Officially Speaking: Rolling Stones: Steel Wheels Live and more

But first… some Rambling Notes by the editor

With the industry’s newfound focus on archival releases, European loopholes in broadcast recordings, and label consolidation, you need a scorecard to keep track of what is an authorized release by the artists and what is not. Take for example, The Rolling Stones’ Steel Wheels Live (reviewed by Keith A. Gordon below). It appears on the Eagle Rock label, not a label fans of Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out, Love You Live, or numerous other Stones live albums would recognize. Gordon explains, “Eagle Rock was formed back in the ‘90s. They started out with video releases, expanded into audio, and have lately moved into film production. [As of 2014] they are owned by Universal Music Group, the Stones distributor.” It is listed in the Wikipedia Rolling Stones discography, not under live albums, but under “official bootlegs.”

What, pray-tell, is an “official bootleg?” I suppose we have Bob Dylan to thank for that term. When he began his “Official Bootleg Series” the legendary Scorpio bootleg label responded with it’s own Genuine Bootleg Series. It was a deserved spoof of Dylan and Sony Records There is nothing “bootleg” about something that is authorized by the artist, is sourced from the artist’s own masters, manufactured legally by their parent company, and distributed thusly. For an industry that fought heavily, often with questionable propaganda (no, not all bootlegs sounded like they were recorded from the parking lot, in fact very few did) they sure embraced the term when it became profitable. Neil Young uses the correct term, Archive Series, for many of his live releases. Score one for Neil.

There is another group of live releases the so-called “Beat the Boots” releases. These are sanctioned releases, but don’t resemble master recordings or anything close. The only connection to the original recordings is that they are put out by the intellectual property holder using previously circulated bootlegs, be they record, CD, or tape. I suppose we can blame Frank Zappa (who, at least, used respectable sources for his “beat the boots” releases) and Robert Fripp (who put out some absolute shit in a similar campaign) for this idea. Their 21st century equivalent is Jerry Shirley, an original member of Humble Pie, who still owns the HP trademark. So when Shirley began issuing multiple disc “box sets” 3 years ago, should we have expected any better? The releases, 4 sets of 3-5 discs so far, with skimpy packaging (clam shell CD-sized box with lousy graphics) called, naturally, Official Bootleg Vol. (1-4), they are simply downloads from the Internet with little or no mastering to improve the sound. He does offer them at incredibly cheap prices, but jeez. He could have at least hired a competent artist to do the cover. William Stout comes to mind. 

Then there is what I’ll call protection gap 2.0. Operators in this field avoid the term “bootleg” like the plague. They are officially registered companies in Europe and use court interpretations of copyright law to legally manufacture unauthorized (by the artists) vinyl and CDs of broadcast recordings. These should never be considered sanctioned releases, only legal ones. What is legal? We’ll leave it to the legal staffs of these companies to bash out any challenges in the European courts that may occur. What we have noticed is that there is a rather large time span in how legality is determined. There seems to be an all-encompassing “public domain” entry determined by the language in the Rome Convention for public broadcasts. But beyond that, there also seems to be an unwillingness of the European courts to grandfather in intellectual property language that was instituted in the GATT agreement and he WTO. Thus, if an artist was considered “unprotected” in 1995 and 1996, their broadcast recordings are unprotected now. This applies mostly to American artists (the U.S. did not sign off on the Rome Treaty because U.S. record labels objected to “moral rights” clauses given to artists – See Clinton Heylin’s The Rise and Fall of the Secret Recording Industry for details). I haven’t seen any broadcast recordings coming from these companies that date beyond 1994. These releases do not meet any such legal protection in the United States. An Amazon Prime search usually results in a message reading, “not eligible for Amazon Prime. May be available from other Amazon vendors.” Amazon Prime is the warehouse direct shipping unit of the organization. In other words, Amazon doesn’t stock them in the U.S. but it has no objection if associat vendors do. Meanwhile, the European Amazon Prime website DOES keep them in stock. Amazon makes no moral judgements, but protects itself legally. Although the radio and tv sources for these issues make for some good to excellent sounding albums, they are rarely, if ever, from master tape sources. Don’t expect perfection.

