Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones

Forget Hyde Park, forget Altamont: if you only buy one RS live performance, it must be Ladies and Gentlemen. Here is a band at the peak of their prodigous powers, consistently rocking on every number across a veritable feast of classic tunes. This 1972 film captures the band in fine fettle in Texas on their Exile on Main Street tour. It is a straight show, no backstage footage, no interviews, no filler, no lame alternate versions, just straight forward rock n roll.

Why this film has never been given an official release is beyond me. It is long overdue for release. Instead the public are treated to turkeys such as the Hyde Park show.

If you're a classic rock fan and haven't watched Ladies n Gentlemen, get a copy, you won't regret it.

This is my favorite Rock N Roll movie, as it is just a straight concert unlike the documentary without talking or opinions forced on the viewer. The film features the Rolling Stones live in Ft Worth Texas with two performances edited together. All other live recordings or films about the Rolling Stones take second place to this film. The primary difference other than their ages with other film is the great musicianship added by lead guitarist Mick Taylor. For once the Stones are shown with a five star guitarist in full bloom, Mick Taylor adds the musicianship to take the band to stellar levels of playing, i.e. Led Zepplin or Cream shows. Coupled with Jagger's first class stage antics and an excellent horn section, the band is highlighted in a raw format that is long gone from their highly polished and commercialized recent tours. The film is unreleased on video and DVD, but easily found via fan circles, trade shows, and down loadable bit torrents. Should appeal to masses of music fans.

It's great to have some good footage of the early 1970's Stones (during their "Exile On Main Street" tour), but it's probably best suited to hard core fans and other nostelgic types. Keith Richards is especially cool during this era, and many would agree that the band is pretty much at their peak here. Great rock and roll music, originally released in quadrophonic sound. Recorded live in Texas, with all on-stage footage and no backstage or interview shots whatsoever. The biggest problem is that you CAN'T BUY THE THING!!! Why has this never been released officially on VHS? Where's a new remastered DVD? Most likely Allen Klein is to blame somehow for this great footage not being (legitimately) available, but let's hope that someday we can actually go buy an official release of this classic. Stones fans HAVE to see this thing, but casual fans may want to stick with "Gimme Shelter," which you can at least go buy/rent.

Excellent! This is the concert film with the Stones. It is a mystery why this film is not officially released. I've always been disappointed with the Stones live films. I've never understood what made people rave about why the Stones were so great live. Look to "The Stones in the park" 1969 or the horrendous "Let's spend the night together" 1981 and you'll see my point. However for this tour, the Exile on main street tour, they seem to up the ante. Everything seems to click. The Stones, a tight unit! Live playing, records, coolness, image, this is where they reach their zenith. They have just finished the four best records of their career and are really flying. It's hard to understand why they are so good here and so unbelievably under par before or years to come. Maybe it's the drug use? which in Keith Richards' case, really started to escalate from here on. Maybe it's because Mick Taylor really found his groove with the band? I don't know, but it's a crying shame that this feature hasn't been released with restored sound and pictures ala the excellent "Gimme shelter" DVD. If you really want to know what The Stones could be capable of at the peak of their career, get this film one way or the other!

This collection of numbers recorded over two nights in Texas, 1972 prove that the Stones, at least for a little while, really were the Greatest Band in the World. Here we have the Stones doing what they do best: Guitar fueled R&B with pop flair and youthful rebelliousness thrown in for good measure. The renditions of Gimme Shelter, Midnight Rambler, and Can't Always Get What You Want surpass anything recorded to date, live or studio. You have to love the acoustic performance of Sweet Virginia. The contributions from Bobby Keyes, Jim Price, and Nicky Hopkins make it clear the Stones were brilliant collaborators. Mick Taylor frankly steals the show, particularly with his slide work on All Down the Line. But there's no getting past the fact that this is Mick and Keith's band: their performances are consistently stellar. Mick's leadership and Keith's suspensions are what made this band great in the first place.

It's really a shame that this footage does not have a widespread release. Clearly, the 1972 tour was the nadir of their career.