"Does everything seem to be ready is everybody ready, ladies and gentlemen the greatest rock and roll band in the world, the Rolling Stones". And with that introduction, the Stones were about to unleash a live performance that could be hailed as one of the best live recordings ever made. This album was made when the Stones were arguably the greatest rock and roll band in the world and this album proves it. After the introduction, the Stones break into a scorching version of "Jumpin' Jack Flash", pay tribute to Chuck Berry with 2 fine versions of "Carol" and "Little Queenie", giving a nod to their past while strutting their new material with a vengeance. The guitar solo in "Sympathy For The Devil" is simply flawless and as Mick tells the crowd prior to "Honky Tonk Women", "Charlie's good tonight isn't he." Well they were all good that night as this record shows. The Stones were in the midst of a phenomenal creative period in their careers, just prior to the release of this record the Stones had released two albums that were to become classic performances (Beggar's Banquet and Let It Bleed). This album shows the Stones in the midst of that creative juggernaut and in fine form. (Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main Street were the next albums to be released). This album deserves five stars because it shows the Stones at the height of their performing power as well as just about reaching their creative peak. If this one is not in your collection, then get yer wallets out. This is not only the best Stones live album by far, but one of the best live recordings ever made by a rock and roll band.

The Rolling Stones tour of America in 1969 has become one of the most infamous and legendary of all time. It of course concluded with the Altamont concert and was documented in the film Gimme Shelter. Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out provides us with a live document of the tour from a Madison Square Garden show. What makes this such a great live record is that is does what so few live albums do, it makes us we feel as if we're actually at the show. From the opening introduction of the "Greatest Band Of All Time" to the closing chords of the militant "Street Fighting Man", we get the vibe of what it must have been like to have been there. While the performances, from a technical point of view, may not be the best of their career, that's beside the point. The Stones have always been more about emotion than anything else and the performances of "Sympathy For The Devil", "Midnight Rambler", "Love In Vain" & "Stray Cat Blues" perfectly capture and convey all their raw emotion and intensity. The Stones have made it a practice to release a live album after all their tours, but none are even close to this one.

Dan Epstein's review of "Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out" is largely insufficient. More than likely he only listened to the album once. The first time I heard, I was less than satisfied. But repeated listenings reveal just how great the Stones were with Mick Taylor (in my opinion their best years: 1969-1972). "Sympathy With the Devil" emerges as the "true" definitive version, with Keith's rhythm work shuffling through the song, jazzy and tough. Then, Keith's ragged but intense solo is followed by Taylor's lightning-fast bluesy notebending. Sublime! Contrary to what Epstein wrote, I think most of the versions on here surpass the studio cuts (the exception being "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Stray Cat Blues"). "Street Fighting Man," the Chuck Berry tunes and "Live with Me" all benefit from new arrangements, and "Midnight Rambler" rocks harder with a faster tempo (notice how it is on "Hot Rocks" and not the "Let it Bleed" version?). Along with Nirvana's "MTV Unplugged," Dylan's "1966 Live" or The Velvet Underground's "1969 Live," "Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out" is a primary text for afficionados of live rock albums. This album is only surpassed in the Stones' catalogue by "Exile on Main Street" and "Sticky Fingers."

This is no 'true' live record, because there have been some studio overdubbings, I think of the solo guitars. Its from the 1969-tour and initially was planned as a double album featuring also Ike&Tina Turner. Then this project was reduced to a pure R.S.-record becoming definitely one of the best Stones albums. There are among others fascinating takes of Midnight rambler (In the slower middle section You can here the excited audience scream with joy), Sympathy for the devil (Thrilling intro, Keith Richards' solo and therafter Mick Taylor's - very different styles), Jumping Jack Flash (A great opener), Stray Cat Blues (Fascinating solo-guitar parts), Love in vain (Moving acoustic style). To compare this album to a real live record of that tour you have to stick to a bootleg, f.ex. 'Liver than You'll ever Be'), and almost any concert of this great America-tour is available bootlegged. This record symbolifies heavily the Stones' occupation of that period with apocalypse! (listen to 'Gimme Shelter and 'Sympathy for the devil') and thus creates very strong emotions. The lyrics of the former song were inspired by M. Bulgakows novel 'The master and Margarita'. In comparison to the Hyde Park-Concert at London Mick Taylor, who replaced drowned 'problem-child' Brian Jones in 1968, here is fully integrated into the band and contributes greatly to this masterpiece. The guitar sound also reveals Keith Richards faible for the typical 'open tuning' guitar style which is so characteristic for the Stones since their Beggars Banquet-period and lasts until today. BUY THIS RECORD !!! Again: Thank You Stones!!!

`Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out' is one of the most famous live recordings done by a major rock group and it is probably the very best one done by the Rolling Stones. And, its fame has less to do with the fact that it is by `the greatest rock and roll band in the world', than with the fact that it is a concert done on the tour where the Rolling Stones and a whole generation of rock fans lost their innocence at the Stones headlined free concert at Altamont raceway near Los Angles. It is this whole tour which is chronicled in the movie `Gimme Shelter' which shows on stage performances in several cities plus off stage hijinks, leading up to the events near the stage at Altamont perpetrated by the Hells Angels while the Stones were on the stage.

As this album deals exclusively with the performance in New York City, there is nothing on the album which deals with the Altamont concert, so it can be enjoyed with no guilt. But, it was many months between the time this album was originally released in 1970 and when I could bring myself to buy it on vinyl, so alienated was I from the Rolling Stones. In fact, I was listening to `Let It Bleed' daily up to the time the news report came out about the Altamont events and I was so revulsed by the event that I gingerly removed the album from my turntable, filed it away, and did not listen to it or any other Rolling Stones album for several months. All this is simply to put in perspective how important this particular album is in the history of the Rolling Stones, especially for me.

Otherwise, this album represents the Rolling Stones at the very apex of their stage presence and power. I still remember articles in Rolling Stone magazine stating that Mick and Keith appeared totally mature for the first time. And, it stated that the show was pretty much all about Mick, and the rest of the band was quite happy to let him carry the day.

At this point in their career, the Rolling Stones had the enormous luxury of picking numbers from an enormous number of major hits written by both Jagger and Richard and by classic rockers such as Chuck Berry. Needless to say, their choice of the selections and the order in which they are done are excellently played out on this CD. There is none of their dimly remembered experiments from `Their Satanic Majesties Request' and not too much really early stuff, except for the cuts by Berry. The musicianship and audio engeneering is a very good balance between the energy of the live performance and a relatively high quality of live musicianship. You can even appreciate the piano by premier rock sideman, Nicky Hopkins who, according to reports at the time, was banging away at the keyboards from behind the stage, out of sight from the audience.

Oddly, the quality of the performance means that it may not be enormously different from their studio versions of the same material. There is none, for example, of the long impromptu explorations such as you find on the great Who record, `Live at Leeds'. But, this is a very good album none the less.