The Rolling Stones are to release 14 re-mastered classic albums throughout 2009. This unique, limited edition collectors’ box set is released at the same time as the first 4 titles – Sticky Fingers, Goats Head Soup, It’s Only Rock’N Roll & Black And Blue and has space for the remaining titles – to be reissued through 2009.
The seventies was the decade when the Rolling Stones became known as the world’s greatest rock’n’roll band, a tag they thoroughly deserved and have yet to lose. They performed groundbreaking concerts in arenas and moved effortlessly into open-air stadiums. They stuck their collective tongue out at the British establishment and became citizens of the world. They made front page news wherever they went, from the French Riviera to Switzerland via the US and Canada. They set up their own label and made the most of their new-found artistic freedom. And, most importantly, they issued a series of definitive studio albums, on a par with the best work they had produced at the end of the sixties.
Sticky Fingers
Recorded at Muscle Shoals in Alabama, with the Rolling Stones mobile and at Olympic Studios in London, Sticky Fingers is an acknowledged masterpiece and rightly features on the list of Rolling Stone Magazine’s Greatest Albums Of All Time. It came housed in a controversial ‘zipper’ sleeve conceived by Andy Warhol – and topped the album charts on both sides of the Atlantic. The US number one single Brown Sugar has become the ultimate rock anthem but the riffy Bitch is just as intoxicating while the ballads Sister Morphine and Moonlight Mile are timeless classics . Sticky Fingers also provided rock fans with Can’t You Hear Me Knocking and Sway. The much-covered Wild Horses and Dead Flowers inaugurated a rich run of country-tinged material for the band. Keith Richards & Mick Jagger’s songwriting partnership had reached another level as this album was unveiled in 1971.
Black And Blue
The Rolling Stones went through the process of auditioning several guitarists, including Wayne Perkins and Harvey Mandel, who both guest on Black And Blue, the album which debuted at number one in the US in 1976. But Wood was always the favourite and duly joined Charlie Watts on the back of the gatefold sleeve. Recorded in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the US, Black And Blue features the wonderful ballads Fool To Cry and Memory Motel and some top notch riffing on Hand Of Fate and Crazy Mama. The irresistibly funky Hot Stuff became a club hit, a sign of things to come for a formidable band equally at ease with blues, rock, country, reggae or dance.
It’s Only Rock’n’Roll
Produced by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards under their Glimmer Twins guise, It’s Only Rock’n’Roll was another number one album in the US in 1974, and contains two hit singles, the title track and a great reworking of an old Motown favourite, The Temptations’ Ain’t Too Proud To Beg. Guy Peellaert’s fin de siècle sleeve beautifully captures the mood of the times. Mick Taylor ended his tenure with some wonderful guitar work on Time Waits For No One while his eventual replacement Ronnie Wood hosted the sessions for It’s Only Rock’n’Roll (But I Like It), a concert favourite to this day.
Goats Head Soup
Originally issued in 1973, Goats Head Soup was another Transatlantic chart-topper. Recording started at Byron Lee’s Dynamic Sound Studios in Kingston, Jamaica, in late 1972 and was completed in London and Los Angeles the following year. Packaged in another iconic sleeve shot by photographer David Bailey, it’s fondly remembered for the ballad Angie, a US number one, and the swear words on the raunchy closer Star Star. The ominous opener Dancing With Mr. D, the funky Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker) and the gorgeous Winter have been a tad overshadowed by the rest of the group’s mighty canon and are well worth rediscovering.
Disc 1
1. Hot Stuff
2. Hand Of Fate
3. Cherry Oh Baby
4. Memory Motel
5. Hey Negrita
6. Melody
7. Fool To Cry
8. Crazy Mama
Disc 2
1. If You Can’t Rock Me
2. Ain’t Too Proud To Beg
3. It’s Only Rock’n'Roll (But I Like It)
4. Till The Next Goodbye
5. Time Waits For No One
6. Luxury
7. Dance Little Sister
8. If You Really Want To Be My Friend
9. Short And Curlies
10. Fingerprint File
Disc 3
1. Dancing With Mr D
2. 100 Years Ago
3. Coming Down Again
4. Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
5. Angie Remastered
6. Silver Train
7. Hide Your Love
8. Winter
9. Can You Hear The Music
10. Star Star
Disc 4
1. Brown Sugar
2. Sway
3. Wild Horses
4. Can’t You Hear Me Knocking
5. You Gotta Move
6. Bitch Remastered
7. I Got The Blues
8. Sister Morphine
9. Dead Flowers
10. Moonlight Mile
Source: Universal Music
Although unconfirmed at this time, we understand that Exile On Main St will be getting the Deluxe treatment later in the year with unreleased goodies.
The second batch of Stones reissues will follow on June 8th and include: Some Girls(1978), Emotional Rescue (1980), Tattoo You (1981), and Undercover (1983).
The third and final set of reissues will be released on July 13th Dirty Work (1986),Steel Wheels (1989), Voodoo Lounge (1994) Bridges To Babylon (1997), and A Bigger Bang (2005)
Available for pre-order now
The Rolling Stones Boxset / Slipcase & 4 Albums
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Goats Head Soup by The Rolling Stones (Audio CD – 2009) – Original recording remastered
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Buy your copy at our store or buy it here
It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll [Original recording remastered]
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Buy your copy at our store or buy it here
Black and Blue [Original Recording Remastered] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]
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Buy your copy at our store or buy it here
Sticky Fingers [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]
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Buy your copy at our store or buy it here
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