Another late era album; the low-key release. Now, I myself love this album. Not new cuts, not a studio album, but what it showed me at that time that there was still a sense of humor in the band. By now they were corporate, so I was glad to see a quirky release like that. (Quirky)
Street Fighting Man, Like a Rolling Stone, Spider &Fly - highlights.

i personally love it it too..

That would be a great deluxe reissue with all the redone studio cuts!

I love it as well. Finally they release a live album from a big tour that was different. Great selection of songs, some deep cuts, and nice reworking of hits. The mix is great as well. Street Fighting Man jumps out at you with the aggressive acoustics hammering away. I'm Free is wonderful. And Little Baby is steaming. Great studio blues that shows they can hit the Chicago beat effortlessly when they want to.

One of my most listenable faves

another lame don was/chuck leveall arrangement album. street fighting man was good, but the rest - too goody goody chuck leveall sounding - the bass was not dangerous/dark sounding at all. and way too much piano from chuck. love in vain, i'm free -- listen to how they sound in 69 compared to now.. especially i'm free - it sounds so gay on this album, too happy go lucky, tooo arranged/rehearsed, not spontaneous - the whole album is like that. and let it bleed and wild horses - bass arrangements are aweful compared to how it used to be... basically, this album is a great example of why i think they should have hung it up when wyman retired, same as zeppelin did when bonham died.. lose bill wyman, you lose the sound... but then they hire chuck and don was to now arrange and produce everything, and the sound becomes even further from the normal stones sound. this tour is where the vegas rehearsed act started. 0 spontaneity compared to what they used to be.

It got a good bits and also a low downs. They were doing major tour with big stadiums and a few small clubs and although they got obviously enough of good live recordings they blended together so called rehearsals which i do not believe were rehearsals but were ment to be a recordings for this album. Like with many of theyre live released stuff i feel like they are not confident and tend to do some silly choises and bad cuts like they are thinking to much of how the record should be for whom i don´t know. Take Sweet Virginia for example not as loose and great as on Exile and not as good as in Joe Robbie stadium Miami 1994. Wild Horses? good but why not release just the original instead of another studio version. But awesome Street Fighting man and Like a Rolling Stone. Would have been great if all of it was live.

I wish they included the version of "No Expectations" that is floating around - it's awesome. "Let's Spend The Night Together" was good too.

This is a blog about Tokyo session from a promotion man of EMI Japan.
Unfortunately, all of them are written in Japanese.
However Episodes are very unique and interesting.
e.g.
"When Keith rolled up his trousers in the studio, a knife was binding on his boots for self-defense."
"They tried to cover "Heart Beat", "Little Baby" and "You are right, I'm left, She's gone.""

Please try to use web translation and read them. Enjoy.

blog-1
blog-2
blog-3
blog-4

FYI,
T.Rex recorded 20th Century Boy at the same studio(Toshiba EMI Tameike Studio) in 1972.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-11-09 07:41 by Toru A.

A personal favorite album indeed. Loved everything about it, and remember fondly that time when the Voodoo Lounge tour was over and the band was so tight.

I think that time doesn't do justice to this one and nowadays it seems to be a bit overlooked. It's probably my favorite LIVE album after Ya-Ya's, go figure! lol...

Weren't they planning to release it as a double album - one disc with studio re-recordings and one disc with live renditions ?
To me highlights are Spider and the Fly / I'm Free / Wild Horses and the excellent Little Baby...

Apart from Sweet Virginia it is a great album. They should re-release it combined with Stripped Companion. These recordings feature some of Ronnie's best work with the Stones.

Great, great album. Needs to be played with the acoustic tracks on Stripped Companion.

The fantastic rendition of Honest I Do from SC is very frequently played at my place.

love the version of 'Not Fade Away' on it
sounds like its coming out of a foggy Mississippi swamp at 4am

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jjsteve
-- listen to how they sound in 69 compared to now..

But they are not the same band as they were in 1969.

