Original subtitles

Hey, it's Mazy. Welcome back to the

channel. Little overview review. I've

been listening for the last couple of

days

to the Rolling Stones, the Super Deluxe

Edition Rolling Stones Black and Blue.

They're 1976 album. It's five LPs. I'll

get into the details. It's also a

Blu-ray, which has a concert, a Paris

concert, as well as an Atmos. It's got a

Steven Wilson mix of the vinyl of the

proper album, some out takes. It's got a

100page hardback book and this slipcase.

And I'll present that to you in a

minute. But I want to talk about this

album because

very recently I was playing this album a

lot. I have my original. I think this is

a um Lee Hulko uh master record from

1976.

My original. This is Rolling Stones

Records. At that point they were part of

the Atlantic Records group we records.

Of course now uh they're with Universal.

Everybody's changed, but this is my

original and this is one of my favorite

mid-period Rolling Stones album. The one

before this was its only rock and roll.

Then I think there was what is it? Made

in the Shade. The the uh comp a lot of

comps. Then after this was the live

album. Then after that was Some Girls.

Another one I loved. But I like this

better than uh Some Girls. And I like

the sound of this record. And and the

reason I've been playing this a lot

lately cuz uh in the last several months

when I was going through the auditioning

period, those of you who've been

watching my speaker auditions for those

Spender speakers, this is one album I

pulled out cuz I think this is an

incredible sounding album. It's rich.

It's tight. It's just funky reggae

infused Rolling Stones rock and roll.

They're their brand of uh of funk and

reggae and rock, you know. They're one

of the and sold. They're one of the um

few like white groups that can get away

with that kind of crossover stuff and

and I think they do it well. Now, this

is an album of riffs really. I mean,

there's not a lot of great songwriting

on it. Maybe Fool to Cry, the only hit

that did okay. I think the album did

better than the single, but this is a

record of riffs and jams. And that's why

this box set actually I think the the

strengths of the box set are in that

sort of venue and the live uh the live

uh Earl's Cord concert that's included

there on three LPs. Uh I think also on

the new record which I'll show you the

proper album the cover is a nicer

texture almost like a a matte satiny

finish beautifully uh reproduces these

great photographs. Now this uh these

cover photographs were by the great

Japanese portrait fashion photographer

Hero Hero H I R O and um I believe from

the photography point of view since I

was in that business as a photography

agent. One thing he used to do,

especially, you can kind of see in the

book of some of the outtakes of these,

uh, he photographed this during that

magic hour of, you know, sunset after

the sun goes down when you still have

some light, but using probably a a big

set of giant fill soft boxes on the

beach and you get that great kind of uh,

light there. Almost looks like studio

lighting, but uh, the textures uh, is

it's really good. Of course, they

composited at the time these separate

portraits of them. I just love it. Now,

this is the first album

with Oh, yeah. There we go. There they

are on the beach.

This is the first album with Ronnie

Wood. Uh obviously uh Mick Taylor had

left the band and the Stones in 75 I

guess end of 74 mostly into 75 went

through an audition process and we're

were uh auditioning anyone from let's

see they had Harvey Mandel of course I

love his guitar playing uh Wayne Perkins

as well an American player and there's

some uh little bits of them on some of

the jam discs on here. So, you have this

slip case.

This slips over the box very much kind

of like uh what John and Yoko did

recently uh with their uh uh release of

Power to the People that thing. And it

kind of that's the that's the dour box

set uh overview here. Otherwise, you

have just this wonderful uh type

wonderful. It's basically type face on

the back. Black and blue. Actually, it's

what is that? Black and white in a blue

box. Clamshell. Your typical clam shell.

And of course, uh the obligatory and

necessary ribbon here to pull out the

record. So, I'll go through these.

As I said, the texture on this album,

this matte thing is is stunningly

beautiful. Now, in this is the Steven

Wilson mix on here. Now, I think this

comes out in several configurations.

