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71Tele

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Gazza
Anybody Seen My Baby without a doubt.

Maybe a controversial choice, but I'd go for Moonlight Mile.

It was a decent enough version, but for a song that theyd waited 28 years to unveil and which is (for me) a track that belongs in the top 10 songs that theyve ever released, it was a little underwhelming. Whether it was the arrangement or the vocal, it didnt quite reach the heights it could have done.

Credit to them for having a go at it, however.

Agree with you on Moonlight Mile. Damn shame too, as I waited all those years to hear it live. At least they tried.

Personally, I never thought IORR worked on stage. They have tried it in different keys, regular stage and "B" stage, and it always seems forced to me.

Possibly because what makes the studio version so great is that its basically an accident that worked. For much of the second half of it, it sounds like its about to fall apart any moment. The fact that the guitar and drums arent quite in time is what's so majestic about it.

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treaclefingers

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StonesTod
i think IORR has largely worked ok on the stage, as long as one doesn't try to compare it to the studio version, which is a marvel. on the stage - somehow it got turned into a rave up chuck berry tune...and it's never looked back....

I agree...and to what do you attribute that to? I believe a big part of the problem is they play it too fast generally. They're not hitting the groove as they do on the stoodeo version.

i think there was a t rex/chuck berry song buried in the original song, and maybe as it found it's way to the stage, all the other elements were left behind. you know how when keith wakes up in the morning, he's playing cb licks? something like that....

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lettingitbleed
and Some Girls. Love the song but doesn't jive live.

one of my top 5 fave stones songs - and i thought it worked incredibly well in '99 - not so much on the last tour, though....

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StonesTod

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treaclefingers

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StonesTod
i think IORR has largely worked ok on the stage, as long as one doesn't try to compare it to the studio version, which is a marvel. on the stage - somehow it got turned into a rave up chuck berry tune...and it's never looked back....

I agree...and to what do you attribute that to? I believe a big part of the problem is they play it too fast generally. They're not hitting the groove as they do on the stoodeo version.

i think there was a t rex/chuck berry song buried in the original song, and maybe as it found it's way to the stage, all the other elements were left behind. you know how when keith wakes up in the morning, he's playing cb licks? something like that....

Well that is a good description. It's as if they've surgically removed the T-Rex groove for stage, and what is left is a CB rocker.

Memory Motel because he never sings the whole frigging song. Plus keith doesn't sing on it. Doesn't come close to the magic of the studio version.

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Edith Grove
Miss You, every time.

It didn't flop in New Orleans on the 78 tour when it was the #1 song in the land. The place was going nuts!

keith always sings his part on memory motel.

It's pretty easy to pick songs that don't work on stage, usually the studio setting is as close to perfect as you can get, and you can continuously rerecord until you get the perfect track...there should be a thread (unless it's already been done of course), for songs that work BETTER on stage than studio.

I'm sure there are a few, but one that comes to mind is Out Of Control...boring on BTB but it rocked in concert.

Sway...terrible version, they played it too fast and too Vegas. It became a cabaret number. Ronnie seems completely lost while playing his solo. And I have no idea what Keith is playing.

"she's a rainbow". saw the clip from argentina in 1998-1999 on youtube.they were a few instuments short and the timing was off. had the potential of being a great live song.
"anybody seen my baby" didn't go over so well either.

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Rocky Dijon
Bernard once said that along with vocal arrangements, another part of his job that most people don't know he did (and he was smart enough not to irritate the Glimmers by discussing it publicly) was to run through songs and make them more conventional by dropping verses and removing lyrical variations from choruses. He did the same for Ronnie with "Breathe On Me" in the early nineties.

Personally, this irks me but I understand its simpler for them now and certainly for the multitude of sidemen if the songs are as conventional and simple as possible. The Jagger/Richards songwriting method of editing down long jams and overdubbing onto them did not lend itself to Songwriting 101 working techniques.

A notable example of this is '2000 Light Years From Home' (1989-1990), where every verse was "2000 Light Years", & none of the build up of the studio version ("500 Years", "1000 Years", "2000 Years"). A shame, because otherwise I thought it worked pretty well live.

