From Ultimate Classic Rock:
[ultimateclassicrock.com]

After outlasting most of their peers, the Rolling Stones caught a second commercial wind in the late ’70s and early ’80s. So, it was only natural that the group opted to capture the 1981 tour on their fourth live album, Still Life.
Released June 1, 1982, Still Life arrived less than a year after Tattoo You gave the group their eighth consecutive No. 1 album in the U.S., while spawning one of the band’s most memorable hits – the transatlantic Top 10 hit “Start Me Up.”
Yet as popular as that LP proved, its contents spoke to a brewing problem in the Rolling Stones’ ranks: The tracks were largely assembled using leftover cuts from the previous decade, finished off to give the band something to promote on its 1981 tour. That sort of commerce-first approach fed into the Still Life record, which was ushered to market in time for their 1982 European dates.

Still Life‘s reason for being was further undercut by the fact that it had only been five years since Love You Live, the band’s previous concert recording, arrived in stores — and given that the Stones were already working with a deep catalog of classic hits by the time they took to the road in 1981, there wasn’t much room in the setlist for current material. As it turned out, Still Life‘s track listing only included a trio of newer songs — “Shattered,” “Let Me Go,” and of course “Start Me Up” — nestled among Rolling Stones favorites and covers like “Twenty Flight Rock” and “Going to a Go-Go.”

It all added up to a rather perfunctory-sounding recording, one that’s been scorned as one of the Stones’ worst pieces of product in the years since its release.

Larded with meaningless stage patter and further padded with intro and outro noise, the record functioned as a perfectly serviceable live document at a time when the Stones were a perfectly serviceable live act. Having moved past their most frightening excesses of the ’70s, they delivered dependable performances of songs the audience knew by heart, augmented by a stage show that was rapidly becoming one of rock’s finest — but they lacked the unpredictable fire that made them so irresistibly dangerous during their formative era, and it was hard not to hear what was missing in Still Life‘s grooves.
That lack of a creative spark would dog the Rolling Stones for the majority of the ’80s, dampening sales for 1983’s Undercover LP and keeping the group sidelined with squabbling and various solo projects for much of the remainder of the decade. In the short term, however, Still Life only added another hit to the band’s already impressive tally, breaking the Top 10 on either side of the Atlantic and sending that “Going to a Go-Go” cover into the Top 40 in the U.S. as well as their native United Kingdom.

In retrospect, Still Life sounds like a harbinger of the tough times the Stones were about to face, but it’s also an early sign of the band they’d so frequently become over the ensuing years — a performing unit whose most exciting creative movements had arguably already been made, but who could still be counted on to make fans feel good with solid renditions of the hits. As the airwaves increasingly proved, nostalgia drove a growing portion of the Rolling Stones’ continued relevance.

So, while Still Life has been rightly maligned over the years, and superseded by more consistently satisfying live sets, it’s also a fairly representative recording of the band as its members settled into rock ‘n’ roll statesman status.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-06-02 04:18 by JohnnyBGoode.

I liked it a lot when it came out and remembering thinking it could possibly be the last tour LOL

I liked it as a souvenir of the great 1981 tour - the first time I saw the Stones.
Favorite tracks from it were/are opener Under My Thumb, and covers Twenty Flight Rock, Going to a Go Go,Time is on My Side, and Just My Imagination.
Thought to be honest, haven't listened to it from start to finish in many years - probably 1982.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

Let Me Go i enjoy more than the studio version.

I loved the album when it came out! The opening guitar riffs of Under My Thumb are awesome! Perhaps my favourite versions of Time and Imagination.
I always wondered why the version of Time, which is from Hampton, had the opening verse changed from the original?

This has ALWAYS been my LEAST fave Stones live record. Shambolic sound. Almost weezy. Under my Thumb, Go-Go and Twenty Flight the only saving graces.

Rod

OMG, when was this released? Haven't played it in years though I know its in the racks of CD's I haven't listened to in years. Stones live albums all became a big blur over time...been there, heard that. Maybe I'll get around to it as I cycle back through all those Cd's which have been left unattended over time. Amazing how much music I have passed over over the years as other stuff came out. I now listen to those CD's realizing they sound so much better than the stuff I converted off of Utoob.

That article is a bit off.

