Love You Live is a double live album by The Rolling Stones, released in 1977. It is drawn from Tour of the Americas shows in the US in the summer of 1975,Tour of Europe shows in 1976 and performances from the El Mocambo nightclub concert venue in Toronto in 1977. It is the band's third official full-length live release and is dedicated to the memory of audio engineer Keith Harwood, who died in a drug-induced car accident shortly before the album's release.
Contents[]
History[edit][]
Love You Live was overdubbed and mixed from late May to mid-June 1977. It features Billy Preston and Ian Stewart on piano. The album artwork was prepared by Andy Warhol, and the pencil smears seen across the front were added by Mick Jagger, to Warhol's dismay.[2] Released in September 1977, the album was well received and managed to reach No. 3 in the UK and No. 5 in the US, where it went gold.
Love You Live was The Rolling Stones' final album whereby Rolling Stones Records would be internationally distributed by Warner Music. The band's next several albums would be distributed through EMI worldwide, while they remained with Warner in North America only.
The Stones decided to round out the live album by adding a second album, with live club recordings performed at the El Mocambo Club in Toronto on 4 and 5 March 1977. The intention was to play a set of the sort of classic blues and R&B covers that sealed their reputation back at the Crawdaddy Club in 1963. However, Keith Richards arrived late for scheduled rehearsals. His partner Anita Pallenberg had been arrested for possession of illicit drugs on arrival at Toronto airport and drugs were also found by police searching his hotel room.
Despite these legal troubles, the shows themselves went well enough, though the versions that appear on album are heavily overdubbed, mostly with layers of new guitar tracks, backing vocals by Richards and/or Ronnie Wood which were not originally sung at the shows themselves, and in the case of "Mannish Boy", a harmonica by Jagger played throughout the song, which could not have been possible for Jagger to switch from singing to the harmonica riff that quickly live.April Wine opened for the band, and the Stones appeared secretly under the fake band name, "The Cockroaches" on the bill so the majority of the fans thought they were attending an April Wine concert. April Wine also recorded their live album Live at the El Mocambo at these same concerts.
Jagger and Richards sharply disagreed on the selection of tracks to include on the album. In his autobiography Richards recalled: "Collaboration was giving way to struggle and disagreement. It's a two-disc album, and the result is that one disc is Mick's and the other was mine."[3]
Re-releases[edit][]
In 1998, Love You Live was remastered and reissued by Virgin Records, and in 2010, was re-released with an updated remastering by Universal Records. In 2011 it was released on a single SHM-SACD byUniversal Music Enterprises Japan.
Track listing[edit][]
All songs by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, except where noted.
- Side one
- "Intro: Excerpt from Fanfare for the Common Man" (Aaron Copland) – 1:24
- "Honky Tonk Women" – 3:19 (5 June 1976: Les Abattoirs, Paris)
- "If You Can't Rock Me"/"Get Off of My Cloud" – 5:00 (27 May 1976: Earls Court, London)
- "Happy" – 2:55 (5 June 1976: Les Abattoirs, Paris)
- "Hot Stuff" – 4:35 (6 June 1976: Les Abattoirs, Paris)
- "Star Star" – 4:10 (6 June 1976: Les Abattoirs, Paris)
- Side two
- "Tumbling Dice" – 4:00 (7 June 1976: Les Abattoirs, Paris)
- "Fingerprint File" – 5:17 (17 June 1975: Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto)
- "You Gotta Move" (Fred McDowell/Rev. Gary Davis) – 4:19 (5 June 1976: Les Abattoirs, Paris)
- "You Can't Always Get What You Want" – 7:42 (7 June 1976: Les Abattoirs, Paris)
- Side three
- "Mannish Boy" (Ellas McDaniel/McKinley Morganfield/Mel London) – 6:28 (4 or 5 March 1977: El Mocambo Tavern, Toronto)
- "Crackin' Up" (Ellas McDaniel) – 5:40 (4 or 5 March 1977: El Mocambo Tavern, Toronto)
- "Little Red Rooster" (Willie Dixon) – 4:39 (4 or 5 March 1977: El Mocambo Tavern, Toronto)
- "Around and Around" (Chuck Berry) – 4:09 (4 or 5 March 1977: El Mocambo Tavern, Toronto)
- Side four
- "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It)" – 4:31 (17 June 1975: Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto)
- "Brown Sugar" – 3:11 (6 June 1976: Les Abattoirs, Paris)
- "Jumpin' Jack Flash" – 4:03 (7 June 1976: Les Abattoirs, Paris)
- "Sympathy for the Devil" – 7:51 (9 July 1975: Inglewood Forum, Los Angeles)
- Love You Live was the final album where Keith Richard's name would be spelled as such, returning his surname to "Richards" beginning with 1978's Some Girls.
- A couple of minor song title differences: "Jumpin' Jack Flash" is spelled with a "g" instead of the usual apostrophe (although it is corrected on the CD reissue), while "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It)" loses its bracketed title.
Personnel[edit][]
- The Rolling Stones
- Mick Jagger – lead vocals, guitar, harmonica on "Mannish Boy"
- Keith Richards – guitars, backing vocals, lead vocal on "Happy"
- Ronnie Wood – guitars, backing vocals, bass guitar on "Fingerprint File"
- Charlie Watts – drums
- Bill Wyman – bass guitar, synthesizer on "Fingerprint File"
- Additional personnel
- Billy Preston – piano, organ, clavinet, backing vocals
- Ollie Brown – percussion, backing vocals
- Ian Stewart – piano, organ
- Recording engineers – Keith Harwood, Ron Nevison, Eddie Kramer
- Remix engineers – Dave Jordan, Jimmy Douglass and Eddie Kramer
- Assistant engineers – Tom Heid, Randy Mason, Mick McKenna, and Bobby Warner
- Artwork – Andy Warhol
Chart positions[edit][]
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1977 | UK Albums Chart[4] | 3 |
| 1977 | Billboard Pop Albums[5] | 5 |
| 1978 | Billboard Pop Albums | 106 |
Certification[edit][]
| Country | Certification | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States | Gold | 500,000 |
| United Kingdom | Gold | 100,000 |