Shake It Up, Play It Rough (Exile EXCD-007/8)
Apollo Theater, Glasgow, Scotland – May 10th, 1976
Disc 1 (51:14): Honky Tonk Women, If You Can’t Rock Me/Get Off Of My Cloud, Hand Of Fate, Hey Negrita, Ain’t Too Proud To Beg, Fool To Cry, Hot Stuff, Star Star, You Gotta Move, You Can’t Always Get What You Want
Disc 2 (46:52): Band introductions, Happy, Tumbling Dice, Nothing From Nothing, Outta Space, Midnight Rambler, It’s Only Rock And Roll, Brown Sugar, Jumping Jack Flash, Street Fighting Man. Bonus tracks: All Down The Line (LA 75), Jumping Jack Flash (December 5th, 1976)
The Rolling Stones began the 1976 tour at the end of April in Frankfurt. But the first date in the UK was on May 10th in the Apollo Theatre in Glasgow. Home to one of the UK’s traditionally wild audiences, the Stones booked three shows before moving to England for shows in Leicester, Stafford, and six shows in Earls Court in London.
Shake It Up, Play It Rough documents the first of the three Glasgow concerts using a fair audience tape. Exile is a two source mix. The better of the two is used for a majority of the show but the older inferior source taken from vinyl is used from “Star Star” through to the two Billy Preston songs “Nothing For Nothing” and “Outta Space.” Also, “Jumping Jack Flash” cuts out after two minutes. After Exile released this Dog N Cat issued Nasty Habits In Glasgow (DAC-014) in which the volume is boosted and “Jumping Jack Flash” is complete.
It is unfortunate this is the only one of the three Glasgow shows to exist. The venue normally is home to intense performances. But the Stones give a very restrained show, more like a rehearsal before alive audience. Mick Jagger in particular seems to hurry the band along and even comes in too early in “Hey Negrita” and “Brown Sugar,” forcing the band to follow his lead.
Despite the restraint, the performance is very good. Jagger warms up the audience by joking about wanting a drink before “Fool To Cry” for instance. And Glasgow enjoys the new material, giving loud ovations for “Hand Of Fate,” “Hey Negrita” and “Hot Stuff.”
But the latter half of the show increases the energy level of both band and audience with a particularly effective version of “Midnight Rambler” lasting close to ten minutes. “It’s Only Rock And Roll” and the final “Street Fighting Man” are also exceptional.
Exile include two bonus tracks. “All Down The Line,” which was omitted from the 1976 tour, is included from one of the Los Angeles shows in 1975. And “Jumping Jack Flash,” which is cut in the Glasgow show, is included from its entirety from another show from the tour. It is label “December 5th, 1976,” but that’s obviously a mistake. The sound quality is so poor that it’s hard to determine it’s exact venue.
Shake It Up, Play It Rough is a competent effort by the label but, since DAC is a bit more complete, is superseded by the latter release. And, like most tapes from Glasgow in the seventies, is of marginal sound quality and not very enjoyable. Stones collectors who need to have every show from this tour might benefit from this release but otherwise isn’t very important.
