Artist: Rolling Stones, The
Label: Universal Music Group
Release: 2005
For many, The Rolling Stones are the greatest rock’n’roll band of all time, which I personally don’t agree with, since it seems to me their career had too many bad moments and a lot of music that’s not even close to rock’n’roll, but let’s leave that aside. After all, everyone says Elvis is the King of rock’n’roll too, and yet he probably recorded the fewest rock’n’roll songs of anyone in his life.
The Rolling Stones, the British band that at the start of their career was seen as the counterweight to the well-behaved The Beatles, and that gave music history one of its best songwriting duos – Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Those two, along with drummer Charlie Watts, are the only original members of The Rolling Stones, who released their debut England’s Newest Hit Makers in 1964.
Besides those three, the lineup also had Brian Jones and Bill Wyman, and for many that was the only real, rock’n’roll lineup of The Rolling Stones. In 1969, while recording Let it bleed, Jones got kicked out of the band and Mick Taylor came in to replace him, sticking around until 1975, when Ron Wood took over. In 1993 Bill Wyman left the band too, and even though the excellent jazz bassist Darryl Jones has worked with the Stones the whole time since, he never became a full member. Neither did the excellent pianist Chuck Leavell, who has been backing the band on stage and in the studio for years now.
We’ve mentioned the first record – England’s Newest Hit Makers – and the last one you probably all know – Bridges to Babylon from 1997. Of course, we’re talking about the last studio album, because in recent years the Stones have been regularly putting out greatest-hits collections, live recordings, unreleased tracks and reissues of old albums. And of course raking it in with farewell tours.
Many reckon Tattoo You from 1981 was their last truly good record, even though there had already been a few botched live attempts in between. Well, after two live albums and then Undercover in 1983, most people think the Stones stay stuck in gray mediocrity and just recycle old hits.
Those of you who are better informed know, of course, that Forty Licks has already come out, two years ago, for the band’s fortieth anniversary, even though they first played back in 1962 in a different lineup (still with Ian Stewart on piano, who, just like the others, was never an official member either) than the officially original one.
Anyway, the first disc serves up songs created up to the end of the sixties, still with Jones in the band, and which still make up the iron repertoire of their live shows today. The exception is Wild Horses from 1971, and Jones was no longer around for Honky Tonk Women either, while a colorful cover of Sympathy for the Devil (alongside the original) comes courtesy of The Neptunes. Too bad they didn’t use the one by Laibach?!
The second disc is already a bit more musically varied, with songs from the early seventies all the way to the present day, including four new tracks – the very bluesy Don’t Stop, the slow and slightly boring Keys to your love, the more interesting again Stealing my heart and, to close, the acoustic and veeeery boring Losing my touch, where Keith sings for a change.
The Rolling Stones have plenty of other songs from their golden era up to the end of the seventies in their treasure chest that could easily have made it onto this second disc, or that you can hear on, say, the triple release The best of London years, which I like much more.
Otherwise, it’s definitely an interesting and instructive overview and a peek into the rich history of one of the best rock’n’roll bands of all time. And let’s leave all the rumors and insinuations aside and just enjoy the music.
Track list
CD 1.:
1. Street Fighting Man
2. Gimme Shelter
3. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
4. The Last Time
5. Jumpin Jack Flash
6. You Cant Always Get What You Want
7. 19th Nervous Breakdown
8. Under My Thumb
9. Not Fade Away
10. Have You Seen Your Mother Baby
11. Sympathy For The Devil
12. Mothers Little helper
13. She’s A Rainbow
14. Get Off Of My Cloud
15. Wild Horses
16. Ruby Tuesday
17. Paint It Black
18. Honky Tonk Women
19. Its All Over Now
20. Lets Spend The Night Together
CD 2.:
1. Start Me Up
2. Brown Sugar
3. Miss You
4. Beast Of Burden
5. Don’t Stop
6. Happy
7. Angie
8. You Got Me Rocking
9. Shattered
10. Fool To Cry
11. Love Is So Strong
12. Mixed Emotions
13. Keys To Your Love
14. Anybody Seen My Baby
15. Stealing My Heart
16. Tumbling Dice
17. Undercover Of The Night
18. Emotional Rescue
19. Its Only Rock & Roll
20. Losing My Touch
