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The Rolling Stones-SUMMER RERUNS 2-LP set (Berkeley bootleg)

This ain't the original TMOQ issue but a knockoff from onetime competitor Berkeley, who thankfully did not reissue this in one of their cheap foldout covers but with an exact repro of the original William Stout-rendered artwork! That's probably the only reason why I even bothered to pick this 'un up in the first place since I've had the early-eighties Beacon Island version (that one had a stock color cover snap of Jagger playing guitar) ever since it was issued way back when. And hey, it is great to once again enjoy bootleg great Stout's always hilarious Mick Jagger renditions as well as the rather funny TEE-VEE GUIDE spoof that also serves as the track listings (click the up close image on the bottom for a good guffaw and maybe a chortle or two!) that has me drooling up a storm just like it did way back when I first espired this in the bootleg racks and was so laughed out that I even called Jillery over to take a look at it (she was nonplussed as usual)!

Your exposure to mop top rock & roll may have been the radio but for me it was tee-vee front and center. That's probably why this album containing nothing but early Amerigan boob tube appearances has a whole lotta meaning for me...y'see, when I was a wee kid groups like the Stones were just about as part of the tee-vee landscape as GILLIGAN'S ISLAND and GOMER PYLE, and enjoying the Stones in this particular format sure makes those decadents look a whole lot brighter than their usual rock star image would have them. After all, hearing them in a television context makes me associate 'em more with Mr. Green Jeans than it does Marianne Faithful which might be all the better as time marches on.

Sound quality ain't as good as the Beacon Island variation, a bit flat and distant AM-sounding, but I like it because it does represent a good 1960 b&w Philco sorta cheesiness. Y'know, the kinda set with the rabbit ears on top that were held together with cellophane tape you used to see at your Aunt Petunia's complete with a stack of ancient BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS in the magazine rack underneath. No song separation makes it hard to pick up the needle when necessary, but that may be no problem because it's fantab listening to the Stones as they appeared on your Amerigan tee-vee screens twixt the years 1964-1974 cranking out the hits and even misses complete with rousing introductions from Dean Martin (HOLLYWOOD PALACE), fuddy-duddy bore David Frost and of course that old putty-face himself Ed Sullivan. Kinda wish their appearance on RED SKELTON was included if only to hear the famed comedian make his crack about their hair being so long that they make the Beatles look like Yul Brynner!

Lotsa fun moments galore like the tape mangipulation censoring of "Satisfaction" not to mention the fambly-friendly versions of "Let's Spend Some Time Together" and "Honky Tonk Women" that I'm sure had a buncha 12-year-olds pestering each other saying "see, I told you it was dirty!" Of course we have to put up with a whole side taken from their DON KIRSHNER'S ROCK CONCERT appearance but hey, it's not like you have to listen to Jagger wrap his tonsils around "Angie" if you don't wanna! I guess the inclusion of these tracks will remind you of the dilemma you had about either watching this 'un or Johnny Carson schmoozing up to Buddy Hackett oh-so long ago.