bootlegs

"COCKSUCKER BLUES"
(Dir. Robert Frank/Daniel Seymour)
This film, produced by Marshall Chess, has never been afforded an official release. (This may be partly due to it's title, but is probably mainly down to the fact that it is extremely ordinary.) Even when it was first distributed, it could be seen only under strict license, at late night showings in members-only clubs, and even then it had to carry the title "CS Blues". The DVD pictured here was acquired in 2004, and appears to be a bootleg of a bootleg, as it's source is clearly a VHS tape. Snowy tracking lines are abundant during the first 20 minutes or so and the tape seems to be threatening to snap at a couple of points. All in all, though it's watchable and listenable.
The film itself, it has to be said, has not aged well. It presents itself as positively juvenile at times in it's attempts to 'shock'. Even though it is now common knowledge that much of the 'decadence' portrayed by the film was carefully staged, the viewer might still have been able to forgive this had it not still have all looked so uninteresting. Producer Marshall Chess was probably using the Maysles brothers' "Gimme Shelter" as a benchmark (as indeed it is, in cinema verite) but if he reckoned that in the absence of the chaos, calamity and brutality that presented itself to the Maysles cameras in 1969 he could pad this picture out with scenes of himself and many other unremarkable people taking recreational drugs and talking at indescribably tedious length about the taking of recreational drugs, lots of 'risque' imagery (man grabs crotch. woman with no clothes on etc) and the like then he was quite wrong.
There is much worthwhile material, of the Stones themselves in conversation, preparing for showtime etc; of the sharp end of the logistics of undertaking a big tour and of course, on stage. The footage of the band playing live are among the few segments of "Cocksucker Blues" which are in colour, with the rest being in fairly grainy mono. This may or may not have been the inspiration for U2's 'legendary' tour film "Rattle And Hum", but who cares?
As a collector, I hankered after a copy of this picture for years, and after procuring it found myself massively disappointed at having wasted so much hankering. Any future 'official' release for it is surely doubtful, but given that such a release would probably have to be on the authority of Abkco, can not be entirely ruled out.

Here's a link to the ultimate online shop for Rolling Stones collectables, Esprit:

http://eil.com/artist/Rolling-Stones.asp

And to the very best fan's forum, "Rocks Off":

http://rocksoff.org/messageboard/YaBB.pl?board=general

My trusty companion. Purchased in 1990, this book has travelled the globe with me. Only 150 pages long and not updated since 1984, it nevertheless remains my first point of reference for most Stones-related info. 'The book'.

Rolling Stones albums, 45s & EPs, 1964-present reviewed (in no particular order)

"BEGGAR'S BANQUET" (Decca SKL4955)(stereo edition) December 5th, 1968.

My favourite Rolling Stones LP. I concede that they probably made better albums, with "Sticky Fingers" being generally more rounded and better recorded, and "Exile On Main St" being, well, "Exile On Main St", but in the 38 minutes which "Beggar's Banquet" fills, the Stones at last deliver the music.
The best part of a year had lapsed since this record was completed before it appeared on the shelves, due to a standoff between the Stones and Decca Records over the cover artwork. The band wanted to use a photograph of a toilet cubicle with graffiti strewn walls, taken in a garage in Los Angeles. Decca considered this to be offensive, and would not issue the record. It was noted at the time that the same company had recently released an album entitled "A-Tom-ic Jones", with a cover depicting the mushroom cloud produced by a nuclear explosion. Whether or not a toilet was more obscene than an atom bomb was purely academic: Decca would not budge. The album was finally released in a sleeve with no photograph at all on the front, but with a truly fantastic gatefold sleeve, which opened to reveal the now famous 'banquet' picture (which you can see at the top of this page), by Michael Joseph, of the Stones lounging decadently with not a toilet in sight.
This was the first of the Stones LPs to be produced by Jimmy Miller. Had there not been such a lengthy delay in it's release, it would probably have included "Jumpin' Jack Flash". A band which can afford to forego putting it's most recent hit single on it's latest album, especially one as strong as "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (which, as everyone knows, is the greatest rock and roll 45 ever to have been pressed) is not a band lacking in confidence. A band which produces an album which opens with a song as astonishing as "Sympathy For The Devil" is, obviously, a great band.
The old showbiz adage 'never start with your showstopper' is ignored by opening the album with "Sympathy...", and is pretty much proved to be true; the album comes nowhere near to it's dizzying peak again. All of it is top quality, however, with "Salt Of The Earth" being the only possible exception. It's just short of the rousing finale which "You Can't Always Get What You Want" would provide "Let It Bleed" with one year later. Other highlights are "Parachute Woman", which is pure Elmore James; the fantastically recorded "Street Fighting Man" (which has no electrically amplified instruments apart from the bass) and the filth and the fury that is "Stray Cat Blues"- a number so full of dangerous elements that it actually starts seething as it's fading out. "Factory Girl" is a short sketch about waiting for your girlfriend in the rain and is nice. "Dear Doctor" is darkly comic, and describes narrowly avoiding having to get wed to a 'bow legged sow'. "No Expectations" is a sweet, concise gem, and features Brian Jones playing slide so deftly you'd think there was nowt the matter with him. "Prodigal Son" is played beautifully. "Jig-Saw Puzzle" is Dylan-ish, and probably a wee bit over ambitious, but is played and sung incredibly well.
You need to hear this record.

