The Rolling Stones from the Vault: Hyde Park Live 1969

On July 5, 1969, the Rolling Stones performed a free concert in Hyde Park before an estimated audience of between a quarter and a half million people. Filmed for TV as The Stones in the Park, this hour-shy program is as much ersatz ethnographic study as it is a concert. A fair amount of the footage centers on the audience and other park visitors, while the rest is almost exclusively focused on lead singer Mick Jagger, who also reads an excerpt from Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem “Adonais” as a tribute to Stones guitarist Brian Jones, found dead two days earlier. The Stones had not performed live for two years and guitarist Mick Taylor was making his debut, joining lead guitarist Keith Richards, bassist Bill Wyman, and drummer Charlie Watts. Musically, this was not the Stones' finest hour. Most of the songs suffer from decidedly out-of-tune guitar work, and only eight of the 14 from the set are featured here (and sometimes interrupted by interview clips of a spacey Jagger), including “Midnight Rambler,” “(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction,” “Jumpin' Jack Flash,” “Honky Tonk Women,” and “I'm Free,” as well as the covers “Love in Vain” and “I'm Yours & I'm Hers” (the latter for Jones). While the 18-minute version of “Sympathy for the Devil” with African percussionists is definitely a highlight, this is disappointing, overall. Presented in DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 and stereo on DVD, and DTS-HD 5.1 and LPCM stereo on Blu-ray, this is for Stones completists only. A much better choice would be the Stones' triumphant 2013 return to Hyde Park, The Rolling Stones: Sweet Summer Sun—Hyde Park Live (VL-1/14). [Note: Rolling Stones from the Vault: The Marquee Club Live in 1971 is also newly available with an accompanying CD on both DVD and Blu-ray.] An optional purchase. (R. Pitman)