Hey guys. hope everyone is staying fresh on this crazy hot day.

I was wondering if Highwire was ever considered live?
Was it ever tried on rehearsals?
or was it just a one-time gem that the band forgot about?!

thanks for the info

No, I don't think the Stones ever considered doing it live. It was written about a political event from the late 80s/early 90s, so by now, it would make for a good live rocker, but it would be dated. Just like the styles of 'Miss You' and 'Emotional Rescue'.
I agree that it is a great song, though.

No,never rehearsed.

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BeforeTheyMakeMeRun

No, I don't think the Stones ever considered doing it live. It was written about a political event from the late 80s/early 90s, so by now, it would make for a good live rocker, but it would be dated. Just like the styles of 'Miss You' and 'Emotional Rescue'. winking smiley
I agree that it is a great song, though.

"We sell them missiles we sell them tanks" is dated ??

The lyrics are actual and by the way the "political event" was the Iraqui invasion of Kuwait in 1990, following by the first Gulf War in 1991. Building up countries by permitted sales of arms is not dated.

Tom



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-06-09 14:58 by electricmud.

"following by the first Gulf War in" 1991.

"Building up countries by permitted sales of arms is not dated."

Imo what Jagger objected to was selling tons of arms to Saddam (in the 80's) then declaring he's @#$%&'s son (1990).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-06-09 14:45 by dcba.

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dcba
Imo what Jagger objected to was selling tons of arms to Saddam (in the 80's) then declaring he's @#$%&'s son (1990).

That`s right dcba. But imo you can use the lyrics as a not dated statement in general. Don`t know how to say it in better words in a foreign laguage..

Tom

Thanx for the correction

I love that track. It would be entirely appropriate to play in 2014!

Also, around the same time, also a bonus track on Flashpoint is Sex Drive which i always thought was way better than given credit for.

Good song (Mick told RS in January 1991 that he had the chords/music leftover from recent sessions, most likely SW) and it's got a nice singalong chorus that would certainly work well live. Maybe Mick thinks it's dated...Did anyone figure out for sure who played that long and "fast" solo, not exactly Keith or Ronnie's style ?

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no

Interesting question Bluse!
I always thought it sounded like a mish-mash of Ronnie and Keith playing through one of those Music Man guitars. I will be interested to hear who does the solo. Love the solo and great rocking song!

Go Dawgs!

Awful song

Not is it an awful song, they said they wouldn't do it out of respect for Bill.

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electricmud

imo you can use the lyrics as a not dated statement in general.

I think it is dated. And Keith remarked in th mid-90's that "it's pointless to write a song about @#$%& Bosnia" cos by the time you put the song out the conflict in question is already over.

Can't say Keith's wrong... So it makes me think HW was Mick's indignation and Mick's only.
(I like the song btw... and I like "Sex Drive" too)

Not a bad song at all, Stones-by-numbers, sounding pure 'Stones' with all traditional tricks, but lyrically it sounded a bit stupid back in the day, and I don't think the world haven't warmed much since then. Sometimes is not all about the 'message', but what are the credibitibilities by the messanger.... It is not 1968 and "Street Fighting Man" no more....

I guess Jagger and the rest rest forgot the song the day it was released and got no positive response (the critics laughed about it, and it failed big time in the charts). So no live updates in horizon...

- Doxa



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-06-09 21:38 by Doxa.

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electricmud

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BeforeTheyMakeMeRun

No, I don't think the Stones ever considered doing it live. It was written about a political event from the late 80s/early 90s, so by now, it would make for a good live rocker, but it would be dated. Just like the styles of 'Miss You' and 'Emotional Rescue'. winking smiley
I agree that it is a great song, though.

"We sell them missiles we sell them tanks" is dated ??

The lyrics are actual and by the way the "political event" was the Iraqui invasion of Kuwait in 1990, following by the first Gulf War in 1991. Building up countries by permitted sales of arms is not dated.

Tom

I see your point, it's just that the overall event that inspired the track is dated and not on the level of, say, Vietnam or WWI/WWII.

The line you quoted is still relevant, BTW.

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Send It To me
I love that track. It would be entirely appropriate to play in 2014!

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gotdablouse
Good song (Mick told RS in January 1991 that he had the chords/music leftover from recent sessions, most likely SW) and it's got a nice singalong chorus that would certainly work well live. Maybe Mick thinks it's dated...Did anyone figure out for sure who played that long and "fast" solo, not exactly Keith or Ronnie's style ?

Mick Jagger.

Classic Ronnie. Played by Ronnie, of course.

The track was made as filler for Flashpoint. Three years later, for the VL tour, it was probably forgotten and not taken into consideration for the VL setlist.

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DandelionPowderman
Classic Ronnie. Played by Ronnie, of course.

The track was made as filler for Flashpoint. Three years later, for the VL tour, it was probably forgotten and not taken into consideration for the VL setlist.