This again is the 5 LP plus Blu-ray plus

book. There is a CD box as well which I

don't have. I haven't heard it. I

believe there is a single LP of the

Steven Wilson mix and a double LP uh of

the Steven mix with the outtake jam

session. Now some people aren't into

jams and this ain't your father's

jamming for Edwards which uh was a a a

potentially

could have been a really interesting jam

record. It came out in the 70s with uh

some of the Stones and Ry Cudter

drinking game. Remember when I say Ry

Cudter? Uh Nikki Hopkins and it's just

it was a mess. But the jams on here to

me that's one of my favorite parts of

this along with the live set. So uh this

is a gatefold again. This same gatefold

as the original. It has an insert in it

of the lyric sheet which I believe was

on the original lyric sheet here. And uh

so you have in one

slip the original inner sleeve here that

has all the markings of the uh of the

recordings of what track the various

musicians are on production of the

Rolling Stones original label from the

album. So this is pretty much the same.

And then the second disc on here

are the jams. And I'm going to get into

that in a little bit, but I want to talk

first about the Steven Wilson mix. Uh

because to me, it would have been really

hard to make this record sound as good

as the original. The original again, as

I said, it's a snappy tight record. I

used it to audition those speakers and I

kept playing especially not only the

tight Rocktop or hey Negrita or the

funky u reggae stuff they were doing but

to me the best sounding track and this

my favorite track on the album is

melody. It's a beautiful song. It's got

this great soulful gospel uh piano of of

uh Billy Preston who is all over this

record. Nikki Hopkins plays a little bit

on it, but really the unsung hero on

this album is Billy Preston with piano

and Oregon and of course Ron Woods

edition on here. Uh but some of those

other uh guitar players uh are on

specific tracks here and included

because they recorded this record over

uh you know a long time around uh what I

think they might even started into 74

but mostly 75 into 76 and then of course

after this they would do a a world tour

and of course uh this the six nights at

um Earl's Court in London. The Steven

Wilson mix is really good. And to me, as

good as it is, I think it's really

unnecessary. Steven Wilson, I think, can

do things really well. When he does it,

he usually nails it. He did that Pink

Floyd U record at Pompei last year. Of

course, all the uh the Prague stuff he

does for Talin. Yes. And I think he

nails it a lot of the times. And and

here he did a really good job. Now, he

obviously works in the digital world.

So, uh is it fair to compare a digital

cut from digital to an original uh Hula

Hulco cut uh from 1976? Maybe not, cuz

that's a very tight, really good record.

As I said earlier, this is a record of

riffs, of of jams. It's almost as if

they decided, let's let's create things

as we go along. But I think that's the

brilliance of this record. And I really

like that. Remember 1976. There's

something I do want to read in the book

here just to kind of give you a taste of

the time. If if if you weren't around at

this time, this introduction kind of say

says it all and I think beautifully. We

got this lovely type face. And I'll show

some uh some inserts later of the

booklet, but um Britain, April 23rd,

1976.

Led Zeppelin's presence is being felt at

the top of the album chart. Wings are

traveling at the speed of sound.

Remember this is the the Wings over

America tour. But the punks

the punks are approaching the gates of

the rock citadel and the Stones doing

this reggae thing. I mean they were

always entrenched in obviously R&B and

soul music you covering Temptations and

other soul artists. But of course as we

know 76 77 and after these years the

punk movement with the clash and a lot

of bands uh from especially from England

were really kind of crossing over into

the reggae you know the reggae punk uh

sound over there very you know rhythmic

bass heavy too and just very just tight

and I that's what I like about this

record again I like the riffs of this

record some people think like again like

hey Negrita is is not such such a great

song. Uh they talk about um songs like

um Fool to Cry. Again, that's the

probably again the most uh well

well-written song. Crazy Mama again a

typical kind of you might call it a

mid-tier Stones track. Even Hot Stuff,

Hot Stuff is just a funky rhythm thing.

There's really no melody to it and it's

not a great song, but it works so well

and it sounds so great on this album. Of

course, a cover of Cherry O Baby, that

reggae song. And of course, the other

great probably classic song on here that

became a Stones classic uh was Memory

Hotel. That ends the record. But Steven

Wilson gives it a warm tone. Again,

unnecessary.

