THE ROLLING STONES : THE BRUSSELS AFFAIR '73

1. Brown Sugar
2. Gimme Shelter
3. Happy
4. Tumbling Dice
5. Star Star
6. Dancing With Mr. D
7. Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
8. Angie
9. You Can't Always Get What You Want
10. Midnight Rambler
11. Honky Tonk Women
12. All Down The Line
13. Rip This Joint
14. Jumpin' Jack Flash
15. Street Fighting Man

Label : Rolling Stones Records

Release Year : 2011

Length : 79:33

Review (Collectors Music Reviews) : The Rolling Stones have finally begun to assemble and release their vast archives. Setting up The Official Rolling Stones Archive online, their first release is The Brussels Affair '73 which ranks among their greatest live performances. Past releases on vinyl and CD focused upon the KBFH tapes which edited the Brussels shows with the September 9th, Wembley show in London. The latest unofficial release, Bunnies, Bombs, Busts & A Princess on Halcyon, focus solely upon the early show in Brussels. The official Brussels release takes a slightly different tact. Instead of offering the KBFH broadcast or an individual show, it is an edit of the two Brussels shows on October 17th. Since it's using a previously unheard show, there is much material absolutely unique to this release including the two songs from the set which were never broadcast, "Star Star" and "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)." The way this breaks down is that of the fifteen songs three, "Brown Sugar," "Midnight Rambler" and "Street Fighting Man" were previously heard on the KBFH tapes. Six songs from the 2nd show have been available from the soundboard on unofficial release such as Back To The Graveyard (Dog n Cat DAC-113): "Gimme Shelter," "Happy," "Tumbling Dice," "Star Star," "All Down The Line," and "Rip This Joint." The other six, "Dancing With Mr. D," "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)," "Angie," "You Can't Always Get What You Want," "Honky Tonk Women" and "Jumping Jack Flash" all come from the evening show and have been previously unreleased. Assuming this is a loss-less download, the sound quality should be identical. Regardless, it is in fantastic stereo and has professional level sound. A further credit is the light studio tweaking. Unlike their other official live releases, they didn't see the need to fix every little imperfection in the music. The only overdub is found in "All Down The Line" where Mick Taylor's guitar solo from the early show was overdubbed into the late show. Also, in general, the guitars were raised higher in the mix and the auxiliary instruments, the piano, keyboards and horns, were mixed lower. Although this is certainly exciting, the Stones' management offer this only as downloads from the website. In the spirit of satiating collector's appetites, The Brussels Affair '73 (RS731017) offers the download on a silver disc for the collection. The label is not identified, but the artwork looks like Idol Mind of recent vintage. The artwork is printed on only one side and the front cover is the graphic from the website associated with this release. The packaging is very basic but the music is fantastic. According to the website, "The new edition, pulled exclusively from the two Brussels gigs, was taken from the original multi-track masters recorded by Andy Johns on the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. Longtime Stones collaborator Bob Clearmountain applied the final mix." "Brussels was the penultimate stop on a European tour that the Stones embarked upon in the autumn of 1973 to promote the album Goats Head Soup. At the time, the Stones were by far the biggest stars on the planet, and the 21-city tour was met by ecstatic crowds, causing the band to frequently perform two shows a day, as they did at the Forest National arena in Brussels. Despite the frenetic pace, the road trip yielded some of the band's greatest music on stage. "Although the Stones began readying a live album of the show for commercial release, the idea was ultimately shelved - a tragedy given the ferocity of the set and the definitive live versions of Stones classics that it presents. Fortunately, that has all changed today. If there was one Rolling Stones bootleg that needed to find its way into the mainstream, Brussels '73 was it." Early copies of The Brussels Affair '73 come with a bonus CDR with the KBFH broadcast with material from both Brussels and London. Other copies lack the bonus. This is a good release for those of us who like our music on physical media, something which the Stones don't seem to want to do. It is worth having for filling that niche.

