Live at the El Mocambo

From Jagger's playful banter ("Everything alright in the critics' section?" he asks sardonically) to the band playing quite tightly around Charlie Watts, as he messes beautifully with time and space so that the Stones can transcend them both, the band innocently gave Toronto and the world something incredible to talk about for four decades and counting.

“Route 66” and “Mannish Boy” are just two of the blues-rooted tunes on which the Stones cut their teeth, but that only renders more impressive the relish and attendant polish with which they imbue them here. ... Scintillating.

The Stones often sound as if they're enjoying hunkering down on a smaller stage, giving enthusiastic performances that avoid sloppiness. It adds up to a gas, a record that belongs alongside Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! and Brussels Affair as among the best official live Stones albums.

Raggedly glorious covers of Muddy Waters’ “Mannish Boy” and Bo Diddley’s “Crackin’ Up” rate as major highlights along with the live debut of Tattoo You’s “Worried About You” and a blistering take on “Hot Stuff” that amply demonstrates the liberating effects of the band’s temporary escape from baseball stadiums and hippodromes. [Jul 2022, p.44]

Here's some blood and guts from Toronto in the prime-time 1970s. And it doesn't just sit there. [Jul 2022, p.101]

At its best, it’s a reasonable recap of their strengths kicked up a few notches for the small stage they hadn’t played in far too long with a tight band and generally stripped down (no horns, backing singers) lineup featuring then new guy Ron Wood. Those looking for “satisfaction” won’t hear that tune but will get gratification from the majority of this long sought-after audio document.

By and large, it lives up to the legend, or at least what anyone would have wanted it to be. The you-are-there ambience of what we’d already heard runs throughout the entire album, as does the same bravado and ferocity, whether the band is rolling out “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” for the hundredth time or a cover of bluesman Big Maceo’s “Worried Life Blues.”