It seems that every Rolling Stones tour results in a live album. This one, unfortunately offers nothing new or even particularly interesting. Efforts to duplicate the studio sound (ie., "Gimmie Shelter") only demonstrate the superiority of the originals. Further, the guest spots featuring Taj Mahal and Dave Matthews are totally unnecessary. This album suffers from too many added musicians, too many backup vocalists, a couple of out-of-place "guest stars", and a general lack of inspiration. If you want a Vegas-style Stones show, this album is for you. If you want to hear a good live set from the Stones (minus the guest stars and other embellishments), listen to "Get Your Ya-Ya's Out", which features the Stones when they still had the energy and imagination to improvise. This album is "product", and nothing more.

You can always count on the Stones to release a live album after a tour and No Security follows suit for the Bridges To Babylon tour. The album contains a few guest stars including Taj Mahal on "Corrina" and an excellent performance by saxophonist Joshua Redman on "Waiting For A Friend". Dave Matthews appears on "Memory Motel" and proceeds to wreck what is one the band's best songs and the best vocal interplay from Mick Jagger & Keith Richards. Mr. Matthews takes over Mr. Richards part and his bland and overbearing voice doesn't fit the grittiness needed for the part. That complaint aside, the rest of No Security is another fine live record including a great version of "Gimme Shelter", a ripping version of "Live With Me" and excellent takes on the Sticky Fingers nugget "Sister Morphine" and the some Girls punkish rocker "Respectable".

The Rolling Stones, the "Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band in the World", has always been the claim. When you look back over the last forty years, it is a pretty hard one to dispute. Starting off playing Blues covers of their American heroes to a faithful few in South London's Youth Clubs, to worldwide domination of both the album charts and, starting up and then ruling ground breaking huge money making Stadium Rock. Of course, along the way there have been various ups and downs that, if anybody had written down as a work of fiction, people would of claimed it to have been too preposterous to be anywhere near the truth. After a few cover songs to break them into the British charts (including the fabulous 'I wanna be your Man', written for them by "The Beatles"), Jagger - Richards started writing hits of their own, which would in turn be covered by almost every band that followed in their footsteps. Hit albums followed with more hit singles; successful tours in all parts of the globe... Then it all went momentarily wrong. Original leader and guitarist Brian Jones left the band and then mysteriously drowned in his own swimming pool; drug busts and prison sentences (later squashed after famously being compared to using a rack to crush a butterfly in an open letter to "The Times"); a failed Single; difficulty with confectionery; and the keyboard seat becoming about as welcome as the drum stool in Spinal Tap. The boys proved that, although they looked and acted as the proverbial dirty rockers, there was a fair amount of grey matter there too, so more hit singles were written, more international bestselling albums were released, and more than all their peers, The Stones kept on rolling.

As the years rolled past, each album was released to great expectations (some living up to those expectations - some not). Each world tour sold out faster than the last one and to bigger and bigger audiences. Guitarists arrived, two even left. Mick Jagger made terrible movies (I mean have you seen `Freejack'?) and he released even worse solo albums claiming he did not need the rest of the band, and then scampered back to the safety of the Stones when he realized he did. He had more affairs with a string of glamorous and ever younger women than even Casanova was reported to have had. Keith and Ronnie Wood made some reasonable solo albums in their spare time, but not exactly groundbreaking, while Charlie Watts was always just Charlie.

"No Security" is a collection of live songs from the 'Bridges of Babylon Tour'. A nice little memento if you caught the tour or a reminder of what you missed if you didn't. "No Security" is the seventh Stones live album and their second in three years at the time, so by its very notion it could not be a straight collection of songs recorded as in concert running order. You cannot just go banging out versions of 'Jumpin Jack Flash', 'Honky Tonk Woman', and 'Satisfaction' every time like a continues conveyer belt of Greatest Hits every time you go on tour, expecting your loyal fans to keep on forking out their hard earned bucks. On the other hand, when so much work has gone into a tour, why let the Bootleggers get all the money by releasing the live recording? So the Stones took a great attitude and released a collection of songs from the tour that were a little bit special.

