Lindsay Brown

On November 22, 1981, in the middle of their mammoth American tour, the Rolling Stones arrived in Chicago prior to playing 3 nights at the Rosemont Horizon. Long influenced by the Chicago blues, the band paid a visit to Muddy Waters' club the Checkerboard Lounge to see the legendary bluesman perform. It didn't take long before Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, and Ian Stewart were joining in on stage and later Buddy Guy and Lefty Dizz also played their part. It was a unique occasion that was fortunately captured on camera. Now restored from the original footage and with sound mixed and mastered by Bob Clearmountain, this amazing blues night is being made available in an official release for the first time.

Lost for 50 years, these newly discovered concerts were filmed at the 1961 Antibes Jazz Festival in France and show Ray Charles in his prime period with the original Raeletts and his most legendary band (including David "Fathead" Newman and Hank Crawford). These first concerts he ever gave in Europe opened the door for Ray Charles to become one of the most revered international stars America has ever produced.

As part of their 1994/1995 Voodoo Lounge world tour, the Rolling Stones gave a handful of small-scale, stripped-down concerts in Europe as a kind of response to 'MTV Unplugged.' This show that took place on July 19, 1995 at the Brixton Academy in London, a venue with a capacity of about 5000, was the final of a total of four club shows. The other shows were held in Paris and Amsterdam, and all of them were recorded for a forthcoming album, which was eventually named 'Stripped' and released on November 13, 1995. Two songs from the London show made it on the album, namely "Dead Flowers" and the Bob Dylan-penned "Like a Rolling Stone," with the latter also being released as the lead single off the album. "Black Limousine" and "Live with Me" from this show were chosen as the B-sides for the singles "Like a Rolling Stone" and "Wild Horses," respectively. The full Brixton Academy concert was released on DVD and SD Blu-ray as part of the 'Totally Stripped' deluxe boxed set on June 3, 2016.

In November of 1995, the Rolling Stones released the acclaimed album 'Stripped,' their second release on the Virgin Records label after 1994's 'Voodoo Lounge.' The concept for 'Stripped,' a studio/live hybrid album with stripped-down instrumentation, was conceived as a kind of response to 'MTV Unplugged' while the band was on their big-scale 1994/1995 world tour in support of 'Voodoo Lounge.' A total of four stripped-down concerts were held at small venues in Amsterdam, Paris and London, and recorded for the album 'Stripped.' The concert that was released under the title "Live from Paris 1995" on DVD and SD Blu-ray as part of the 2016 'Totally Stripped' deluxe boxed set took place on July 3, 1995 at the Paris Olympia, a venue with a capacity of about 2000. Three songs from this intimate concert were included on the original 'Stripped' album, namely "Shine a Light," "Let It Bleed" and "Angie."

This 99-minute concert, which was recorded at the world-famous Paradiso in Amsterdam on May 26, 1995, captures the Rolling Stones in top form playing a strong 20-song set to a high-spirited audience. This was the first of four small-scale club shows that the band held on the European leg of their big-scale 1994/1995 'Voodo Lounge' world tour. These shows can be seen as a kind of response to 'MTV Unplugged' with the band playing rawer, stripped-down and sometimes unplugged versions of their well-known hits as well as rare songs. The Paradiso set list includes a number of rarities from the Rolling Stones' extensive back catalogue that are performed only seldom, including "It's All Over Now," "The Spider and the Fly," "Shine a Light" and "Respectable." The final song from this show, "Street Fighting Man," was used as the opening track on the band's 1995 album 'Stripped.' The full concert was released on DVD and SD Blu-ray as part of the 'Totally Stripped' deluxe boxed set on June 3, 2016.