the BEST of 2024
1)Ian Hunter
2)The Rolling Stones
3)The Lincoln Lawyer
I only watched this in 2024 and love it. So great that they renewed this important show.
Commentary from Joe Viglione
This terrific concert adds to the Stones' legacy, "I Got the Blues" keeps its early integrity, but the sounds captured here include new revelations. "Brand New Car" from 1994's Voodoo Lounge actually feels like Boston band The Cars trademark riff merged with Chuck Berry. The importance of these releases on Mercury Studios (the old Eagle Rock,) are more essential with fans taking telephone videos in concert and bootleggers almost obsolete. Where rock and roll fans were desperate for live performances in the 70s and 80s, these classic official recordings serve a need, especially for legacy artists like the Rolling Stones.
"Tumbling
Dice" is downright elegant in its guitar phrasings and horns, a four
minute twenty four second rendition with Mick's vocals front and center
(where his Jimmy Miller-produced studio version from the early seventies
had them nicely tucked away inside the grooves.) "Brown Sugar" sounds
like the party that the studio version of "Tumbling Dice" was, thumping
with Mick and the boys in command. Yes, a 1999 concert sounds vital and
so today. Mick changes the gender here, "just like a young man
should," naughty man that he is.
Classic 60's Stones are here with a reinvention of "Route 66." The group is having their way with this old nugget, perhaps written around 1946 by Bobby Troup and recorded by Nat King Cole - listen to Cole's jazz version to see how the band plays the old riff to a contemporary setting, decades after the Stones recorded it as well. Nat King Cole: https://youtu.be/uRX_NZ7kTt0 Songwriter Troup, who passed in 1999 when Shepherd's Bush was recorded, has a 1964 video on YouTube from his lips to your ears here: https://youtu.be/kLUYf6cekMA
"Some Girls" on Shepherd's Bush snarls with lots more energy than the original, Jagger having fun with the lyrics and taking it to the white girls here rather than the ethnicity on the original, guitars zipping in and out almost like a new studio version. One would think Exile on Main Street would have gotten more attention on this set, "All Down the Line" filling in nicely. Just a terrific look about 26 years back from this 2025 on a classic set of discs that satisfy completely.
“Welcome to Shepherd’s Bush,” proclaimed Mick Jagger. “I’ve been waiting to say that for a little bit.”
New York, NY (October 22, 2024)- With that opening introduction, shortly before launching into Shattered, The Rolling Stones gave an inspired performance during this June 8, 1999, club show at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London for “1,800 lucky dogs,” according to Paul Sexton’s liner notes that accompany the release of Welcome to Shepherd’s Bush, the brand-new video release from the world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll band.
Marking a return to what the liner notes term “the nostalgic intensity of a compact Stones show with the exciting echoes of Eel Pie Island and the Crawdaddy Club,” two iconic London venues where the band made its mark in the halcyon ’60’s of the British Invasion, this “secret gig” took place just several days before two sold-out shows at the 70,000-seat Wembley Stadium. The shows followed the release of the band’s 1998 live album, No Security, a series of North American gigs between January and April that year before returning to the U.K.
The star-studded audience at the gig marking The Rolling Stones’ homecoming included everyone from Anita Pallenberg to Aerosmith, Jerry Hall to Jon Bon Jovi, along with Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, Bob Geldof, Pete Townshend and Lenny Kravitz.
On December 6, Mercury Studios and The Rolling Stones proudly present Welcome to Shepherd’s Bush on various formats, including for the first time ever for a Stones video, 4K UHD with a Dolby Atmos audio option. Other formats include Blu-ray + two-CD set; a two-CD limited edition package of 15,000 worldwide; a two LP black vinyl package, and a direct-to-consumer two-LP set in 180-gram white vinyl.
The 90-minute set featured several rarely played deep cuts, including the only known performance to date of Moon Is Up, from Voodoo Lounge, along with Melody, the Black and Blue selection performed only once before, more than two decades previously, at the famous 1977 El Mocambo show in Toronto which was officially released in 2022. The live performance of Voodoo Lounge’s Brand New Car was one of only seven times the band included it in their set, the last back in 2002. Another highlight featured opening act Sheryl Crow joining the group on-stage for a raucous Honky Tonk Women.
For those who just saw the Rolling Stones live on their recently completed, critically acclaimed Hackney Diamonds stadium tour, Welcome to Shepherd’s Bush offers an intimate glimpse of the group a quarter century ago, returning to their native turf with a vengeance.
“It’s good to be home, I’m telling you now,” said Keith before leaning into his solo numbers You Got the Silver and Before They Make Me Run. “It’s only rock ‘n’ roll, y’know what I mean?” A statement equally true then and now.
