NEW YORK, Nov. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly 3.5 million fans from 23 countries
knew it as they left theaters, arenas and stadiums in a spent and ecstatic
state -- and now the living proof is here: Live Licks, the new Virgin Records
two-CD document of the Rolling Stones' 40th anniversary tour, is being greeted
as the band's best live album ever.
Rolling Stone Magazine's David Fricke, in a four-star rave review, gives
special praise to the sonics of the album, pointing out the "bright, hard
mix that nails the Stones' matured vigor," and adding that Live Licks
"proves that the Stones, under the lights and at this advanced date, can
still improve upon even their best studio work." Alongside album
producers The Glimmer Twins and Don Was, two distinguished producers in their
own right contribute to the outstanding technical standard of the set: Ed
Cherney (recording) and Bob Clearmountain (mix).
Defying the passage of time, and taking their music to an international,
multi-generational audience, the Rolling Stones are in classic form: combining
unbridled spirit and absolute command, they perform the definitive songbook of
hard rock in "a set that starts like a grand finale and then keeps
coming," as the New York Post describes the jam-packed first disc of
Stones anthems.
The electric sense of buzz and inspiration drenching the Live Licks
performances reflects the creative and personal stimulus of mounting shows
tailored for massive audiences of 55,000 at London's Twickenham Rugby Ground
and 19,000 at New York City's Madison Square Garden, as well as intimate shows
in rooms as small as the 2,800-person Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles and the
2,400-seat Olympia in Paris, France.
Fresh readings of songs never before heard on any live Stones album
highlight the flawless vocal and physical fitness of Mick Jagger, the blazing
interplay of Keith Richards and Ron Wood, and the peerless, swinging hands of
Charlie Watts. Disc Two of Live Licks includes a steamrolling "Rocks Off,
"a stylish and earthy "Can't You Hear Me Knocking," the
ingenious ska-flavored "You Don't Have To Mean It" and an emotional
"Worried About You," in a track list taken from live sets that mined
the deep catalogue of Stones album cuts and covers, changing with each show,
surprising and delighting crowds night after night.
The Stones' bedrock love of American music is obvious in their cover tunes:
B.B. King's "Rock Me, Baby;" "That's How Strong My Love
Is" (first discovered on the B-side of Otis Redding's "Mr. Pitiful"),
and a loving treatment of Hoagy Carmichael's "The Nearness of You,"
with vocal lead by Keith Richards. In the storming set-closing revival of one
of the band's earliest onstage covers, "Everybody Needs Somebody To
Love," the Stones are joined by the song's original singer-songwriter,
Solomon Burke.
Live Licks, telescoping a brilliant fourteen-month tour into a ferocious
and diamond-hard two discs, attests again to the wellspring of music that's
proven to be simply inexhaustible over the years: it's classic music by a
classic band, both inspired and inspirational.
LIVE LICKS FROM FOUR WORLD CAPITALS:
DISC 1:
1. Brown
Sugar
Twickenham Rugby Ground, London
2. Street Fighting
Man
Twickenham
3. Paint It,
Black
Twickenham
4. You Can't Always Get What You Want
Twickenham
5. Start Me
Up
Madison Square Garden, New York
6. It's Only Rock 'n
Roll
New York
7.
Angie
New York
8. Honky Tonk Women
New York
9.
Happy
New York
10. Gimme Shelter
New York
11. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
New York
DISC 2: Note: None of these songs have ever appeared on any
previous
Rolling Stones live CD.
1. Neighbours
Olympia, Paris
2. Monkey
Man
New York
3. Rocks
Off
Twickenham
4. Can't You Hear Me Knocking
Wiltern Theater, Los Angeles
5. That's How Strong My Love
Is Paris
6. The Nearness Of
You
Paris
7. Beast Of Burden
Los Angeles
8. When The Whip Comes
Down
New York
9. Rock Me,
Baby
New York
10.You Don't Have To Mean
It Los
Angeles
11.Worried About
You
Paris
12. Everybody Needs Somebody To
Love Los Angeles
