Let The Juice Pumping (Vinyl Gang VGP-139)
Community Center, Tucson, AZ – July 21st, 1978
Disc 1 (44:05): Let It Rock, All Down The Line, Honky Tonk Women, Star Star, When The Whip Comes Down, Beast Of Burden, Lies, Miss You
Disc 2 (46:06): Just My Imagination, Shattered, Respectable, Far Away Eyes, Love In Vain, Tumbling Dice (with Linda Ronstadt on vocals!), Happy, Sweet Little Sixteen, Brown Sugar
Let The Juice Pumping was released by Vinyl Gang in 1997 and it so far stands as the only silver pressed release of The Rolling Stones’ July 21st, 1978 show in Tucson, Arizona. Except for missing the final song “Jumping Jack Flash” and any encores they might have played that day, it presents the complete show with no cuts in the music. The tape used is a reasonably clear audience recording that suffers from distortion in the upper frequencies.
But despite that flaw it is a listenable tape on par with many of the other tapes to surface from the Some Girls tour that summer. It is helped by being taped in a smaller venue (9,000 capacity) compared to the other venues. The audience are enthusiastic but don’t overwhelm the music at all.
Tucson occurs by the end of the tour and is one of the more obscure shows from the era. It almost never enters discussion which is a shame because on a tour that has its fair share of mediocre and sloppy performances this is among the tightest and most energetic. The songs are attacked with vigor and delivered with passion. There is a short delay after “All Down The Line” when Jagger says, “It looks lovely from where I’m standing. We’re just gonna take a small break as we have a cup of tea.” The delay doesn’t last long as they launch straight into “Honky Tonk Women.” The opening “oldies” set closes with “Star Star.”
The new songs from Some Girls are grouped together in the middle of the show. Eight of the ten new songs are played in succession with “Before They Make Me Run” and the title track being omitted. Some in the audience are impatient with this (one guy keeps shouting out requests like “Monkey Man” and “Paint It Black”), but others seems to love it with one guy during “Beast Of Burden” sings the song along with Jagger (“rough enough, yeah!”)
The centerpiece of the set (and for the show for that matter) is “Miss You.” Reaching more than ten minutes, they band have great fun with the track with endless instrumental interludes. The parody “Far Away Eyes” is the last of the new songs performed in the set and is followed by the slow blues “Love In Vain.”
Afterwards Jagger says, “I found a girl in the dressing room whose gonna come on to sing with us. She didn’t have time to get dressed.” The audience cheer loudly as Linda Ronstadt comes on stage and the band begin “Tumbling Dice.” Her cover of this song was a top forty hit in 1977 but, with Jagger’s ego as big as it is, she only accompanies him on the chorus. It’s a shame she doesn’t sing the entire song since that would have been a real nice touch.
Richards mic isn’t working on the opening lines to “Happy” and “Brown Sugar” is the final song on disc two. “Jumping Jack Flash” normally was the final song of the set and is presumed to be cut off of the tape. Let The Juice Pumping has a simple cover with a photo of Mick, Keith and Ronnie with no notation regarding the title, venue, or any other information. Since this is the only silver release of the show this is a good title to have from the 1978 tour.