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stones78
Sway...terrible version, they played it too fast and too Vegas. It became a cabaret number. Ronnie seems completely lost while playing his solo. And I have no idea what Keith is playing.

Agreed! Sway was the biggest disappointment of the BB tour. We all marveled at the idea of it being included in the setlist but then hearing it...what a letdown. I would imagine you have no idea what Keef is playing because he has no part to play on that song! The studio version is Jagger on rhythm guitar so I would not be surprised if Keef did not take the time to learn the correct arrangement..and it's even in open G!

The real issue IMO for this song is Mick's total lack of voice inflection. His passion that sends chills up my spine from the SF version is completely lost on stage.

"Love Train" crashed and burned on its first playing.

"Can't You Hear Me Knocking" was killed by the backup band and lazy guitar riffs.

"Some Girls" was destroyed at the Beacon and truncated.

"Live With Me" has never been the same since 1969.

"Brown Sugar" lost its soul after 1975.

"Satisfaction" I hated the opening riff on every show in 1969 but loved its rebirth in 1997.

"Beast Of Burden" never felt right live, the opening riff was too tinkly.

Oh No Not You Again sounded great standing in front of the stage in a couple of shows in 2006, how could you ever top those live versions? Come on ladies and gentlemen, at least 85% of the band's Arsenal sounds much better live.
I agree about ASMB, and IORR is a different song live, BUT REMEMBER THIS:

The message in IORR comes across MUCH MUCH MUCH BETTER live than it does on the studio version.

The studio version ain't angry enough. Read the lyrics or sing along!

You're a rag trade girl, You're the queen of porn, You're the easiest lay on the white house lawn!!

Rocky, I'm going to use your list and I've removed the ones I've never heard live in any way and I added some at the end:

Undercover Of The Night is just...gig filler - like Rock And A Hard Place; just not good. Horrible, in fact.

She Was Hot, at least from Shine A Light - and I would imagine it wasn't any different on the tour - was quite boring and played as if they weren't sure if they wrote it. It sucked.

Harlem Shuffle I actually liked.

One Hit was quite bad.

Mixed Emotions I actually liked somehow.

Sad, Sad, Sad was great when I saw them! No stupid keyboard in it when I saw the tour nor is it in the Flashpoint version or if I recall correctly the Seventh Of July boot or At The Max.

Terrifying I only heard...nzentgraf hasn't worked for weeks for me so I can't recall if I saw it on the tour or not but I did like what I heard from the PPV in Atlantic City.

Almost Hear You Sigh was killer!

Love Is Strong sucked.

You Got Me Rocking was good actually - even better on the Bridges tour as the surprisingly good version on No Security reveals ironically. To me anyway.

Sparks Will Fly was not much different then the LP version but it was better live.

Moon Is Up - only heard that youtube version. No comment.

Out Of Tears was KILLER!

I Go Wild I liked actually. Maybe because it was new.

Anybody Seen My Baby was - it was interesting that they wanted to play it live and they did but...it's just like Love Is Strong - Mick can't sing it for shit so they should've just never bothered with it.

Flip The Switch was SWEEEEET!

Out Of Control was KILLER.

Saint Of Me was actually good, surprisingly.

Juiced - I've only heard that one on youtube and it sucks hard.

Don't Stop was bland as bland can get.

Rough Justice was too messy and they basically ruined it.

It Won't Take Long - they played this one live?!? What, one time? @#$%&.

Rain Fall Down sucked.

Streets Of Love sucks probably the most.

Back Of My Hand was just boring.

Oh No, Not You Again: the fact that they did When The Whip Comes Down on the Licks tour should have made them stay away from this song, a desperate attempt at sounding like something from Some Girls.

Sway was horrendous! Just...amazingly bad.

Bitch - too many goddamn horns, not enough actual chug. But still way better than UOTN or SOL or RAAHP...

IORR - They really should have stopped playing this after the 1989/90 tours. It's just horrible now.

Start Me Up - another one they should've left alone after the 1989/90 tours. They've never played it worth a shit since.

JJF - there's just no excuse; it's been awful for centuries.

