The "Licks" tour was the realized dream of all Stones-fans: three completely different shows (stadium, arena, club) at a time. One day the Hitprogramm (Brown Sugar, Satisfaction) at the stadium, the next day, the beads (Midnight Rambler, Can not You Hear Me Knocking) in the hall and a day later then unbelievable from the surprise box (Worried About You, Nearness Of You) in the small club. In each case more than two hours mind you. Who was able to experience that, for the Stones remain "the greatest rock'n'roll band on earth". What could have "Live Licks" for a great album are! Is it really places (Monkey Man, Street Fighting Man and When The Whip Comes Down are simply terrific). But the subsequent editing, cutting and shortening the often admittedly sprawling live versions would the Stones should ban the production team. Shortening whole song parts (Brown Sugar, Rocks Off) and solo parts (Honky Tonk Women) is carried out so carelessly and amateurishly that even the untrained listener suspect jumping the CD. "Rocks Off" has made it particularly badly: Set amidst the beautiful line "The Sunshine Bores The daylight out of me" the song jumps suddenly in the last chorus. That is something wrong here, would probably have even heard my grandmother. Probably the Stones have "Live Licks" not consulted prior to publication. The album does not interest them, and should only fulfill a contract with Virgin, because the next studio album was postponed until 2005.. Virgin, however, should be ashamed. In less than an hour run time per CD you could have saved the embarrassing cuts.
