Rolling Stones
(Abkco)
In 1970, legendary rock critic Lester Bangs correctly called The Rolling Stones' Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out "the best rock concert ever put on record." How does one improve on the best for a 40th anniversary reissue? How about by adding five songs, a 56-page book full of photos and memories, and a DVD that includes not only performances but rare backstage and offstage footage of the band and friends like Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead. Not good enough? Maybe we'll also throw in live sets from the opening acts -B.B. King and Ike & Tina Turner.
Put simply, this beautifully packaged box sets the standard for what a reissue should be. It sounds great, and the music it documents has lost none of its power. This is the Stones at their peak, when they truly earned the title of the world's greatest rock and roll band. Raw, sexy, powerful and dangerous - they were everything rock and roll should be. Are there minor quibbles? Sure. The mix on B.B. King's set could be better. And rather than give the Stones' five unreleased live tracks their own disc, it'd be nice to have them sequenced as they were in the original show. (Plus, with only 18 minutes of music on that disc, would it have killed Abkco to throw in a few extra songs from another gig on the tour?) But in the end, it's tough to complain about a new look at an essential piece of rock history. It won't come cheap, but the new version of Ya-Ya's is something every music fan should own.
Standout Tracks: All of them. HAL BIENSTOCK