Miss You - NO. I don't. Stop playing this pile of shit and do something a little bit different like, gee, something that's never been played live before but still has the 'ooooohs' in it - like Emotional Rescue.

going back a ways, I think the most tragic flops are "100 Years Ago" and "Fingerprint File." I mean, I enjoy the way both of them are played live, but apparently the band felt they didn't go over.

You Got the Silver never worked for me live. After waiting 30 years for it, the '99 versions had sections out of order. The no Keef guitar versions of '06-07 were cringe-inducing.

Sister Morphine just didn't work in stadiums in the early B2B shows. The arrangement would have been fine in a smaller venue, but seemed hollow in the larger places.

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Rocky Dijon
The success rate of songs from 1983 performed live has not been good. I'll exclude Keith lead vocals because they tend to be a different beast and his numbers are sadly ignored by general audiences at concerts unless it is "Happy."


Undercover of the Night - tepid
She Was Hot - tepid
Harlem Shuffle - dreadful live despite being a very good studio performance
One Hit - dreadful live, guitar work was lost in a wash of keyboards
Mixed Emotions - elicited mixed emotions live
Sad, Sad, Sad - keyboard intro overshadow ed Mick's guitar work, tepid at best
Terrifying - actually okay live
Blinded By Love - nice, but rarely played
Rock and a Hard Place - okay, but never caught fire live
Almost Hear You Sigh - actually well done live
Love is Strong - lacklustre in concert, sadly
You Got Me Rocking - worked surprisingly well
Sparks Will Fly - keyboard overshadowed guitar work yet again, a miss
Moon is Up - worked live, but a true rarity live
Out of Tears - nice live, but sadly forgotten
I Go Wild - tepid
Brand New Car - okay live, but rarely played
Jump On Top Of Me - worked live, but a true rarity live
Anybody Seen My Baby - tepid with the rap becoming a live train wreck
Flip the Switch - worked live, but sadly forgotten
Low Down - okay live, but a true rarity
Out of Control - worked very well live, sadly neglected
Saint of Me - worked very well live, sadly neglected
Juiced - an improvement live, but a true rarity
Don't Stop - worked live, but now forgotten
Rough Justice - tepid at best, contrived song to begin with in my view
It Won't Take Long - okay live, but a true rarity
Rain Fall Down - worked live, a missed opportunity as first single
Streets of Love - an improvement live, but doomed to obscurity
Back of My Hand - worked live, but now forgotten
Oh No, Not You Again - tepid at best, a missed opportunity in studio as well

No surprise that the vast majority of these songs are from the Voodoo/Bridges/ABB era. It's hard to perform weak material with any degree of confidence.

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Gazza

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71Tele

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Gazza
Anybody Seen My Baby without a doubt.

Maybe a controversial choice, but I'd go for Moonlight Mile.

It was a decent enough version, but for a song that theyd waited 28 years to unveil and which is (for me) a track that belongs in the top 10 songs that theyve ever released, it was a little underwhelming. Whether it was the arrangement or the vocal, it didnt quite reach the heights it could have done.

Credit to them for having a go at it, however.

Agree with you on Moonlight Mile. Damn shame too, as I waited all those years to hear it live. At least they tried.

Personally, I never thought IORR worked on stage. They have tried it in different keys, regular stage and "B" stage, and it always seems forced to me.

Possibly because what makes the studio version so great is that its basically an accident that worked. For much of the second half of it, it sounds like its about to fall apart any moment. The fact that the guitar and drums arent quite in time is what's so majestic about it.

Agree completely, Gazza. The studio version was a worked-over demo that shouldn't have worked but somehow did. The song is as much a studio creation as anything on Sgt. Pepper, and it can't be performed live with the same result.

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cc
going back a ways, I think the most tragic flops are "100 Years Ago" and "Fingerprint File." I mean, I enjoy the way both of them are played live, but apparently the band felt they didn't go over.

They gave up on 100 Years Ago too soon, same as they did Ventilator Blues, Torn & Frayed and Sweet Black Angel in '72.

