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Writer and editor Home > Blogs > Brain Droppings > Archives > 2008 > April > 21 > Entry
New live Stones CD
Today’s disc du jour, sports fans:
The Rolling Stones
SHINE A LIGHT
Question: Why have another live Stones album?
Answer: Because Martin Scorsese wanted to do concert film about the band, and when he calls you listen. Even if you’re the Stones.
Or especially if you’re the Stones. I mean, really — who else would Martin Scorsese want to make a concert film about? Which other band would be worthy of his attention and time?
We haven’t seen the movie yet, but the album that accompanies it — the band’s fifth live disc, at least — exists as a kind of testimonial reinforcement for the Stones’ belief in their own greatness. Do they make the case? After several spins through the album, I must say I’m really not sure. I guess so.
Certainly, there is a lot to like about it, and one way to approach “Shine A Light” is as a blueprint for how the group has modified its act to accommodate age and longevity. To compare them to Bob Dylan — the only other rock artist from their age and of their stature who’s still at the same game and still touring regularly — they have not had to make the same changes to their act and sound. Any Dylan fan knows he’s come up with a long-slow-moan singing style to overcome his shot voice; Mick, Keith, Ronnie and Charlie have no such need. They’re still musically very strong and more than manage to crank up an energetic, smartly performed set with plenty of high points.
Jagger can’t really sing anymore, but his articulation and phrasing are better than ever, and the twin-guitar interplay between Richards and Woods sounds more bluesy and trim than it did when they were younger, not at all a band thing.
But it’s the material itself that doesn’t feel as good anymore. While there is a certain poignancy that a man in his 60s brings to “As Tears Go By” that a man in his 20s couldn’t muster, there is also more than a bit of creepiness to having the same guy singing “Start Me Up.” In fact, now it sounds like a Viagra commercial.
Sometimes the result is such a mixed bag that one doesn’t know what to think — such as when Christina Aguilera pops in for a stormin’ duet on “Live With Me.” It’s great, and it’s icky, all at once.
As you could say, I suppose, about so much else in the Stones’ long, weird and purely novel career. Maybe, now that I think of it, this is a better and more fitting album than it seemed, at first.
Grade: B
iPod picks: “Live With Me,” “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” “Sympathy for the Devil.”
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