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Rock/Pop | Cheat Sheet
December 6, 2012
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Going Deep With The Stones

Cheat Sheet: The Rolling Stones' Best Anthologies, Rarities and Live Albums

by Justin Farrar

A great deal of The Rolling Stones' legacy rests upon their studio albums. Indeed, most biographies, articles and documentaries tend to break up the group's career into chapters that correspond to their landmark records: Aftermath, Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main St., Some Girls and so on.

Yet get a load of these revealing sales figures: while the mighty Exile has pierced multiplatinum status (roughly 3,000,000 copies sold) since its release in 1972, the greatest-hits compilation Hot Rocks 1964–1971, released the year prior, has sold four times that number. It is the No. 1 biggest-selling title in the Stones' sprawling discography. These figures appear to say something slightly different: Yes, there are a lot of writers and critics out there who love the group for their classic albums, but when it comes to the fans (those down in the trenches, so to speak), they think of the Stones in terms of their hit singles and radio favorites, from "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and "Start Me Up" to "Brown Sugar" and "Jumping Jack Flash."

That said, Hot Rocks, as well as its sister release More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies), are far more than mere hits collections. Rather, they are immaculate productions whose programming offers valuable insight into the group's year-by-year evolution. You can actually hear, over the course of each of the albums' four sides, the Stones' wonderfully disheveled transformation from British Invasion upstarts to arena-rock gods.

The same can also be said of Singles Collection: The London Years, a true deep-dive listening experience that boasts myriad b-sides and U.K.-only releases that even hardcore fans in the States had rarely, if ever, heard before its release in 1989. Consequently, some of the very best tunes on Singles Collection were culled from the criminally overlooked Metamorphosis. Released in 1975, that rarities compilation contains a wealth of hidden gems, among them "Jiving Sister Fanny" and "I Don't Know Why," demos from the Let It Bleed sessions that are just as good and as anything that ultimately made it onto the record.

Last but not least, don't sleep on the Stones' myriad live albums, particularly their first two: Got LIVE If You Want It! and Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert. The former, released in 1966, is a real hoot. Garage-punk ragged, with several songs containing audience overdubs, it's a telling snapshot of the days when the Stones were shaggy teen idols as fawned-over as their rivals The Beatles. Ya-Ya's, on the other hand, dates from the group's demonic years (1968 to '73), and boils with a dark-matter energy that stood in stark contrast to the love beads and flower power that were then all the rage.

And now on to the World's Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band ...