And I found it better when I cranked it.

Although, when I played my original, I

really liked my original better. So, in

this case, the original is the one. So,

if you're not going to get the full box

set, I suggest at least get the two LP

set to get the jams and the outtakes.

Now, the jams and outtakes, some people

might think, "Oh god, do I just need

some bluesy funky outtakes?"

I think that's the best sounding part of

this record, especially the blues jams.

In the beginning, you have a an original

song that was an outtake, uh, Love a

Lady, which is a Keith Richard Mcjagger

song. I like this song. The second track

on side one of the jam record here is

Shame, Shame, Shame. Of course, that um

Shirley and Company song from 1974,

they cover it the following year.

Obviously, uh it was left off the

record, but uh that's from Shirley,

basically Sylvia from Mickey and Sylvia.

Early uh earlier in the what, the late

50s they did Love is Strange, a song,

ironically, that Wings would cover on

their Wildlife album. But uh it it it's

probably better it was left off this

record. But my favorite part of this jam

record are the jams. Typical blues jam,

slow blues, fast blues, cut offs, but

the sound of these recordings are like

they seem like flat transfers possibly.

There's no EQ. There's enough bass on

it. They sound incredible. And so unlike

as I said uh earlier Jamming for Edward

where that jam record put out as a side

project a bonus thing in a way didn't

work at all. This is killer stuff.

There's a version first of Chuck Barry's

style jam with Harvey Mandel on it and

um it's a typical you know you hear the

riffs of Keith Richards his whole

typical uh Chuck Barry thing. Obviously,

they were jamming all this thing. It

would it'd be great to hear all the

tapes with Harvey Mandel from this

session. I don't know what's available.

You Stones freaks may know. I certainly

don't. But I like that. But it's got the

the cliche, the typical uh riff of Chuck

Barry, but it sounds incredible. When I

flip this over though, side two is what

I really loved. And the sound of that, I

cranked this puppy up and it was killer.

They start out with blues jams, a long

song with Jeff Beck, and it's so good at

the end in the last couple of uh rounds

in the 12 bar blues uh thing. If you've

ever jammed and done the blues jams, at

some point when you're doing like a 8 nm

minute blues, someone starts thinking,

"When is this thing going to be over?"

Like the musicians I'm talking about,

not the listener here. And so they you

you almost see them like pulling back

and ending it. Finally, after a couple

of of of that feeling, you hear the tape

just cut. They cut the tape. Uh, a lot

of different engineers on here,

including Glenn John's. I think it was

it was his last uh appearance. It wasn't

one engineer on these all these

recordings, but I think it was Glenn

John's last appearance on a Stones

record. He had worked with them since

the obviously the the late 70s and and

beyond. I mean, excuse me, late 60s and

beyond. But that track, Blues Jam, with

Jeff Beck, is really good and rich and

bass and soulful, basically bluesy, of

course. Then you got Roderdam Jam, uh,

with Jeff Beck and Robert A. Johnson,

obviously not Robert Johnson. That is

killer, too. Again, really, uh,

soothing, really, uh, tight, and just I

I think the recording is so great. I

kind of wish the the proper album had

that sound that was more reminiscent to

the original mix, the original uh album

I have from 1976. And then the last

thing is pretty cool, too. Track three

is Freeway Jam with Jeff Beck featuring

Jeff Beck. Of course, that's the song

that's on his album Blowby-Blow that was

produced by George Martin. So they kind

of, you know, I don't think Jeff Beck,

obviously, we know he didn't want to be

a Rolling Stone, but he was kind of

jamming with them as they were uh

auditioning players and working with

different players. And of course, when

Ron Wood steps in, they it was basically

an obvious choice. He looks like he's

been in the band forever. He fits in the

band probably visually uh more so than

Mick Taylor, although I'm partial to

Mick Taylor. I think Mick Taylor added

something in that beautiful mid period

of Rolling Stones after Brian Jones that

to me added something that Ronnie Wood

never added. Now Ronnie Wood obviously

is great, fits in personality, fits in

visually. Uh he's great on this record,

but you got all these different

musicians on here as I said, including u

Billy Preston and Nikki Hopkins. You got

Arif Martin, Arif Martin from Atlantic

Records who arranged some horn stuff,

especially on on melody. When melody

builds up with again with that gospel

piano playing, uh, it's killer on here.

