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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.

Funny, I always liked the live version the most. Better playing and singing, imo.

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ghostryder13
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.

eh?

It was performed every night on the BTB tour. They had a full year to get it right.

I've always loved the studio version but when played live it killed the show for five minutes every time. Maybe the version they did in Bremen that was on TV was passable, but in general it stank.

Some one else mentioned 'Stop Breakin Down' - however it was only ever played one time (Miami '94) and that was with Robert Cray on lead vocals and with a different arrangement. Pretty anti climactic, but then theyve never really done it live by themselves.

SBD is a standard boogie tune. Charlie (or Keith) messed up from the beginning, and they had major trouble getting it back on track again. It didn't have anything to do with the arrangement (which wasn't that different).

Mick's singing was flat, too.

But in all fairness, if they'd played it a couple of times more, it would probably have worked fine.

A lot of the Exile songs in the 1972 tour lost a lot without Keith's brilliant harmony singing. Rocks Off, All Down The Line, Tumbling Dice, Rip This Joint...the band was fantastic, but they sound "incomplete" to me.

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DandelionPowderman

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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.

Funny, I always liked the live version the most. Better playing and singing, imo.

Sorry, this is a little better than the version on LYL, but nothing more than "mountains of cocaine", as user pekoe67 wrote:

the problem with "Torn and Frayed" seemed to be the circular structure of the song, so they didn't know (ie, hadn't rehearsed) when to change.

the same things happened with "Hand of Fate," and to some extent "Crazy Mama," which might also go in the flop category. I guess Bernard needed to be there to do his linearization on them.

Beast Of Burden.

Impossible for them to get it right.

Torn & Frayed has a very complex structure for such a simple song (if that makes sense). It is particularly hard to "feel" what chords should be played over the instrumental break (the pedal steel part on the album version). Another example of a song I always wanted them to play live, but when they did, it kind of sucked. Same case with Sway. They were playing that one in the above video like they couldn't wait to get to the end. Killed the whole feel of bittersweet longing that makes the song so special. On the solo Wood starts out pretty good, then just loses his direction (so typical of his playing). The band doesn't quite know where the intro bit comes back in. Charlie plays it when no one else does. A real mess.

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Mainman
Beast Of Burden.

Impossible for them to get it right.

wha? It was often superb in '78 and '81-82.

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71Tele
Torn & Frayed has a very complex structure for such a simple song (if that makes sense). It is particularly hard to "feel" what chords should be played over the instrumental break (the pedal steel part on the album version). Another example of a song I always wanted them to play live, but when they did, it kind of sucked. Same case with Sway. They were playing that one in the above video like they couldn't wait to get to the end. Killed the whole feel of bittersweet longing that makes the song so special. On the solo Wood starts out pretty good, then just loses his direction (so typical of his playing). The band doesn't quite know where the intro bit comes back in. Charlie plays it when no one else does. A real mess.

yeah, "T&F" is just the two most basic patterns, but alternating such that it's hard to remember which one you're on. I've never tried to play it with a band but I can see how it would be tricky if not everyone's hearing it the same. So then how did they get it down in the first place? It sounds plenty confident on record.

"Sway" is a good example of why you can't ask players to do things they don't really want to do and get a good result. Nice gesture for the fans, but no one on stage seems to want to be there.

"Love Is Strong", definitely - though I thought it was great at MSG '06... though that could have been due to the surprise factor.


So much of what I love about "Start Me Up" is the production; thus, I've never really liked it live.

"Respectable" has been terrible since they brought it back into the setlist in the late '90s. Loved the '78 version, though.

As already stated, a lot of the Voodoo stuff would have sounded much better live with fewer keys and also some dirtier guitar sounds.

As has been mentioned before, 'It's Only Rock 'N' Roll' is the Stones number they have never quite got right live. That of course is if you compare it to the studio version. Maybe it is because it was originally overdubbed a number of times, primarily with musicians who were not members of the group. Keith's Chuck Berry guitar work is to the fore, perhaps more so than the studio version, but the other elements of the original version are lacking. The live versions just aren't as taut and sharp, and almost seem rather routine and leisurely in pace by comparison. I saw the Counterfeit Stones do a very impressive version of the song, using the arrangement taken from the original version, a year or two ago.