Review (Humo) : Er waait weleens een bootleg van The Rolling Stones in mijn richting, en die beluister ik dan, soms. En héél soms hoor ik wat ik had willen zien: de Stones van voor mijn tijd. 1964-1969, '73. Of later: '78 of '89. 1234 De beste van die bootlegs hebben onder de fans een haast mythische status - als je in Stones-kringen de woorden 'Hampton', 'Knebworth', 'Fort Worth' of 'Atlantic City' laat vallen, weet iedereen dat het over meer dan plaatsnamen gaat. Eentje heeft er altijd bovenuit gestoken: 'The Brussels Affair'. Ook wel bekend als 'Bedspring Symphony', en in mijn kast terug te vinden als 'Europe '73'. Met op de hoes een diep uitgesneden Jagger met natte zweetkop. Lang geleden dat ik 'm nog gehoord heb. 'The Brussels Affair' zijn The Rolling Stones in 1973, live in Vorst Nationaal. Rommelig maar onmiskenbaar onder stoom, redelijk professioneel opgenomen maar nooit bewerkt, van geluidskwaliteit net voldoende om als bootleg te schitteren. Hij mag vanaf nu ook schitteren als officiële release, want na een jarenlange smeekbede van de fans hebben de Stones het concert zelf uitgebracht, en niet zonder eerst de sound van een ferme upgrade te voorzien. De banden werden naar de grote Bob Clearmountain gestuurd - de beste in zijn vak - die alles duidelijker in balans zette, de instrumenten er wat meer uithaalde, de Stones nog meer als de Stones liet klinken, en er een liveplaat van maakte om duimen en vingers bij af te likken. Billy Preston, de grote zot met het afrokapsel en een overload aan soul aan de klavieren. Mick Taylor, de eeuwig onderschatte, hier niet-naast-te-kijken zo geniaal. Bill Wyman, eenzaam pompend op de bas, Keith wild en hevig aan de teugels trekkend, Charlie Watts die ijzig beheerst volgt, doing a helluva job. En Jagger: ringmeester, brullend als een varken, tuitend als een ballerina, kleine dansende duivel, grote frontman. Talmen deden de Stones niet in die tijd. 'Brown Sugar', 'Gimme Shelter', 'Happy' en 'Tumbling Dice': dat is het openingssalvo. We krijgen lekkers van het dan pas uitgebrachte 'Goats Head Soup' (later nog maar zelden gespeelde songs als 'Dancing With Mister D.' of 'Doo Doo Doo Doo Dooo (Heartbreaker)'), 'Midnight Rambler', 'Honky Tonk Women', 'All Down the Line', en een waanzinnig opgefokte versie van 'Exile'-aanjager 'Rip This Joint'. 'Ça va?' vraagt Jagger ergens in perfect Vlaams. Ça va, ja. Maar een glaasje water had geen kwaad gekund. Alright, hier is een statement: 'The Brussels Affair' is de beste liveplaat van de Stones. Ik heb 'm: hij is voor negen dollar te downloaden via stonesarchive.com. Tip voor de gebroeders Rolling Stone: en dan nu Hampton, Knebworth, Fort Worth en Atlantic City. They say it's gonna happen. Volgorde zelf te kiezen.

Review from Google Music : Recorded on their Goats Head Soup tour, this indispensable document of The Stones on the verge of collapse yet also at one of their ten thousand peaks was only available for years as a crappy-sounding bootleg. Though originally intended as a genuine live album by the band, Brussels Affair never hit the shelves, and is only now finally available with the crisp sound and perfect mix of an official release. At the time of this show, The Stones were Jagger and Richards, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts and consummate guitar master Mick Taylor, whose relatively short time with the band marked what's arguably their strongest period, a stretch that includes both Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main St. Taylor's lyrical playing here nearly steals the show, and the juxtaposition of Keith's shambling rock 'n' roll fever with Taylor's understated but powerful neatness really jumps out of the speakers. This is The Stones during a truly classic era, and captures that peculiar thing about them: how even when they're stumbling around, falling apart and, presumably, sick to hell of each other, when they play, the music is the definition of rock and roll and the sloppiness is a big part of what makes them great. In this middle period after the cyclone they were circa Get Yer Ya-Yas Out and before the football pants and stadium-sized hangover of Love You Live, the band was firing on all cylinders, cranking through long time staples of their live show, a practically funk version of "Midnight Rambler" and attacking the new material (especially "Star Star") with the ferocity of their earliest days. Besides Charlie Watts, who's always fun to listen to, you can hear a revelatory version of "Dancing With Mr. D," which sounds thin and gimmick-y on Goats Head Soup but live gets the sleazy groove treatment and proves one of the highlights of the night. Exile On Main St. freaks get treated to four cuts from that landmark album, with Keith's ragged voice sounding like he's barely keeping it together during "Happy." On top of all this, you get to hear Mick Jagger speak French to the audience and do his best impression of either Louie Armstrong or himself, it's hard to figure out which. It's yet another instance where The Stones get away with things no other group can, and the music speaks for itself. This is the greatest rock and roll band in the world, after all.