Jann Wenner writing in Rolling Stone about the final 1975 L.A concert of the Rolling Stones:
"At the end of each number I was screaming at the person in the next seat: 'We're seeing the best show of the tour!'...I was convinced that I had seen not only the best show of this tour but possibly the best Stones concert ever."
You can now make up your own mind with the third official Stones Archive concert release of the June 13th 1975 Rolling Stones show at the forum. (Only available online at StonesArchive.com).
Based on this release the concert is in the argument for best ever. The opening salvo of "Honky Tonk Woman" establishes this as one of the strongest Stones live recordings out there. Not just with the performance but also due to the incredible remastered sound. Strong stuff indeed and it doesn't let up from there.
If you're at all a Stones fan this is one to get. The only letdown for some may be the two Billy Preston numbers but, hey, that was part of the deal with this incredible tour. If you saw Jagger swinging out over the arena holding onto a rope using only his hands and feet (and I'm talking waaaaaay out there) you'd realize they laid it all on the line on this tour (the first with Ron Wood).
While I'm at it, the two earlier releases "1973: The Brussels Affair" and "1981: Hampton Coliseum" are well worth getting.
"Brussels Affair" consists of two shows done the same day. The afternoon show is easily the most infamous of the recorded Stones canon. Heavily bootlegged it was also used in part for the King Biscuit Flower Power hour radio show back in the 70s. The afternoon show may be the best Stones show ever (in the equation with Mr. Wenner's assessment of the above 75 show). This official release is mostly the previously unavailable night show in Brussels on the same day. I say mostly because "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and "Midnight Rambler" (extraordinary) are from the afternoon show.
"Hampton Coliseum" was one of the first Pay-Per-View concerts and although it's availability was rather limited...the stereo soundtrack wasn't. I didn't have access to the video but the full stereo came through a local FM station. I sat there with my audio cassettes and recorded the entire show. I thought I knew this one by heart but with the remastering job done by Bob Clearmountain it's like a new show. This is the show where Keef clocked a guy that jumped on the stage with his guitar then kept playing as if nothing happened.
