Flashpoint is a live album by the English rock band The Rolling Stones, their first since 1982's Still Life. Compiled from performances on the Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour by Chris Kimsey with the assistance of Chris Potter, it was released in 1991. Steel Wheels Live (2020) includes a complete 1989 concert along with a selection of live rarities. The tour and the two studio tracks recorded for Flashpoint were the last for bassist and long-time member Bill Wyman as a Rolling Stone.

History

Recorded across North America, Europe and Japan, Flashpoint is also the first Rolling Stones release of the 1990s and, unlike previous live sets, includes two new studio tracks. "Highwire" had been released as a single earlier in 1991 and was a comment on the Gulf War. "Sex Drive" was described by Chris Jagger - Mick's brother - as "basically a dance-track", and got a release in July of that year as the third and last single from the album. Although the live selections are mostly familiar hits mixed in with new tracks from Steel Wheels, Flashpoint also includes lesser-known songs like "Factory Girl" from 1968's Beggars Banquet and "Little Red Rooster", originally a No. 1 UK hit single in 1964, featured here with special guest Eric Clapton on guitar. According to Chris Jagger, some of the backing vocals were re-recorded and Ron Wood added guitar to three tracks afterwards. Flashpoint was recorded using binaural recording. This gives the effect that the concert audience is behind the home listener. A snippet was taken from the band's 1970 live album Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!, where a fan shouts: "'Paint It Black', 'Paint It Black', you devil". It is audible between "Ruby Tuesday" and "You Can't Always Get What You Want".

Bill Wyman's departure

As Flashpoint was The Rolling Stones' final release under their contract with Sony Music, the band signed a new lucrative long-term worldwide deal with Virgin Records in 1991, with the exception of Bill Wyman. After 30 years with the band, the 55-year-old Wyman decided that he had other interests he wanted to pursue and felt that, considering the size of the recently completed Steel Wheels project and tour, it was fitting to bow out at that time. Although he would not officially announce his departure until January 1993 – during the interim the rest of the band had repeatedly asked him to reconsider – he had talked about leaving the band for at least ten years. After Wyman's departure, Ronnie Wood was taken off salary and made a full member of the Rolling Stones partnership, eighteen years after he joined the band.

Release

Flashpoint was released in late March 1991 and was generally well-received, with "Highwire" becoming a rock radio hit, and managed to reach No. 6 in the UK and No. 16 in the US, where it went gold. In 1998, Flashpoint was remastered and reissued by Virgin Records, and again in 2010 by Universal Music.

Track listing

All tracks written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, except where noted.

CD

"Rock and a Hard Place" and "Can't Be Seen", were not included on the vinyl version.

Cassette Tape

Side one Side two

Other songs/B-sides and charity single

The following songs were recorded during the same set of concerts and later released as B-sides: All tracks besides "Gimme Shelter" released in 1990.

Personnel

The Rolling Stones Additional personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications