During a period of Rolling Stones downtime, the spring of ’79 brought a flurry of dates from Keith Richards’ New Barbarians, who for this tour featured Ronnie Wood on guitar, Ian McLagan on keyboards, jazz legend Stanley Clarke on bass, the equally legendary Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste (of the Meters) on drums and stalwart Stones sideman Bobby Keys on sax. As you can discern from the setlist the shows were a mixture of Stones mainstays (an extended “Love In Vain” is particularly fulsome here, while “Before They Make Me Run,” recorded for the Some Girls album but never performed on the ’78 Stones tour, is utterly thrilling to hear) plus old blues and rock ‘n’ roll numbers. Also included are several Wood numbers, notably Gimme Some Neck’s “Come To Realize.”
This release is part of Exile’s recently-debuted “Exile Original Masters” series, although while it’s a moderately good soundboard recording with virtually no generation loss or hiss, it has some serious distortion in places. Certain instruments such as guitar and sax will occasionally take on an annoying modulated/shuddery sound. Exile has never been that notable for stellar sound on its releases and this one is no exception. Still if you can get past that flaw – not to mention the fact that Keef’s vocals literally sound like they’ve been processed through a cheese grater (he and Ronnie are clearly drunk as skunks) -- it’s a listenable show overall. (Consumer Caveat: There is a cut at the end of “I Can Feel The Fire.”)
Exile’s usual artwork touch is on display – nice color 2-sided insert (the back side has a good dressing room photo of the whole band) plus color 2-sided tray panel. -- OSWALD
