Technically, this is a video. It’s on a video-streaming site, and the view does change every now and again. But mostly it’s an audio. Two hours of Exile-era effluvia!
(I must admit to ambivalence about Stones outtakes. The records have been so carved into me that when I hear an alternate take, I don’t think “Oh, neat; an alternate take,” I think “No, Mick, that’s not the right phrasing.” The Stones weren’t the Dead: the songs went a certain way. There’s no Platonic Deal, just a couple hundred iterations on the Deal theme. There is a Platonic Tumblin’ Dice; it’s the one on the album.)
If I were British, I’d call Mick a right cunt, but I’m American and can’t use that word so I’ll call him a complete cunt. In Mick’s defense, it’s tough to remain friendly while wearing a fur cape, ruffled blouse, and pendant watch. It’s an outfit that inspires a certain haughtiness.
Leaving Jimi out of the final cut of Gimme Shelter was the right move by the Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin. The guitarist had died only three months before the film came out on 12/6/70 (a year to the day after the concert) and didn’t play with the band at all, which makes his appearance distracting and pointless. (Jimi wasn’t at Altamont, though the clip makes it seem that way; the footage of him and Keith is from 11/27/69 backstage at Madison Square Garden.)
Since nearly the inception of the band, Mick has tried again and again to carve himself an identity separate from Keith and Charlie and the other two, only to receive the same tepid “No, thank you” from the general public every time. His acting career is speckled, at best, and has always been hampered by the fact that when Mick Jagger enters the frame, your brain goes “Hey, that’s Mick fucking Jagger. Why’s he in this piece of shit?” and this makes it difficult to accept him as, say, a futuristic cop or bounty hunter or whatever the fuck he was in Freejack.
FUN FACT: A young TotD saw this in the theater. My friends and I repeated Mick’s line from the clip above–Oy LOYED–for years afterward.
Freejack story I’m sure you or anyone else really doesn’t want to hear: As young lads in the mid-90’s, we had a VHS with a couple different hunks of pornography on it. In order to throw our parents off the scent as we’d pass it around, it was kept in a Freejack sleeve. We thought we were hilarious.
I did enjoy his performance in Performance.
My sweet….honey love…..
you see Lenny @ 1:58. i always wondered who the Hanger Around Guy in the brown leather jacket was. he makes a few appearances, backstage in the Jimi clip and when mick & keith are dancing in a hotel room (jeans jacket guy).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rlGoDD-Vt8
Entering full rock nerd mode here:
Funny you picked tumbling dice – the one stones song for which the platonic version is not on the album. The 72 montreaux rehearsal that you can find on youtube (you can find -i’m too lazy to link). They play dice twice in succession. The second time they slow down just the slightest bit and find the groove. That’s the one!
Also in keith’s book I think he generally describes the album cut as being overproduced the point of liflelessness.
-exiting rock nerd mode.
The historic moment(s): Jimi Hendrix plays guitar right handed, and, everyone plays left handed.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li78BwTgFEM
I didn’t watch the clip but is it the one where Mick goes “I caaahhn’t tell you thaaat” ?
The clip is literally a minute long, brother. You can’t be that busy.