And and the Steven Wilson mix is really

good, but it is a digital cut and I

think it works best when you blast it.

And um, of course the original does too.

I like the original when you blast it.

So uh, that's my take. Again, I thought

that mix I'm not quite sure why they

bothered with this album doing a Steven

Wilson mix. I don't think he adds

anything to it, but it's fine. And if

you don't have this album, this is a

good way of doing it. Or if you can find

a clean copy of that original, uh,

that's something that I suggest you you

check out. Then we have a slip case with

three records of Live at Earl Court in

London. As I said, they played six

nights. I think they originally were

going to play three nights and it sold

out. tickets were like5 pounds which was

expensive at the time apparently. Uh

which seems strange to me because I

remember seeing the Stones. I don't know

what the dollar to pounds were there.

The Stones at Winterland 1972. Uh the XL

Main Street. I paid $5.50

with Stevie Wonder opening up. But this

has all three LPs. So it's got one full

set. I don't know if it was one set

complete from beginning to end or if it

was taken from various shows. You got

three discs of some of their classic

songs mixed in with a couple of songs

from this album. I think you have Hot

Stuff and Hey Negreet are the two songs

from this album, but you got Honky Tonk

Woman. Uh You Can Rock Me, Fool to Cry,

that's the other one from this album as

well. Beautiful, beautiful version of

that. You know, this is they're a loud

band here. There's not a lot of

dynamics. It's not necessarily in the

recording, but it's one of those loud

bands. If you've gotten any of the um

the archive series of the Stones, you

know what the Stones sounded like

throughout the 70s and to the 80s. And I

saw them obviously in in 72. I saw them

in 75 at the Cow Palace as well.

Tumbling Dice,

Midnight Rambler, It's Only Rock and

Roll, Brown Sugar, Jumbo Jackack, Flash

Street, Street Fighting Man. and it ends

with a great version of Simply for the

Devil. So, they're they're tight here.

This is really a kind of a nice a nice

selection and a great great live uh

companion to the set around that period

in 1976. So, uh this is the book again,

wonderfully put together.

It's really about the type set. It's not

a deep into the story, but you get

through the whole area of leading up to

the rehearsals.

You have some of the outtakes of the

hero photographs,

live performances. They really talk

about getting uh Ron Wood in the band

with these massive type headlines

throughout it.

Really lovely done. Of course,

everything has a blue tint to it. You

know, there's that wonderful uh hero

composite from the cover

and obviously some outtakes,

group shots, single shots,

and then getting on the road and doing

uh the tours they would do to support

this album at that time. Uh but really

kind of a nice set, a nice set all in

all. At the end you have the credits and

you have also

kind of a replica. You always need a

replica of your eight track here. So

never had this on a track. And also in

the box set is a poster from the Paris

show.

And then you have an extra Blu-ray that

slips in the back which has the Atmos

surround mix by Steven Wilson as well as

video of them live at uh Labaturator in

Paris the live show which is really good

really excellent. I love that. I like

that the Blu-ray is added to the vinyl

set as well as the CD set as well. So

that is the Rolling Stones

Super Deluxe Edition.

fantastic album musically. Again, it's

riffs, riffbased records, not as a great

song cycle as um obviously the Excel on

Main Street. So again, Black and Blue is

one of my favorite albums of this

period. I mean, right in the middle of

the stones. I like it better than rock

and roll. Rock and roll has some great

songs, obviously. Uh but again, it's the

riff. It's a party record. It's a It's a

record you can blast really well. 51

years now uh of Black and Blue Rolling

Stones Black and Blue on

Rolling Stone records. I think it's

through Polyor now and Universal Music.

So, thanks for watching. Massie loves

you.