Consider "there wasn’t much room in the setlist for current material" and look at any set list from 1981. Almost all of them include regarding 'current material', which I'm going to guess includes tracks from 1980 as well:

17th October: San Francisco, California, Candlestick Park
(Under My Thumb/When The Whip Comes Down/Let’s Spend The Night
Together/Shattered/Neighbours/Black Limousine/Just My Imagination/
Twenty Flight Rock/Let Me Go/Time Is On My Side/Beast Of Burden/
Waiting On A Friend/Let It Bleed/You Can’t Always Get What You
Want/Little T & A/Tumbling Dice/She’s So Cold/All Down The Line/
Band introduction/Hang Fire/Star Star/Miss You/Start Me Up/Honky
Tonk Women/Brown Sugar/Jumping Jack Flash/Satisfaction

That's 8 tracks - 6 of which are from TATTOO YOU.

Since Hampton was released completely, I never had the urge to listen to Still Life
anymore.
But... that's a pity. I prefer the shortened version of Imagination on the album, because
Ernie is too prominent on the Hampton show for my taste.
It's an odd choice of songs they put on Still Life, don't you think? Four covers out
of ten songs. I think When the whip comes down, Beast of Burden, Let it bleed, Little T&A,
She's so cold, Black Limousine, Neighbours, Hang Fire and All down the line would have
deserved a live version to be published at the time.
(Come to think of it: Whip was live documented on Sucking in the 70's wasn't it?)

Just as long as the guitar plays, let it steal your heart away

I never have the urge to listen to Still Life either, since Mick signed the CD cover in Stockholm!

This string of songs: UMT, LSTNT, Shattered, Twenty Flight Rock and Going To A Go Go..

Simply amazing. Excellently sounding, excellently performed. The Stones at their peak.

However, the sound of the Still Life-album is somewhat polished a bit too much for my likings. I like the songs from Hampton better on the Hampton live album.

I never get tired of Keith's solo on Let Me Go or Keith and Ronnie's weaving after the solo

We already have the LIVE ALBUM TALK of this one here, though: [iorr.org]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-06-02 10:48 by DandelionPowderman.

Although nowhere near as good as Get Yer Ya Ya's, I kinda like this album. It's easier to listen to than the more variable Love You Life, and certainly better than any (at least official) life-albums that came after.
Highlights: Spend The Night Together, Under My Thumb, Going to a Go-go.

There was never a truer title than this. It's an absolutely lifeless, soulless collection of songs. Also my least favourite Stones live album, along with Flashpoint.

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Silver Dagger
There was never a truer title than this. It's an absolutely lifeless, soulless collection of songs. Also my least favourite Stones live album, along with Flashpoint.

SAL and Live Licks are on heavy rotation, then

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DandelionPowderman

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Silver Dagger
There was never a truer title than this. It's an absolutely lifeless, soulless collection of songs. Also my least favourite Stones live album, along with Flashpoint.

SAL and Live Licks are on heavy rotation, then

Hmmm - recently got back into Love You Live, especially with the added outtakes. Don't generall listen to Stones' live albums after 1978.

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Silver Dagger

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DandelionPowderman

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Silver Dagger
There was never a truer title than this. It's an absolutely lifeless, soulless collection of songs. Also my least favourite Stones live album, along with Flashpoint.

SAL and Live Licks are on heavy rotation, then

Hmmm - recently got back into Love You Live, especially with the added outtakes. Don't generall listen to Stones' live albums after 1978.

These outtakes?

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DandelionPowderman
This string of songs: UMT, LSTNT, Shattered, Twenty Flight Rock and Going To A Go Go..

Simply amazing. Excellently sounding, excellently performed. The Stones at their peak.

However, the sound of the Still Life-album is somewhat polished a bit too much for my likings. I like the songs from Hampton better on the Hampton live album.

I never get tired of Keith's solo on Let Me Go or Keith and Ronnie's weaving after the solo

We already have the LIVE ALBUM TALK of this one here, though: [iorr.org]

Still Life was always my warm-up music prior to a date or a night out on the town. Both Hampton and SL are full of Rocket Fuel. Surreal in a way.

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Hairball
I liked it as a souvenir of the great 1981 tour - the first time I saw the Stones.
Favorite tracks from it were/are opener Under My Thumb, and covers Twenty Flight Rock, Going to a Go Go,Time is on My Side, and Just My Imagination.
Thought to be honest, haven't listened to it from start to finish in many years - probably 1982.

Me too to all of the above.

"No Anchovies, Please"

I also loved it when it came out. I loved the intro, the Bill Graham bit, the monstrous (and undoubtedly studio enhanced) crowd noise at the start, and the very different and unique sound of the '81 tour captured in a single LP. It's not the Stones at their peak, and it might reflect some lazy performing and barky vocals, but that was their presentation on the '81 tour. It was exciting to hear the dirtier riff to Start Me Up, the countrified Time Is On My Side, the guitar riff on Under My Thumb, and the two covers were a delight and sounded great. It wasn't Ya Ya's, but it was a fun record to listen to.

