The Rolling Stones may be on automatic pilot these days, but there was a time, around 40 years ago, when they truly were the greatest rock and roll band in the world. Clearly, 1969 was a pivotal year as the Stones embarked on their first American tour in three years. Only this time, instead of playing for hordes of screaming girls and pop fans, the Stones, with new guitarist Mick Taylor in tow, turned it up and on for arena-size crowds more tuned into the music than the mania. A year-end appearance at Altamont didn’t quite end the 60s on a harmonic note, but the November 27 and 28 shows at New York City’s Madison Square Garden transcended any later misgivings. Fortunately, the Stones had the tape rolling and the 10 prime cuts comprising Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out made it one of the great live albums of the era. Four decades later, ABKCO has spiced up a reissue with a heavier sonic punch and loads of extras.
It’s about time some of the clutter in the Stones’ closet gets cleared out. Everyone else is raiding the vaults, but the so-called greatest rock and roll band in the world hasn’t been as generous. Most historical releases have come out via third parties, and the 40th anniversary remastered edition of Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out is no exception. Afterall, this is from ABKCO, the company owned and operated by the late Stones’ manager Allen Klein. So it’s doubtful Mick Jagger or Keith Richards had or wanted much input. Nevertheless, they should be proud of the final product. Along with the original release, the box includes a second disc with five additional cuts from the shows (at under 20 minutes, they could have easily added these extras to the end of the first disc). That’s only the half of it.
From the start to finish — the opening salvo of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”; an unerring love for the blues, unveiled electrically (“Stray Cat Blues” and “Love In Vain”) and acoustically (“Prodigal Son” and “You Gotta Move’); Chuck Berry songs (“Carol” and “”Little Queenie”); and the Stones’ own powder keg of explosiveness (“Midnight Rambler,” “Sympathy For The Devil” and “Street Fighting Man”) — Jagger, Richards, Taylor, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts held the Garden in rapture for two nights in 1969. The audience and bystanders like Janis Joplin were caught in a frenzy of mindless ecstasy, raw energy and spiritual exaltation.
Sweetening the pot, a third disc features sets from B.B. King and Ike and Tina Turner, who opened the shows. King and his band leisurely stroll through five blues classics, including “That’s Wrong Little Mama” and “Why I Sing the Blues.” The Turners deliver a lively mix of seven R&B and rock classics, including “Gimme Some Loving,” “Son Of A Preacher Man,” “Proud Mary,” “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” (undoubtedly a tribute to Otis Redding), even the Beatles’ then-new single “Come Together.”
The crown jewel of the set is the DVD. In between video performances of the five bonus tracks from the second disc (“Prodigal Son,” “You Gotta Move,” “Under My Thumb,” “I’m Free” and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”), we get glimpses of the Stones backstage, hanging with the crew and jamming with friends like Jimi Hendrix. There’s also some amusing clips from the album cover photo session — largely orchestrated by Jagger and uniformly detested by the cover’s central figure, the unflappable Charlie Watts. Even though some of the same live footage can be seen in Gimme Shelter, seeing and hearing it here, in a state of completeness, is like witnessing the dignified calm before the horrendous storm of Altamont less than two weeks after these shows.
The Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out box set also features a 56-page book of photos, essays and reviews, along with a replica of the original Stones ’69 tour poster. If four discs (three CDs and one DVD) can’t fill the void, there’s a deluxe edition that adds three vinyl LPs. Hopefully, this is the beginning of more Rolling Stones video and audio extras to be unearthed from the archives. An expanded Exile On Main Street is supposedly on the way. Considering 40-plus years of history from a band still making history, a wellspring of possibilities seems infinite.
~ Shawn Perry