Track by track:

Street Fighting Man - great version, pretty close to the studio version in some ways but very different in others. It's one of the few examples of Chuck Leavell playing properly in a live setting. I wouldn't say it's better than the original, but it certainly holds it own.

Like a Rolling Stone - much better than Dylan's version, largely due to the infinitely better singing. I do think it's kind of a missed opportunity that they left out one of the verses. Once again Chuck Leavell is up to par.

Not Fade Away - better than the studio version, but this isn't really a song I ever cared all that much for.

Shine a Light - very good, considering that Mick is the only one to appear both on the original and this version. Ron Wood plays a solo that is almost as good as Mick Taylor's. Chuck Leavell, however, totally messes up the piano part, which is why the studio version is clearly superior. With a better piano player it could've been equal.

The Spider and the Fly - I don't really like this song in any incarnation, frankly.

I'm Free - unlike most people here, as it seems, I actually like this version. It might even be better than the studio version. It certainly doesn't have that timing mistake that the studio version has.

Wild Horses - this one's a bit underwhelming. I think I heard a story that Keith wanted to add a single note somewhere, but I don't hear it so I guess someone would have to point it out to me. I prefer the original.

Let it Bleed - this is just not very good. Stu's piano playing is such an integral part of the studio version that it's hard to appreciate the song without it. Chuck Leavell certainly doesn't do it justice.

Dead Flowers - I like this one. I don't think it's better or worse than the studio version, just different.

Slipping Away - I don't really like this song in general, but the studio version is definitely better than this.

Angie - this version is a bit more honest than the original, but I don't really like it any better.

Love in Vain - this is another song I don't really care for, but on top of that I don't think this version is very good.

Sweet Virginia - I'm kind of inclined to say that this version is better than the original, but I just don't care enough about this song to really bother comparing.

Little Baby - it's a bit unfortunate that they don't end the album on a high note. I just don't like this song.

Black Limousine - this Japanese bonus track would've been a far better album closer, even though it's not as good as the studio version. I especially miss the harmonica that's all over the original. It only plays a very small part here, unfortunately but understandably.

Like a Rolling Stone - much better than Dylan's version, largely due to the infinitely better singing



Dylans version from H61R is IMO the best sunged rock-song in entire rock-history...

2 1 2 0

set free Gimme Shelter from Paradiso !

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Come On
Like a Rolling Stone - much better than Dylan's version, largely due to the infinitely better singing



Dylans version from H61R is IMO the best sunged rock-song in entire rock-history...

The Stones version is perfectly played, maybe their best cut live track ever. But I agree, it's not better than the Dylan-version.

It's hard to beat perfection...

Yeah, sorry, while I love The Stones, no way does their version of Like A Rolling Stone beat Dylan's. Both the studio version and the live version from the Live at Albert Hall Bootleg series. CLASSIC! "Play it f u c k i n g loud!" CLASSIC! Dylan's deliver drips with venom and was pure roots of punk. Flipping off his fans by going electric and doing it with wit and passion.

What I like about Stripped is the pleasure for making music together they display throughout
the entire album.

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

^That was the spirit, the way I see it!

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FreeBird
Shine a Light - very good, considering that Mick is the only one to appear both on the original and this version. Ron Wood plays a solo that is almost as good as Mick Taylor's. Chuck Leavell, however, totally messes up the piano part, which is why the studio version is clearly superior. With a better piano player it could've been equal.

Ronnie's solo is terrible. Mick Taylor played a heavenly solo that was perfect with the mood of the song. Ronnie just plays a bunch of screeching high notes that sound abysmal. And I agree about Chuck's part.

I've always enjoyed this album, as one of their better, and most definitely different, live albums. Absolutely love this version of Wild Horses. To me, you can hear the pain in Mick's voice. It's my favorite version of the song. And I agree that the version of Gimme Shelter from this time is amazingly good. All other versions of the latter day Stones don't even come close. Lisa's vocals just soar and soar and soar on it! It's absolutely amazing, and it's sad that it was relegated to a B-Side.