On "No Security" the Stones flex their collective musical muscle by opening up with the aptly named "You Got Me Rocking", which immediately has Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood grooving along on guitar with Keith delivering an awe inspiring solo. Next up is the finest version of "Gimme Shelter" this dog has ever heard, the whole band positively shimmers and when it gets to the call and response chorus of "Just A Kiss away", Mick Jagger and the wonderful Lisa Fischer taunt each other to the end. We then get a live version of probably the only good song from the terrible mid-seventies album "Black 'n' Blue" 'Memory Motel'. While a great version, I would still rather have Keith Richards singing his half of the duet rather than special guest Dave Matthews. I mean he does a fair version, but then he is no Keith Richards, but then who is?

The next guest is truly phenomenal though as long time Stone inspiration Taj Mahal gets up to growl his way through a version of his "Corinna". This alone is worth the price of the album. The beautiful ballad "Waiting on a Friend" is an inspired run through with famous jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman taking the solo (Bobby Keys is the regular saxophonist for the Stones and gets his chance to shine on the final track, an extended version of "Out Of Control"). Keith gets his turn in the vocal spotlight with his own "Thief in the Night". The audience gets a chance to sing their collective hearts out with Mick Jagger as the conductor on "Saint of me". "Sister Morphine" from the "Sticky Fingers" album is completely rearranged for this live outing, and the band reach back to 1965 for their third British number one (when it meant something to have a number one hit single). "The Last Time" they play with as much gusto as if they had written it last week. The version of "Respectable" from the "Some Girls" album leaves the studio version in tatters. "Live With Me", the only song here repeated from the proper first Rolling Stones live album "Get Your Ya Ya's Out". It shows the band has lost none of its thunderous ability or master hood of getting down and dirty with the best of them. Nobody plays as sleaze as these boys.
Mott the Dog.

1. Do I like the Rolling Stones?
2. Do I think the Rolling Stones lost it after (fill in the blanks with either "Some Girls" or "Tattoo You.")?
3. Do I think the Rolling Stones are too old to be doing this?
4. Do I like their older, "classic" material, but don't care to hear new versions?
5. Am I afraid that if someone sees this record in my collection, I'll be mocked for buying a "tour souvenir" with no musical merit?

If you answered yes to the first question and no to all the others, then there's no reason why you shouldn't spend your hard earned $15 on this very enjoyable disk.

This one in particular fills a couple of niches for me. I don't automatically dismiss any of their late work--in fact I like most of it, including the new one, "A Bigger Bang." But "Bridges to Babylon" was admittedly pretty weak. Well, this disk gives you a chance to hear the handful of good songs from that the record, and these versions are preferable. In particular, "Out of Control," a lengthy piece with a lot of dynamic changes, comes off great here. Other recent songs like "Saint of Me," "You Got Me Rocking," "Flip the Switch" and "Thief in the Night" come off better here than in their studio incarnations. Of the older material, the versions of "Gimme Shelter," "Memory Motel," "Waiting on a Friend" and "The Last Time," are spectacular.

Reactions to the Stones are rather predictable and annoying. You're supposed to be annoyed with all their post-tour live albums, and see them as "just cashing in." This just isn't true. The live disks are a chance for them to re-address older material in versions that take advantage of their improved musicianship and matured perspective. On "Flashpoint," for example, you can hear fantastic versions of "Paint it Black" and "Ruby Tuesday," played with great passion and inventiveness. "Stripped" has many highlights, including a wonderful version of the very early tunes "I'm Free," and "Spider and the Fly," and a jolly take on "Let it Bleed."

If you want to let late-night comedians and jaded rock reviewers guide your choices, then you probably aren't going to want to risk the "uncool" label they would surely apply to anyone who bought "No Security." But I enjoy it, I play it all the time, and my hat's off to the Stones for risking ridicule by putting it out.

I have been reading the reviews of this CD and I cant believe them, these guys are what rock and roll is all about....give me a break, if you were at these shows which IM SURE MOST OF THE REVIEWERS WERE, they were wasted like the rest of us were, this tour was awesome....I saw them on this tour and I was blown away...you people need to wake up, The Stones wont be around for much longer, enjoy them while you can, quit being so critical......