Ladies & Gentlemen [DVD] [2010] [NTSC]

Awesome to see this released officially at last, having owned a soundtrack recording for some time.

Track list is:

Brown Sugar
Bitch
Gimme Shelter
Dead Flowers
Happy
Tumbling Dice
Love in Vain
Sweet Virginia
You Can't Always Get What You Want
All Down the Line
Midnight Rambler
Bye Bye Johnny
Rip This Joint
Jumping Jack Flash
Street Fighting Man

There's also rehearsal footage of Shake Your Hips, an early version of Tumbling Dice (with Mick not yet sure which melody line he's going to use for the 'Baby' lines in the absence of backing vocalists) and a lacklustre blues jam which relegates Mick Taylor to bored rhythm guitar while Keith repeats the same Chuck Berry licks over and over.

The set is completed with 2 excellent Mick J interviews - one from the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1972 and one in 2010. The former features a none-more-cockney Mick with a twinkle in his eye talking about Exile (full of danceable, more commercial songs apparently) and the upcoming tour. The latter is very informative, albeit Mick's memory fails him at times.

The concert is an absolute must-see. The band is on fire. Mick Taylor's soloing is blistering and, whilst he's never been the most entertaining musician to watch, even he starts to lose himself in the music by the climax of Midnight Rambler. Keith's rhythm playing is superb throughout, whilst Charlie's inventive, slightly behind-the-beat swing perfectly matches the music's loucheness - in huge contrast to the more clinical clicktrack approach he's often resorted to since - I don't think Tumbling Dice has ever sounded more raunchy than this period, for instance. The band manages to sound loose and spontaneous whilst never missing a beat or otherwise losing it - barring the odd shambolic song ending.

A stunning offering from the vault. Now can we have a 1972/73 live CD please? The Fort Worth/Brussels recordings will do just fine.

UPDATE 17 Nov 2011 - and so it came to pass - stonesarchive.com has just released the fabulous Brussels Affair on download - well worth checking out!

First of all, the concert film is excellent. 100% Rock n' Roll!! I had this disc on boootleg, and although it was quite good and I watched it alot, the sound quality wasn't great, nor the picture, but still I thought it was very good.
I have been waiting for the release of this re-mastered film for quite a while and pre ordered 2 of them as soon as it became possible to do so. (one was for a present for another stones fan I know)
I couldn't wait to get my hands on the new one and when I did I wasn't disapointed at all with it's quality.
I'm giving it 5 stars because quite simply it deserves it.

The film itself isn't quite original though. I had been listening to the sound track on my iPOD when I heard some differences in Mick Jaggers singing styles, which at the time sounded great, really great, like he had to sets of lungs and when he had finished singing a line, he was able to carry it on with second breath. I looked then at the film and discovered that the re-mastered film has been infact overbudded by Mick in mostly all of the songs. Its not very noticealbe at all, there are a few times when he isnt sining into the mic, and looking away from it but there are still vocals on the sound track. But you would have to look really really hard to notice the difference and compared to the bootlegged origninal it is a thousand times better in sound quality.

Keiths guitar playing is a constant Rocking and Swinging Powerful Rythm that is quite unlike anything released by the stones live before and he plays the part very well. Even if he does find it difficult to stand up straight in his platform boots.

There are rare sights of Bill Wyman but the Bass is great, always thumping away and tight, which also makes me think that thee may have been some overdubbing on the music as well.

The outtakes in the extras aren't anything that you havent seen before but its worth watching to see a very dirty and grimey Keith playing away, and I dont mean his guitar sound style. He looks like he is very well into his junk here, an if you read his book - Life - he confirms that he indeed was.

The camera angles are mainly from the sides and there are no shots from looking at the front of the stage but this doesnt really matter at all because the music is second to none.
Gimme shelter, a strangely arranged Bitch and tumbling dice are the stand out tracks that will have you wanting more and more, also midnight rambler is awesome, but doesnt quite sound as dark as the Get your ya yas out version.

Buy it now!

just seen this film at the cinema,i've seen a few stones films over the years, some good some not so good, but this film is the best stones film ever. Mick Taylor in superb form, delivering his usual brilliant solos,a fine selection of songs and the sound is really good.If you are a stones fan this film is unmissable, you gotta see it.