The Rolling Stones, formed in the 60s established themselves as being at the forefront of the British Invasion of rock bands that became popular in the States, being identified as one of the youthful and rebellious countercultures of the 60s. Fast forward a few decades and they were still very much a band that demanded your attention and kept pushing boundaries, releasing gritty rock records and ballads that would change the music industry forever. Come the 90s the Stones were still very much at the top of their game which saw them embark on their mammoth worldwide concert ‘Voodoo Lounge Tour’ that spanned over an entire year with a staggering 129 dates.
Following the huge worldwide tour, the Stones released their ninth live album ‘Stripped’ which was a combination of live and recorded tracks from 1995, including the Bob Dylan cover ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ which was the first single from the album. The remaining tracks on the album were acoustic studio re-recordings in pure remastered fashion for the new live album release which maintained the Stones’ success riding on the tail of the recent tour. All the tracks were recorded over 3rd-5th March at the Toshiba-EMI Studios in Tokyo Japan as well as a few session later on in the year in Portugal while the live recordings are from three small concert venues, Paradiso in the Netherlands, L’Olympia in Paris, and Brixton Academy.
The album was well welcomed by many countries yet it only hit the top number one spot on the album charts in Canada and Norway, ‘Stripped’ only got to number 9 in the UK and US Billboard album charts, pretty ironic for such a huge band that exploded onto the scene and permeated through Americana music scene and the gritty bluesy rock scene in Camden, UK. Yet this didn’t stop the album from acquiring Platinum and Gold status in every country that saw its release. Decades after they hit their peak they were no longer 20 something year-olds shaking drug gilled maracas, they were now a mature, (if you can ever call Mick Jagger mature) refined band clad in suave leather jackets and pipe cleaner skinny jeans now adding and solidifying their legacy that had formed back in nostalgic 1964.
Listen to their cover of ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ below:
