The Rolling Stones Live

From the moment the opening three-chord slash of "Start Me Up" thwacks you upside the ears, and sends a jolt of energy from the pit of your stomach to your extremities, you know you're in for one of the greatest experiences in rock — the world's greatest band, doing it live. But this is no one-night stand. Oh, no. It's five decades of performances shaken into a 100-percent-proof fantasy-concert cocktail. Ladies and gents, we give you a killer version of "Jumpin' Jack Flash" recorded in Madison Square Garden, 1969, during the first American tour after the death of Brian Jones, who was replaced by Mick Taylor — check out Taylor's cultured, country-rockin' six-string interplay with Keith — and a 1976 Parisian rendition of "Tumbling Dice" that's straight-up formidable. The Stones pick up a wicked head of steam in Next Steps.

Forget current Keith's close physical resemblance to Old Father Time — the evidence of your ears will tell you that the 21st-century Stones are as sprightly as they ever were: 2004's Live Licks gave us a juiced-up rendition of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" as well as a 600-pound silverback manifestation of "Monkey Man" that cements the band's alpha role in rock's jungle, and a gorgeous, still-poignant delivery of "Angie" that unravels the years in an instant. And even though a couple of high notes wriggle free from Keith on "Connection", from 2008's Shine a Light (the soundtrack to Martin Scorsese's superb concert movie), there's no mistaking the power in the engine-room. You've heard them play their staples — let the Stones surprise you with their live Deep Cuts.

When the Stones crank up a monster like "Brown Sugar", a communal chorus with Mick is not just obligatory, it's spontaneous — the words have been soldered into our circuits, a battle cry uniting the faithful across generations. That said, there's a different kind of pleasure to be found in the details and inflections within the lesser-played live tracks: check out the stiletto keyboard stabs of Allman Brothers old boy Chuck Leavell underpinning the roadhouse wail of Howlin' Wolf and Willie Dixon's "Little Red Rooster", from 1991's Flashpoint. With 1963's "Fortune Teller", though, the Stones have slipped us a Mickey Finn — those girl-screams were overdubbed onto a studio recording. Naughty.

From the days of Got Live If You Want It! and the Rock and Roll Circus to the horror of Altamont in 1969, their 2006 Brazilian concert in front of 1.5 million supplicant souls, and the crowning 21st-century glory of Shine a Light, the Stones have paid for their reputation as a killer live act in blood, sweat, and tears. Some of the tracks here were, in the band's own estimation, a little wobbly — notably the . . . Circus songs, recorded in an atmosphere of exhaustion and equipment malfunction in 1968; others stand loud, proud, and immortal ("Honky Tonk Women", New York, '69). But that's the beauty of live rock — the rough stands cheek-by-jowl with the smooth. Here, we've woven the whole glorious, sweat-soaked shebang into a concert for the ages: a virtual fantasy gig megamix spanning five decades.