This is the most interesting archival release of
the Rolling Stones
since
More Hot Rocks
, 20 years ago, and the first issue of truly unreleased material by
the Stones
from this period. And
have some competition from
the Who
,
Taj Mahal
, and
John Lennon
on the same release. Filmed and recorded on December 10-11, 1968, at a North London studio,
Rock and Roll Circus
has been, as much as
the Beach Boys
'
Smile
, "the one that got away" for most '60s music enthusiasts. The
Jethro Tull
sequence is the standard studio track, but the rest -- except for
' "Salt of the Earth" -- is really live.
The Who
's portion has been out before, courtesy of various documentaries, but
playing some loud electric blues is new and great, the live
Lennon
rendition of "Yer Blues" is indispensable, and
' set fills in lots of blanks in their history -- "Jumpin' Jack Flash" in one of two live renditions it ever got with
Brian Jones
in the lineup, "Sympathy for the Devil" in an intense run-through, "Parachute Woman" as a lost live vehicle for the band, "You Can't Always Get What You Want" as a showstopping rocker even without its extended ending (no
Paul Buckmaster
choir), and "No Expectations" as their first piece of great live blues since "Little Red Rooster."
[The 2019 expanded version of
contains a host of unreleased material, much of it from acts who aren't
.
The Dirty Mac
have two rehearsals -- "Revolution" and "Warmup Jam" -- along with an alternate of "Yer Blues," and there are three unreleased songs from
and a pair of cuts from
Julius Katchen
. On the DVD, much of this material is replicated, and there are also backstage clips and an 18-minute interview with
Pete Townshend
.] ~ Bruce Eder