I've seen the Stones a number of times and I have dozens of boots dating from 1973 to 2003. While "Honky Tonk Women" is always a crowd pleaser and a show highlight, I don't think the boys have ever been able to duplicate the magical raw sound that they laid down in those 3-4 minutes in the studio. They really caught lightning in a bottle when they recorded that, in my opinion.

You're talking only about studio HTW versus live HTW, right? Because they've certainly been able to duplicate the "magical raw sound" on other tunes besides that one.


-- Keep on rollin'. Keep on. Keep on. Keep on. --

I know exactly what you're talking about dj. It is absolute perfection. I tend to forget how fantastic and fresh this song sounded the first times I heard it on my little transistor radio. The production, the horns, the Keith solo, and when Mick says "alllll-reeet" as the solo starts - perhaps the greatest three minutes in the history of RNR.

Karl

<the boys have ever been able to duplicate the magical raw sound that they laid down in those 3-4 minutes in the studio.>

They were close with the 69 live version, but I have to agree on that.

So right, dj. There is the Studio version and there are hundreds of bootleg versions and really NO ONE comes close to that brilliant studio version. The fact that @#$%& me up at most on all the live versions is, that they dont play the beginning of the song the way they did in the studio. The cowbell and than Charlie starts with that simple groove...SNARE - TOM - GROOVE...Charlie always plays some little roll or something in the beginning (live) and that takes out the punch, IMO.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2005-08-10 16:57 by Aucoin.

I have to slightly disagree as i recorded a show off radio two and the start of HTW is absolutely brilliant imho and the rest of the songs gets better.

Im not sure which tour its off, if i get chance i will try and dig the tape out.

Agreed,
Like Gimmie Shelter, HTW's best version is the studio version. I would have liked to hear Keith sing it by himself. His back up vocals really make the song a joy. I always go back and forth as to whether HTW or Brown Sugar are the best rock and roll songs ever done.

IMO, the 69 tour versions are the best live versions.

The closest rendition,IMO, to the studio version is the one played at Hyde Park in July 69.
As far as Gimme shelter is concerned I found some live versions( 'stripped companion' for example) from the Stones or from The X Winos (Boot:'time is on my side') as interesting as the studio version.

The Hyde Park version is way too slow and the guitars a terribly out of tune. One of the worst versions I´ve ever heard. Just my two cents.

Agree ,in Hyde Park the guitars are out of tune however the sound and the song's structure are very close to the studio .It has never occured since.

I like the Stripped Companion version but it doesn't have that heavy atmospheric quality that the studio version has.

I like the Hyde Park version. Nasty...very nasty

Yeah Hyde Park is pretty much like it, except for the points that the guitars where out of tune and ofcourse Mick Taylor played along on that(which was fine, but different).

For the rest, well, a major thing in it is all the backup musicians they have on tour, it sounds allot bigger instead of raw and bluesy. More like the Blues Brothers than the Rolling Stones. But don't get me started about those background-artists...

To me the cowbell is very important in that tune. And the "less is more style" in Keiths playing as well as Charlies. They don´t pay enough attention on that when they play it live, IMO.

dont forget the ya ya's version. Ok, its half-live, half-studio, cause of the overdubbings, but if this version counts, i think its rawer then the original studio, IMO its the best version of HTW.