The Rolling Stones: Some Girls Live in Texas 1978 (Also Blu-ray and DVD/CD Combo) (Three and a Half Stars)
U.S. (Eagle Rock Entertainment) 1978-2011
It was 1964, the summer after my senior year in high school, and the song blasting out of the juke box at the Arctic Circle, a frozen custard drive-in and major high school hang-out in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, was “Satisfaction” by The Rolling Stones. The chorus of the song was a screaming “I can’t get no satisfaction!” But Satisfaction was something the record definitely gave.
With its unforgettable Keith Richards fuzzy riff, its driving Charlie Watts drumbeat, it ace backup by Brian Jones and Bill Wyman, and its cynical lyrics, pungently and bluesily sung by Mick Jagger, it hooked me. It’s hooked me many time since — on records, at parties, breaking the silence of my lonely room, and at the various Stones concerts, more than a few, that I’ve attended over the years, in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.
I don’t remember hearing “Satisfaction” in the new live concert feature (now on DVD, Blu-ray and a DVD/CD combo), The Rolling Stones: Some Girls Live in Texas 1978, made at a vintage ’78 Stones concertshow in the Will Rogers Memorial Center on July 18 in Fort Worth, Texas — even though that song is usually a mainstay of any Stones concert. It doesn’t matter, The movie, a record of the Lone Star/Stone Star State gig of the American tour done in support of the recent release of their now-classic album “Some Girls,” is priceless show, one of their best on film.
The show contains many Stones standards — including the scorcher “Jumping Jack Flash,” the matchlessly horny rocker “Honky Tonk Women,” the screaming but suave “Brown Sugar,” the peerlessly rock ‘n rolling “Tumblin’ Dice” and, of course, a number of the prime cuts from “Some Girls” (though not strangely the sarcastic and then-controversial title some itself) — from the jaunty torch song “Miss You” (a disco piece for people who usually dislike disco) and, one of my all-time favorites, the yearning, howling “Beast of Burden.” There’s also some present-day remembrances from Mick Jagger, jabbering away in a new interview.
The “Some Girls” lineup was slightly altered from the one I first heard: This time, it’s Jagger on vocals and miscellany, Richards and Ron Wood on guitars, Bill Wyman on bass, and the unbeatable Watts on drums — plus the Stones’ usual top-class sidemen. Mick wails and shouts. Keith explodes. Woodie blasts. Bill makes the bottom go right through you. And jazz fan Charlie pounds and crashes and never skips a beat. They all kill you.
The songs, great rockers all, are by Jagger and Richards, with some covers of Chuck Berry and others. The night looks hot and the band plays hotter. It’s a fantastic concert. They were still giving fabulous concerts the last time I saw them in 2007 — in company with the most beautiful girl (and one of the biggest Stones fans) in the world. And they’ve been making great music ever since that great day I heard Mick wail out “Satisfaction” from the Arctic Circle juke box — and make my summer day.
They may not have sung it that night in Fort Worth, but they didn’t have to. A generation can sing it for them.
Hey-hey-hey! That’s what I say!
I can’t get no!
I can’t get no!
I can’t get no!
No satisfaction!
No satisfaction!
No satisfaction!
NO SATISFACTION!!!
It was actually 1965… But you are quite right on about this show. Saw it in theaters, and hell yeah, it’s a gas-gas-gas.