Do I dare say, the Stones sounded better in 1982 than 1981? I've listened to only a few 1982 shows, Today was Naples, Shattered in Europe bootleg, and they sounded great.

I'm embarrassed to say that I did not realize Bobby Keys was on this tour. I actually listened to the 9 minute version of Miss You from Naples and it was really good, as I usually skip the song. Did Bobby play all the shows on this tour?

With the 2 sax players, it comes close to a horn section, sort of. Ronnie plays well, better than I remember on the 81 tour and Jagger's voice seems better. Maybe the supply line for cocaine was tougher in Europe than in the U.S. just kidding!

Tumbling Dice was also a revelation as it nearly had the horn crescendo of 72/73.

Just really enjoyed it. Have to revisit Leeds.

Anyone like 1982 over 1981?

I can't remember who generally chimes in about Bobby on this tour. Doxa, perhaps. If I recall correctly, har har, Bobby joined in around 3/4 of the US tour and was on the entire 1982 tour.

In regard to the subject, I dunno. Based on what I've heard of both tours I'm more partial to 1981 but the LEEDS show sounds excellent. I might be more partial to 1981 because a majority of live material I've heard is from that tour.

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GasLightStreet
In regard to the subject, I dunno. Based on what I've heard of both tours I'm more partial to 1981 but the LEEDS show sounds excellent. I might be more partial to 1981 because a majority of live material I've heard is from that tour.

Agreed. I think many of us are biased to the 81 tour because we are so familiar with it. The soundboards, the video/film, etc

Gene Barge is the better sax player by far than Earnie Watts with his squeaking style. And: Although I'm not a friend of Chuck Leavell's influence, I concede that his tasteful contributions in 82 make the difference in the keyboard section, e.g. during Beast of Burden.

Listening to Leeds it sounds more energetic to me than Hampton. I was at Wembley. 25.6.82 and the energy level was incredible.

Which tempts me to digress

Leeds - the Who live at leeds
Stones - get yer leeds lungs out/leeds 82
Springsteen- leeds 2013 (in is archive series)

I don't live there but it seems to inspire some great performances..!

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GasLightStreet
I can't remember who generally chimes in about Bobby on this tour. Doxa, perhaps. If I recall correctly, har har, Bobby joined in around 3/4 of the US tour and was on the entire 1982 tour.

Bobby joined from October 9 in LA, and stayed until the end. So he played 90% of the tour.

The second part of the 1981 is far better than 1982 in my opinion. In 1981 they still were the big bad Rolling Stones, in 1982 the horns became way too orchestrated and Chuck Leavell injected a healthy dose of non-RnR into the Stones.

Mathijs

Hard to tell. There are very few recordings with professional quality around. Especially from the 1982 tour. Hampton, LSTNT and Leeds are the ones that comes to mind.
Leeds is good but too sped up (not to talk about the poor video directing). Still, to me, Hampton is the crown jewel.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021-02-21 23:29 by Stoneage.

Your appreciation is very good! The two tours seem completely different to me, the horn section changes a lot in the performances.
Chuck contributes more to the musical, and at least you can hear it, instead Ian Maclagan is only heard in Beast Of Burden, then it seems that they lower the volume!
and it is true that Mick's voice is much better than on the tour `81

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gastonl74
Your appreciation is very good! The two tours seem completely different to me, the horn section changes a lot in the performances.
Chuck contributes more to the musical, and at least you can hear it, instead Ian Maclagan is only heard in Beast Of Burden, then it seems that they lower the volume!
and it is true that Mick's voice is much better than on the tour `81

Mac is audible on way more than Beast Of Burden.

1981 is far better. 1982 is too sloppy

Vienna-

[youtu.be]

Not perfect video, but the sound is quite good. Overall, a very worthy viewing, IMO.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021-02-21 19:21 by shawnriffhard1.

They were more of a "well oiled machine" in 82 , but I think there was more passion and feeling on the 81 tour.

One could use their renditions of "Imagination" and apply it to both tours as a whole...At it's best, it was transcendent in 81. In 82, all the elements were there and everyone did their part well but it somehow never rose to the next level the way it did the year before.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021-02-21 20:15 by ryanpow.

Always thought that Hampton 1981 has been overrated compared to other performances of the US tour such as Phoenix a few days before.

Compared to Hampton Leeds is more punchy.

Even if the 1982 european was the very first time I saw the Rolling Stones live it's not my favourite time in the band touring history. Set list was always the same in both tours. Yes it was energetic, professionnal but I found it lacked soul. I have better memories from other tours including the 2017 european tour.

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Mathijs

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GasLightStreet
I can't remember who generally chimes in about Bobby on this tour. Doxa, perhaps. If I recall correctly, har har, Bobby joined in around 3/4 of the US tour and was on the entire 1982 tour.

Bobby joined from October 9 in LA, and stayed until the end. So he played 90% of the tour.

The second part of the 1981 is far better than 1982 in my opinion. In 1981 they still were the big bad Rolling Stones, in 1982 the horns became way too orchestrated and Chuck Leavell injected a healthy dose of non-RnR into the Stones.

Mathijs

Ehhhh I was off by quite a percentage!

Did he just play some of that gig? Seems like he wasn't quite in it yet.

October 9 and 11 he played...

With special guest Bobby Keys (sax) on Brown Sugar and Jumping Jack
Flash.

And he joined the tour a little bit later:

25th September - 19th December: THE ROLLING STONES. US Tour 1981.
Additional musicians: Ian McLagan (keyb, bvoc)/Lee Allen (sax; 1st - 4th
October)/Ernie Watts (sax; from 7th October onwards)/Bobby Keys (sax;
on Brown Sugar and assorted tracks from 24th October onwards)

[www.nzentgraf.de]

I dunno why I didn't look at that earlier.

