Now that the Beatles remasters are out and are pretty much definitive, I think it's time for me to obsess over Rolling Stones releases.

Does anyone have any insight into which releases are the best? And what's this crap about the 2009 Goats Head Soup from the boxset being uncensored while the individual retail release is censored?

I posted the same thread over at AtEase. Consider this a competition

That batch of CD reissues of the ABKCO albums seemed pretty definitive. The ones from early in the '00s.

For the 70s and later albums, I think they're all about equal (never really heard anything too positive about the original Stones CDs in comparison to the later ones), just stay away from the 2009 remasters. Paves is OTM about the 60s stuff.

There were 2009 remasters?

Yeah. From Sticky Fingers up until Flashpoint I believe. They don't sound absolutely terrible but they're inferior to the ones that came before, just a little bit too loud.

does that mean they're gonna fuck up the re-re-release and re-remaster of exile on main street when it comes out this year?

hope not, seeing as it's one release i think the supa-dupa version thereof might be worth the hard-earned.

The Mick Taylor period is considered their great run, Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main Street. My favorite being Beggar's Banquet. One can't ignore their work prior though (with Brian Jones), but as with much of the sixties music, it was a bit more of a singles era.

How do you define definitive? They don't sound as good as the vinyl releases.

original pressing vinyl

The OP is asking about which CD/vinyl issues are preferable, not which recordings we think are the Stones' finest works. fyi.

Seems funny to use an album that Mick Taylor doesn't play on (Beggars Banquet) as an example of "the Mick Taylor period" when he does in fact play on two other albums post Exile that are not part of the run in question. Although, it is a fantastic run, yes.

anyone know about these crazy German/Japanese versions? I don't know why I ran across it, but all I've heard is the (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction.

from wiki:

Like most of the Stones' pre-1966 recordings, "Satisfaction" was originally released in mono only. In the mid-1980s, a true stereo version of the song was released on German and Japanese editions of the CD reissue of Hot Rocks 1964-1971. The stereo mix features a piano (played by session player Jack Nitzsche) and acoustic guitar that are barely audible in the original mono release (both instruments are also audible on a bootleg recording of the instrumental track).


I've been meaning to get the whole version of Hot Rocks, but only heard Satisfaction so far. Pretty interesting.

theres a weird mix of Satisfaction i keep hearing on The Drive. The vocals get a crappy delay treatment during the "hey hey hey" parts. anyone know where and who this came from? i (and the entire world) know the mono mix as well as the original stereo mix. tried searching youtube for this mysterious mix but no luck.

for what it's worth, get the 1994 virgin CD reissues of the 70s/80s albums. i bought those when they came out and to me they were the best sounding Rolling Stones CDs i ever heard outside of vinyl.

I agree with this. The 2002s are a huge improvement over the '80s CDs.

There's a ton of info to geek out on at this site, including that deal with the weird stereo "Satisfaction".


Most of the Hoffman board agrees with this, with the old CBS versions coming in second (yes, they had a poll on the subject).

I know there is also a ton of unreleased stuff out there...they need to do some kind of Anthology release soon.

Two screw ups on my part.
I know full well that Beggar's was Brian...shit...I watch Rock And Roll Circus every few months. Don't know why I always lump that album in with the Taylor run. Other than the album kind of signaled their direction shift.

As far as which pressings sound best...yeah...Sid mentioned Hoffman forum...right up their alley. I support the ABCO SACD hybrids from 2002. They sound awesome, especially in SACD. Only problem is that as with many SACD's prices are going through the roof.

You know what is a fantastic The Rolling Stones album that does not get discussed around here much?



Their Satanic Majesties Request

Great album. Lots of underappreciated songs.

I especially enjoy "In Another Land" and "The Lantern." And "2000 Man" is pretty sick.

"Citadel" is where I crank it up.

BTW - there's a new rip of the original US mono version of that LP floating around the interweb. It sounds pretty goddamn PUNCHY.

My interest in Their Satanic Majesties Request (and subsequent re-evaluation of The Rolling Stones' catalog) was director Wes Anderson's use of "2000 Man" in Bottle Rocket.

I'm a huge fan of the UK Between The Buttons. A number of fantastic lesser known tracks on there.

Sissy pop era Stones doesn't get much better than "Back Street Girl," one of my favorite Stones songs. Listening to a stereo mix of it on headphones and the hard panning is driving me nuts but the song is great.

I purchased Between the Buttons on vinyl off eBay a few months ago for $3. Some dude was selling all his dead grandma's vinyl and the Stones' stuff was ridiculously cheap. Most were selling in the $3-$10 range.

oh dear: new vox, percussion and guitar added to the 10 bonus tracks on the deluxo edition of exile on main street.

keef says: "I didn't want to interfere with the Bible, you know? They still had that great basement sound."

hm. methinks adding 2010 vocals, guitar and percussion to tracks recorded in 72 is not the greatest of ideas. i'd rather hear the bare-bones versions of these songs, even if they're just instrumental demos without these elements included.

out may 17.

loving cup is pretty much perfect wonder what they are referring to when they say alternate versions. if it's just them working the song ala exile outtakes, that's cool, but i don't wanna hear an updated, re produced version. definitely have interest in the doc so long as it's not cocksucker blues with another name.

