Stones hit celluloid again

Press, 17 February 1983, Page 18

Stones hit celluloid again

NZPA New York What could be termed the follow-up to ‘Gimme Shelter,” the Rolling Stones first in-concert film, has just been released in the United States. As if a live album from the 1982 American tour (total gross; $75 million) was not enough, the film, “Let's Spend The Night Together,” gets more mileage from that tour, which broke all rock concert records.

Last week, Mick Jagger, now aged 39. spoke about the film. It is, he says, not part of his imagination.

"If I were tb do a film. I would like a lot more locations. and no reportage because I’m bored with it." he said. “I would have some interaction with other performers. and some kind of story line and production numbers and love and sexuality." But he's not disappointed with the effort and even got to sit in on the editing. “On screen you’re a third person.” he said. “In fact, everyone speaks of you in the third person while editing it. You are moved from one spot to another. But it takes a lot of viewing to get that way — that detached.” Jagger likes to play on the credulity of his listener, but he also knows when to get down to business. Right now his business is to promote “Let’s Spend The Night Together.” Jagger, whose group has sold more than 30 million albums in their 20-year career, put $2.75M into the film, which features 25 of the Stones songs as performed at the Sun Devil Stadium in

Tempe. Arizona, and the Meadowlands Brendan Byrne arena in East Rutherford,

New Jersey. And it shows Jagger doing what he does best: strutting.

stomping, singing, screaming and soaring. The songs in the film mirror the career of the rock world's most enduring group, from 1964 bluesy "Time Is On My Side." to the 1981 hit. “Start Me Up." Jagger also chose to look back on his career. He is a megastar who says he never dreamed of such lofty heights.

"I never thought of being famous. I just wanted to do music. When I started out. I just wanted to be a blues singer because that was the music we liked. "Suddenly, you are in there and. you are dragged around to every magazine for interviews. You don't think too much about yourself." he said.

"Regrets? Of course I have regrets.” Jagger says. “Anyone who says he has none is lying. It's good to look at other people's lives and avoid their mistakes and copy the things they do right."

He lives with one of the world's top models, Jerry Hall — in New York, France, and London. He has a cattle ranch, somewhere in the United States, and loves his French garden. If Jagger didn't perform, he is not sure what he would do.

“I don't think I'm that addicted to touring and performing,” he says. "It doesn't bother me one bit not to do it. Rock shows are one thing. But you should do others — a musical maybe. “Or, of course, I could just be lazy and do nothing.”