Get Your Ya-Ya's Out (1970)


 

  1.Jumpin' Jack Flash
  2.Carol
  3.Stray Cat Blues
  4.Love in Vain
  5.Midnight Rambler
  6.Sympathy For the Devil
  7.Live With Me
  8.Little Queenie
  9.Honky Tonk Woman
 10.Street Fighting Man
 
 -Bonus Material (3 CD 2009 Edition) -
 Disc 2
  1. Prodigal Son
  2. You Gotta Move
  3. Under My Thumb
  4. I'm Free
  5. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
  
Disc 3
  1. Everyday I Have the Blues (B.B. King)
  2. How Blue Can You Get (B.B. King)
  3. That's Wrong Little Mama (B.B. King)
  4. Why I Sing the Blues (B.B. King)
  5. Please Accept My Love (B.B. King)
  6. Gimme Some Loving (Ike and Tina Turner)
  7. Sweet Soul Music (Ike and Tina Turner)
  8. Son of a Preacher Man (Ike and Tina Turner)
  9. Proud Mary (Ike and Tina Turner)
  10.I've Been Loving You Too Long (Ike and Tina Turner)

 

By the time the Rolling Stones were well into the latter part of their career, they had released more live albums than studio ones. It became a bit of a maze trying to figure out which live cut came from where, and even the die-hards started losing track. But this one—Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out!, released in 1970—is widely hailed as not only the band’s best live document, but one of the finest live albums of all time.

It’s a curious distinction, considering that the record doesn’t exactly go deep. Only ten songs make the cut, and three of them are covers—though to be fair, their rendition of Love in Vain had become so synonymous with the band that most listeners considered it a Stones track anyway. And it’s not as if the sound quality here holds up to the technological polish of what live albums would become just a decade later.

So what makes it so special? Simple: timing. Nearly all of the songs featured here were pulled from the Stones’ most fertile creative stretch. With the exception of the two Chuck Berry staples—Carol and Little Queenie—everything else comes from the immediate past two years. Nobody knew it back then, but the band had just wrapped what would become their most celebrated period, and this record catches them right in that sweet spot. It’s lean, loud, raw, and confident. You can practically hear them taking the crown.

It’s light-years better than the chaotic Got Live If You Want It!, their previous attempt at a live album that sounded more like an echo chamber in a broom closet. Of course, the shadow of Altamont still hangs over this era—Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! was released just weeks before the now-infamous free concert that ended in tragedy when a Hell’s Angel, acting as security, killed a fan during the show. Still, this album remains a clear, unflinching snapshot of the Stones on stage at their best—uncompromising and untouchable.

A deluxe 2009 reissue added a couple of unexpected gems: one bonus disc of additional Stones material from the same set, and another featuring the opening acts—B.B. King and Ike & Tina Turner. Believe it or not, it’s that second disc that ends up stealing the show. Both support acts were on fire, and their sets offer a surprising and welcome highlight to an already legendary package.


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