They always play "It's Only Rock & Roll" and "Jumping Jack Flash" way too fast. Wish they would take their time with those and not play like it's a race.

But Sway by far was the worst and most disappointing for me. Mick just can't do that song justice the way he sings today. I know he's cautious with his voice on tour, but once in awhile I'd like to see him throw caution to the wind live.

Rocks Off is never good, and in my opinion part of the blame goes to Charlie. His playing on the original, with a couple of the perfect fills he throws in are sublime, but when they play that today, he doesn't even make an effort to mirror what was one of his finest moments in the studio.

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stones78
A lot of the Exile songs in the 1972 tour lost a lot without Keith's brilliant harmony singing. Rocks Off, All Down The Line, Tumbling Dice, Rip This Joint...the band was fantastic, but they sound "incomplete" to me.

Yep. Not to mention what Torn & Frayed lost by his missing vocal when they tried it more recently.

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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....

Dead-on.

For me, that makes onstage versions (esp. the naughty At The Max performance) superior to the jaded, faded irony of the It's Only Rock 'n Roll studio recording. However one comes down on the studio vs. live question in this case, though, it's a pleasure to have two distinctly different interpretations of the song.

Agreed Gazza that "Moonlight Mile" was a letdown onstage. Have you ever heard the Alvin Youngblood Hart recording with just dobro and a few brushstokes of Stratocaster? Would have been incredible to see Mick, Keith and Woody try it that way...

I hate to say it, but for me, "Sympathy For The Devil" hasn't worked since Love You Live. Even more sadly, "Honky Tonk Women" has sounded rote and lifeless at least since 1994. I've said it before: I think they would bring any 20,000 seat house down with a "Country Honk" performed on the b-stage.

"Anybody Seen My Baby?" was a fiasco and deserved better.

It is Jagger's multi tracked vocal which is lacking the most on the live versions of 'Rocks Off'. Live, he doesn't hit the notes, either, and the song tends to sound very unstructured, and a touch chaotic, more so than the studio version, even. However, those early seventies live versions are remarkably raw and exciting in my opinion, too, so perhaps 'Rocks Off' wouldn't be the song that would immediately spring to mind as being a flop live. Many of the later live versions of Stones songs are mere shadows of what the Stones delivered live in their prime, so many of the songs being performed for the first time, certainly in more recent years, may prove not especially impressive. 'Start Me Up' has never been anywhere near the standard of the studio version either, whether back in 81, or in more recent years. The guitars and Jagger's magnificent original vocal just sound so hard edged and raw on the original version, yet live, by comparison, the song sounds almost pedestian - it doesn't have that greasy, hard rock sound. The original version of 'Start Me Up' is another example of where everything (eventually!) came together brilliantly, after the song had gone through a number of changes in terms of style, during its evolution.

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71Tele

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stones78
A lot of the Exile songs in the 1972 tour lost a lot without Keith's brilliant harmony singing. Rocks Off, All Down The Line, Tumbling Dice, Rip This Joint...the band was fantastic, but they sound "incomplete" to me.

Yep. Not to mention what Torn & Frayed lost by his missing vocal when they tried it more recently.

He was singing all the way, but nowhere as good as on Exile. One of his best harmony vocals ever, imo.

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71Tele
Torn & Frayed has a very complex structure for such a simple song (if that makes sense). It is particularly hard to "feel" what chords should be played over the instrumental break (the pedal steel part on the album version). Another example of a song I always wanted them to play live, but when they did, it kind of sucked. Same case with Sway. They were playing that one in the above video like they couldn't wait to get to the end. Killed the whole feel of bittersweet longing that makes the song so special. On the solo Wood starts out pretty good, then just loses his direction (so typical of his playing). The band doesn't quite know where the intro bit comes back in. Charlie plays it when no one else does. A real mess.

ain't it a little funny and a little sad to note that a group like the Crowes can play these songs with more conviction and confidence than can the stones? yeah, it is....

