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‘The Rolling Stones: All 6 Ed Sullivan Shows'

Published: November 4, 2011

“The Ed Sullivan Show Starring The Rolling Stones” Deluxe Edition

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On the night of Oct. 25, 1964, we had to sit through commercials for Pillsbury cake mix and Sweet 10 sweetener, performances by standup comic London Lee and Israeli violinist Itzhak Perlman, more ads for Pillsbury turnover pastries and dinner rolls, more standup comedy from Stiller and Meara (Ben Stiller's parents), a one-legged tap dancer named Peg-Leg Bates, a segment in which Ed Sullivan presented the actual bugle blown during the Charge of the Light Brigade to the 17th/21st Lancers and British actor Laurence Harvey read the Tennyson poem commemorating the charge, and a spot for Dove soap before Sullivan finally introduced the Rolling Stones for the first time “right here on our stage.”

That's why they called them variety shows, but thank goodness the variety of Sullivan's program included the vanguard of the British Invasion. First he brought us the everlasting pride of Liverpool, then the blues-rocking bad boys of London, and things have never been the same in popular music. Suffering through all those acts and ads was worth it for us rock 'n' roll kids on that historic night, but the great thing about the Deluxe Collectors' Edition of “The Rolling Stones: All 6 Ed Sullivan Shows” is that you can skip over all that other stuff and watch the Stones' Sullivan debut in glorious black and white, as a young Mick Jagger jacklegs around the microphone to the reeling, rocking beat of Chuck Berry's “Around and Around” while Keith Richards and Brian Jones' interlocking rhythms and riffs drive the train. Then they're back in the second half of the show with their Top 10-er “Time is on My Side” and the little girls' screams almost drown them out.

The band returns on Feb. 13, 1965, with a Jagger-Richards original, “The Last Time,” an edgy rendition of Willie Dixon's “Little Red Rooster,” a rousing cover of Solomon Burke's “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love” and a rare performance of their own instrumental tribute to Chess Records, “2120 South Michigan Avenue.”

When they return on Feb. 13, 1966, they're in vivid color as CBS can finally use the technology that NBC had monopolized for years, and they open with one of their biggest smash hits, “(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction,” followed by a poignant acoustic duet featuring only Jagger and Richards on “As Tears Go By” and a manic workout on “19th Nervous Breakdown.”

Their Sept. 11, 1966, appearance features treatments of “Paint It Black” and “Lady Jane” with Jones lending sitar accompaniment on the former and dulcimer on the latter, ending with the attitude-laden “Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadows?”

The Jan. 15, 1967, show marks Jones' last appearance on Sullivan and features the altered “Let's Spend the Night Together,” which censors insisted be changed to “Let's Spend Some Time Together,” causing Jagger to roll his eyes sarcastically during the performance. They also offered up “Ruby Tuesday” on the episode.

The Stones final Sullivan appearance on Nov. 23, 1969, introduced newest member Mick Taylor on guitar during the tumultuous “Gimme Shelter,” a melancholy cover of Robert Johnson's blues classic “Love in Vain” and a raucous reading of “Honky Tonk Women.”

Also included in the deluxe set is a replica of a 1966 ticket to the show, a booklet full of photos, rare documents and liner notes by Greil Marcus, and if the variety aspect appeals to you, Tom Jones singing “Whatcha Gonna Do When Your Baby Leaves You,” Louis Armstrong performing “Cabaret,” Petula Clark lilting through “Elusive Butterfly” and “Color My World,” standup by Robert Klein and Rodney Dangerfield, Jim Henson's Muppets and Ella Fitzgerald performing “You'd Better Love Me” and “Open Your Window,” are all acts worth catching. The dated commercials are a hoot as well.

— Gene Triplett

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