is ordinary without being either definitive or original.

“Moonlight Mile:” From “Brown Sugar” we had to wait all the way to here to get a masterpiece. The semi-oriental touch seems to heighten the song’s intense expression of desire, which is the purest and most engaging emotion present on the record. The sense of personal commitment and emotional spontaneity immediately liberate Jagger’s (double-tracked) singing: it’s limitations become irrelevant and he rises to the occasion by turning in his best performance on the album – the only thing that compares with his singing of “Gimme Shelter.”

There is something soulful here, something deeply felt: “I’ve got silence on the radio, let the airwaves flow, let the airwaves flow.” Paul Buckmaster, Elton John’s arranger, does the best job with strings I can remember in a long, long time, while Charlie Watts only goes through the motions of loosening up his style, as he comes down hard on the nearly magical line, “Just about a moonlight mile.”

The cut contains that rave-up they never gave us on “Goin Home”; perhaps it is just a filling out of the intensely erotic climax that came towards the end of that song (“Sha-la-la,” and all of that). When Jagger finally says “Here we go, now” as Mick Taylor’s guitar (Richard is inexplicably absent) falls perfectly into place with a hypnotic chord pattern, it’s as if he is taking our hand and is literally going to walk us down his dream road. As the strings push the intensity level constantly upwards and Charlie emphasizes the development with fabulous cymbal crashes, the energy becomes unmistakably erotic – erotic as opposed to merely sexual, erotic in a way that the entire rest of the album is not. The expression of need that dominates so much of the record is transformed from a hostile statement into a plea and a statement of warmth and receptiveness.

This cut really does sway and when Jagger’s voice re-enters, it is with none of the forced attempts at style and control present on the rest of the album, but with the kind of abandon that he seems uniquely capable of. And unique is the best word to describe the cut as a whole: after nine songs that hover around the middle, they finally hit the high note and make a statement that is not just original but that could have only come from them.

At least it gives me hope for the future…..

On Sticky Fingers, it doesn’t really sound like they are doing what they want to. Play “Brown Sugar” and then play any opening cut from the first five albums. The early ones are sloppy, messy, and vulgar. They are brash and almost ruthless in their energy. And they sound real. By comparison “Brown Sugar,” for all its formal correctness is an artifice. Ultimately they sound detached from it, as they do from all but a few things on Sticky Fingers. The two million hours they joke about spending on this record must have surely resulted from uncertainty about what it was they wanted to hear when they were through. On the other hand, those early records always sounded (whether they were is irrelevant) as if they were recorded in a day, without any overdubbing, comprised mainly of first takes. They reverberated with off the wall spunk and spontaneity.

Obviously the Stones can’t go back to that: it would be redundant and incredibly limiting for them. But perhaps they have now gone too far the other way. If Sticky Fingers suffers from any one thing it’s its own self-defeating calculating nature. Its moments of openness and feeling are too few: its moments where I know I should be enjoying it but am not, too great.

JON LANDAU/ROLLING STONE

(Posted: Jun 10, 1971)

Click cover to download

Oh hey, where the fuck has this Classic been hiding my whole life?!??

Asrestlessasweare just posted the video, which I urge you not to miss, particularly for Wyman’s pricelessly sheepish smirk when he sings we could go on the hovercraft/across the water/they’ll think I’m your dad/and you’re my daughter.

Amazing.

On October 24:

1260 Chartres Cathedral was dedicated.

1857 Sheffield F.C., the world’s first football club, was founded.

1861 The First Transcontinental Telegraph line across the United States was completed, spelling the end for the 18-month-old Pony Express.

1882 English actress Dame Sybil Thorndike was born.

1892 Goodison Park, the world’s first association football specific stadium was opened.

1901 – Annie Edson Taylor became the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel.

1913 Union members and non-unionised workers clashed on Wellington wharves.

1919 South Island explorer Donald Sutherland died.

1929 “Black Thursday” stock market crash on the New York Stock Exchange.

Crowd gathering on Wall Street after the 1929 crash

 

1930 Sultan Ahmad Shah, King of Malaysia was born.

1936 Bill Wyman, English musician from The Rolling Stones, was born.

1944 New Zealand born film director Martin Campbell was born.

1945 The United Nations was founded.

1954 Autralian politician Malcolm Turnbull was born.

1964 Northern Rhodesia gained independence from the United Kingdom and became the Republic of Zambia.

1973 Jeff Wilson, New Zealand rugby player and cricketer, was born.

1980  The Polish government legalised Solidarity trade union.

2003 Concorde made its last commercial flight.

2008 “Bloody Friday“ on which many of the world’s stock exchanges experienced the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices.

