Lots of chatter lately about Tattoo You and Undercover. But there was another Stones album in between - The 1981 tour document Still Life. It's rarely discussed here and seems to rate somewhere between the sublime Ya Yas and the abysmal Love You Live (El Mocambo side excepted). One fan's thoughts:

The album gets off to a great start, then the Stones come on: Just kidding Sir Duke's "Take The A Train" provides a cool intro for the band.

This version of "Under My Thumb" is smoking with nice, loud guitars. After the somewhat confusing-at-the-time comments (this was the dawn of PPV remember), we get a guitar driven version of LSTNT. I actually prefer this to the studio version. Then, the wheels come off. "Shattered" has never sounded worth a crap live - this is Exhibit A. The 2 covers are fairly interesting and decent. Nothing bad, nothing too great either.

Side 2 begins with "Let Me Go", an average song that sounds average on here. I love "Time Is On My Side" here, a little different from the studio version, but cool nonetheless. Ditto "Just My Imagination". Sure, it's edited all to hell, but still sounds good. "Start Me Up" was the current hit and the crowd reacts to it nicely. However, the home listener thinks it sounds thin - nothing like the full-bore version that opens Flashpoint. The Stones finish with an awful sounding version of "Satisfaction" (never sound good live, Exhibit B, someone buy Keith a cheap fuzzbox please). Hendrix's SSB closes out this document (now there's a guest star!).

Some highs, some lows. To many this was the last hurrah of the "real" Stones (although 1982's European tour was ongoing at the time). Your thoughts?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-11-08 19:14 by Elmo Lewis.

As a fan who is a child of the 80s, I remember playing this at full volume. It rocked. I loved the energy.

This album is ripe for a deluxe re-issue.

i have been dissapointed with this release the songs that are on it are good but there should have been more songs they hacked this album down 10 songs from a tour that had about 24 or 26 songs most shows thats the biggest dissapointment of the album

It's just a concert souvenir as far as I'm concerned. A friend who was also a big Stones fan sold it to me for $5 because he never listened to it. I just wanted it to keep my collection up to date.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-11-06 23:24 by blivet.

I guess Hampton is the Deluxe of Still Life.

Still Life was a little bit of a disapointment for me when it came out because Grande Finale was released before (spring *82) and it is much better in my opinion. Still the best '81 live album.

Quote
punkfloyd
As a fan who is a child of the 80s, I remember playing this at full volume. It rocked. I loved the energy.

+1

nice album



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-11-07 02:47 by Max'sKansasCity.

Love it. Probably listened to this more than any other because I was a teenager when it came out.

Hampton is the real live album from that tour.

And there's nothing wrong with Satisfaction, Let Me Go or Shattered on Still Life, imo. The two latter songs are my favourite versions.

Quote
DandelionPowderman
Hampton is the real live album from that tour.

And there's nothing wrong with Satisfaction, Let Me Go or Shattered on Still Life, imo. The two latter songs are my favourite versions.

Yeah, when I feel like listening to a live album from that era I go to Hampton or Leeds. I was never really a big fan of that era, live-wise. But those two turned me on to it. I liked the tracklisting (I guess more variety with more tracks) of the full shows much more than that on Still Life. And I like a full show more than a compilation.

Underrated. Shattered is way better than the studio version. Personally I don't care for the studio version of UMT but this version kicks ass. This album has its share of overdubs but so does ya-ya's. If this had been a double album it would be the best live stones album.

The mixing of the album frustrates me.
Sounds like crap.
Hampton boot is much bettter..

I like the cover Going to a Go-Go, quite like Time is on My Side and really REALLY like Under my Thumb, dislike the rest, but all of it sounds T-H-I-N to me, just not enough punch. TERRIBLE production even by '80s standards.

Hampton better, no doubt.

Rod

I have an abbreviated version of Still Life which is on one CD with Mick's Wandering Spirit.

I like anything they did live up to that time, and not just because I was 15 going on 16 at the time, but because it was the last time where they had a truly live band sound where the only side players they needed were a couple pianos and a sax for solos.

For bootlegs, I like "Shattered In Italy" [aka "Shattered In Europe"], a 19-song document of their July 17, 1982 concert in Napoli.

I think this album was released to prevent certain concerts from being pirated. Werent most of the tracks on this from concerts which were either released officially or were broadcast?
Somehow I remember reading this back in the early 80's.

Love the excitement throughout. Throw in the Beast of Burden B-side right near where it belongs and you're having even more fun...it did need to be longer. No reason to hack it up.

Flash would have been nice too.

Always loved looking through all the neat collectibles pictured on the inner sleeve too....the famous Alan Rogan indeed.

4 1/2 stars!

First Live-album with The Dinosaur Stones = The Show have to be better than the music which sucks...

2 1 2 0

Quote
Eleanor Rigby
The mixing of the album frustrates me.
Sounds like crap.
Hampton boot is much bettter..

Never heard that before. Do you mean that the instruments are badly mixed/leveled? The sound in general? Too much effects/too less effects?

I think Hampton sounds very much like Still Life. The main difference is the digital mastering on Hampton.

Quote
Come On
First Live-album with The Dinosaur Stones = The Show have to be better than the music which sucks...

UMT, LSTNT, SMU GTAGG, 20FR and Imagination suck???

Quote
DandelionPowderman

Quote
Come On
First Live-album with The Dinosaur Stones = The Show have to be better than the music which sucks...

UMT, LSTNT, SMU GTAGG, 20FR and Imagination suck???

Arena-shows sux...Still Life is among my favorite-albums as all Stones Live-albums....

2 1 2 0

Quote
Come On

Quote
DandelionPowderman

Quote
Come On
First Live-album with The Dinosaur Stones = The Show have to be better than the music which sucks...

