The Rolling Stones have been mining their extensive vaults consistently of late, most recently to unearth such gems as an expanded version of Rock & Roll CircusĀ and 50th anniversary editions of Beggars Banquet and Their Satanic Majesties Request. Now comes Bridges to Bremen, which delivers a 1998 concert from Bremen, Germany. The gig took place near the end of a four-continent, 97-show tour that found the group performing for four and a half million fans.
Bridges to Bremen contains the entire 22-song concert on two CDs as well as on a Blu-ray; the latter also features four bonus performances, including āUnder My Thumbā and āLet It Bleed,ā from a contemporaneous Chicago gig.
Since the tour was in support of the groupās Bridges to Babylon album, a top-five hit from the previous year, itās not surprising that the Bremen show incorporates five of that LPās 13 songs. Babylon will never rank with the Stonesā best albums, but it is consistently solid, and some of its best material is here, including āFlip the Switch,ā Anybody Seen My Baby?,ā āSaint of Me,ā āOut of Control,ā and perhaps most notably, āThief in the Night,ā with Keith Richards on lead vocal. The bulk of the program, though, leans heavily on 60s and 70s classics that need no introduction, including the show-opening ā(I Canāt Get No) Satisfaction,ā plus āLetās Spend the Night Together,ā āGimme Shelter,ā āPaint It Black,ā āItās Only Rock ānā Roll (But I Like It),ā āSympathy for the Devil,ā āHonky Tonk Women,ā āJumpinā Jack Flash,ā and āYou Canāt Always Get What You Want.ā
Though audio and video concert versions of most if not all of these numbers are readily available on earlier releases, Mick Jagger is at the top of his stage-prancing form throughout, and the rest of the band deliver the goods as well. Moreover, there are a few tracks that distinguish this set:Ā a fine reading of Black and Blue‘s atmospheric āMemory Motel,ā one of the Stonesā best and least-often-performed ballads; and a 16-minute version of āMiss Youā that showcases jaw-dropping sax work by the late Bobby Keys. (The cover of Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” is excellent too, though it’s quite similar to the one on 1995’s Stripped.)
The remixed, remastered audio (presented with a DTS-HD Master option) is excellent, as is the video, which has been restored from original masters. The picture is standard definition, not widescreen, which means youāll see black bars on both sides of the video. But youāll likely forget all about them once you get pulled into this music.
MORE FROM THE VAULTS
The Grateful Dead, Aoxomoxoa: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition. The Grateful Dead have never exactly wooed mainstream listeners: it took more than two decades for them to score their firstāand lastābona fide hit single (āTouch of Greyā); and in their early years, when other West Coast groups like the Doors, Jefferson Airplane, and the Byrds were regularly climbing the charts, the Dead thumbed their noses at commercialism, preferring to experiment with feedback, extended jams, and surreal, acid-influenced lyrics.
Their third LP, Aoxomoxoa, was among their most adventurous of the era.Fueled by LSD and the addition of lyricist Robert Hunter, it was among the first albums to embrace 16-track technology. Like its predecessors, it didnāt sell all that wellāit took nearly two decades to go goldābut it has aged nicely and remains notable for such concert favorites as āSt. Stephenā and āChina Cat Sunflower.ā
This 50th anniversary edition (with a 3D rendering of artist Rick Griffinās psychedelic cover image) offers new reasons to pick up Aoxomoxoa, starting with its inclusion of remastered versions of both the albumās original 1969 mix and the bandās 1971 remix. I mostly prefer the latter but the radically different formerāmost of which has in recent years been available just on vinylāis well worth a listen: it uses some different vocal takes and features all sorts of sonic touches that were wiped from version two. The other carrot hereāand itās a pretty big one for fans of the early Deadāis an entire disc of performances from January 24ā26, 1969 gigs at San Franciscoās Avalon Ballroom. (Theyāre billed here as āthe first live concerts in music history to be recorded to 16-track tape.) Among the highlights on that program are rousing versions of Anthem of the Sunās āNew Potato Caboose,ā āAlligator,ā and āCaution (Do Not Stop on Tracks),ā which together clock in at 31 minutes.
Procol Harum, Broken Barricades:Expanded Edition.Ā Matthew Fisher, whose organ was a key element in the classic āA Whiter Shade of Pale,ā left Procol Harum before the group recorded their fifth album, Broken Barricades, which appeared in 1971. But as the LP demonstrates, the outfit remained solid (at least until the following year, when Robin Trower also headed for the exits). Terrific guitar work characterizes numbers like āSimple Sisterā and āPlaymate of the Mouth,ā which rock harder than many of the bandās earlier efforts; and while extended drum solos like B.J. Wilsonās on āPower Failureā now seem a bit anachronistic, that number easily packs enough punch to belie its title.
Thereās even more to like on this new three-CD edition, which adds extensive liner notes and 36 bonus tracks (all but four of them previously unreleased) to remastered versions of the 1971 albumās eight numbers. The first discās bonusāraw and early renditions of all of the original albumās songsāwill probably appeal mostly just to the groupās most rabid fans; but anyone who enjoys Procol Harum will want to hear discs two and three, which feature live 1971 performances on New Yorkās WPLJ-FM and the BBCās Radio One, and at a Stockholm, Sweden concert. In addition to material drawn from Broken Barricades, these tracks include earlier triumphs, such as āRepent Walpurgisā from their eponymous debut; Shine On Brightlyās title cut, āMagadelene (My Regal Zonophone),ā and āIn the Autumn of My Madnessā; and the anthemic title cut from A Salty Dog.
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Jeff Burgerās website, byjeffburger.com, contains more than four decadesā worth of music reviews and commentary. His books include the recently published Dylan on Dylan: Interviews and Encounters as well as Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon, Leonard Cohen on Leonard Cohen: Interviews and Encounters, and Springsteen on Springsteen: Interviews, Speeches, and Encounters.