DVD reviews: Ladies and Gentlemen, the Rolling Stones and The Rolling Stones 1969-1974: The Mick Taylor Years (with video)

Well, praise be to whomever decided to finally get this particular document back into public consumption. It rocks from beginning to end, save for a minor stumble here and there ("Tumbling Dice," for example). The film was drawn from four shows played over two dates in Texas in 1972, ostensibly on the Exile tour. Only a handful of songs from that double album are played, but the vibe of the band that made that record is there throughout. You'll be astonished at the skill with which Mick Taylor transforms the songs into blues-rock powerhouses. At the same time, Keith Richards is in prime, swaggering form, delivering his unique riffage and raw vocal harmonies on pretty much every song. Charlie Watts looks happier than I have ever seen him, Bill Wyman is his usual stoic self, and the horn duo (Bobby Keys and Jim Price on sax and trumpet, respectively) give the proceedings that perfect Exile feel. It's basically the band that made that album, minus the keyboards and the backing singers. It is raw and risky and altogether great. It is what earned this band its superlative subtitle for all of these years.

Jagger and Richards share a vocal mic often, Taylor rips on the leads (and especially on slide guitar, while remaining nearly stock-still), Keys comes center-stage for a solo, and lots of things almost go wrong, but they never quite do. What more do you want? Even "Midnight Rambler" is revived from its boring, slow death-march into a roaring rock anthem.

[image-1]The video quality is marginal in the sense that you can tell it was blown up from a 16mm negative, but that grainy quality is pretty much a perfect match for the performance. You would not want to see it any clearer -- especially given that there are plenty of quick shots of Mick shaking his skinny ass right at you. There is basically no continuity, as costumes change from song to song. The sound quality is not terrible, considering that it was probably difficult to isolate any given instrument or vocal among the din. So the whole package is of a sort that will feel ragged AND right -- just what you want from the Stones.

A few months back, in an attempt to cash in on the Exile re-issue mania, a fly-by-night outfit called "Sexy Intellectual" released a documentary DVD titled The Rolling Stones 1969: The Mick Taylor Years. This is a fine adjunct to whatever you already know about the Stones during those fertile years, but don't expect a lot of performance footage or even much insight that you can't get elsewhere. Various, mostly British rock pundits share their wisdom for about 90 minutes. Sure, it's good to know how Mick Taylor was hired, how he transformed the band and why he quit, but who really cares? The music speaks for itself. His contributions were happily co-incident to a time when they needed a shot in the arm, and he certainly delivered that.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Rolling Stones

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The Rolling Stones 1969: The Mick Taylor Years

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Check out a performance of "Happy" from Ladies and Gentlemen below: