ROLLING STONES EL MACOMBO CLUB TORONTO FULL

Thirteen titles not on Love You Live are included so Stones collectors should be elated to hear seldom played tracks from Black and Blue along with tough versions of “All Down the Line,” “Rip This Joint” and others in their 1977 glory.īut the half-hour or so of deeper blues is what makes this a keeper. The opening “Honky Tonk Women,” “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” “Brown Sugar” and the like get rollicking renditions and even trifles “Hot Stuff” (Preston’s piano is especially powerful) and “Star Star” are delivered with more energy than their studio versions which is what every live album should strive for.

We get five of the better cuts from the middling Black and Blue along with a handful of ringers. The band was only 17 years into their career but had racked up a remarkable run of hits, most of which have not been topped since. Bill Wyman’s bass, typically under mixed both in the studio and live, is fully present, and Preston’s keyboards (and even synthesizer on a track) are highlighted. This double CD (also a four vinyl package) delivers 23 songs and nearly two hours of music, all remastered for striking crispness and clarity. But that only resulted in a handful of oldies (“Route 66,” Chuck Berry’s “Around and Around” along with blues chestnuts “Mannish Boy,” “Worried Life Blues,” “Little Red Rooster,” and Bo Diddley’s offbeat Caribbean “Crackin’ Up”) getting the nod, apparently to the consternation of Richards. The band also had not played live for seven months.Īpparently, the initial concept was for the outfit, augmented by keyboardist/vocalist Billy Preston (his robust playing is featured throughout) and percussionist Ollie Brown, to revive material they played in clubs during their earliest years.

ROLLING STONES EL MACOMBO CLUB TORONTO FULL

By the second night, the secret was out, but that didn’t stop the Stones from turning in a solid, diverse set, promoting their most recent April 1976 Black and Blue album.ĭetailed liner notes to this official release of the full second evening, plus three tracks from the first, explain the predicaments the Stones experienced at the time the most memorable of which was Keith and girlfriend Anita Pallenberg getting busted at the border for bringing heroin into Canada. That oddly named opening act was the Stones and the rest immediately became history. The well-documented story goes that winners of a contest that asked, “What would you do to see the Rolling Stones play live?” got to see the Canadian rock band April Wine live at the club with support from a group called The Cockroaches. That’s when Mick, Keith, and the boys played a few nights at Toronto’s 300-capacity El Mocambo club. Below, you can check out the tracklist for Live At The El Mocambo and listen to the scuzzy, fired-up versions of “It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll (But I Like It)” and “Rip This Joint” that’ll be included on the record.The nights of March 4 have rightfully gone down in the tome of the Rolling Stones, and by extension rock and roll overall, as two of the most desirable times fans fantasize about being in the presence of a once-in-lifetime event. Bob Clearmountain has mixed those performances, and the band has just shared the audio from two of those performances. The new album Live At The El Mocambo will include the Stones’ entire set from March 5, 1977, as well as three bonus tracks recorded on the previous night. The Stones have gone a bit reissue-crazy in recent years, and now they’re getting ready to release a whole double LP recorded at those Toronto shows. Those shows were instantly legendary, and a few songs recorded at the club made their way onto the 1977 in-concert LP Love You Live. The Stones, billed as the Cockroaches, were they surprise openers for locals April Wine, and they played to an audience of radio-station contest winners. In March of 1977 - a year after they released Black And Blue and a year before they released Some Girls - the Rolling Stones played a pair of secret shows at the El Mocambo, a Toronto club with a capacity of about 300.

Rolling stones el macombo club toronto