Albums
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Got LIVE If You Want It!
The Rolling Stones
From the 1966 Aftermath tour, Got LIVE was the first of many live albums the Stones would release over the years. Quality-wise, it falls somewhere between the classic Ya-Ya's and the extraneous Still Life, but will be of interest to fans of the group's early 1960s period. That said, the band sounds hotter than hell, especially on the "new" ones.
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Flowers
The Rolling Stones
Released in 1967, Flowers was cobbled together from unreleased cuts and singles from albums like Aftermath and Between The Buttons. Although at the time critics were disappointed by the practice of repackaging material that already existed, who can blame the band for doing it when the results put a song like "Out Of Time" next to "My Girl."
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Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! The Rolling Stones In Concert
The Rolling Stones
Culled from the 1969 U.S. tour that ended in chaos, tragedy and a sea of frightened hippies at Altamont, Ya-Ya's is just one of the best live records there is. Starring new guitarist Mick Taylor and the ever-exciting Charlie Watts, the band runs through disgusting Chuck Berry covers, personal bests and odes to underage groupies that cannot be played loud enough. This 2009 re-issue of the album features previously unreleased material from opening acts B.B. King and Ike
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Performance
Various Artists
Fans of freaky '70s movies know Performance well. It was in constant art house rotation with Scorpio Rising, Annie Hall and Fellini films until video killed most college-town cinema collectives. Regardless of the movie, though, fans of classic rock need to get to know this long-out-of-print soundtrack. The best cuts include Keith Richards joining Mick Jagger, the film's star, on an original called "Memo from Turner" and Ry Cooder actually getting Randy Newman to kick out the blues rock jams. There is also much instrumental druggy creepiness and Buffy Sainte-Marie.
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Hot Rocks 1964-1971
The Rolling Stones
Hot Rocks is one of those albums that everyone has had in his or her collection at some point. It's got all the Stones' big hits on it, which is good. But if you have access to all the records -- which you do with RHAPSODY -- then you owe it to yourself to listen to them instead of some collection that doesn't include "Bitch," "Monkey Man" or "Flight 505" (to name a few).
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More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies)
The Rolling Stones
The group's second greatest hits collection focuses on the early years and gives people a second chance to hear mostly passed-over psychedelic gems like "Child Of The Moon." When the album was released in 1972, it was the first time U.S. fans got to hear the group's versions of "Fortune Teller" and "I Can't Be Satisfied."
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Metamorphosis
The Rolling Stones
The Stones' first (and only) compilation of outtakes is largely made up of demos recorded with an all-star cast of session musicians (like Jimmy Page and Nicky Hopkins). You also get more classic material with the brilliant "I Don't Know Why," the orchestrated "Out Of Time," and the stunning "Memo From Turner."
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Love You Live
The Rolling Stones
Sandwiched in between Black And Blue and Some Girls, this live record features the band at their arena-swollen fattest and laziest. Certainly of interest to fans of the band, but then, every Stones record is of interest to their fans. Love You Live will provide little entertainment to anyone who doesn't get off on just listening to the Stones.
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Sucking In The Seventies
The Rolling Stones
Sucking in the '70s is a weird collection of Stones songs: none of them were real hits and a few of them aren't exactly among the group's finest moments. Still, the first song is "Shattered" and, if anything, the album proves the Stones were better than all the rest even when they were (supposedly) sucking.
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Singles Collection: The London Years
The Rolling Stones
Singles Collection: The London Years is a 58-track document of Stones singles and B-sides from the band's very beginning into the early '70s. Unlike the group's other collections, this one offers a number of tracks that never really made it to radio. Also, if you've never heard the guitar solo in "I Wanna Be Your Man," you need to listen to it right now.
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Flashpoint
The Rolling Stones
More live Stones from the period that came about 20 years after their third wind. If you like the way Mick Jagger's voice sounds these days, and the way Keith's guitar sounds when it's being run through some electronic sanitizing device, then here you go. In a bizarre twist, the new songs actually sound better than the old ones.
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Stripped
The Rolling Stones
Anybody listening to this will be asked to show proof that they have heard the original versions of these great songs. As an intro to the Stones, Stripped is a harrowing, unapologetically digitized nightmare. As a document of the "unplugged" craze of the 1990s, it's another in a long line of classic rock greats playing their songs on tinny Ovation guitars.
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Rock And Roll Circus
Various Artists
This incredible document was recorded for a TV special in 1968, but never released due to the Stones' dissatisfaction with their own performance. In retrospect, that performance is anything but bad, and on versions of "Sympathy" and "Jumpin' Jack Flash" they positively cook, as you might expect from our heroes in '68. But the Who steal the show with "A Quick One."
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Singles 1963-1965
The Rolling Stones
These songs may have been packaged together about a thousand times, but for folks who don't have England's Newest Hitmakers, the original Decca releases or one of the many previously available comprehensive singles collections, this is where you'll find The Stones' very first single, Chuck Berry's "Come On"; their super blown-out and breakneck take on the Lennon-McCartney-penned "I Wanna Be Your Man"; and Brian Jones playing guitar like he was actually in Howlin' Wolf's band (check "What a Shame" and the solo in "Heart of Stone"). For Keith worship, try "It's All Over Now."
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Singles 1965-1967
The Rolling Stones
In two years, The Stones assumed their own identity, defined blues-born '60s rock and veered into psychedelia, which they nailed. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" not only wrote the book on guitar riffs but the lyrics introduced the idea of existentialism into the rock vocabulary. "Get Off My Cloud," "As Tears Go By," "She's a Rainbow," "19th Nervous Breakdown," "Mother's Little Helper" -- the list of timeless Stones songs is daunting when somebody puts them all together like this. Plus the idea that "Paint It, Black" was, at one point, just the new song on the radio is mind-blowing.
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Singles 1965-1967
The Rolling Stones
In two years, The Stones assumed their own identity, defined blues-born '60s rock and veered into psychedelia, which they nailed. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" not only wrote the book on guitar riffs but the lyrics introduced the idea of existentialism into the rock vocabulary. "Get Off My Cloud," "As Tears Go By," "She's a Rainbow," "19th Nervous Breakdown," "Mother's Little Helper" -- the list of timeless Stones songs is daunting when somebody puts them all together like this. Plus the idea that "Paint It, Black" was, at one point, just the new song on the radio is mind-blowing.
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Live Licks
The Rolling Stones
This live album was recorded during the Stones' 2002-2003 Licks world tour. While the first disc has all the hits you'd expect to hear in the supermarket, the second disc comes to life with amazing rarities like "Monkey Man," "Rocks Off" and a truly gorgeous version of Roosevelt Jamison's "That's How Strong My Love Is."
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Shine A Light
The Rolling Stones
This single disc version of the soundtrack to the 2008 Scorsese documentary features the Stones playing live in support of their album A Bigger Bang. Guest appearances from Jack White ("Loving Cup) and Christina Aguilera ("Live With Me") offer something for the kids but it's the thankful inclusion of the oft overlooked late-period classic "She Was Hot" that old farts will be psyched to hear. Even Keith sounds like he's having fun playing that one. Not surprisingly, there are no bad songs. Fun fact: the band made $437 million dollars from this tour.
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The Singles: 1971-2006
The Rolling Stones
This massive box set (45 discs!) includes all the songs from The Stones' '70s era that even casual fans know; the early '80s period where every riff became some form of "Soul Survivor" from Exile On Main St.; and the more, um, forgettable material from the late '80s and early '90s, as well as bona fide returns to brilliance during those same years ("She Was Hot," "Rough Justice"). A filthy reading of the best Chuck Berry song ever, "Let it Rock," from what can only be circa the Get Yer Ya-Yas Out! tour, is absolutely essential hearing and repeated cranking for any fan of Mick Taylor's tenure.
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60's UK EP Collection
The Rolling Stones
Made up of three EPs released in 1964, this collection includes a handful of originals, an expanded version of Got Live If You Want It, the earliest incarnations of The Stones putting their stamp on Chuck Berry, The Coasters and Barrett Strong ("Money") covers. That means the guitars are uniformly hot and the rhythm section has that bump that put them in a league all their own. For the uninitiated, "Around and Around," "Route 66" and "I'm Alright" all rule. This is the definitive version of "Route 66" from December's Children.
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