Memory counts in Rolling Stones' 'No Security'
JAKARTA (JP): Now well into their middle ages, the Rolling Stones have become more of a rock 'n' roll institution than a band.
While their best days are certainly behind them, fans all over the world continue to love these rockers, like they would be rooting for an aging boxer -- Muhammad Ali, maybe -- who goes in to the ring just one more time.
The jabs may lack power, the footwork may be uninspiring but people still root for them just because they've been there and done so much in the past.
The Rolling Stones released recently what seems to be the expected routine live album to document last year's Bridges to Babylon tour.
Initially this may seem another machiavellian ruse by music biz execs, or even the band themselves, to cash in on their past accomplishments and milk the popularity cow for all its worth. As socialist musician Billy Bragg once said: "Capitalism is killing music".
But to dismiss them altogether would be to do so at your own peril. These English gentlemen are masters of the game and can always pull something out of the bag, maybe an undiscovered gem left in the recycler.
Yawn
Not surprisingly the arrival of yet another Rolling Stones live album is treated with a skeptical yawn. It seems that every time they finish a tour, the live album becomes a painful obligatory exercise.
No Security is the Rolling Stones' eighth live offering since Got Live If You Want It in 1966.
Few music groups could get away with the drab attempt of a pointless live album -- remember 1991's Flashpoint?
Classics though they are, few could stomach an over 50 Mick Jagger prancing around singing Satisfaction for the millionth time?
Would you even think of doling out Rp 70,000 in these tough economic times to hear the fiftieth version of Keith Richards churning out Jumping Jack Flash?
Probably not.
No Security is by no stretch of the imagination their best live work.
Since their 1981 world tour following the release of Tattoo You, almost all their live performances have been carefully scripted.
Spontaneity has evaporated from these middle-aged rockers (what do you expect from middle-age!).
The new album lacks the freshness of their earlier performances or just the plain gung-ho attitude and improvisation which made Get Your Ya Ya's Out (1970) memorable.
But having said that, it was just two-years ago in Stripped that the Stones bared and unplugged their soul to breath life into some of their old hits.
This album tries to emulate that achievement. Rather than banging out the same old numbing thing they bring an unpredictable element by taking superb, often forgotten emotional numbers, and give them a new twist.
What carries the album is a revamped version of Memory Motel.
It was the jewel in 1976's Black and Blue, the first album which included Ron Wood. This lazy number has evolved to become one of their best ballads, albeit lacking in radio airplay.
It's one of those songs that you would not immediately pick out of the Stones catalog, but instantly remember with a rush of personal memories once played.
Dave Matthews makes a guest appearance taking on Keith Richards' ghostly vocals. The vocal interplay between Jagger, Matthews and Richards is delightful.
Not as stirring as the original recording but well worth listening to.
In fact this is the whole point of the album, continuing the trend in Stripped, to re-do great forgotten numbers with a '90s edge.
Another great song covered is Waiting on a Friend. Probably one of the few great songs the Stones produced in the '80s.
On the live album jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman delivers a great solo to match Bobby Keys' original.
Other guests performing on the album are Taj Mahal who uses the Stones as a backup band to play Corinna, and backup singer Lisa Fischer in a somewhat over the top version of Gimme Shelter.
Another surprise offering is Sister Morphine.
Trying not rest on their laurels with past hits, the Stones also include Out of Control and Saint of Me from their last studio album -- the average sounding Bridges to Babylon.
No Security won't win any new fans for a group dubbed "the greatest rock and roll band in the world".
If you haven't heard the songs before you won't find the live versions stirring since it is not better than the original stuff.
But it does remind those who have followed the band that they can still turn a good tune, and make us want to see them on tour for those lucky enough to be near enough to a concert stop.
For the Stones and many who are old enough, memories do count.
Just as Jagger sings in Memory Motel: she took my guitar and she began to play/she sang a song to me, it stuck right in my brain/you're just a memory of a love that used to mean so much to me. (mds)