Rolling Stones – Ladies & Gentlemen (Halcyon)

Ladies & Gentlemen (Halcyon)

Disc 1:  Introduction, Brown Sugar, Bitch, Gimme Shelter, Dead Flowers, Happy, Tumbling Dice, Love In Vain, Sweet Virginia, You Can’t Always Get What You Want, All Down The Line, Midnight Rambler, band introduction, Bye Bye Johnny, Rip This Joint, Jumping Jack Flash, Street Fighting Man

Disc 2:  Introduction, Brown Sugar, Bitch, Gimme Shelter, Dead Flowers, Happy, Tumbling Dice, Love In Vain, Sweet Virginia, You Can’t Always Get What You Want, All Down The Line, Midnight Rambler, band introduction, Bye Bye Johnny, Rip This Joint, Jumping Jack Flash, Street Fighting Man

Halcyon have distinguished themselves by releasing the definitive versions of classic Rolling Stones soundboard recordings.  On Ladies & Gentlemen they present the video soundtrack to the seldom seen tour movie.  For a tour that is documented by such consistently mediocre audience recordings this is the best quality recording available.  The soundtrack was first released on vinyl on Dragon Slayers Part I  (S.B.R. 003) and Dragon Slayers Part II  (S.B.R. 004) on Speeder Ball Records.  Vinyl Gang made this their first ever release when they produced Dragon Slayers (VGP 001). 

Three years ago a remastered, phenomenal stereo soundtrack surfaced and was booted on the cdr releases Ladies And Gentlemen The Rolling Stones on Butterfly Producing, Ladies And Gentlemen on Sister Morphine, Ladies And Gentlemen (RS-1A/B) on Milestones, and Ladies And Gentlemen The Rolling Stones on Pignose.  Also around this time both Bad Wizard on Turn The Heat Up! (BW6/24-25/72 & BW6/27/72) and Vinyl Gang on  You Can’t Do That Baby (VGP-314) released it on siver disc. 

Halcyon have gone out of their way to give two different versions of the soundtrack for no additional cost.  The first disc is similar to the versions issued the past couple of years.  It is a stellar clear recording that sounds much better than most official releases.  The label places effort in making their version the definitive one and it applies to this too.  The second disc is one second longer than the first and sounds more dull and muddy than the first.  Disc one could have stood on its own and is the one that will be played most often while disc two is simply a minor curiosity that is a bonus.  The performance itself is great too. 

Edited from the four Texas shows in the middle of the tour, it follows the typical setlist with the rare addition of “Dead Flowers”, which was played special for this movie and not included in any other show.  The allocation of the songs are:  “Brown Sugar” (June 25 2nd show), “Bitch” (June 24th 2nd show), “Gimme Shelter”, “Dead Flowers”, and “Happy” (all from the June 24th 1st show), “Tumbling Dice” and “Love In Vain” (June 25th 1st show), “Sweet Virgina” (June 24th 1st show), “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (June 25th 1st show), “All Down The Line” and “Midnight Rambler” (June 25th 2nd show), the band introductions are from the June 24th 2nd show, “Bye Bye Johnnie” (June 25th 1st show), “Rip This Joint” (June 24th 2nd show), “Jumping Jack Flash” (June 25th 1st show), and “Street Fighting Man” (June 24th 2nd show).  In any case all the music is very strong and includes all the best known Mick Jagger quips between songs (“a few hearts broken, a few strings busted, not a lot to wait for between friends”, “Sorry you didn’t get to see Stevie Wonder, I guess he overslept”, etc.)  This is the first double release by the label and comes in the standard double slimline jewel case with the very thick glossy paper, an overall superior production and highly recommended.