Always enjoyed the album, brings back fond memories of seeing the Stones for the first time in London then my home city of Bristol the next day (yes those were the days when 3 gigs in 3 days was the norm). Only downsides for me are Micks ridiculous accent and the fact they seem to race through each song.

Definitely my least favorite. Said it before, I got the Hampton bootleg before SL was released, so i was already spoiled by that great quality and the complete set list.

I haven't played it in years.
Hampton 81 is my go to for that tour.

In retrospect, I'm not keen on Jaggers vocal style in 81.
Great to reminisce, I remember the Stones doing radio promo for that album.

Keith: "And flip it over, folks!"

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Silver Dagger
There was never a truer title than this. It's an absolutely lifeless, soulless collection of songs. Also my least favourite Stones live album, along with Flashpoint.

That was my very same thought when I first heard this record, maybe because at that time I was heavily listening their 60's songs. Nowadays I kinda like this record, especially because the "Take the 'A' Train" intro (which started my interest in jazz) and for the unexpected "Going to a Go Go" and "Twenty Flight Rock" covers.

I know its not the Stones at their best musically but Still Life gave me more pleasure than any album ever. The atmosphere of it more than makes up for any weaknesses in the guitar or vocal department.

The video release Lets Spend The Night Together was just incredible for me at the time, i kept renting it out from the video store, i just couldn't get enough of seeing these legends up close. Finally when the video went out on release and i had it at home to play when i wanted to was the greatest feeling.

You see this is what a lot of Stones fans that are older than me don't understand. When they have this attitude that since Mick Taylor left its all been down hill. Well it just doesn't feel that way when you are 18 years old and you see this band playing live in 81'. I'd never seen anything like Mick and Keith in my life before. They were larger than life in 81' 82' they were beyond words and they made such an impression and influence that changed peoples lives for the better ( or not if you copy Keith to the extent i did lol )
I lived and breathed this band because of Still Life and the video release of LSTNT, and of course albums like Rolled Gold and Tattoo You that came out just prior to Still Life.

The December 7, 1981 Capital Center show in Landover, Maryland outside of Washinton D.C., was my first Stones show. My dad gave me 4 front row seats and backstage passes to share with my friends that he was given by one of his lawyers who was doing legal work for the Stones on this tour. I have many great memories from that night, the stuff of dreams for a 16 year old. The roar of the crowd when the Stones hit the stage was unforgettable. Musically, I thought they were just okay, but too this day, it ranks as one of the greatest concert experiences of my life.

Here is the original Rolling Stone Magazine review of Still Life:

>>>>

By Christopher Connelly
June 1, 1982

Still Life, the Rolling Stones' fourth live album, opens with an absolutely savage version of "Under My Thumb." Keith Richards starts it off, hammering out that killer riff as if it were 1965 again, while Charlie Watts slams away with equal fervor. And Mick Jagger tears into the unbridled misogyny of the lyrics ("Now she's the sweetest ... pet in the world") like a man rabid for revenge. As the song progresses, propelled by Watts' deft cymbal touches and some splendid chordal soloing by Keith and Ron Wood, your hopes rise. Have these guys done it at last? Have they made a great live rock & roll record?

Unfortunately, no. Of course, it's no big surprise that Still Life doesn't live up to its ballsy beginning. The Stones' 1981 tour de-emphasized the go-get-'em guitar jams of earlier outings (remember "Midnight Rambler" from Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out?), as well as Jagger's more Dionysian antics. It offered, instead, a good-spirited, unexploitative (long sets, fast encores) rock & roll show. Not flawlessly rendered music — a great show.


And it's the show that Still Life tries to reproduce. You get ten songs, light on the classics and heavy on covers, in the order they were performed. You get Jagger's cross-country stage patter ("Welcome, Virginia.... All right, Chicago!"). You even get the evening's effluvia: Duke Ellington's "Take the 'A' Train" intro, the bang of the fireworks that closed the concert. Yes, it's all there but the ticket stubs, though at times, it's a bit hard to understand why. Tom Wolfe predicted the day when every novel would be referred to as a cordless miniseries; there are moments when Still Life comes off like the first screenless videodisc.

It's hard not to feel that you're missing something during the flaccid flailings that pass for "Satisfaction" here — and, in fact, you are, since hundreds of balloons were dropped into the crowd during this number. And not even Ian Stewart's best barrelhouse piano can save the cover of Eddie Cochran's "Twenty-Flight Rock." "When I get to the top/I'm too tired to rock," indeed. Similarly lackluster is "Start Me Up," which misses the crisp guitar attack and hand percussion of the studio version.

