After a three week holiday with hardly any Stones sound I listened to the 1975 Fort Collins show yesterday. What a joy that was! They really were on fire at some of these July shows. Midnight Rambler is the killer track - frantic and loose, with a breakneck tempo.

I have always viewed the Tour Of The Americas with mixed feelings, pointing at it's excesses and shallowness. But listening to more and more killer moments from this tour I've changed my mind. There's still room for surprises, I'd say.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-09-24 12:09 by Greenblues.

I always felt the same way about that tour. Can you point me in the right direction regarding the tour's high points please.

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Silver Dagger
I always felt the same way about that tour. Can you point me in the right direction regarding the tour's high points please.

High point one see above ;-) Another highlight IMO is "Wild Horses" from various shows. "Luxury" from Buffalo. "Cherry Oh Baby" from NYC. "It's Only Rock'n'Roll", "You Gotta Move" etc. I'm sure you know all of these anyway, don't you? Generally it's not about comparing track by track to the versions played during the previous ('72) US tour. This wouldn't work. It's more about appreciating the overall feeling like, say, when you compare the serveral incarnations of James Bond (I hate Pierce Brosnan, but find it interesting to compare the classic appearance of Sean Connery to the 70's charmes of Roger Moore...). Take Connery for the vintage Stones of '72 and Moore for the majestic excess of TOTA: Surely Connery is the "real" Bond here, but he couldn't have lasted forever. Moore was a fresh force, perfect for the times and he also had his moments (I love Moonraker, for example).

Just like Connery in "Diamonds are Forever" the vintage Stones were exhausted by '74, and even the epic '73 tour gave the first hints towards a more flashy "70s" direction (Billy Preston might have played a part here). With TOTA they went that road much further, but they produced some fresh sparks as well. And it was FUN. So, if '72 brought up certain strengths (it sure did by the truckload), '75's Moonraker approach showed others.

Still I suspect this viewpoint might not work for people who saw the Stones in their prime and simply cannot warm towards their mid seventies incarnation. I was 10 years old in 1975 and didn't get to see them before the Steel Wheels Era...
Anyway, I'm sure there are many TOTA-connaisseurs around here who'd love to turn you on to some more concrete musical highlights of the '75 tour... ;-)

Nice comparison with Bond, GB.

Do you expect me to talk Green Blues?

Never thought about that, Silver Dagger. Just a nickname, made up for the occasion. "Green_Blues" would be a song title (and a nice one, I think), but as a nickname, I'm perfectly content with "Greenblues" ;-) By the way: What did you think of the Sex Pistols when you saw them in '77?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-09-24 16:39 by Greenblues.

I was joking GB. It was a reference to the film Goldfinger.

Bond: Do you expect me to talk Goldinger?

Goldfinger: No Mr Bond, I expect you to die!

By the way, Green Blues, the Sex Pistols were fantastic at Uxbridge in 77. I was down the front taking photos and nearly suffocated. Then at one point I was literally hoisted on to the stage and stood in front of Sid Vicious and took a shot of him just as he seemed to be taking off his bass to whack me. That photo has earned me quite a few quid over the years.

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Silver Dagger
I was joking GB. It was a reference to the film Goldfinger.

Bond: Do you expect me to talk Goldinger?

Goldfinger: No Mr Bond, I expect you to die!

Ups... I see. Never expect a German to "get" such a quote (except Gerd Froebe, that is ;-) Don't remember the German version of it, though. What a classic sequence! And the laser beam! Visually not too far from TOTA, don't you think? Even if the rest of the film is firmly placed in the Sixties.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2008-09-24 17:24 by Greenblues.

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Silver Dagger
By the way, Green Blues, the Sex Pistols were fantastic at Uxbridge in 77. I was down the front taking photos and nearly suffocated. Then at one point I was literally hoisted on to the stage and stood in front of Sid Vicious and took a shot of him just as he seemed to be taking off his bass to whack me. That photo has earned me quite a few quid over the years.

