Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones

The Stones at their amphetamine-and-heroin-fueled best, tearing through half of "Exile On Main Street" and selected other favorites on the Texas leg of their infamous 1972 tour. With their sound fleshed out by sax, trumpet and piano, and their musicianship raised by the addition of virtuoso blues man Mick Taylor, "Ladies and Gentlemen" offers definitive versions of "Love In Vain", "Sweet Virginia", "Jumping Jack Flash" and other Stones classics.

Taylor's remarkable slide guitar playing on "Love In Vain" convincingly mimics harmonica and train whistle to great effect. A couple of tunes don't quite work: "You Can't Always Get What You Want" in particular is too slow (drummer Charlie Watts could never master its shuffling rhythm and the Stones' producer Jimmy Miller actually plays on the record) while Taylor seems out of his comfort zone on his solo. But on "Midnight Rambler" - for years the centerpiece of Stones shows - the whole band returns to form with a blistering 11+ minute mix of Robert Johnson and Jack The Ripper. The widely-bootlegged Brussels '73 show might be a better performance of "Rambler", but here the visuals of Mick Jagger's showmanship before he became a self-parody carry the day.

The camera most often sets its sights on Jagger (indeed the film could've been accurately titled "Ladies And Gentlemen: Mick Jagger and Seven Other Blokes"), though you get glimpses of Keith Richards playing band leader and Watts having a smashing good time pounding his skins. No playing to the camera, and no silly crowd shots. All in all, LAGTRS shows a band at the top their game - both believing all the hype and committing themselves to going to an even higher level.

This collection of numbers recorded over two nights in Texas, 1972 prove that the Stones, at least for a little while, really were the Greatest Band in the World. Here we have the Stones doing what they do best: Guitar fueled R&B with pop flair and youthful rebelliousness thrown in for good measure. The renditions of Gimme Shelter, Midnight Rambler, and Can't Always Get What You Want surpass anything recorded to date, live or studio. You have to love the acoustic performance of Sweet Virginia. The contributions from Bobby Keyes, Jim Price, and Nicky Hopkins make it clear the Stones were brilliant collaborators. Mick Taylor frankly steals the show, particularly with his slide work on All Down the Line. But there's no getting past the fact that this is Mick and Keith's band: their performances are consistently stellar. Mick's leadership and Keith's suspensions are what made this band great in the first place.

It's really a shame that this footage does not have a widespread release. Clearly, the 1972 tour was the nadir of their career.

With all the re-mastering of other concerts why hasn't this one been released. I'm getting sick and tired of the current Stones live productions, very repetitious and boring.

I seen this movie twice within the space of a week almost 30 years ago and it is still firmly etched in my memory.

The Taylor years are simply the best and this concert showcases this brilliant (and under rated) guitarist his at his peak. Trademen Keef and Ronnie just don't cut like Master Craftsman Tayor did.

Great set of songs taken from the Stones' golden era of writing and performing.

Excellent! This is the concert film with the Stones. It is a mystery why this film is not officially released. I've always been disappointed with the Stones live films. I've never understood what made people rave about why the Stones were so great live. Look to "The Stones in the park" 1969 or the horrendous "Let's spend the night together" 1981 and you'll see my point. However for this tour, the Exile on main street tour, they seem to up the ante. Everything seems to click. The Stones, a tight unit! Live playing, records, coolness, image, this is where they reach their zenith. They have just finished the four best records of their career and are really flying. It's hard to understand why they are so good here and so unbelievably under par before or years to come. Maybe it's the drug use? which in Keith Richards' case, really started to escalate from here on. Maybe it's because Mick Taylor really found his groove with the band? I don't know, but it's a crying shame that this feature hasn't been released with restored sound and pictures ala the excellent "Gimme shelter" DVD. If you really want to know what The Stones could be capable of at the peak of their career, get this film one way or the other!

It's great to have some good footage of the early 1970's Stones (during their "Exile On Main Street" tour), but it's probably best suited to hard core fans and other nostelgic types. Keith Richards is especially cool during this era, and many would agree that the band is pretty much at their peak here. Great rock and roll music, originally released in quadrophonic sound. Recorded live in Texas, with all on-stage footage and no backstage or interview shots whatsoever. The biggest problem is that you CAN'T BUY THE THING!!! Why has this never been released officially on VHS? Where's a new remastered DVD? Most likely Allen Klein is to blame somehow for this great footage not being (legitimately) available, but let's hope that someday we can actually go buy an official release of this classic. Stones fans HAVE to see this thing, but casual fans may want to stick with "Gimme Shelter," which you can at least go buy/rent.