 

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.

Em 2009 lembramos do 40º aniversário do festival de Woodstock , “três dias de música, paz e amor”. E de outro festival americano que terminou com violência e é considerado “o fim do sonho” hippie. Altamont. A Warner (re)colocou nas lojas em DVD o filme Gimme Shelter (classificação: 16 anos), que registra a turnê americana dos Rolling Stones em 1969, até o concerto gratuito de 6/12, que reuniu 300 mil pessoas no autódromo de Altamont, com segurança a cargo dos Hells Angels californianos – ou seja, um barril de pólvora. Clique para ler mais, ver a lista de músicas de Gimme Shelter e a filmografia dos Stones.

Gimme Shelter, o filme, dirigido por David e Albert Maysles e Charlotte Zwerin, intercala apresentações dos Stones na turnê e em Altamont (e ainda  Ike & Tina Turner, Flying Burrito Brothers e Jefferson Airplane, 1 música cada) com cenas de bastidores que ajudam a entender porque deu tanta coisa errada. As câmeras dos documentaristas acompanham as negociações para o local do show, em que os Stones queriam tocar de graça - 0 festival vai mudando de local em local, até o autódromo, escolhido às pressas. Também mostram os Stones acompanhando montagem e mixagem do filme. Charlie Watts com cara de tédio. Mick Jagger p… com o violento fim da festa em Altamont. Entre outros “feitos”, os Hells Angels improvisados como seguranças esfaquearam até a morte um homem visto com uma arma  perto do palco. De acordo com a montagem do doc, a violência começa durante “Sympathy for the Devil”. E o assassinato rola duramte “Under My Thumb”. Macabro.

Boa música, muita porra-louquice e violência. Tensão no ar. Gente muito doida. Gente chorando, ao lado de gente rindo. Parte da história do rock. Parte da história do homem.

Quer saber o set list dos Stones no filme?

- Jumpin´Jack Flash

- Satisfaction

- You Gotta Move

- Wild Horses

- Brown Sugar

- Love in Vain

- Honky Tonk Women

- Street Fighting Man

- Sympathy for the Devil

- Under My Thumb

- Gimme Shelter (cenas finais)

Nos extras, Little Queenie, Oh Carol, Prodigal Son.

FILMOGRAFIA DOS STONES

- Rock and Roll Circus, 1º/1/1968.

- Stones in the Park, 7/7/1968.

- Sympathy for the Devil ou One Plus One, 1968. De Jean Luc Godard.

- Gimme Shelter, 1º/1/1970.

(Cocksucker Blues, filmado em 72, foi engavetado pela banda)

- Ladies and Gentleman, The Rolling Stones. 1º/1/1974.

- Let´s Spend the Night Together, 1º/1/1981.

- Live at the Max, 1º/1/1990. Feito para cinemas I-Max.

- Shine a Light, 4/4/2008 (leia post anterior).

Over the past 30 years Keith Richards silver skull ring has taken on its own mythology and iconic status. The most famous ring in the world has come to signify not only Keith Richards the man – seen wearing it at every gig and in every photograph – but Rock and Roll itself. The ring has inspired both an international cult following and unlimited fake copies. There have been countless claims as to who designed and made the original but this is the true story.

In 1978 the celebrated London goldsmiths David Courts and Bill Hackett were working on a small scale silver sculpture of a human skeleton. Using a real skull for reference they carved a perfect miniature replica which they then moulded. When the hollow wax skull was removed from its mould the inspiration for the ring was born. Further experimentation led to the creation of the original silver skull ring. At the same time an invitation arrived from Keith Richards to his birthday party in New York – so Bill and David decided that the new ring would make a fantastic present. From the moment he put it on his finger, the magic began and he has worn it ever since.

Since Keith put on the original Courts and Hackett skull ring in 1978, David and Bill have received countless requests for a copy but their original decision that the ring should remain unique has meant that there is no replica mould and no duplicates.

Now, for the first time and only available from them is a magnificent new deaths head ring sculpted from the same human skull used for the original.

