The Rolling Stones – Two Great Albums Cheap (Vinyl Gang VGP- 348)

Two Great Albums Cheap (Vinyl Gang VGP- 348)

Disc 1 Grugahalle, Essen, W. Germany – October 7th, 1970:  Jumping Jack Flash, Roll Over Beethoven, Sympathy For The Devil, Stray Cat Blues, Love In Vain, Dead Flowers, Midnight Rambler, Live With Me, Let It Rock, Little Queenie, Brown Sugar

Disc 2 Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles, CA – June 9th, 1972:  Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles, CA – June 9th, 1972:  Brown Sugar, Bitch, Rock Off, Gimme Shelter, Happy, Tumbling Dice, Sweet Virginia, You Can’t Always Get What You Want, All Down The Line, Midnight Rambler, Jumping Jack Flash

The first disc on this set presents perhaps the best audience recording from the Rolling Stones’ obscure European tour of 1970 touring in support of their live LP Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out.  It sounds like a straight copy from the master tape of the old TMOQ vinyl release from the 70’s.  The sound quality is a substantial improvement being very sharp and clear.  

The tape fades out at three minutes into “Brown Sugar” and missing the final two numbers, “Honky Tonk Women” and “Street Fighting Man” which are perhaps lost forever.  This concert comes close to the end of their first tour of Europe in three years and they were definitely hot.  “Sympathy For The Devil”, “Midnight Rambler” and “Dead Flowers” are definite highlights.  As a curious side note, this show occurs on the day that Jagger’s film Ned Kelly premiered in New York.

The second disc is the incomplete Hollywood Palladium show from the 72 US tour.  Much like the first disc, VGP have copied an old TMOQ vinyl release Burning At The Hollywood Palladium.  The tape is missing “Love In Vain”, “Bye Bye Johnnie”, “Rip This Joint” and “Street Fighting Man”.  The second encore, “Honey Tonk Women”, hasn’t surfaced. 

The disc begins with a short news report about their arrest on July 18th in Warwick, RI.  Why this was placed here is a mystery. The tape is good and recorded close to the stage, although it is a bit distorted.  This show has been described as lacking in energy and being a let down.  Although there is some truth to this I found myself enjoying it.  Two Great Albums Cheap is a nice title to pick up if you don’t already have these shows.