The Rolling Stones have been releasing live DVDs for quite some time now. From different eras, they run the scope of why they are the greatest rock & roll band in the world, and have been for many years. Showcasing their glitzy seventies shenanigans, their bluesy Hyde Park tribute to recently departed bandmate Brian Jones, their big stadium eighties, a subdued stripped down romp in the studio to more current shows that prove age is but a number. So why should fans keep buying these things? I mean, you get “Satisfaction,” “Brown Sugar” and “Honky Tonk Women” on just about every disc. Mick Jagger runs from one end of the stage to the other, Charlie Watts is no doubt the coolest cat up there, keeping the rhythm, and Keith Richards makes love to his guitar so devotedly you can’t help but fall under the spell with each opening guitar licks to their most beloved songs. So why do we do it?
Because in each case, there is something so mesmerizing, that not being able to watch it a million times would feel like a hole in your universe. So with the new Bridges To Buenos Aires, filmed during a five-night run at the River Plate Stadium in Argentina in the spring of 1998, what is the aha moment? There are actually a couple of them but one song stands out above all others: “Sister Morphine.” Written by Jagger, Richards and Jagger’s beautiful muse Marianne Faithfull, it is a spine-tingling too realistic look into the veins of an addict. Although Faithfull released it first as a B-side in 1969, when her voice was an angelically quivering folky lilt, it didn’t have the power it would eventually have after drug abuse scalded her vocal cords into the hard-life rasp she is known for today. Her live version on 1990’s Blazing Away is a showcase of what it’s like to be inside a songwriter’s song: you experience it from the inside out; you want to pull at the IV and run down the halls screaming. Faithfull once recalled hearing Jagger playing the melody and, “Decided I was going to write it and [again] it was written out of my direct experience and it’s the direct experience that gets me through it.”
The Stones version, appearing on 1971’s Sticky Fingers, was more a Dylan-esque eulogy with Mick Taylor’s guitar the most memorable part of the song. However, the tune becomes a phoenix out of the ashes of mediocrity when Jagger straps on an acoustic guitar and sings “Sister Morphine” like he has never sung it before. The emotion is there, the aching pulse beat is there, the soul is there; it’s like you can feel the hole opening in your vein. With Ronnie Wood’s slide accents, this will be the song you hit repeat on for years to come.
Speaking of Dylan, he makes a special appearance to duet with Jagger on “Like A Rolling Stone,” playing an electric guitar while Jagger blows into a harmonica. It’s a messy dance of Dylan being catty and Jagger keeping his eyes focused tightly on the legend to hit his marks. Notorious for changing words, phrasing and tonality in the middle of a song, Dylan keeps Jagger on his toes. It should also be noted that the incredible Lisa Fischer, back-up vocalist for many years with the Stones, always shines when given the opportunity – most notably on “Gimme Shelter.”
There are other highlights, of course: an electric “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” Richards guitar solo in “Sympathy For The Devil,” Bobby Keys sax on “Miss You” and just watching the crowd in constant movement to the music … even when the music stops. Twenty-two songs on the DVD and accompanying CDs. It’s a great gift for any Stones fan.