I envy you. Only had some records and lately Tony Parsons' "Stories We Could Tell" as a substitute.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-09-24 17:37 by Greenblues.

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Silver Dagger
I always felt the same way about that tour. Can you point me in the right direction regarding the tour's high points please.

I've asked this same question about various era's of Stones history. The problem with this is that you get lots of opinions on it. Many will mention the same recordings but many people will point you in the direction of "their favorite shows" simply because they have good sound quality or they only own 5 recordings from a particular tour and are not really qualified to educate people on the "high points" because they don't really know all the high points themselves.

I don't have every '75 recording but here's what I do have......

1975 Tour Of The Americas
Baton Rouge, L.S.U. Assembly Center 6/1/75 1st show
Baton Rouge, L.S.U. Assembly Center 6/1/75 2nd show

Both Baton Rouge shows are available as good audience recordings and the first one is definately worth tracking down. Very interesting setlist.


Kansas City, Arrowhead Stadium 6/6/75 - a very good performance. The recording starts out pretty muddy but clears up quite a bit as the show progresses.

Boston Gardens 6/11/75 - good audience recording, excellent performance.

Boston Gardens 6/12/75- not as good as the previous night.

Buffalo Memorial Auditorium 6/15/75- I have a couple different versions of the Buffalo 6/15 soundboard. It's incomplete, featuring only about the first half or 2/3rd's of the show, but it's a very good performance and a must have from this tour.

Toronto Maple Leaf Gardens 6/17/75- another must have in my opinion. Excellent performance and a very good audience recording. This one is very popular.

New York, Madison Square Garden 6/22/75- this is the one where Clapton guests on the encore of "Sympathy For The Devil". It's a very good, clear audience recording and although I wouldn't call it a GREAT performance, it's among my favorites.

New York, Madison Square Garden 6/23/75
New York, Madison Square Garden 6/24/75
New York, Madison Square Garden 6/25/75 - these three New York shows are all available in good to very good audience recordings. The performances are pretty uneven at times. Some are better than others but if you get one recording from the '75 stand at the Garden, it should be the last night (6/27/75).


New York, Madison Square Garden 6/27/75 - this is another VERY popular recording. It's a very clear audience recording. The best sounding version is sourced from vinyl. It's the best of the New York shows, and most people will tell you it's among the best of the tour, although I think it might be just a bit overrated, it's still great.

Largo, Capitol Center 7/2/75- decent sound, can't remember much about the performace.

Los Angelos Forum 7/9/75- good audience recording, a smoking hot bitch of a performance. Highly recommended.

Los Angelos Forum 7/10/75- good audience recording, but this one sort of gets lost in the shuffle of the '75 L.A. shows.

Los Angelos Forum 7/11/75- this one is available as a soundboard, sorta. It's sourced from the video that's circulating from this night, but beware. It's one of the worst performances of the tour. And the audio mix on the video is quite strange as well.

Los Angelos Forum 7/11/75 ("The Lost Milliard Masters")
Los Angelos Forum 7/12/75 ("The Lost Milliard Masters")
Los Angelos Forum 7/13/75 ("The Lost Milliard Masters")- I think "The Lost Milliard Masters" set is well worth getting. They are excellent sounding audience recordings. The 7/11 show is a strange, very erratic performance with excellent sound. The 7/12 show is a very good performance but only about 1/3rd of the show is available from the excellent Milliard source. The rest of it comes from another source. And the 7/13 show, a very popular show amongst fans, is a real rocker. Great sound and rocking performance. A must have.



San Francisco, Cow Palace 7/15/75
San Francisco, Cow Palace 7/16/75- both S.F. shows are available as good to very good audience recordings. I seem to remember reading somewhere that Mike Milliard taped the 7/16 show and the sound of this recording is indeed comparable to the sound of his L.A. Forum recordings. I remember the 7/15 show being a good performance and the 7/16 show being somewhat sloppy and lackluster. But it's been a long time since I've heard either show so my memory may be inaccurate. Either way, I wouldn't point to either of these shows as highlights of the tour.