The United States is the largest entertainment market in the world and not one to be ignored by European manufacturers. In March 1997, the largest bootleg bust in history occurred in Orlando, FL when European manufacturers were lured to the States to collect money from mass shipments of protection gap CDs. Nowadays, there is no such need to send large quantities into the States. They just do direct marketing through the Internet. 

The final group of archival live and outtake recordings come from traditional sources – actual bootleg manufacturers. These sources aren’t concerned with copyright law. Often headed by actual fans, they unearth valuable uncirculated tapes not found on Internet downloads or in general circulation. They are at the greatest risk from law enforcement, but also the group the New York Times called “heroes of culture” in an early ‘90s article.

We’ll be covering all types of live recordings in the online edition of Live! Music Review, but only those which have received authorization from the actual artists will appear in Officially Speaking.

[Bill Glahn]

Steel Wheels Live (Eagle Rock/UMe)

VENUE: Atlantic City Convention Center; Atlantic City NJ; December 1989

SOUND QUALITY: Very good soundboard recording, in spite of what some Internet naysayers might claim otherwise. Given its vintage, it’s not an excellent-sounding document of the performance, but it stands several levels above previously-released bootleg copies, and much better than many of the dodgy “copyright gap” CDs released by fly-by-night European labels. Then again, if you’re a Stones fan, it’s not going to matter – you’ll buy Steel Wheels Live regardless.  

COVER: Steel Wheels Live has been released in several formats, including multi-disc versions and a four-LP version available in both black or colored vinyl. I’m reviewing the basic two-CD/Blu-ray version that I bought, which is also available with a standard DVD instead of the Blue-ray disc. The packaging for this version is unspectacular but functional, with a multi-panel fold out to hold the three discs and a sixteen-page booklet with lots of color photos and liner notes by Rolling Stone magazine scribe Anthony DeCurtis.  

TRACKLIST: Disc One

Intro/ Start Me Up/ Bitch/ Sad Sad Sad/ Undercover of the Night/ Harlem Shuffle/ Tumbling Dice/ Miss You/ Terrifying/ Ruby Tuesday/ Salt of the Earth/ Rock and A Hard Place/ Mixed Emotions/ Honky Tonk Women/ Midnight Rambler

Disc Two

You Can’t Always Get What You Want/ Little Red Rooster/ Boogie Chillen/ Can’t Be Seen/ Happy / Paint It Black/ 2000 Light Years From Home/ Sympathy For the Devil/ Gimme Shelter/ It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It)/ Brown Sugar/ (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction/ Jumpin’ Jack Flash

COMMENTS: 

After better than 20 years in the trenches, the Rolling Stones splintered in the ‘80s. Whereas the band had released a half-dozen albums during the decade of the ‘70s, including classics like 1971’s Sticky Fingers, the following year’s Exile On Main Street, and 1978’s Some Girls, the Stones’ five 1980s-era albums, while largely commercially-successful, found the band members frequently at odds with each other to the point where they were seldom in the studio together to record 1986’s Dirty Work. With Mick Jagger releasing his solo debut album, She’s the Boss, in 1985 and following it up two years later with Primitive Cool, and with Keith Richards releasing his solo album, Talk Is Cheap, in 1988 it seemed that the band had fractured beyond repair. Jagger refused to tour in support of Dirty Work but, somehow, he and Richards reconciled and would reboot the band with the 1989 “comeback” album Steel Wheels, which would be supported by a lengthy international tour.    

The North American leg of the Stones’ Steel Wheels tour kicked off in August 1989 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and closed out with three shows in Atlantic City, New Jersey in December. The tour picked back up in January 1990 in Tokyo, Japan and, renamed as the “Urban Jungle Tour,” would sojourn across Europe through August 1990, resulting in a total of 115 shows grossing $175 million. It would be the Stones’ longest-running and most financially-successful tour, with twice as many dates as previous tour. Opening acts for the tour included Living Colour, Guns N’ Roses, Gun, and the Dan Reed Network. It would also represent the last hurrah for original bandmember Bill Wyman, who retired from the Stones to pursue his solo career. The recently-released Steel Wheels Live documents one of the Atlantic City shows with two CDs chock full of music.   

