The Stones Seventies Tour DVD

Just in time to accompany Keith Richard’s
tell-all autobiography comes this long-shelved
film of the Rolling Stones at their filthy
best.

Those accustomed to the Broadway-style
productions and expanded band lineup of recent
Stones show will marvel at the leanness of
this 1972 tour chronicle, which has previously
been available on DVD only by bootleg.

It shows the band as essentially the five-piece
it was at the time: Mick Jagger (vocals),
Keith Richards (guitars), Charlie Watts
(drums), Bill Wyman (bass) and Mick Taylor
(guitars). There was sonic assistance from
Bobby Keys (saxophones), Jim Price (horns) and
Nicky Hopkins (piano), but it’s the front five
who count here, dominating a tiny stage that
is free of the inflatables and pyro of later
tours.

The rawness of the production and
relatively primitive 1970s recording
technology don’t always favor Jagger’s vocals
— this was recorded mid-tour, during a
four-night Texas stand.

You also miss the
female back-up vocals of “Gimme Shelter” and
“Tumbling Dice,” as Jagger notes in a 2010
interview added to the disc. But this is the
band at its legendary peek, with ace axeman
Mick Taylor firmly in command.

The Stones were touring behind
Exile On Main Street, the album
many fans consider the band’s finest. Extras
include tour rehearsals, an Old Grey Whistle
Test interview and a new Jagger interview.