The Rolling Stones Rock And Roll Circus (Expanded)

The Rolling Stones

Released on 12/11/68 by ABKCO Music & Records
Main artists: The Rolling Stones
Genre: Rock

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For over 20 years, The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, a multi-media event staged in late 1968 under a circus tent in a north London TV studio, and meant to be shown on the BBC, lay unedited and unseen reportedly because the band was unhappy with its performance. In 1992 director Michael Lindsay-Hogg began editing it, a process that was finally finished in 1996 before the film and soundtrack were released on both CD and DVD. It has now been re-released with a new 4K Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos DVD/Blu-Ray of the film and a soundtrack expanded to 28 tracks, with a new mix in a 192k/24 bit HD restoration. Often dismissed as a goofy, DayGlo relic that reflected the mushy peace and love currents of the moment, this high resolution reissue shows that a serious reassessment of this oddity is long overdue.

Because of setups and multiple takes the event dragged on much longer than expected and so the Stones performance was recorded in the wee hours of the morning (Richards has said that the band had to bring in a second audience after wearing out the first). And yet the band's six songs, four coming from the recently released Beggars Banquet, are the electric heart of this collection. In fact it's Jagger, one of the originators of the circus concept, who almost single-handedly carries the day with his energetically deranged performance of "Sympathy for the Devil."

Other highlights include a red hot performance by The Who of "A Quick One, While He's Away," (with Keith Moon on fire), Taj Mahal groovin' with guitarist Jesse Ed Davis on "Ain't That A Lot of Love," and John Lennon bantering jabberwocky with Jagger and playing The White Album's"Yer Blues" with Eric Clapton on guitar, Keith Richards on bass and Mitch Mitchell on drums. A second take of "Yer Blues" is included among the nine unreleased tracks here along with three more Taj Mahal blues numbers, Mozart from pianist Julius Katchen and a rehearsal take of another Beatles tune, "Revolution." Circus is also notable for being Brian Jones' last official performance with the band; he died in July 1969, the first of too many 27-year old rockers to die young. © Robert Baird / Qobuz

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The Rolling Stones Rock And Roll Circus (Expanded)

The Rolling Stones

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