All together: I love it!

Sweet Virgina being one of the highlights to me.

Black Limo is excellent. I like that version much better than the studio one. Keith's solo is spot on. The Spider And The Fly is really nice. Honest I Do is another one that is a killer laid back soupy cooking blues. Perhaps the reason it's not on the album is because it's quite similar to Spider And Fly. All Down The Line and Black Limo should've been on the album in place of Wild Horses and I'm Free.

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WeLoveToPlayTheBlues
Black Limo is excellent. I like that version much better than the studio one. Keith's solo is spot on. The Spider And The Fly is really nice. Honest I Do is another one that is a killer laid back soupy cooking blues. Perhaps the reason it's not on the album is because it's quite similar to Spider And Fly. All Down The Line and Black Limo should've been on the album in place of Wild Horses and I'm Free.

Have you heard the original, without Ronnie's overdubs? Not very good. But the finished version is excellent, the same with the All Down The Line-version, imo.

The concept behind Stripped was to release a mainly acoustic album. That's why BL and ADTL were omitted, I guess.

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DandelionPowderman

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WeLoveToPlayTheBlues
Black Limo is excellent. I like that version much better than the studio one. Keith's solo is spot on. The Spider And The Fly is really nice. Honest I Do is another one that is a killer laid back soupy cooking blues. Perhaps the reason it's not on the album is because it's quite similar to Spider And Fly. All Down The Line and Black Limo should've been on the album in place of Wild Horses and I'm Free.

Have you heard the original, without Ronnie's overdubs? Not very good. But the finished version is excellent, the same with the All Down The Line-version, imo.

The concept behind Stripped was to release a mainly acoustic album. That's why BL and ADTL were omitted, I guess.

No, have never heard the original version of Black Limo pre-overdub. Ha ha. Why does that not surprise me that they overdubbed that?

Looks like the concept of a acoustic album failed. The solos in Dead Flowers, Not Fade Away, Shine A Light, Honest I Do (I know it's not on the LP but it was recorded for it) feature electric guitar. Slipping Away is electric guitars. There's not one acoustic in Like A Rolling Stone. As I remember reading it they started out with the idea of it being that 'MTV Unplugged' thing but then grew tired of it and just went for what they would up - more thoughtful performances than just the usual big stadium performances of live albums past.

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WeLoveToPlayTheBlues

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DandelionPowderman

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WeLoveToPlayTheBlues
Black Limo is excellent. I like that version much better than the studio one. Keith's solo is spot on. The Spider And The Fly is really nice. Honest I Do is another one that is a killer laid back soupy cooking blues. Perhaps the reason it's not on the album is because it's quite similar to Spider And Fly. All Down The Line and Black Limo should've been on the album in place of Wild Horses and I'm Free.

Have you heard the original, without Ronnie's overdubs? Not very good. But the finished version is excellent, the same with the All Down The Line-version, imo.

The concept behind Stripped was to release a mainly acoustic album. That's why BL and ADTL were omitted, I guess.

No, have never heard the original version of Black Limo pre-overdub. Ha ha. Why does that not surprise me that they overdubbed that?

Looks like the concept of a acoustic album failed. The solos in Dead Flowers, Not Fade Away, Shine A Light, Honest I Do (I know it's not on the LP but it was recorded for it) feature electric guitar. Slipping Away is electric guitars. There's not one acoustic in Like A Rolling Stone. As I remember reading it they started out with the idea of it being that 'MTV Unplugged' thing but then grew tired of it and just went for what they would up - more thoughtful performances than just the usual big stadium performances of live albums past.

Remember the album title

Most of the songs you mention are built up acoustically, but with a solo guitar etc., except for Slipping Away, Like A Rolling Stones, Little Baby and maybe Not Fade Away.

BL and ADTL are much heavier soundwise. But I could be wrong, of course.

The LP title doesn't absolutely mean "acoustic". If they in fact wanted to be stripped down there'd be no piano or organ!