DVD Review: The Rolling Stones - Some Girls Live in Texas '78

During the mid ’70s, the Stones had lost much of their raunchy, charismatic zeal. They had released Goat’s Head Soup, It’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll, and Black and Blue—albums that were commercially successful, but tepidly received by critics who claimed the rockers had become stale and predictable compared to the punk and disco music that had taken over the airwaves. However, with 1978’s Some Girls—one of the Stone’s biggest-selling studio albums—and its resulting US tour, the band reconnected with their gritty, groovin’, and brash roots. Here again was the group that first swaggered out of London in the late ’60s and early ’70s, and the album’s songs and attitude restored the lads to their rightful place in rock ’n’ roll royalty. This rowdy energy powers the DVD and Blu-ray concert film Some Girls Live in Texas ’78.

The action starts with a burning cover of Chuck Berry’s “Let It Rock” and an equally overdriven rendition of Exile on Main St.’s “All Down the Line.” On the latter, Keith Richards uses a ’50s blonde Tele, although for most of the concert he relies on a black ’75 Telecaster Deluxe driving a Mesa/ Boogie Mark I. From there, Live in Texas offers up blistering takes on “Tumbling Dice,” “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” and “Star Star.” During the latter, Mick Jagger ad-libs “Jimmy Page is quite the rage, I couldn’t see the reason why.”

Key cuts include the stone-cold classic, “Beast of Burden,” a country-fried “Far Away Eyes” (with Ronnie Wood on lap steel), and a one-two combo of the phaserdriven, art-rock “Shattered” and punkmeets- Berry “Respectable.”

Picture quality isn’t great on Some Girls, and bonus features are pretty much limited to a 1978 appearance on Saturday Night Live, but the band’s raw talent and powerful musicianship more than make up for that. Yes, it’s only rock ’n’ roll, but we like it, yes we do.