A gratuitous intro with lots of crowd noise and cheering opens up the first disc, quickly launching into a raucous performance of “Start Me Up,” the band’s Top Ten hit single from Tattoo You eight years previous. Why they kicked off the show with what was then an antique hit only Mick and Keef know, but it probably has to do with the song’s undeniably upbeat rawk ‘n’ roll tempo. The equally-rowdy “Bitch,” from Sticky Fingers follows, before rolling nicely into the first cut from Steel Wheels, the throwback rocker “Sad Sad Sad,” which evinces more of a ‘60s rock vibe than its predecessors and includes a nice Bobby Keys sax solo. A couple more “blasts from the past” follow, with perfectly-fine renditions of “Undercover of the Night” (from 1983’s Undercover) and “Harlem Shuffle” (1986’s Dirty Work) leading to a greasy, gritty reading of Exile On Main Street’s “Tumbling Dice” complete with gospel-styled backing vocals.

One of the odder guest appearances on Steel Wheels Live is from Axel Rose and Izzy Stradlin of Guns N’ Roses, who sit in on a rambling take of “Salt of the Earth.” They don’t exactly capture the original Beggars Banquet vibe, Rose’s vocals (dueling with Jagger) unable to capture the song’s nuance. Luckily, a pair of songs from Steel Wheels – the album’s two hit singles, actually – follow this middlin’ performance, “Rock and A Hard Place” an unbridled rocker with a locomotive rhythm and “Mixed Emotions” an unremarkable, mid-tempo tune with a catchy, radio-ready chorus that would drive the song to #5 on the Billboard Top 100 chart. The first disc closes out with a couple of Stones chestnuts, electrifying live faves “Honky Tonk Women” (funky fatback rawk) and “Midnight Rambler” (bluesy serial killer theme song). Disc two cranks off with the band’s 1960s vintage gem “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” a funny lyrical sentiment considering the Stones’ pop culture status circa 1989 (hadn’t Mick already gotten everything that he wanted?). 

Still, the song’s a crowd-pleaser, and the Atlantic City audience sings along with Mick on the chorus and everybody’s happy as clams. British rock legend Eric Clapton then joins the band to play a little blooze, the crew tackling the great Howlin’ Wolf’s “Little Red Rooster” with no little aplomb. Clapton’s deft fretwork backs Mick’s growling vocals while keyboardist Chuck Leavell embroiders the performance with some subtle honky-tonk piano. Clapton sticks around while Mick introduces legendary blues giant John Lee Hooker, who takes the microphone for a sizzling take on his 1948 hit “Boogie Chillen.” With the band choogling full-stop behind him, and Clapton’s guitar shimmering with excitement playing behind the master, Hooker delivers the album’s marquee performance. As an aside, ‘The Hook’ launched his own career revival in 1989 with the release of his Grammy™ Award-winning album The Healer.  

This auspicious beginning to disc two (half-way through the concert, for those keeping score at home) is let down a little by the Steel Wheels track “Can’t Be Seen,” a nice enough song that suffers from Keith Richards’ insufferable and uneven vocals. Getting back on track, dynamic performances of Exile’s “Happy” (with a much better vox by Keef) and the ‘60s-era classic “Paint It Black” open the door to the concert’s final act, which plays like a Stones’ greatest hits LP with tried-and-true readings of bona fide treasures like “Sympathy For the Devil,” “Gimme Shelter,” “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” and the show-closing “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” all of which stomp ‘n’ stammer their way to the show’s conclusion but never get tired no matter how many millions of times the band has performed them. One of the highlights of this stretch of songs is Mick’s strutting performance of “It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It),” from the 1972 album of the same name. Keef’s Chuck Berry licks are in heavy rotation here, along with Leavell’s reckless piano-pounding and some nice Ron Wood git pickin’.   

