Stripped (1995)
1.Street Fighting Man
2.Like a Rolling Stone
3.Not Fade Away
4.Shine A Light
5.The Spider and the Fly
6.I'm Free
7.Wild Horses
8.Let it Bleed
9.Dead Flowers
10.Slipping Away
11.Angie
12.Love in Vain
13.Sweet Virginia
14.Little Baby
 
An attempt to bring the band a bit back
to their roots in a small club atmosphere that mostly succeeds. The
problem with the Rolling Stones (if you could call it that) was that
they had become so popular, that it only made sense for them to
headline stadiums. A bit sad since these guys almost seem the most "at
home" playing in the clubs and bars. Years ago, they would schedule
anonymous shows headlining at clubs under obscure names, so they would
"surprise" the unsuspecting audience. (True Story: During the Tattoo You
tour, there was a rumor that the band was going to play at a club under
the name "Tattoo". Rumor spread like wildfire and people were fighting
to get in the small club. The rumor was false, and "Tattoo" was a
middle aged guy doing Elvis impersonations).
The only time they were captured live in this type of environment was
the disappointing side 3 of Love You Live
where they, again, surprised the audience (although you could argue many
of them didn't care). Here it's different. From the opening riff of
Street Fighting Man, this one begins incredibly powerful. What's
odd is that this doesn't turn into a concert, which is what I
(and a lot of people) was expecting. Instead this is a combination of
live, spontaneous stripped down performances of mostly their own songs
(with a couple of covers thrown in) but most are not in front of an
audience. It gets a little tiresome when, as the songs change, some are
"in concert" and others are not.
Most of the songs translate well. A few don't, such as I'm Free
and Not Fade Away, but most of the songs here serve this
experiment well. They even cover Bob Dylan's Like a Rolling
Stone, that really, to be honest, sounds a little too much
like the original and doesn't feature enough of the band's grit. But
for a band well into their fifties who were truly The Greatest Rock and
Roll Band, this is better than anyone could ask for.
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