It’s amazing how often our own self-perception is grossly mis-matched with the perceptions of others. Usually, it is because we are in denial about a problem (drinking too much, for example) or our appearance (Heidy refers to this as the ‘man mirror’, when a guy still sees his 30 year-old self when in actuality his body is more like his actual age).

In 1968, the Rolling Stones reversed the trend, and saw themselves as much worse than they actually were. “The Rolling Stones’ Rock and Roll Circus” was an extraordinarily entertaining event, and the band performed quite admirably, but they ultimately made the decision to shelve the final product, and it remained unseen for 25 years.

Perhaps it was due to the fact that the band itself was teetering on the brink of its existence, due mostly to the mental collapse of Brian Jones. Maybe they felt too much competition from the invited guests such as the Who and the Dirty Mac (John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Mitch Mitchell and Keith Richards), who performed incredibly well. Most likely, though, it was due to exhaustion and the false perception that things had gone array. The experience of filming was incredibly tedious, causing boredom instead of excitement among audience members, compounded by discomfort between the rock stars and circus performers.

For all of these reasons, the Stones considered the entire project to be bust – yet another failed film project in a seemingly endless series of failed film projects for the band – but seeing it today, it’s not immediately clear what the problem was. The Stones perform some of their most well known material, and they both look and sound great, so why the fuss? Well, besides the production gaffes that made the experience so tedious, you should keep in mind that songs like “Jumping Jack Flash” and “Sympathy for the Devil” were brand new and did not have ‘classic’ status yet.

As far as the band knew, these songs could have failed commercially, especially with so much going wrong for them. Seen today, though, this may represent be the best live recording of either tune. Also featured is a brand new as-yet unreleased song called “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”, a killer “Parachute Woman” and in retrospect, a heart-crushing performance of “No Expectations”, featuring Brian Jones performing live for the very last time.

What a difference a few decades can make. Featured tracks include;

1) Jumping Jack Flash

2) Parachute Woman

3) No Expectations

4) You Can’t Always Get What You Want

5) Sympathy for the Devil

6) Salt of the Earth

Also included are:

7) Memo from Turner

8) Natural Magic

9) Honky Tonk Women (w/o Mick Taylor

10) Honky Tonk Women (single version)

11) The Wild Colonial Boy (Mick Jagger)