The Rolling Stones – Four Flicks DVD – Mick Jagger, Lisa Fischer

The juggernaut four-disc set that is the Rolling Stones Four Flicks is taken from their unique three-in-one 2001 tour when they combined a stadium tour, an arena tour and a theatre tour into one 54-truck peregrination. It’s the kind of epic endeavour that brings to mind William Burroughs’ remark on Laurie Anderson’s Home of the Brave: “Y’know, I prefer to watch this kind of thing on TV. Tones it down.” Of the four discs, there’s one devoted to each of the three sets plus another of documentary footage which is every bit as entertaining as the concerts, with the chaps coming across as the bunch of lovable old monkeys they resemble these days. The track listings speak for itself, but there are quite a few nice insights into the way in which the band operates musically. Jagger’s voice is nowhere near as strong as it was, yet, like Miles Davis did when his chops began to desert him, he simply knits any shortcomings into his style of delivery. One side-effect of this, though, is that the more recent material, presumably written with this in mind, is much more effective here than the classics; “Brown Sugar”, for example, its lyrics now neutered to avoid giving offence, finds him resorting to all sorts of shortcuts. No matter, though, the Stones still put on an incomparable show. Keith “the Human Riff” Richards is in fact playing better now than he ever has. It’s well worth getting yer ya-yas out for. On the DVD: Four Flicks presents its material in such an integrated way that it’s hard to say where the main event ends and the extras begin. As well as the concerts, you get to see the band working with AC/DC, Sheryl Crow and various other associates, there’s a fun feature which allows you to zoom in on any individual member on a few tracks (revealing the secret of Charlie Watts’s propulsive drumming to the percussion-minded observer) plus a great deal more. –Roger Thomas