uh, yeah, this thread is great and should be 1000 pages long. all posts are correct.

i had a bourbon at a bar w/ amigos tonight and i started lamenting about the last quarter of 2006 when all i did was drink bourbon, listen to the stones and lament my being dumped by the lady i'd been with throughout the year, cause i was drinking bourbon (not cause the stones were one) t'was awesome.

subtext: who gives a shit.


also, i'm reading the 33 1/3 book on exile on main street right now.


still pretty much the best band ever. i wrote the blurb about them in in the top 300 artists countdown and they placed like 14th or something. seriously, wtf.

good timing on the subject. i recently dug out some discs that were sent my way a couple years back because i got an itch. the live version of "Route 66" on "December's Children (And Everybody's)" kicks so much ass. that whole record is good, but something about that song sounds ahead of its time in how much of a jam it is.

how's the "Emotional Rescue" album? i haven't heard too much about it ~ nothing great about it ~ but i absolutely love the song "She's So Cold" ~ it's just so ridiculous. i might have heard the song 10 times (or less) in my life, but of all the Stone songs, that's the one that will come out of my mouth at the weirdest times.

i've heard from a number of sources that there's an amazing (acoustic?) version of the song "All Down The Line" that beats the tar out of the released version. (one of you has to have that, right?)

i'm wondering what would be the more prudent route to go next: the London Years Singles box set, or just start from the beginning and work forward. any ideas? (i've already got Beggars thru Exile, so, i know...)

"Emotional Rescue" remains my favorite of the Ronnie Years. There's a few bad moments, but "Let Me Go", "All About You", "Dance" are great tunes. I even dig the title track.

Emotional Rescue is pretty underrated.

Sid, you like Emotional Rescue more then Some Girls??

Maybe it's because Emotional Rescue is mostly outtakes. It seems more off-the-cuff, less self-conscious than Some Girls. There's more variation to it, more humor.

And it contains songs that I haven't heard ten thousand times on WXRT.

...howz bout "Send Her to Me"...only Mick can sing " she might be Hungarian...she might be Australian...she could be the Alien...Send her to me"

BLACK N BLUE

I hope they autotune it!

10 bonus tracks from Exile would be amazing to hear. -- The best news I've heard so far regarding the bonus tracks is that it's likely that Mick Taylor has been brought back to contribute to these tracks. -- as Keith says "I didn't want to interfere with the Bible", but if parts of these tracks are a bit too bare bones -- I'm really glad that Mr. Taylor is helping to flesh them out a bit.

It's not 100 percent certain he's been brought back to work on these, but the new issue of Rolling Stone says that the rumor that Taylor will work on the tracks is not being denied by the Stones people -- I think it was Don Was who spoke about it.

been listening to the brussels 73 boot since a friend recommended it.

freaking incredible.

ha. nice. been on a bit of a stones boots kick myself lately. been taking in the feb 27th show at the royal randwick racecourse boot from '73. have a handful of boots from that era and every version of midnight rambler rivals the ya yas version.
if you don't have it, also look for the el mocambo '77 boot. worried about you is played for almost eight minutes.

..."Hand of Fate"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That would be great if they really did bring Taylor back to work on these.

Now all they have to do is to announce that Wood is going to "retire" and bring Taylor back in the band. I might be tempted to go see that line up of the Stones.
I can dream, can't I?

For anyone interested in getting into the Stones for the first time , or just knowing some songs past the obvious hits theres a great primer on the avclub website ( also check out the primers on neil young , elvis costello , the kinks , bruce springsteen and prince)
basically anything between there debut and some girls is untouchable awesome

the stones are up there on my list of bands i'd love to erase all over-saturated playtime from my memory and here like theyre new
it would be a amazing experience ( see also : The Beatles , Pink Floyd , Led Zep)

I can't help but think what direction the Stones would've gone in if Brian Jones stayed in the band. Jones may have been too fucked up by the time of Beggars Banquet, but when he was in okay shape he was the Stones' de facto multi-instrumentalist.

Interesting thought, but I can't in 1,000,000 years imagine it would be better than where they did go without him...

thats 100000% OTM.

this band didn't really blast off until Brian Jones croaked.

Reading that just gave me a big boner.

i hope we get a Stones tour this year.

I really like this release:



I picked this up a couple of years ago, and it feel like all of the Stones I'll ever need.

That is a great compilation, and an excellent starting point for exploring their '60s period


but it's only scratching the surface

i've been listening to the rolling stones quite a bit lately and have prepared the following after many repeated listens of sympathy for the devil on my headphones



why sympathy for the devil is a perfect song

*the way the percussion tracks enter one by one
*the moment when the "woo woo" backing vocals enter
*the fact that the lyrics are written as a first-person narrative from the point of view of lucifer
*the bass line
*the piano track
*the biting guitar tone
*the high pitched "what's my name" shrieks
*the way this song fully anticipates "looping" and does so without any electronic devices.

really, the bottom line is that the "woo woo" backing vocals and the percussion tracks make this song a cut above most. without those things it really is just another great rock n' roll song

true story, i was at a photos session yesterday with slash and we bonded over the stones

First outtake from that "Exile" remaster...super Faces vibe to my ears:

i was coming here to post that. good song.

"outtake." ha.