Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! The Rolling Stones In Concert [40th Anniversary Deluxe Box Set]

The DVD material is marginal, live versions of the bonus tracks plus offstage footage left out of the Maysles brothers' infamous documentary Gimme Shelter. Better is a B.B. King and Ike & Tina Turner audio disc, because the Stones were still in awe of their idols and every tour opened with blues legends you weren't otherwise likely to see.

This smart four-disc package commemorates the concert's 40th anniversary with a pristine remastered version of the original recording, five previously unreleased songs from the same show and an entire disc devoted to the fiery opening acts, B.B. King and Ike & Tina Turner.

The sound is sterling, Richards’ guitar soaring effortlessly over the nimble rhythm section work by bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts.

Now, by denigrating this Ya-Ya's reissue as a commodity and by questioning the album's canonization in general, I don't mean to imply this set doesn't cook. Even if it's not larded with 20-minute workouts, Ya-Ya's is manna for guitar freaks, thanks to the fiery interplay between the immortal Keith Richards and inarguably the greatest lead guitarist the Stones ever boasted, Mick Taylor.

Caveat emptor: for anyone thinking of shelling out $40-to-$60, be warned that the extra Stones material and the DVD are both less than 30 minutes in length. For Stones enthusiasts, this newly unearthed bounty is essential and price should be no object.

As a live document of The Rollling Stones in all their swaggering, arrogant pomp, Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out is damned near essential. [Jan 2010, p.131]

This three-disc remastered Ya-Ya's includes the original in all its gritty glory. Disc Two is a five-song EP from the same shows, with acoustic performances--"Prodigal Son" and "You Gotta Move"--from Richards (playing a resonator guitar) and Jagger. The third disc is an unexpected treat: blistering sets by openers B.B. King plus Ike and Tina Turner (doing an outrageously steamy take on Otis Redding's "I've Been Loving You Too Long").

The extra five Stones cuts earn their position as bonuses because they aren’t as good as the ones on the original LP. The DVD outtakes are just that, fleeting celebrity cameos or not....As for the opening acts, B.B. King’s five fine songs and Ike & Tina’s showbizzier seven represent neither act at their best--and besides, who buys a Rolling Stones box to hear them?

What still holds up is the low-end garage-rock throb of Mick Taylor and Keith's guitars with bassist Bill Wyman, and the idiosyncratic bite of Jagger's diction. But even Mick's attempts to offend (like changing the age of that stray cat from 15 to 13) make this special four-disc 40th-anniversary "deluxe" edition more historic document (and collectible!) than satisfying listen.

What Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! sounds most like is the 60s waning before your very ears. There are flashes of greatness, but the white-knuckle innovation of 1965-67 has audibly gone, replaced by complacent jamming.