Other/related:** When the Stones commenced work on "Sympathy For The Devil" in the summer of '68, only one Kennedy had been killed. The tragic slaying of Robert Kennedy occurred right in the middle of the sessions which saw the song completed. There was never any question of the reference to America's most famous political dynasty being removed from the song. It remained, and remains, one of the very best lines of song ever sung. True then and true now. If U2 worked for another ten decades, they still couldn't come up with anything even like as powerful.

**The "many friends" credited for playing on the album are widely held to have included Eric Clapton and Dave Mason.

(click to enlarge)
...and the picture deemed by Atlantic Records execs in Spain to be less 'offensive' than Warhol's legendary "Sticky Fingers" cover image.....

snippets

In "Moonlight Mile", which closes "Sticky Fingers", the word 'railway' is used; and not the Amercanised 'railroad'.

snippets

**When "Sticky Fingers" (and all subsequent albums up to and including "Love You Live") were issued with serial numbers prefixed 'COC', it was widely held that this was a sly drug reference, and was short for 'cocaine'. All became clear, however, when "Some Girls" was issued, in 1978, bearing the number CUN 39108..........**

Films And Television

"THE ROLLING STONES ROCK AND ROLL CIRCUS"
(Abkco video 634590-3 VHS/0602498248997 DVD)

Another cornerstone of Stoneslore, this TV special was conceived as a device with which to promote "Beggar's Banquet". It was directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg and shot on December 10-11th, 1968 at Intertel Studios, Wembley. This was the last time Brian Jones performed 'live' as a member of The Rolling Stones. The project itself was necessitated by the band's being unable to tour the USA to promote the new LP on account of Brian's drug convictions, which meant he was unable to procure a visa. It was intended that the BBC would air the film as part of it's Xmas scheduling for 1968. They actually showed it as part of their festive line-up on new year's eve 1996!
The reason for it's non-appearance has, for years, been cited as Mick Jagger's dissatisfaction with the Stones' performance as 'headliners'. Shot overnight, the Stones began playing around midnight. Most of the numbers they had rehearsed for the show (at the Londonderry Hotel the previous day) were performed at least twice, and fatigue must have been heavy by the time the project was wrapped at 6am. Mick is clearly working very hard during the 8 minute plus rendition of "Sympathy For The Devil" which is the penultimate number. (with "Salt Of The Earth" closing the show) It was reported that Mick felt the Stones had been outshone by The Who, who played a truncated version of "A Quick One (While He's Away)". The other 'acts' included Jethro Tull, Taj Mahal (who played unannounced, as he did not have a work permit), Eric Clapton and John & Yoko. My personal view is that the Stones play pretty much as brilliantly as they ever have, and are not 'outshone' by anyone. (as if they ever could be!)
The cut of this film which was finally released by Abkco on video in 1996 does not include the Stones performing "Route 66", "Yonder's Wall", "Walkin' Blues" or "Confessin' The Blues", but does include "No Expectations", which was intended as a warm up number, and not to appear in the film.
Abkco, undoubtedly well aware of how keenly anticipated the release of this project was by millions of fans, issued it's soundtrack on a lavishly packaged CD in October '96, a month before the release of the VHS, thus ensuring that diehard fans (like me) bought the soundtrack twice. They made us buy it again when they issued the DVD in 2004. The DVD also includes some excellent bonuses: an interview with Pete Townshend, footage of a clearly wasted Brian and the famous/infamous footage of 'ringmaster' Mick with the heavily sedated Bengal Tiger.
All in all, "The Rolling Stones Rock And Roll Circus" is fantastic entertainment, and essential viewing.