Seattle Center Coliseum 7/18/75- this one is definately a highlight. One of the best performances and a very good recording also. Highly recommended.

Ft. Collins, Hughes Stadium 7/20/75- This one is another great performance. The recording quality is very good, but the intro's of the songs and Jagger's between song chatter is cut out which can get annoying. But the performance is great. Recommended.

Chicago Stadium 7/24/75- Maybe the most rocking show that I've heard from this tour. Sound quality is good to very good audience, but the band are absolutely on fire here.

Detroit, Cobo Hall 7/28/75- this is another (incomplete) '75 soundboard but there's nothing special about the performance.

Atlanta, The Omni 7/30/75- just got this one a couple of weeks ago and haven't had a chance to listen much. It's not a very good recording, although the version I have is supposed to be a big upgrade over the versions that were previously circulating. Supposed to be a great performance though.

Jacksonville, Gator Bowl 8/2/75- a good to very good audience recording and a great performance. Great version of "Wild Horses" here. Recommended.

Louisville, Freedom Hall Coliseum 8/4/75- hot performance, fairly poor sound.

Hampton Coliseum 8/6/75- haven't got to listen to this all the way through but the sound is only decent.

Buffalo, Rich Stadium 8/8/75- haven't got to listen to this one all the way through yet either but it's a very good audience recording. It has a reputation as a fairly sloppy performance though.


There are a few shows that I don't have which are highly recommended by a friend whose expertise on the '75 tour is highly respected, and these include .........

Milwaukee 6/8/75
Philadelphia 6/29/75
Philadelphia 6/30/75
Memphis 7/4/75



In short, I think Boston 6/11/75, Buffalo 6/15/75, Toronto 6/17/75, New York 6/27/75, Los Angelos 7/9/75, Los Angelos 7/13/75, Seattle 7/18/75, Ft. Collins 7/20/75, Chicago 7/24/75, and Jacksonville 8/2/75 are all excellent performance and you can't go wrong with any of them.

Hope this helps.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-09-25 08:52 by Tumblin_Dice_07.

Wow Tumbin great analysis...

And Greenblues, great way to compare these periods in Stones history. I completely agree about the more flashy thing starting in 73. Jagger also seemed to start screaming out many of the lyrics, which he took even further in 75. And yes Preston may have had a hand in this transformation.

Man, that's what I call a response. Thank you so much. Bedtime reading for me tonight.

nice reviews tumblin, makes we want to seek out jacksonville and seattle which i dont have, i have most of the others and agree with your reviews on them

Wouldn´t say I´m an expert knowing every show of every tour.
Really not,but what i got to know or better say got to listen of the 75/76
tour ( ok , 76 was not the same as 75,but similar,somehow...)is,
that Billy Preston´s playing in the intros of some songs just was horrible.

For example in the 75 tour I remember his synthi stuff ruining the intro of
Gimme Shelter ( maybe one reason they didn´t perform it in 76 ) and
YCAGWYW.

On the other hand I like his two "solo" songs very much - and it´s wonderful
to see and hear the Stones as a backing band for his funky stuff,great idea.

Melillo -- Seattle is a hot show -- very,very hot. While most everyone rates this as VG sound, be advised that Ron Wood is too low in the mix much of the time. That's probably not the recording's fault -- that's just the way it sounded in that part of the venue. And it's one of the best shows of the tour IMO.

I'm now looking for Chicago...

By the way, I'm pretty sure Erik would say the Milwaukee show (which TD doesn't have) is in the top few shows. I also seem to recall the sound not being so good, but check with Erik. He'll know.

I've listened to this tour a lot, and generally agree with TD's recommendations --all of them. LA 7/9 is getting a lot of playing time at my house right now...Actually, I'd like to have Ronnie a bit louder on this one, too. But, Keith, Bill and Charlie really move this show along, and I think Mick's singing is
a bit better than the great-sounding 7/13 show.

***

sorry, I was trying to edit my earlier post.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-09-25 08:52 by Tumblin_Dice_07.

