Why 'Love in Vain' on Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! Came From Baltimore, Not Madison Square Garden

The short answer: technical problems. At the November 27, 1969 Madison Square Garden show, the band’s tape recorder malfunctioned during “Love in Vain,” leaving them without a usable recording of Mick Jagger’s vocal track. Producer Glyn Johns had to pull a performance from the previous night’s show in Baltimore instead (November 26, 1969, at the Civic Center).

The source is a 4-track live recording made by the Rolling Stones’ mobile studio truck. Yes, the same truck that later recorded Exile on Main St. was already being used to capture live shows. The Baltimore tape had clean vocals, so Johns edited it into the MSG set for the album. But if you listen closely, you can hear the crowd ambience shift — the Baltimore audience is slightly less raucous than the Garden crowd. It’s one of those tiny seams that make the “live album” artifact fascinating.