Customer Rating:  
Summary: Energetic
Comment: If you've been following the Rolling Stones career like I have, you will enjoy this smokin' DVD. Mick and Keith are at their best and guest appearances spice it up a bit more. There's one Richards spotlight solo that is dramatically filmed and shows off Scorcese's genius.
I gave it four stars because I would have liked to see more vintage footage. Jagger prances around like he's twenty again, a real showman. I was exhausted when it was all over.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Has its moments, others dumb
Comment: It is absurd to hear 60-year-old men performing "Some Girls" and "Little T&A." Their first round of kids almost are as old as they were when they wrote these songs. They know what they're doing, that's fo sho, but very little about this is truly intimate or remotely creative. I'd love to hear this lot pick up a bunch of R&B songs they'd barely played and have a go, but everything is geared to making the maximum buck so the spontaneity and creativity are histor-y. There is no comparison to "Ya Ya's," and even "Still Life" is better because at least they mattered back then and were still pushing the culture at least a little. As for "Ya Ya's," they were the culture then, the very tip of it, the best band on the orb. They may be the best band for their age right now, maybe. The whole Scorcese thing, clearly intended in part to give this some actual drama, makes it even more ridiculous. Still, I bought the tongue-shaped edition for the collection and got this version for Father's Day, so Mick as usual gets the last laugh and the last cent. Oh, and Mr. Watts is from some other universe, he truly is unbelievable and the engine of this outfit still.
Customer Rating:
Summary: 3 1/2 stars. Somewhere in the middle...
Comment: I don't know exactly why I expected this album to be something special. It's just a regular live album, after all, Martin Scorsese or not, and the Stones have released a LOT of live albums, some mediocre, some good, a few of them absolutely magnificent.
This one is basically a minor item. It's the Stones, so it's good, but it's not truly great as far as Stones albums go.
I have every live album the Stones ever released, and to me "Get Your Ya-Yas Out" and "Stripped" are still by far the best, and "Love you Live" is the one that comes closest to matching those two. Too many of the others suffer from sloppy vocals from Mick Jagger, who can be the greatest rock n' roll singer in the world when he puts his mind to it, but he can also sound so annoyingly arrogant, like he really can't bother to put any real effort into singing the same song for the 1,000th time.
The Stones are great, mind you. I love the Stones. Which is why I feel entitled to complain when their performance is below par.
"Shine a Light" is not a dismal failure, far from it, but it isn't one of those live albums that makes you go "wow!" either. There are some rare performances here which are really enjoyable, like the powerful, driving rendition of "She Was Hot" on disc one, and a great "Paint it Black" on disc two. And Keith Richards gets three lead vocals, "You got the Silver", all gritty, stripped-down slide guitar blues, "Connection", a tough, hook-laden rocker, and the lightweight but fun "Little T&A".
But if Mick Jagger is so tired of singing "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Brown Sugar", maybe he should just stop. I've heard him do so much better with those songs, which makes these half-hearted performances all the more annoying.
Fortunately the band is exellent almost all the way through. As far as I can tell. The vocals in particular are very sharp and clear, but the guitars are a little bit murky at times, and the rhythm section is frequently just a distant thumping, which is disappointing. But again, they all play well, as far as I can tell, not least the great pianist Chuck Leavell who adds extra fire to a rollicking "All down the Line" and a rather soulful "Loving Cup". And Jagger is almost not annoying on the somewhat uncharacteristic oldie "As Tears go By".
Oh, and fans of albums like "Some Girls" and "Black and Blue" (isn't that what it's called? I hate it, I threw it out a while back) should be thrilled to find relatively rare performances of "Some Girls" and "Faraway Eyes" on here. I've never been particularly fond of the "Some Girls" album, I think it's overrated, and I absolutely loathe Jagger's moronic faux-country slur on "Faraway Eyes", a hideous parody of a hideous 60s country & western song. Ew!
Blues great Buddy Guy guests on "Champagne & Reefer", recorded in the late 70s by Muddy Waters, and out-sings Jagger, who can be a great, great rock n' roll singer but isn't much of a blues singer. And after a so-so "Tumbling Dice" comes a little Keith-set which, to me, is as good as anything sung by Jagger and better than most of it.
Disc two opens with a really good, solid "Sympathy for the Devil" (well, it opens with a few words by Martin Scorsese, actually), followed by a lousy "Live with Me". The band is great, Jagger is okay, but Christina Aguilera, who can sing, and sing very well, doesn't. She yells. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah-a-yay. Shut up, will you.
The rest of disc two is like disc one, some highlights, some mediocrities. On the plus side, the band is good, as I said, and pianist Chuck Leavell is great. And there are some real highlights along the way, but "Shine a Light" is ultimately a minor pleasure with few truly magic moments. If this is your first live Stones album you may think I'm an idiot for not giving it five stars, but really...there is significantly better live Stones out there. Go get "Stripped"!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Stones rules!!!
Comment: Honestly I didn't expect another live album from the stones. Thanks I was wrong!. The Stones really rocks on the small venues like Beacon Teathre. There are some jewels like:
- She was Hot: first time they include it on a live album.
- Some girls section (Faraway Eyes, Just My Imagination, Some Girls, Shatteres).
- As Tears Go By. what a beauty!!!
The low points to me are:
- Little T&A. I love that song, but what a shame with this version
- Sympathy For The Devil: I don't know but I feel something missing on it!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Old and tired
Comment: I really was looking forward to listening to this album, having spent most of my life a fan. I bought sticky fingers when it came out and pretty much everything else since. Boy was I disappointed with this one. I've seen them live, so I know the tempos are different live ... but crikey ... they rush through some of these songs as if they're late for something important. Mick's voice is poor ... really, I couldn't listen to the album all the way through and tried several times. Buy something else if you don't ave everything else yet.
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