Using unique techniques developed in their workshop they have created the ultimate skull ring. Exquisite details include an immaculately carved bone structure, individual teeth and finely engraved cranium.

Crafted in solid 925 silver each ring will be stamped with the Courts and Hackett hallmark guaranteeing authenticity, date, materials used and country of origin.
Since Keith put on the original Courts and Hackett skull ring in 1978, David and Bill have received countless requests for a copy but their original decision that the ring should remain unique has meant that there is no replica mould and no duplicates.

Now, for the first time and only available from them is a magnificent new deaths head ring sculpted from the same human skull used for the original.

Using unique techniques developed in their workshop they have created the ultimate skull ring. Exquisite details include an immaculately carved bone structure, individual teeth and finely engraved cranium.

Crafted in solid 925 silver each ring will be stamped with the Courts and Hackett hallmark guaranteeing authenticity, date, materials used and country of origin.

http://www.courtsandhackett.com/new_ring.html

http://members.tripod.com/blue_lena/news2009.html

*Thanks to Tamara Guo, (aka Blue Lena) the most die-hard Keef fan I know.

A billboard on Sunset Blvd promoting the new album. As you can imagine, not without controversy.

Exile on Main Street was a 1972 release (on Atlantic Records) by The Rolling Stones, with cover artwork & design by John Van Hamersveld. When the Rolling Stones released Exile in 1972 – a double album of songs representing the many different genres of music that shaped Stones music at the time – fans and critics found themselves having to spend a lot of time trying to “get it”. It required a number of listens to gain an appreciation of what, on the surface, often seemed to be a collection of studio out-takes and Richards/Taylor/Watts jams than a freshly-recorded musical offering.

Many critics of the era failed to appreciate the Stones’ explorations of R&B, Soul, Country and roots Rock that were spread over the 4 album sides. In fact, the record was comprised of a series of recordings done during the previous four years and, as such, they featured a variety of mixes (some better than others) and showed the band building on top of these influences in their own inimitable style to the point that, now over 35 years later, the package is considered by many to be the band’s most-authentic offering. It is always listed near the top of most of the “Best Of” and “Greatest” lists (#7 on the Rolling Stone Magazine 2003 list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”, #22 on VH-1’s survey, and even impressed the younger generation enough to be ranked #11 on Pitchfork’s 2003 list of Best Albums of the 1970s).

In a similar fashion, when the buying public took their first look at the design and imagery of the sprawling record cover, most people admitted that they didn’t “get it”. Having just soaked in Warhol’s ultimately-iconic zipper cover for Sticky Fingers, fans should have been ready for anything, but John Van Hamersveld’s designs seemed to confound them, asking them to digest a rough, anti-establishment, punk-before-there-was-punk collage of images that may have, initially, combined with the unfamiliar musical stylings to impact sales (don’t worry, as the record was supported by the now-famous 1972 American concert tour and songs such as “Happy” and “Tumbling Dice” got some significant radio play, the record went on to top the charts in the U.S. and the U.K.).

And so when Van Hamersveld, who’d established his industry cred via his poster and package designs for Hendrix, The Beatles (Magical Mystery Tour), Jefferson Airplane (Crown of Creation) and others, was approached by the Rolling Stones (who were in a studio in LA putting the finishing touches on this new album) to work on the graphics and packaging for a songbook project the band wanted to release, an interesting series of events on the day of their initial meeting had a profound impact on the course of album art history.

Super rare promo poster featuring 3-Ball Charlie.

Bill Janovitz' book on Exile. A must read.

Above is the ultra rare Exile Store Display.

Read the complete story behind this great work of art on our RockPoP Gallery/”Cover Story” blog -

http://rockpopgallery.typepad.com/rockpop_gallery_news/2008/04/cover-story—t.html

Jimmy Page, Jack White, Nick Mason e Bill Wyman. O que eles têm em comum além de serem lendários ícones do rock? Os quatro são contra games como o Guitar Hero e o Rockband.

As opiniões dos músicos se encontram em uma mesma acusação, os jogos têm impedido as crianças de aprender a tocar instrumentos de verdade. Nas palavras de Wyman “Eles encorajam as crianças a não aprender, esse é o problema. Isso faz com que menos pessoas realmente sentem numa cadeira e comecem a aprender o instrumento. Por isso eu realmente não gostei dessa ideia”.