Usually they don't do videos for album fillers... That said, I think they had a bit more in their minnds for it than being just a filler... Basically same kind of point as "Doom & Gloom" or "Don't Stop" has, to help to sell some other product.. Artistically thinking, basically the same merit as well...

- Doxa

Just thinking about the very unlikely possibility of this track being included on a Stones concert: some people probably would like it, and a lot of people would be dissatisfied, asking for some old warhorse instead of it. By the way, I like this song, but it's not one of the songs I would kill to listen to it live.

i like the song.

"Classic Ronnie" ? While we're discussing possibilities and bouncing ideas off of each other, here comes another DP sweeping statement backed up by...? Like "The SOL solo is obviously played by Mick on the record since he played it live"?...Where else has Ronnie played a solo like that? And it was certainly not a "filler" for FP, Sexdrive was a filler for Flashpoint.

It didn't do well in the charts although it was banned on the BBC, hehe...the last time a Stones song was banned on the BBC I think. It was quite popular in France though at the time with many people who had normally no interest in the Stones finding it pretty catchy. I liked that, hehe...I think describing it as the "Don't Stop" and "Doom & Gloom" of its time is pretty appropriate indeed.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-06-10 10:38 by gotdablouse.

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gotdablouse

It was quite popular in France though at the time with many people who had normally no interest in the Stones finding it pretty catchy. I liked that, hehe...

That's nice to know. You French are more up to some controversality than most of us Western democracies are, and always a bit against mainstream, which is cool...

I liked the song a lot, and I find it fascinating that my old heroes are the ones holding a flag against the consensus that seemed to be so prevailing at the time. But seemingly many other people thought differently, and the over-all impression I got was that the Stones and Jagger were seen a bit artificial with their critical stance. Like the old 60's icons still try to sound controversial, but ending up sounding pathetic or something. Wasn't also the timing of its release a bit late as well - the first Gulf Crisis had been settled by then or something?

- Doxa

Yes, it did sound a bit artificial I suppose ;-)

As for dates, I remember reading about it in RS in January 1991, and it was released on March 1st [en.wikipedia.org] so yes, a day after the ceasefire was declared by Bush Sr...

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

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Doxa

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DandelionPowderman
Classic Ronnie. Played by Ronnie, of course.

The track was made as filler for Flashpoint. Three years later, for the VL tour, it was probably forgotten and not taken into consideration for the VL setlist.

Usually they don't do videos for album fillers... That said, I think they had a bit more in their minnds for it than being just a filler... Basically same kind of point as "Doom & Gloom" or "Don't Stop" has, to help to sell some other product.. Artistically thinking, basically the same merit as well...

- Doxa

It was also a single with a concept. But its place and function on Flashpoint was nothing but filler.

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dcba

I think it is dated. And Keith remarked in th mid-90's that "it's pointless to write a song about @#$%& Bosnia" cos by the time you put the song out the conflict in question is already over.

Otoh oen of Neil Young's most fav songs is "Ohio" and he still plays it today. So Keith might not be 100% right...

Well it is certainly not as good a song as Ohio. It is certainly a Mick song. I don't think Keith likes these direct songs he said something in Rolling Stone about Sweet Neo Con (one of the worst songs in the Stones cannon) that he'd support Mick about putting it out but you could tell he did not think much of it. I forget exactly what he said.

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DandelionPowderman

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Doxa

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DandelionPowderman
Classic Ronnie. Played by Ronnie, of course.

The track was made as filler for Flashpoint. Three years later, for the VL tour, it was probably forgotten and not taken into consideration for the VL setlist.

Usually they don't do videos for album fillers... That said, I think they had a bit more in their minnds for it than being just a filler... Basically same kind of point as "Doom & Gloom" or "Don't Stop" has, to help to sell some other product.. Artistically thinking, basically the same merit as well...

- Doxa

It was also a single with a concept. But its place and function on Flashpoint was nothing but filler.

I would rather say that "Highwire" and "Sexdrive" were put on FLASHPOINT not as fillers, but to to compel buyers of the live album to listen to those two new studio songs as well. ( More or less Doxa's point.)

I suppose that they wanted to make a political statement of the moment. Being a political statement of that moment, it would be a statement they did not want to belong to every other moment. Meaning that they in a certain moment were ready to deliver a political utterance, but did not wish to present themselves as a political band as such on any occasion. The outcome of such a consideration would mean that "Highwire" would be excluded from their setlists. All the more important for them then, it was to have that song included in FLASHPOINT to make certain that the song was heard as belonging to one special moment.

For me personally it is a little sad that they possibly thought that way. Because I have always since then found "Highwire" to be a much more appealing and interesting song than I ever thought of "Start Me up".

It didn't really have a direct political 'message', other than our leaders are
hypocrites, making bad situations worse, throwing money around with our blessing, etc. Just a little jab at our complacency with good music behind it. Now, Sweet Neocon, even if it had good music behind it, doesn't stand up. Just comes across as heavy-handed political posturing. Not in the same league as Highwire.