Review: The Rolling Stones' 'El Mocambo 1977'

The Rolling Stones' most creative and vital period was well behind them by 1977. While young punk bands picked up the torch, the Stones settled into their role as a hardworking, reliable, arena rock band, and quite comfortably at that. Fans could expect a few manufactured thrills in Jagger's carefully composed off-color remarks into the mic and the fact that Keith Richards was still somehow standing, but they mostly received rote, overly mannered performances of safe warhorses like "Honky Tonky Women" and "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and limp recent numbers like "Fool to Cry" and "Hot Stuff". What could you expect from a band that had spent the past eight years playing to vast audiences that probably looked more like pink pinpricks awash in darkness than human beings from the distance of the stage? 

Playing a relatively small club gig was an odd choice for the world's biggest band, but it was a good one. After playing gigs at stadiums like Maple Leaf Gardens, the Stones stopped in at the El Mocambo Club in Toronto. Granted, no one is going to mistake the band mildly chugging through "Route 66" in '77 for the cro-mags who rampaged through it in '65, "Fool to Cry" was just as drippy as ever, and Jagger still sang like his mouth was stuffed with rubber erasers, but the Stones did sound more electrified at the El Mocambo gig than they did at the big shows preceding it. There was some evidence on 1977's Love You Live LP, which included a single side of blues, Berry, and Bo covers from the club gig and three sides testifying to the monotonousness of the stadium shows. At just four tracks the El Mocambo side was a tease, and fans of this period longed for the full gig's release.

45 years later, here it is. The complete, 23-song El Mocambo set is being released on CD and limited-edition neon-colored and black vinyl (I received the black vinyl edition for review), and El Mocambo 1977 is certainly a more appealing affair than Love You Live. Jagger even undercuts the smarm of "Fool to Cry" with a sincere-sounding, impromptu laugh (well, it sounds impromptu... you can never be sure with that guy). Assumptions that this is some sort of holy grail of ferocity and virility will be dashed, but it's still a solid set of Stones songs with occasional surprises such as those blues obscurities (most of which had been on Love You Live, but "Route 66" and a pretty good rendition of Big Maceo's "Worried Life Blues" are exclusive to El Mocambo 1977), a nice version of "Luxury" that's more rock than reggae, and an extended "Worried About You", which would be one of the very best tracks on Tattoo You four years later, that's almost worth the admission price alone. Bob Clearmountain's mastering is dynamic, clear, and detailed.