Hey, yeah Texas Fan, Milwaukee is, IMO, the first stunning performance of Tour of The Americas. The soundquality is not the best though as you say. It's pretty "open" sounding; but a bit distorted - but well worth checkin out.
It's funny with the 1975 tour - I remember only a couple of years ago; there was just about nothing than critisicm of it - at this message board - but things have changed. Fantastic tour in every way - and so much different from all other tours.
Agree with most of the comments in TD's post. And the last Chicago show is definately in the VERY top

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Erik_Snow
(...) It's funny with the 1975 tour - I remember only a couple of years ago; there was just about nothing than critisicm of it - at this message board - but things have changed. Fantastic tour in every way - and so much different from all other tours.

Just goes to show that joining IORR and discussing things can change minds. Which is a delight, isn't it? Concerning my own judgement towards the '75 tour I'm tempted to say that the more one knows about the Stones and especially their music, the more one gets to like this particular tour. Maybe it's an advanced fan's tour just the way you'd call certain interprets a musician's musician.

As to why there was (still is) critisicm towards this tour in the first place, I think the reasons are obvious. There's just this long shadow of the mindblowing classic '72 tour, defining the general perception (mine too, I might add) of a perfect live-Stones-lineup. And then, someday you get bored with this and turn to the connaisseur's product, maybe.

Speaking of connaisseurs: TD_07 - thanks for your intriguing description of that many '75 shows! Still something to discover!



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2008-09-25 12:12 by Greenblues.

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Greenblues



Speaking of connaisseurs: TD_07 - thanks for your intriguing description of that many '75 shows! Still something to discover!

You are quite welcome but I'm an amateur compared to many on this board. Erik_Snow's knowledge of all things Stones and especially the '75 tour is quite scary.

Yep, I heard about that guy ;-)

Chicago was rocking? What about Toronto? I think MR from Toronto is the best version extant from the tour.

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HEILOOBAAS
Chicago was rocking? What about Toronto? I think MR from Toronto is the best version extant from the tour.

I think Toronto is an awesome show. There are some notable screwups in the last part of the show, as I recall, but Rambler rocks, yeah.

My god this thread is awesome!

In '72 all the shows were at least very good. In '75 there were rotten shows, really duds. That was the problem was that the tour was so uneven. And Mick's movements weren't fluid at all - it was like he was spastic or something. Prolly the crap coke he was snorting.

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HEILOOBAAS
In '72 all the shows were at least very good.

Apart from the Seattle shows which were complete trainwrecks.

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Tornandfrayed

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HEILOOBAAS
In '72 all the shows were at least very good.

Apart from the Seattle shows which were complete trainwrecks.

You have hit the nail on the head! I work w/a woman who was at the arvo show and she said the crowd was wild and the band was hot. See what happens? I personally really like the arvo show. Much better than Ft. Worth #1.

good work tumblin,

more info from you about 1972 tour

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vancouver
good work tumblin,

more info from you about 1972 tour

I actually had been working on a personal project with the '72/'73 tours. I wanted to listen to all the shows in chronological order and take down some notes on each show to sort of get a feel of how the band was playing and how the music evolved on stage. I made it through the '72 North American tour and the '73 Winter tour and then I took a break. I'll start on the '73 European tour soon.

Off the top of my head, Los Angelos 6/11/72 2nd show, Albuquerque 6/15/72, Mobile 6/27/72, Charlotte 7/6/72, Akron 7/11/72, Philadelphia 7/20/72 and 7/21/72 1st show, and New York 7/26/72 are all among the very best performances the Stones ever gave.

If you're interested in reading my notes on the '72 tour, I can email them to you.

I actually like Billy Prestons weird Synthesizer sounds on Midnight Rambler from Ft Collins.

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Tumblin_Dice_07
I actually had been working on a personal project with the '72/'73 tours. (...)

If you're interested in reading my notes on the '72 tour, I can email them to you.

I remember your post concerning this project some months ago. I think it's a brave effort and something many of us must have thought about themselves from time to time but never got around to do. So yeah, I'd be interested in reading your notes. Just sent you an e-mail!