Tudo bem, é verdade que existe muita criança que se restringe apenas aos games, mas será que os jogos realmente impedem o aprendizado de um instrumento real? Acredito que para as crianças que realmente querem aprender a tocar guitarra, baixo, bateria, trompete, o que seja, o Guitar Hero é apenas um trampolim para que o garoto se empolgue e procure aprender a fazer música.

Para Jack White procurar aprender um instrumento através de um jogo é triste. Mas aí é que ele se confunde, já que mesmo por meio de um jogo, o contato é maior com a música que com o aparelho.

Guitar Hero e Rockband são para o lazer com amigos e família, eles permitem que os jovens que não sabem tocar nem galinha se divirtam e se sintam em cima de um palco tocando suas canções favoritas. Senhores Page, White, Mason e Wyman sou fã de vocês, mas agora os quatro pisaram na bola.

Mais no Whiplash e no mygames.

Je n’arrive pas à choisir entre la fin du solfège et un match diplomatique

(Guitar Hero 0 – Turquie/Armenie 1)

RARE T-SHIRT, KEITH, RONNIE GUITAR PICKS AND TICKET STUB FROM THE INFAMOUS SHOW.

The Rolling Stones’ “private” jam session at Sir Morgan’s Cove was supposed to be just that — private — and also secret, with the Stones attempting to pass incognito as the Cockroaches. But as the nature of the business would have it, there was a leak. It occurred early in the day Monday after weeks of rumors. And before the day was over, the local media would claim that “history has been made in Worcester.”
Before the Stones finished their free two-hour concert early yesterday morning for 300 “randomly selected” fans, local police would arrest and charge six people with offenses ranging from drinking in public to illegally “launching missiles” (beer cans, mostly). The Worcester police department’s already depleted overtime budget would be $5,000 more in the red. And the city’s sanitation workers would be faced with a block-long layer of beer cans, bottles and trash.
But for all that, the corporate brass of the local FM radio station that helped organize, promote and execute the event at Sir Morgan’s would be more than pleased. In the intensely competitive hard-rock market surrounding Boston, WAAF-FM had scored a major coup.

Steve Stockman, 23, WAAF’s promotions director, said he kept in constant contact with members of the band, but “it wasn’t until last Friday that everything started to gel. Ian Stewart, the group’s keyboard player, told me the group wanted to make some small, private night-club appearances. They hadn’t appeared before an audience in three years, and they needed to warm up to crowds before Philadelphia.”
Stockman said Stewart had selected Sir Morgan’s on his own. He said Stewart had anonymously visited “every bar in Worcester” in search of a place that seated no more than 400, had a low ceiling and a high stage.
“All he needed was a mechanism to get tickets out to loyal fans in the area without revealing the location of the event,” Stockman said. Together, WAAF and the Stones decided that the station would start announcing on Monday morning that the Stones were giving such a performance, but that no tickets could be purchased.
Instead, the station announced, representatives of WAAF and the group would be driving the streets of Worcester throughout the day looking for people wearing WAAF T-shirts or with WAAF bumper stickers either on themselves or their cars.
They, and they alone, would get the mere 300 nontransferable, laser-etched, computer-coded tickets marked, “Blue Monday” and “The Cockroaches.”

A Boston rock station, an arch-competitor of WAAF, was leaked the information by either Worcester police or a member of the band that played before the Stones were to perform at Sir Morgan’s. And the Boston station immediately began broadcasting not only where the Stones would appear, but also that people should stay away.
“They said there’d be a riot there or something,” Stockman said. “It was awful, and the Stones were almost as furious with that station as we were. But to tell you honestly, we did get lucky. It easily could have turned into mayhem. All I can say is thank God for the rain.”

Source http://www.studiowner.com/essays/essay.asp?books=0&pagnum=3001

TICKET STUB

SET LIST FROM THE SHOW DIRECTLY FROM IAN MCLARGEN KEYBOARD PLAYER.

ONE OF THE RAREST OF ALL ROLLING STONES RECORD STORE POSTERS.

RARE RECORD STORE MOBILE, CIRCA 1969.

In the wake of Brian Jones untimely death in July of 1969, London Records embarked on a campaign to promote The Rolling Stones as the WORLD’S GREATEST ROCK AND ROLL BAND.
A moniker they would still carry some 40 years later.