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shawnriffhard1
Vienna-

[youtu.be]

Not perfect video, but the sound is quite good. Overall, a very worthy viewing, IMO.

They sped up during the second verse of UMT? HA HA sounds like it.

Mick's clothes... awful!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021-02-21 21:42 by GasLightStreet.

Interesting as October 9th and 11th at the LA Coliseum are the first two Stones shows I ever attended.
Can't recall all the details, but am glad to know Bobby was there!

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

Mick's clothes... awful!


Before Covid hit ... use ta see
American tourists dressed like that all the time....



ROCKMAN

Mick's clothes... awful!... yeah, especially for Europe! I guess he regretted after some years...

From that far away he looks like a scrawny street walker. Are those knee high white leather go go boots or just white socks? Where the hell did it all go wrong?

jb

Bill also switched basses between '81 and '82, from the Travis Bean to the thinner sounding Steinberger, which affected the overall sound not for the better ('89 as well).

What I've always found so interesting is how awful the sound they put out for the TATTOO YOU tours works great with Under My Thumb, When The Whip Comes Down, Imagination, Time Is On My Side, Going To A Go-Go, Let Me Go, Let It Bleed and even Honky Tonk Women but the rest of it is awful, which is more of a result of the rushed and frantic performances grinding against the twanky bright trebly sound, which, bizarrely, on some tunes the heave of Wyman's playing is fantastically audible and provides great audio examples of his and Charlie's interaction.

That aside, it's possibly their most distinct live sound on record.

They sounded pretty damn good in 1978 in comparison. Whip on SUCKING IN THE SEVENTIES as well as all of LIVE IN TEXAS is awesome. It's alive and has a vital essence to it that's akin to 1969-1973's energy.

Perhaps their best (post-Taylor) sound was present with the BRIDGES and LICKS tours. VOODOO had a bit of lethargy to it, even when they were cooking on Tumbling Dice and Monkey Man and I Go Wild.

It's happenstance that the clothing helps define the sound but that's strictly a historical convenient aspect of putting the shininess or brightness or punkness etc to the music: in a weird way, it does combine.

1982 was the far better tour for me, cause 1981 was unreachable expensive to go as a 19 year old boy from Hamburg, Germany.
I was sucking in the news from every tiny bit of the '81 US-leg.
Counting the days until June 1982.

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GasLightStreet
What I've always found so interesting is how awful the sound they put out for the TATTOO YOU tours works great with Under My Thumb, When The Whip Comes Down, Imagination, Time Is On My Side, Going To A Go-Go, Let Me Go, Let It Bleed and even Honky Tonk Women but the rest of it is awful, which is more of a result of the rushed and frantic performances grinding against the twanky bright trebly sound, which, bizarrely, on some tunes the heave of Wyman's playing is fantastically audible and provides great audio examples of his and Charlie's interaction.

That aside, it's possibly their most distinct live sound on record.

They sounded pretty damn good in 1978 in comparison. Whip on SUCKING IN THE SEVENTIES as well as all of LIVE IN TEXAS is awesome. It's alive and has a vital essence to it that's akin to 1969-1973's energy.

Perhaps their best (post-Taylor) sound was present with the BRIDGES and LICKS tours. VOODOO had a bit of lethargy to it, even when they were cooking on Tumbling Dice and Monkey Man and I Go Wild.

It's happenstance that the clothing helps define the sound but that's strictly a historical convenient aspect of putting the shininess or brightness or punkness etc to the music: in a weird way, it does combine.

LSTNT and Shattered didn't work? Waiting On A Friend also sounded good, imo. And I hate the sound of Ovation guitars! Hang Fire and Miss You sounded excellent.

Apart from that, I still wish they had made a double album out of "Still Life". Maybe it was meant for that initially since it was a gatefold album?

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Stoneage
Apart from that, I still wish they had made a double album out of "Still Life". Maybe it was meant for that initially since it was a gatefold album?

My budget/reissue-copy is gatefold, while the original album I bought back in the 80s wasn't

Obviously, the concept was "America", and not "a gig" - as the album is loaded with "Thank you, Chicago", "Welcome, Virginia" etc. But it was nice getting complete shows from these tours (took a while, though).

Here is the Bobby Keyes Rejoins the Stones story from 1981:

[iorr.org]

Scroll half way down the page. Great story!

Neighbours from Leeds is almost as good as Imagination from Hampton. But for me, the autumn of 1981 just edges it, probably a lot of it 'cause of Mac.
I'd say the supply lines seems to have been BETTER in Europe or the sped up shows depends on not getting enough of the peruvian marching powder and instead having to rely on the stuff Lemmy from Motörhead used to prefer....?

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MadMax
Neighbours from Leeds is almost as good as Imagination from Hampton. But for me, the autumn of 1981 just edges it, probably a lot of it 'cause of Mac.
I'd say the supply lines seems to have been BETTER in Europe or the sped up shows depends on not getting enough of the peruvian marching powder and instead having to rely on the stuff Lemmy from Motörhead used to prefer....?

Too cheap stuff for the Stones

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DandelionPowderman

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MadMax
Neighbours from Leeds is almost as good as Imagination from Hampton. But for me, the autumn of 1981 just edges it, probably a lot of it 'cause of Mac.
I'd say the supply lines seems to have been BETTER in Europe or the sped up shows depends on not getting enough of the peruvian marching powder and instead having to rely on the stuff Lemmy from Motörhead used to prefer....?

Too cheap stuff for the Stones

Yep Dandy, agree!!