The Atlantic City performance from which Steel Wheels Live is derived has seen a lot of life previously on bootleg CDs and vinyl, including Atlantic City ’89 from The Swinging Pig as well as releases by Crystal Cat, Woodstock Tapes, and Star Records, among nearly-two dozen such albums. A lot of this is due to the concert being broadcast as a pay-per-view TV special back in the day, resulting in a lot of illicit copies floating around in collectors’ circles. Even the Stones got in on the game, including a handful of Atlantic City tracks on their 1991 Flashpoint album, a live disc they tossed off to finish up their Sony Music contract. It’s nice to see a complete show on CD and DVD, though, and for the hardcore Stones faithful, a welcome document of a band while, not at their peak, could still rock the house! Grade: B+ (Rev. Keith A. Gordon)

Humble Pie: The Official Bootleg Box Volume 2

Tracklist: (disc 1, Academy of Music, NYC December 3, 1971) Four Day Creep/ C’mon Everybody/ The Fixer/ I Wonder/ Sweet Peace And Time/ Hallelujah I Love Her So/ Rollin’ Stone/ I Don’t Need No Doctor

(disc 2, Boston Music Hall, March 16, 1972) inro-Four Day Creep/ C’mon Everybody/ The Fixer/ I Wonder/ Hallelujah I Love Her So/ Sweet Peace and Time/ Rollin’ Stone/ I Don’t Need No Doctor/ I’m a Roadrunner

(disc 3, Philadelphia, PA March 15, 1975) Four Day Creep/ Stone Cold Fever/ C’mon Everybody/ I Don’t Need No Doctor (Midnight Special, London, UK November 30, 1973) Oh La De Da/ I Don’t Need No Doctor/ 30 Days In A Hole

(disc 4, Private’s Club, NYC, NY March 25, 1981) I Don’t Need No Doctor/ Infatuation/ All Shook Up/ Drum solo/ 30 Days In A Hole-Walk On Guilded Splinters/ Tin Soldier/ Fool For A Pretty Face/ Route 66-Tulsa Time-Be Bop A Lula

(disc 5, Country Club, Reseda, Ca May 17, 1981) I Don’t Need No Doctor/ Infatuation/ 30 Days In A Hole/ Tin Soldier/ Fool For A Pretty Face/ Route 66/ Be Bop A Lula/ Tulsa Time

Comments: In 2017 Jerry Shirley, who still owns the Humble Pie trademark, decided it was time to cash in on some archival recordings. He also made the rather dodgy decision in 2018 to send out a band under the Humble Pie moniker that contained no Humble Pie members – not even himself. Anyway, this is a five CD set that consists of previously circulated bootlegs – a mix of audience and broadcast recordings with little (or no) 21st century embellishments in sound quality. Here’s the good news. Covering both the Clem Clemson period (late ’71 thru 1975) and the much underrated On To Victory reunion tour (1981), there’s plenty here to excite the hardcore fan and more casual fan alike. And at a price (around $25) that is easy on the wallet. The performances are outstanding and the sound quality, especially on the ‘81 shows, is adequate. It’s great to have these shows back in circulation. And at a price equivalent to a single disc bootleg.

Rating: C

[Bill Glahn]

[It is my intention to add a new element to Officially Speaking, overlooked classics. These are releases that entered the market years ago, but escaped the public’s attention for one reason or another.]

Steve Marriott and the Official Receivers (New Millennium Communications, Pilot 23, 1999 UK import)

Tracklist: Disc One (live) intro - Watcha Gonna Do About It/ Don’t Lie To Me/ Mother-In-Law/ All Or Nothing/ Knocking On Your Door/ My Girl/ Fool For A Pretty Face/ Five Long Years/ Shame Shame Shame/ Big Train/ I Don’t Need No Doctor/ Tin Soldier/ Slowdown

Disc Two (studio): Law of the Jungle/ Oh Well/ I Need A Love/ Lonely No More/ I Never Loved A Woman/ Stay With Me Baby/ I Just Wanna Make Love To You/ Ain’t You Glad (New York Can’t Talk)/ Shakin’ All Over/ Toe Rag/ (live bonus track, the DT’s in Cologne, Germany) Watch Your Step/ Let’s Work Together

Artwork: Slimline double jewel case with 12-page booklet containing brief, but informative, liner notes and previously unpublished photos.