The attached images are 2 rare items from that period of time. The mobile is the first promotional item to feature Mick Taylor the Stones newest member replacing the deceased Brian Jones.

The poster references all 15 albums and 20 singles on London Records. “Let it Bleed” the last album Jones was to contribute on. “Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out” the live recording featured Mick Taylor.

It’s no secret that my older brother, Robert, was a big influence on my musical development, especially between 1975 and about 1981/82.  One of the bands that he introduced me to is The Rolling Stones.  To date they are still my 2nd favorite band of all time behind Iron Maiden.  He loved the Stones and subsequently so did I.  He played them a lot and they became ingrained into my musical repertoire.  After Wyman left I was done with them, but I love just about every album they did with him save one or 2 in the 80s.

I can remember coming home from school and listening to Tattoo You on vinyl.  Typically mom and dad were at work and who knows where my brothers were.   I seemed to have time to spin records before they all came home.  Very influential and time well spent.  Homework?  Pfffft!

This album was always special to me though.  It’s one of those albums that brings me back to a certain time in my life, actually to 2 different times in my life.  I guess I have a lot of those types of albums and I am glad for it.  Without music I don’t know how I would have ended up.

Tattoo You wasn’t a perfect album for the Stones although it had one of their biggest gits on it…Start Me Up.  Sure it’s a fun tune but not one of their finest moments in my opinion.  I really loved their slower tunes and this one has some great ones on it, pretty much all of side 2.  Worried About You, Tops, Heaven, No Use In Crying and Waiting On A Friend.  Such a smooth album side.

Side one’s highlight for me is Little T&A.  When I was 19 I briefly dated a girl that this song seemed to fit so well.  Typically when we went out I would play it sometime during the evening.  Hang Fire is pretty good too.  Pretty cool cover art as well.  But all in all, side 2 rules this album.

There are many other Stones album that I like better, but this one does have that special place.

“Ain’t no use…”

Live4ever.com reports:

Legendary English band the Faces are set for a reunion concert in London this October, but without frontman Rod Stewart.

The BBC reports that Ronnie Wood, Ian McLagen and Kenny Jones will get together to play at the Royal Albert Hall on October 25. The show will be in aid of the Performing Right Society’s Music Members’ Benevolent Fund and will also feature Simply Red’s Mick Hucknall, former Spice Girl Mel C and Kiki Dee.

There were no statements by Ronnie Wood regarding Stewart’s absence, but he did mention the late band member Ronnie Lane. “This will be so special for us, staging a reunion for such a wonderful and prestigious event,” he said. “Sadly Ronnie Lane can’t be with us, but I’m sure he will be there in spirit, God bless him.”

Gear for Music Reports:

Ronnie Wood is to join forces with Kenny Jones and Ian McLagan to perform as The Faces.

However, lead singer Rod Stewart will not be taking part in next month’s gig at the Royal Albert Hall in London, so guest vocalists will perform in his place.

Bassist Ronnie Lane, who died in 1997, will be replaced by former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman.

Of course, Wyman and Wood have played together before, as the guitarist became a full-time member of the Stones in the mid-1970s.

McLagan later went on to become a session musician, while Jones joined The Who after the death of drummer Keith Moon.

The gig will raise money for PRS for Music Members’ Benevolent Fund, a charity which supports musicians experiencing financial problems.

Commenting on the upcoming event, Wood said: “This will be so special for us, staging a reunion for such a wonderful and prestigious event.”

The BBC reports:

70’s band The Faces are to unite for a one time charity show at London’s Royal Albert Hall in late October.

But most famous Face Rod Stewart will not take part, with a lineup of guest singers  due to take his place.

Ronnie Wood will be joined by former Faces Kenny Jones and Ian McLagan, and even former Rolling Stone Bill Wyman filling in for the late Ronnie Lane.

Other performing guests will include former-Spice Girl Melanie C, Georgie Fame, Kiki Dee and Mick Hucknall of Simply Red.

Monies from this event, to be held on Oct 25, will go to PRS (Performing Right Society) for Music Members’ Benevolent Fund.

Ronnie Lane’s widow Katy is one of the many to receive assistance from the charity, which helps musicians, songwriters and their families in financial difficulties.

“This will be so special for us, staging a reunion for such a wonderful and prestigious event,” said Wood.

“Sadly Ronnie Lane can’t be with us, but I’m sure he will be there in spirit, God bless him.”