TRACK LISTINGS:
2LP:
Side A:
Shattered
It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It)
Respectable
All Down The Line
Some Girls
Side B:
Melody
I Got The Blues
Brand New Car
Moon Is Up
Side C:
Saint Of Me
Honky Tonk Women (with Sheryl Crow)
Band Introductions
You Got The Silver
Before They Make Me Run
Side D:
Route 66
You Got Me Rocking
Tumbling Dice
Brown Sugar
Jumpin’ Jack Flash
4K UHD
Shattered
It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It)
Respectable
All Down The Line
Some Girls
Melody
I Got The Blues
Brand New Car
Moon Is Up
Saint Of Me
Honky Tonk Women (with Sheryl Crow)
Band Introductions
You Got The Silver
Before They Make Me Run
Route 66
You Got Me Rocking
Tumbling Dice
Brown Sugar
Jumpin’ Jack Flash
Blu-ray+2CD:
Shattered
It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It)
Respectable
All Down The Line
Some Girls
Melody
I Got The Blues
Brand New Car
Moon Is Up
Saint Of Me
Honky Tonk Women (with Sheryl Crow)
Band Introductions
You Got The Silver
Before They Make Me Run
Route 66
You Got Me Rocking
Tumbling Dice
Brown Sugar
Jumpin’ Jack Flash
2CD:
Disc 1:
Shattered
It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It)
Respectable
All Down The Line
Some Girls
Melody
I Got The Blues
Brand New Car
Moon Is Up
Disc 2:
Saint Of Me
Honky Tonk Women (with Sheryl Crow)
Band Introductions
You Got The Silver
Before They Make Me Run
Route 66
You Got Me Rocking
Tumbling Dice
Brown Sugar
Jumpin’ Jack Flash
MERCURY STUDIOS
Mercury Studios is a full-service production studio, focused on telling compelling stories through the lens of music.
Current and recent projects include Oscar and BAFTA award nominated American Symphony, directed by Matthew Heineman for the Obamas’ Higher Ground Productions/Netflix, If These Walls Could Sing, directed by Mary McCartney for Disney+, My Life as a Rolling Stone for the BBC and MGM+, Shania Twain: Not Just A Girl for Netflix, This Town, a six-part series for the BBC from writer, creator, and executive producer Steven Knight, Linda Perry: Let it Die Here, which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and the recently announced One to One: John & Yoko from Oscar and BAFTA award winning director, Kevin Macdonald.
Mercury Studios also produced Sam Smith: Live at the Royal Albert Hall for BBC, Billie Eilish’s Overheated at the O2 London and Lang Lang Plays Disney for Disney+.
Editorially independent, Mercury Studios is powered by Universal Music Group and represents the world’s leading catalog of music-related content, consisting of thousands of hours of premium music-driven film and television programming.
The Bootleg of Shepherd's Bush is also worth viewing
3)Manuel Garcia-Rulfo will return as series lead, Mickey Haller. Becki Newton (Lorna), Jazz Raycole (Izzy), and Angus Sampson (Cisco) are also among the line-up.
Netflix confirms The Lincoln Lawyer's fate after fan outcry
https://www.allmusic.com/album/going-public-mw0000109334
Going Public Review by Joe Viglione
"I Write the Songs" was covered by the Captain & Tennille both in English and Spanish, by David Cassidy, and, of course, hit big for Barry Manilow two years before the release of this solo disc by one of the Beach Boys. With Elton John alum Caleb Quaye on electric guitar, along with Richie Zito, Kathy Dragon on flute, the California Boys Choir, and a song each co-written with Brian Wilson and Rocket Records recording artist the Hudson Brothers, this outing does not have the star power of David Cassidy's The Higher They Climb, The Harder They Fall album from 1975, which was co-produced by Johnston; however, Johnston does much more with less. "I Write the Songs" is nice, but Manilow's voice and overproduction is what the song needed, and got. That said, having the songwriter's emotions on record is important, and the hit presence of the song doesn't disturb the seamless presentation here. Johnston, like Randy Edelman, Tim Moore, and other quality songwriters from the era, has a pleasant voice, which is very effective on "Disney Girls." "Rock and Roll Survivors," with references to being a "dried out troubadour," is more like "C&W Survivor" -- it sounds like a rocker in his sixties lamenting his former profession. Had Johnston made this a tip of the hat to Ricky Nelson, it might've worked, but as it stands, it's a pleasant country tune that sounds misrepresented in this pop setting. The Brian Wilson co-write "Deirdre" is sweet, and Beach Boys sounds do invade side one to good effect. "Don't Be Scared," on the other hand, is Johnston keeping within his vocal range and not taking many chances. Burton Cummings' "I'm Scared" was a little more effective with this theme, but the production is lush, and the tune does not offend. "Rendezvous" is very interesting. Co-written by the Hudson Brothers, one cannot ignore the fact that Brian Wilson producer Andy Paley co-wrote a song with the same title released on RCA's the Sidewinders' album five years prior. Paley would not produce Wilson until the '80s, but he's well-known within the Beach Boys/girl group/Phil Spector circles. "Pipeline" is a real strange one. Imagine Gamble & Huff re-working the Chantays' early-'60s hit. This sounds more like TSOP than "The Sound of Beach Boys," and is an interesting inside joke to end the album with. Overall, a good effort, and an indication that, perhaps, Johnston should re-record the vocals on David Cassidy's 1995 disc and release the two together on one CD. There is some really fine material on both records.