Rolling Stones albums, 45s & EPs, 1964-present reviewed (in no particular order)

"EXILE ON MAIN ST" (Rolling Stones Records COC69100) May 12th, 1972.

This record is famous for being famous. Tales of how it came to be recorded are fabled beyond the fantastical by Stones buffs, and retrospective appraisals of it can be relied upon to employ the word 'legendary' to describe some aspect of it's conception inside the first few sentences, eager to crack on and regale the reader with the legendary tale of how it was all made in Keith's cellar in France with electricity stolen from the railway lines and that at least a dozen people were present at every session just to keep Keith and Anita in smack. Of course, not all of this is true. Some of it was recorded in California. A very detailed and entertaining account of most of what went on during that summer and winter of 1971 at Keith's big white house, 'Nellcote' in Villefranche Sur Mer can be read in the book written by "Spanish" Tony Sanchez, "Up And Down With The Rolling Stones". Tony was Keith's 'personal assistant' during this period, and the pair were practically inseparable. As Keith's PA, Tony naturally got to witness at first hand the creation of this legendary rock and roll record. He also enjoyed many opportunities to meet incoming boats at Marseilles docks at midnight, whilst carrying one of Keith's collection of fine, unlicensed firearms. A great deal of Tony's book is shocking (not least of which is his story of how he and Keith sat next to each other at Brian Jones' funeral) but nobody could deny; it's bloody compelling. Guns and drugs and fiddling the 'leccy meter, and we've not heard a note struck yet. No wonder this album is famous and legendary.
On it's release, reviews were not mixed and they were not lukewarm. They were uniformly cold, disapproving and far from chummy, particularly among the British 'inkies', long the champions and defenders of the Stones, now seemingly in the huff because they weren't to be found hanging around in London and were therefore thoroughly unreliable sources of free drugs. The letters page of the NME was crammed for weeks with demands for the editor to phone the Stones immediately and inform them that everybody had always liked Led Zeppelin better anyway. The Stones were never again to be awarded 'Single Of The Week'. Not even for an ironic joke. Bill Wyman cancelled his subscription to 'Sounds'. With the music press decrying the album as 'incoherent', 'sprawling', 'full of country and western music and no good tunes' and, most damning of all 'a bit pricey', they bolstered the general lambasting the Stones were taking from the popular press, who suspected that they hadn't left the UK for tax purposes at all, and had gone to France to get more drugs and a bit of a tan.
They were, of course, all wrong. It's a brilliant album. Arguably the best they (or any other rock and roll turn) ever made. It's seamless; offering no hint at it's convoluted and mildly hysterical creation. Everything about it; the title, the cover, the songs, the musicianship are perfect. The distance it covers and the pace at which it does so are breathtaking. Everybody loves it. Mick Jagger thinks it's OK, but that a lot of it is mixed wrong. He was quoted in 2002 as having said "I'd love to remix it". He very noticeably hasn't and most definitely shouldn't. How could it be improved upon? It sounds like that because that's what "Exile On Main St" sounds like, Mick. We like it and we're grateful.
Across 18 numbers, for an hour and a bit, you can hear The Rolling Stones getting in tune, becoming what they are famous for being capable of, finally completing their blueprint for what we know now as 'rock music'. The advent of the CD makes it much easier now to listen to how they re-interpret Robert Johnson's "Stop Breaking Down" 10 times in succession and still be at a loss as to how and why it is just so brilliant. It just is. It's like a force of nature. Also, I defy any listener to remain unmoved as "Ventilator Blues" subsides into "I just Want To See His Face". Indescribable. Conversely, it's remarkable how many fans cite "I Just Want To See His Face" as their favourite Stones number, when it's so brief and simple and vague and obscure and.....somehow vacant but alert..like it's warning while welcoming while worrying and too tired to be angry, but....It is great, mind you. You should hear it. It goes "That's all right", and then it goes "Stand up and be counted" and then it kind of makes a sort of.....truth is, I can't figure out what it does, but it does. You find yourself putting "Ventilator Blues" on a lot, just so you can wait for it to do it again.
This is a record which I'd recommend to anyone who wants to hear how rock and roll music is conceived and executed.

Other/Related: Cover concept by Robert Frank, who also directed "Cocksucker Blues". Original issue of album included set of 12 'postcards', featuring photographs taken by Norman Seeff.