UMT, LSTNT, SMU GTAGG, 20FR and Imagination suck???

Arena-shows sux...Still Life is among my favorite-albums as all Stones Live-albums....

You mean stadium shows suck, I presume?

Quote
DandelionPowderman

Quote
Eleanor Rigby
The mixing of the album frustrates me.
Sounds like crap.
Hampton boot is much bettter..

Never heard that before. Do you mean that the instruments are badly mixed/leveled? The sound in general? Too much effects/too less effects?

I think Hampton sounds very much like Still Life. The main difference is the digital mastering on Hampton.

Ill have to re-visit my lp..but way back when I listened to it it sounded very "tinny" with no meat..if u know what I mean.
Or maybe I just prefer full concerts rather than a cut and paste job...
Would play Hampton before still life anyday

Quote
Elmo Lewis
The Stones finish with an awful sounding version of "Satisfaction" (never sound good live, Exhibit B, someone buy Keith a cheap fuzzbox please). Hendrix's SSB closes out this document (now there's a guest star!).
Some highs, some lows. To many this was the last hurrah of the "real" Stones (although 1982's European tour was ongoing at the time). Your thoughts?

Satisfaction in 1969 was a killer and the one from 1971 without the wellknown intro too. Never really like satisfaction but 69 and 70 versions looked like they were different songs.

I love Still Life but why is it so short?

Quote
Eleanor Rigby

Quote
DandelionPowderman

Quote
Eleanor Rigby
The mixing of the album frustrates me.
Sounds like crap.
Hampton boot is much bettter..

Never heard that before. Do you mean that the instruments are badly mixed/leveled? The sound in general? Too much effects/too less effects?

I think Hampton sounds very much like Still Life. The main difference is the digital mastering on Hampton.

Ill have to re-visit my lp..but way back when I listened to it it sounded very "tinny" with no meat..if u know what I mean.
Or maybe I just prefer full concerts rather than a cut and paste job...
Would play Hampton before still life anyday

That's why I wondered, because half of Still Life is from Hampton..

Quote
Elmo Lewis
Lots of chatter lately about Tattoo You and Undercover. But there was another Stones album in between - The 1981 tour document Still Life. It's rarely discussed here and seems to rate somewhere between the sublime Ya Yas and the abysmal Love You Live (El Mocambo side excepted). One fan's thoughts:

The album gets off to a great start, then the Stones come on: Just kidding Sir Duke's "Take The A Train" provides a cool intro for the band.

This version of "Under My Thumb" is smoking with nice, loud guitars. After the somewhat confusing-at-the-time comments (this was the dawn of PPV remember), we get a guitar driven version of LSTNT. I actually prefer this to the studio version. Then, the wheels come off. "Shattered" has never sounded worth a crap live - this is Exhibit A. The 2 covers are fairly interesting and decent. Nothing bad, nothing too great either.

Side 2 begins with "Let Me Go", an average song that sounds average on here. I love "Time Is On My Side" here, a little different from the studio version, but cool nonetheless. Ditto "Just My Imagination". Sure, it's edited all to hell, but still sounds good. "Start Me Up" was the current hit and the crowd reacts to it nicely. However, the home listeners thinks it sounds thin - nothing like the full-bore version that opens Flashpoint. The Stones finish with an awful sounding version of "Satisfaction" (never sound good live, Exhibit B, someone buy Keith a cheap fuzzbox please). Hendrix's SSB closes out this document (now there's a guest star!).

Some highs, some lows. To many this was the last hurrah of the "real" Stones (although 1982's European tour was ongoing at the time). Your thoughts?

This ^ The intro of UMT is what turned me on to the Stones big time...I was 12 when I heard it on the headphones at the record store and had been listening to my dad's old singles (SFM) and EPs (MLH, LJ) for a year or so but that was something else, fantastic sound and groove. I've never tired of it, still gives me the chills when I thing of it and listen to it...

--------------
IORR Links : Essential Studio Outtakes CDs : Audio - History of Rarest Outtakes : Audio

Quote
Eleanor Rigby

Quote
DandelionPowderman

Quote
Eleanor Rigby
The mixing of the album frustrates me.
Sounds like crap.
Hampton boot is much bettter..

Never heard that before. Do you mean that the instruments are badly mixed/leveled? The sound in general? Too much effects/too less effects?

I think Hampton sounds very much like Still Life. The main difference is the digital mastering on Hampton.

Ill have to re-visit my lp..but way back when I listened to it it sounded very "tinny" with no meat..if u know what I mean.
Or maybe I just prefer full concerts rather than a cut and paste job...
Would play Hampton before still life anyday

SL actually sounds very good on a decent system. The prouction is not "in yer face" but has some nice natural dynamics and a real sense of space.

Quote
Spud

Quote
Eleanor Rigby

Quote
DandelionPowderman

Quote
Eleanor Rigby
The mixing of the album frustrates me.
Sounds like crap.
Hampton boot is much bettter..

Never heard that before. Do you mean that the instruments are badly mixed/leveled? The sound in general? Too much effects/too less effects?

I think Hampton sounds very much like Still Life. The main difference is the digital mastering on Hampton.

Ill have to re-visit my lp..but way back when I listened to it it sounded very "tinny" with no meat..if u know what I mean.
Or maybe I just prefer full concerts rather than a cut and paste job...
Would play Hampton before still life anyday

SL actually sounds very good on a decent system. The prouction is not "in yer face" but has some nice natural dynamics and a real sense of space.

The dynamics, as well as the fatness within the production, is captured better here than on the Hampton release, imo.

When hearing the SB-recordings of Hampton, I get some of the Still Life-feel, except for the annoying loud audience sound in places