Wow. I agree with almost all of them. I thought 'She Was Hot' was the highlight of the evening at Dodger Stadium in 2006. And 'Back of My Hand' was really good at the Hollywood Bowl in 2005. Isn't it sad that we never say 'Darryl kicked ass on that', or 'Chuck really nailed that'? They are surrounded by mediocre. It would be good to have a guest pianist at a show who could really pull off 'She's A Rainbow'.

main reason why none of those listed work well live is because they don't do them enough. if anybody seen my baby was performed every night i'm sure by mid tour it would sound better than the studio version.

You mean if they would have done 'Fingerprint File' every show in 20 years it would have been a brilliant live-song?

2 1 2 0

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duke richardson
Torn And Frayed ..at the Palais Royale 2002...hmmm..

even worse in Vancouver 1972. That was a train wreck. At the Aragon in 2002 it worked ok, imo.

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Come On
I have never heard a succesful 'The spider and the fly' live with Stones..

The Stripped version is beautiful, imo.

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Rocky Dijon
The success rate of songs from 1983 performed live has not been good. I'll exclude Keith lead vocals because they tend to be a different beast and his numbers are sadly ignored by general audiences at concerts unless it is "Happy."


Undercover of the Night - tepid
She Was Hot - tepid
Harlem Shuffle - dreadful live despite being a very good studio performance
One Hit - dreadful live, guitar work was lost in a wash of keyboards
Mixed Emotions - elicited mixed emotions live
Sad, Sad, Sad - keyboard intro overshadow ed Mick's guitar work, tepid at best
Terrifying - actually okay live
Blinded By Love - nice, but rarely played
Rock and a Hard Place - okay, but never caught fire live
Almost Hear You Sigh - actually well done live
Love is Strong - lacklustre in concert, sadly
You Got Me Rocking - worked surprisingly well
Sparks Will Fly - keyboard overshadowed guitar work yet again, a miss
Moon is Up - worked live, but a true rarity live
Out of Tears - nice live, but sadly forgotten
I Go Wild - tepid
Brand New Car - okay live, but rarely played
Jump On Top Of Me - worked live, but a true rarity live
Anybody Seen My Baby - tepid with the rap becoming a live train wreck
Flip the Switch - worked live, but sadly forgotten
Low Down - okay live, but a true rarity
Out of Control - worked very well live, sadly neglected
Saint of Me - worked very well live, sadly neglected
Juiced - an improvement live, but a true rarity
Don't Stop - worked live, but now forgotten
Rough Justice - tepid at best, contrived song to begin with in my view
It Won't Take Long - okay live, but a true rarity
Rain Fall Down - worked live, a missed opportunity as first single
Streets of Love - an improvement live, but doomed to obscurity
Back of My Hand - worked live, but now forgotten
Oh No, Not You Again - tepid at best, a missed opportunity in studio as well

IMO, the Atlantic City version of Undercover is very, very good. And I liked Harlem Shuffle live, even though it was very much a Vegas version.

However, songs like Sway, She Was Hot, Lies and Stop Breakin' Down didn't work live, imo.

I guess I'm one of the few that really liked the Moonlight Mile version they did in 99. Sister Morphine was good, too.

"Fingerprint File", a great Stones song on IORR with MJ on rhythm guitar, one of the best not-Keithian riffs in Stones history, but unfortunately on "Love You Live" a great disappointment, no tension, a lame and lost sound of the rhythm guitar, horrible vocals (MJ's coke-chopped barking mode in this years), lousy bass (RW), one of the weakest live efforts the Stones ever did.

anybody seen my baby for sure but i am not sure i ever heard it in the concerts i have been (but i have bootlegs).
My personal experience was sway in berlin, i had a lot of expectations but it was disappointing

Chantilly Lace - 1982, always lousy !
LG Raluca

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RobertJohnson
"Fingerprint File", a great Stones song on IORR with MJ on rhythm guitar, one of the best not-Keithian riffs in Stones history, but unfortunately on "Love You Live" a great disappointment, no tension, a lame and lost sound of the rhythm guitar, horrible vocals (MJ's coke-chopped barking mode in this years), lousy bass (RW), one of the weakest live efforts the Stones ever did.

Concerning Love You Live,I agree with you...but I wouldn´t say in general this
song flopped on stage ´75...