Comments 21 years ago deep vault specialists, New Millennium Communications, licensed this set from the Steve Marriott estate and overseen by his widow, Toni Marriott. Marriott fans are well acquainted with his various bands, The Small Faces, Humble Pie, and the post-Pie, club hopping, Packet of Three. But prior to this release there had never been an album to appear under the moniker “The Official Receivers.” So where, in the scheme of Marriott’s storied career did this band fall?

Steve Marriott is arguably the greatest soul shouter and hardest rocking singer England ever produced. Certainly, despite a history of alcohol and cocaine abuse, his voice remained the most durable. After 5 years of non-stop touring with the power trio, Packet of Three, Marriott yearned to get back to a less guitar-centric style of music. He was looking for a band that had a big keyboard sound, horns when necessary, and some space to put down his guitar to showcase his overlooked harp playing. In essence, a Small Faces style unit as opposed to one reminiscent of Humble Pie (which Packet of Three closely resembled).

 In 1987 he put together The Official Receivers which kept Jim Leverton from Packet of Three (bass), added Mick Weaver on keyboards, Richard Newman on drums and unaccredited horns for some studio recordings. Label behemoth, EMI Records, liked what they heard and made an offer. One problem. EMI was offering a solo deal. Marriott, looking at the band as a long-term project (Packet of Three had a revolving door of drummers) insisted on a band deal. EMI balked. Marriott walked. And the band hit the road playing over 200 dates in a single year. No other offers were forthcoming. After a  year, the group disbanded. 

Steve Marriott and the Official Receivers offers up a live disc culled from a Capitol Radio broadcast and various other soundboard recordings. It’s a mighty set. 

While the first track, “Watcha Gonna Do About It,” is more reminiscent of the Small Faces version than the Packet of Three’s. The volume is turned down a notch, but certainly not two. It’s not until the second song, a take on the Rolling Stones “Don’t Lie To Me,” that you get the full scope of Marriott’s vision, when Weaver’s big Hammond sound enters the fray.

Only two Humble Pie staples make the cut – On To Victory’s “Fool For A Pretty Face (The Pie’s last great song?) and Rockin’ The Fillmore’s “I Don’t Need No Doctor.” Surprise song choices abound including a certifiably great rendition of the Temptation’s “My Girl,”, Ernie K-Doe’s “Mother-In-Law,” and Jimmy Reed’s “Shame Shame Shame.” Mixed between are a few Small Faces numbers and recognizable tracks from Packet of Three sets, performed with more grace and less bombast.

Disc two is a mixed bag, made up of demos and unfinished takes. Marriott pulls from a variety of sources including his British Blues contemporaries. Chris Youldon-era Savoy Brown’s “Stay With Me Baby” is magnificent. Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac’s “Oh Well” is far from it. With it’s electronic drum track, Johnny Kidd & the Pirate’s “Shaken All Over” is a disgrace, probably meant as nothing more than an exploratory mission. Marriott is much, MUCH better than this on early rockers. Harken back to “C’mon Everybody” from Smokin’.No way this should ever have left the vaults. “Toe Rag” is a fun little country ditty that reminds one that Marriott knows how to cook up a respectable acoustic tune when he’s in the mood. For example “Theme From Skint” on Humble Pie’s first U.S. album.

Most of the rest are Marriott originals that are far more finished than the rest of what appears here -–strong r&b accents with a blues lick and some horns when needed. 

Disc two closes out with two unnecessary bonus tracks, live versions of “Watch Your Step” and “Let’s Work Together.” These were not with The Official Receivers, but rather with a pub band called the D.T.s a year later. The sound is muddy, possibly audience. “Let’s Work Together” rocks. “Watch Your Step” is sloppy. Their inclusion is puzzling, even as bonus tracks.

In 2005 Wapping Warf Records finally released the complete “Official Receivers” album with a second disc of rare tracks, under the title Rainy Changes. A year later they released a 2-CD set, self-titled like the New Millennium set. This time with 2 remastered concerts with additional songs. 

Rating: (disc one, A) (disc two, C) 

[Bill Glahn]