Rolling Stones – Some Satanic Tour Vol. 2 (Dog N Cat DAC-098)

Some Satanic Tour Vol. 2 (Dog N Cat DAC-098)

Disc 1 (56:59), Coliseum, Phoenix, AZ – November 11th, 1969:  Jumping Jack Flash, Carol, Sympathy For The Devil, Stray Cat Blues, Prodigal Son, You Gotta Move, Love In Vain, Under My Thumb, Midnight Rambler, Live With Me, Gimme Shelter, Little Queenie.  Altamont Speedway, Livermore, CA – December 6th, 1969:  Sam Cutler intro., Jumping Jack Flash, Carol, The Sun Is Shining

Some Satanic Tour Vol. 2 is a nominal sequel to the popular Some Satanic Tour (Dog N Cat DAC-015) released in 2005.  Like its predecessor it presents two tapes from the 1969 tour, from Phoenix and from Detroit.  DAC use the common tapes in circulation, but neither of these two have received much attention in the past and were in need of upgrades.  Vinyl Gang is only only label to release this tape in the past on Gathering Madness-Phoenix ’69 (VGP-031) and disc one of The Sky Pilots (VGP-060).    

The November 11th Phoenix tape presents the show from the Sam Cutler introduction through “Little Queenie” with “Satisfaction,” “Honky Tonky Women” and “Street Fighting Man” missing.  The tape was made by Dub, the same one responsible for Live’r and other tapes from the west coast.  The sound quality is very good to almost excellent.  It is a bit distorted at the beginning but clears up nicely to be a very sharp and well balanced mono recording.  It becomes very muffled and distorted with “Little Queenie” before cutting out.

Phoenix occurs right after Los Angeles and the sharp recording reveals a very strong show.  The tape opens with Sam Cutler’s introduction (“The Rolling Stones…The Rolling Stones” repeating the band’s name twice before every show).   “Jumping Jack Flash” sounds very slow and heavy (as it does on the entire tour).  Jagger tells the audience that “we’re real please to be here, we didn’t think we were gonna make it” before playing “Carol.”

“Sympathy For The Devil” sounds very tame in this show, certainly not like the wired versions of later in the tour.  “Stray Cat Blues” is referred to as “something for the ladies.”  The acoustic set is very clear and enjoyable on this tape even when Jagger apologizes for being so hoarse before “You Gotta Move.”  It is a shame the tape is cut since the final numbers are very strong.

The bonus tracks on disc one contain the Sam Cutler introduction, “Jumping Jack Flash,” “Carol” and “The Sun Is Shining” from the December 6th Altamont show.  This may be a taste of It’s Just A Shot Away (DAC-099), the title which follows Some Satanic Tour Vol. 2 in the DAC catalogue.  It comes from a new audience tape of the event which sounds has a similar upper frequency bias but is much more clear than the common audience tape.  It also has the complete introduction before the show and makes DAC-099 that much more intriguing. 

Disc 2 (67:18), Olympia Stadium, Detroit, MI – November 24th, 1969:  Jumping Jack Flash, Carol, Sympathy For The Devil, Stray Cat Blues, Love In Vain, Prodigal Son, You Gotta Move, Under My Thumb, Midnight Rambler, Live With Me, Little Queenie, Satisfaction, Honky Tonk Women, Street Fighting Man

The second disc contains the November 24th Detroit show.  This tape first surfaced in April 1970 on 2LPs and received a review in Rolling Stone magazine which DAC gracefully reproduces on the artwork.  In that article  Greil Marcus opines “The sound quality is rather poor” but the crowd’s response to the music is phenomenal and that, played at full volume, “you’ll find something here that cannot be found anywhere else.”

The sound quality isn’t as poor as Marcus makes it out to be.  It is somewhat distant and it emphasizes the upper end, but it has fantastic atmosphere.  It’s very good for the age, especially since it wasn’t made specifically for a bootleg record (as the Oakland tapes were).  There are a couple small gaps between songs, but the only destructive cut is a slight one near the beginning of “Midnight Rambler.”   

For such a well known tape it hasn’t received many compact disc pressings.  On compact disc “Sympathy For The Devil,” “Stray Cat Blues” and “Little Queenie” appear as bonus tracks on Hawaiian Top-The Second Show (Weeping Goat WG-025/026) and the full show on Live from Detroit 1969 (CA1111).  For such a well known tape it hasn’t received many compact disc pressings.

Mick Jagger was quoted, “We really didn’t get it on until Detroit.”  It is indeed a good show which gets off to a slow start.  “Jumping Jack Flash” is very sloppy and “Carol” lumbers along, but the audience seems to electrify the band.  Jagger quips “lot of whistling here…weird” and many in the audience respond with loud whistles.  “Sympathy For The Devil” is very tight and energetic, and the show really start to take off.

The audience are quiet and attentive during the acoustic set.  Jagger punctuates the narrative in “Prodigal Son” with shouts of “have mercy!!” and the audience reward them with a loud ovation.  The transition from “You Gotta Move” to “Under My Thumb” is one of the stunning moments by how Bill Wyman sneaks the bassline in at the start.

Jagger causes quite a stir in “Honky Tonk Women” singing about how “I met a divorcee in Detroit city / I had to put up some kind of fight.”  The final song “Street Fighting Man” is a fitting conclusion to the already great show.  Having not only Detroit and Phoenix, but also the bit from the new Altamont tape makes Some Satanic Tour Vol. 2 is another very strong release by Dog N Cat and another sterling document from the first mythic rock and roll tour.