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cc
the problem with "Torn and Frayed" seemed to be the circular structure of the song, so they didn't know (ie, hadn't rehearsed) when to change.

the same things happened with "Hand of Fate," and to some extent "Crazy Mama," which might also go in the flop category. I guess Bernard needed to be there to do his linearization on them.

agree with you on HOF - but CM worked okay, except for mick's mailed-in vox, which i mostly attribute to the distraction of him trying to play guitar and sing at the same time...he usually loses focus on the vocals when he does this...

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Rev. Robert W.

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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....

Dead-on.

For me, that makes onstage versions (esp. the naughty At The Max performance) superior to the jaded, faded irony of the It's Only Rock 'n Roll studio recording. However one comes down on the studio vs. live question in this case, though, it's a pleasure to have two distinctly different interpretations of the song.

Agreed Gazza that "Moonlight Mile" was a letdown onstage. Have you ever heard the Alvin Youngblood Hart recording with just dobro and a few brushstokes of Stratocaster? Would have been incredible to see Mick, Keith and Woody try it that way...

I hate to say it, but for me, "Sympathy For The Devil" hasn't worked since Love You Live. Even more sadly, "Honky Tonk Women" has sounded rote and lifeless at least since 1994. I've said it before: I think they would bring any 20,000 seat house down with a "Country Honk" performed on the b-stage.

"Anybody Seen My Baby?" was a fiasco and deserved better.

i thought the 89/90 SFTD worked fine, even with the introduction of the dreaded drum loop. in fact, it was one of the centerpieces of the show...keith was mighty and bold.

since then it has been gradually reduced to a laughable singalong. a truly embarrassing part of the set since around '99....

LITTLE T&A 2006. oooff! was that painful? ouch.

this thread is sure bringing back some fine memories for us all, eh?

Sway.

Should never have even attempted it

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Gazza

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ghostryder13
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.

eh?

It was performed every night on the BTB tour. They had a full year to get it right.

I've always loved the studio version but when played live it killed the show for five minutes every time. Maybe the version they did in Bremen that was on TV was passable, but in general it stank.

i was using it as an example maybe not a good example but most songs done live will not sound near as good as the war horses because they've done those a million times and could play them in their sleep.

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ghostryder13

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Gazza

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ghostryder13
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.

eh?

It was performed every night on the BTB tour. They had a full year to get it right.

I've always loved the studio version but when played live it killed the show for five minutes every time. Maybe the version they did in Bremen that was on TV was passable, but in general it stank.

i was using it as an example maybe not a good example but most songs done live will not sound near as good as the war horses because they've done those a million times and could play them in their sleep.

often it sounds like the warhorses are BEING played in their sleep....

JIMMY C mentioned 'Jumpin' Jack Flash' as being too fast. That's only when they stick it in that last sorry part of the concert when they're trying to jam in warhorses so the rubes think they got their money's worth. Unless your horny for fireworks, that's the time to dash to your car and get out ahead of the crowd. I have never been to a bad Stones concert that started with Jumping Jack Flash. It seems almost any song that's put up in the first two or three slots gets a good reading.

We love to HATE the Stones! lol

Even though we hate them, we love them.

In my generation we were mesmerized by seeing Gimme Shelter as 14-year-olds at the midnight show at the local theater. This was in 72 or 73. It was shock and awe.

They looked so much bigger than life from that perspective. Really "heavy" and in fact they were heavy.

On a positive note, what about the performance of Honky Tonk Woman in Gimme Shelter, even with the crazy guys trying to go after Mick? It's absolutely fantabulously AWESOME! lol

I can still get tinges of the "Stones vibe" reaching out to me from the 1960s and 70s. I love it still!

On the other hand, I am now willing to let them get old. The "Stones vibe" is long gone, but it's okay. The last true blast was 1981, even with it's faults.

And for all of the bitching and moaning, I bet a lot of us saw the "Stones Phase IV" many times. 89-90, 94-95, 97-98, 99, 02-03, 05-06, 07. Pretty damn respectable for a bunch of guys from the 1960s.

If they tried Moonlight Mile in the 80's it probably sucked cause of Ron wood.

More recently...Sympathy for the Devil. Sometimes it makes you cringe, it's similar to adding a mustache to Mona Lisa. A great song, work of art gone bad.

Sway was very disappointing as well. I didn't like the way Mick changed the cadence of the lyrics, which throws off the guitars.