jc-osms From what's now more or less accepted as their peak period, certainly as a live act, this composite of two 1972 North American concerts made for a great in-flight movie on a recent trip home, courtesy of my Ipod.Okay, said composite makes for one or two costume-continuity problems, but the set is obviously as-played and has a natural flow not to say verve as it kicks off with "Brown Sugar" and later hits the home straight courtesy of the 1-2 knockout punch of "Jumping Jack Flash" and "Street Fighting Man" at the close.It helps of course that the band was showcasing, with hindsight, their last great album "Exile On Main Street", seven songs of which get aired and otherwise they focus on the golden 1968 - 1972 period exclusively (even "Satisfaction" doesn't make it onto the play-list). The song selection probably owes as much to a due deference to the stronger post Decca/Abcko Jimmy Miller produced material, as well as a sop to recent inductee Mick Taylor, who takes most of the leads here.Musically, not everything comes off - "You Can't Always Get What You Want" gets reduced to a big chorus, the verses lacking the debauched irony of the studio cut while "Gimme Shelter" as wrongly ignores the female counterpoint vocal as the mistaken inclusion of brass, but there are many riches elsewhere. The 100 mph takes on "Happy", "All Down The Line" and "Rip This Joint" amply demonstrate the band's enthusiasm for these newly-minted "Exile" classics, while this year's enthusiastic dues-paying Chuck Berry re-tread is "Bye Bye Johnny" (it was "Let It Rock" the year before). "Midnight Rambler" too finds an inflamed Jagger on his knees, whipping the stage with his belt in the blood-curdling mid-section.As a movie, there's not much to comment on. There are many camera-settings which helps maintain viewer interest with scant audience reaction shots and the amphitheatre-sized setting (as opposed to latter-day arena-sized stagings) means Mick doesn't have to run about so much and we get a satisfying number of shots of the whole band in the one frame. Oh and Keith looks great before he aged a hundred years (and slowed down accordingly) around the turn of the 80's.This is a great document of the self-proclaimed world's greatest rock and roll band in their prime, pretty much all killer and no filler. As a concert-movie it's more run-of-the-mill, compared to modern day standards, but here without the wholly unnecessary guest star shots, not to mention star director turn of the most recent Stones concert film (which won't be the last!) the focus here is on the music and Stones fans will surely love it, just like I did!

rachelself i am from Houston Texas and in 1972 my husband then boyfriend spent the night at the pavilion on the university of Houston campus to get tickets to the stones...there were rumors they were going to break up and this might be their final tour...anyway we got 6 front row tickets and went to the concert with friends...the movie was filmed partically at the Houston venue because don branch rented a tux with tails and a top hat for this concert and during the set he thru his hat on stage and Mick put it on and after a while thru it back to don...at the end of the concert a massive amount of rose petals fell from the ceiling on the first few rows...i still have some of those petals and my ticket stub...but ya know what i saw this movie in san Diego in 1974...saw it about 7 times just to see Keith Richards...back then he was a very handsome fella...i have not been able to find the film from rentals or anywhere and no one i have come in contact with even knew it exist...thank you

cbandrews I happened to be lucky enough in '74 to be in Houston,TX when this was first in theaters! I got to see this with all the special sound equipment that toured with the movie. Speakers stacked as high as the screen on either side and a mixing board set up in the middle of the theater. They even had concert posters and t-shirts in the lobby! This was as close to the real thing as possible. I couldn't hear for an hour after I left the theater, unbelievable sound system that was installed for this concert film. I seen the Stones in '81 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas and live in front of the stage didn't seem to be any louder than that theater was that summer afternoon in Houston! If you have a home movie theater, get it and crank it up and if not, get one and this movie!!

maxgreen 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.