But there are moments of mastery here. "Shattered" loses some of its murkiness and features a fiery Jagger racing through its words with the same intensity he brought to "Neighbours." On "Going to a Go-Go," Jagger and Ron Wood holler lustily together in front of Watts' upon-this-rock-will-I-build-my-band bashing.

"Time Is on My Side" has made the predictable transition from love song ("You come running back") to anthem ("Y'all come running back"). But it's Richards who makes the song work on both levels; that plaintive riff rings even more bittersweet in the echoes of an arena. "Just My Imagination" also showcases some slashing guitar work and an ending on loan from "When the Whip Comes Down." Even "Let Me Go," which needed a Jagger foray into the audience to elicit any kind of crowd response, boasts a respectable Wood-Richards duel.

Yet for all its strengths, Still Life finally comes across as the aural equivalent of a Stones T-shirt, the final item of tour merchandise. But so what? People who get to see the Stones a lot — rock critics, for example — tend to forget that a lot of people don't get to see them at all. That kid who told one reporter in Los Angeles, "Some Girls ... man, that brings back some memories," spoke, I think, for a lot of people. They are going to love this record. The rest of you might prefer to go back and check out 12 X 5.

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stone4ever
I know its not the Stones at their best musically but Still Life gave me more pleasure than any album ever. The atmosphere of it more than makes up for any weaknesses in the guitar or vocal department.

The video release Lets Spend The Night Together was just incredible for me at the time, i kept renting it out from the video store, i just couldn't get enough of seeing these legends up close. Finally when the video went out on release and i had it at home to play when i wanted to was the greatest feeling.

You see this is what a lot of Stones fans that are older than me don't understand. When they have this attitude that since Mick Taylor left its all been down hill. Well it just doesn't feel that way when you are 18 years old and you see this band playing live in 81'. I'd never seen anything like Mick and Keith in my life before. They were larger than life in 81' 82' they were beyond words and they made such an impression and influence that changed peoples lives for the better ( or not if you copy Keith to the extent i did lol )
I lived and breathed this band because of Still Life and the video release of LSTNT, and of course albums like Rolled Gold and Tattoo You that came out just prior to Still Life.

Don't worry, the fans that think it's all been downhill since Mick Taylor left are a dying breed.

I was also 18 and seeing them for the first time that tour! As I mentioned above, the album was great souvenir even if it only brought temporary enjoyment.

I'd say though that after Tattoo You (or maybe Undercover) it was all downhill as far as recording. As for live, I don't think there's really been that steep of a downhill decline as far as all around atmosphere since then - the family friendly Disneyland/Vegas vibe of the crowd started in '97 in my opinion, and it's been that way ever since. As for band members, Keith has declined in his playing a bit, but is still out there calling the shots, while Mick may have lost some pep in his step, but is still a sight to behold (when he's not sick). Ronnie has stepped it up due to sobriety, while Charlie is still a solid foundation. It should be noted however that when Bill Wyman left, it was a huge blow to their live shows which might partially account for the Disney/Vegas sterilized sound. They still put on a good show considering their age and history, it's just way overpriced.

*It should also be noted, that when Mick Taylor played with them a couple of years ago, they put on some of the best shows since he left - so maybe the dying breed have a valid point.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-06-02 22:37 by Hairball.

I like Still Life. I think it captured the sound of the 81 tour ok, as usual it seems like they had better choices but went with safe decent versions/places.

I remember many of the bootlegs of the 81/82 tour were much more exciting.

Thanks for reminding me! Still Life is 35...so I am a Stones fan
for 35 years now (out of 48...).

When it came out I was (by chance) entering my record store
when they played it. When Going To A GoGo started I was hooked.
I bought it and still love every second of it. Circle was
closed when M+K+R+C signed it in London last year.

Really love this album. Under my thumb was and still is their best opener song to date (in my opinion), and also the way they re worked LSTNT and Time is on my side is sublime.

What I never understood was why it was not a double album. There were too many great songs that were not released live yet that could be in the album, Beast of Burden, Waiting and a Friend, Little T&A, Black Limousine, and on and on.

Bye
Fernando

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TooTough
Thanks for reminding me! Still Life is 35...so I am a Stones fan
for 35 years now (out of 48...).

When it came out I was (by chance) entering my record store
when they played it. When Going To A GoGo started I was hooked.
I bought it and still love every second of it. Circle was
closed when M+K+R+C signed it in London last year.

+1 on all counts, except I'm 46