Product Description

THE SINGLES COLLECTION: THE LONDON YEARS comes as advertised--the box includes every American and British A-side and B-side the Rolling Stones released between 1963 and 1971 (after which the band began releasing discs under the Rolling Stones Records imprint). The fantastic speed and scope of the Stones' early artistic development have few parallels in popular music, and this collection not only details that incredible process, but serves as a microcosm of '60s pop culture as well.
From the down-and-dirty Chicago-style blues and R&B of the group's early covers (Chuck Berry's "Come On", Willie Dixon's "I Just Wanna Make Love to You") to the dreamy chamber pop of "Lady Jane" and the proto-hard rock of "StreetFightin' Man", the band was always on the cutting edge, both reacting to and anticipating cultural and musical trends. One listen to this box, however, reveals that, unlike the Beatles, the Stones seldom veered far from their roots, alwaysinjecting a vital dose of raw sexuality and pure rock & roll spirit into even the boldest of experiments.

Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Come On
2. I Want To be Loved
3. I Wanna Be Your Man
4. Stoned
5. Not Fade Away
6. Little By Little
7. It's All Over Now
8. Good Times, Bad Times
9. Tell Me
10. I Just Want To Make Love To You
11. Time Is On My Side
12. Congratulations
13. Little Red Rooster
14. Off The Hook
15. Heart Of Stone
16. What A Shame
17. The Last Time
18. Play With Fire
19. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
20. The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man
21. The Spider and The Fly
22. Get Off Of My Cloud
23. I'm Free
24. The Singer Not The Song
25. As Tears Go By

Disc 2:

1. Gotta Get Away
2. 19th Nervous Breakdown
3. Sad Day
4. Paint It, Black
5. Stupid Girl
6. Long Long While
7. Mothers Little Helper
8. Lady Jane
9. Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?
10. Who's Driving Your Plane?
11. Let's Spend The Night Together
12. Ruby Tuesday
13. We Love You
14. Dandelion
15. She's A Rainbow
16. 2000 Light Years From Home
17. In Another Land
18. The Lantern
19. Jumpin' Jack Flash
20. Child Of The Moon (rmk)

Disc 3:

1. Street Fighting Man
2. No Expectations
3. Surprise, Surprise
4. Honky Tonk Woman
5. You Can't Always Get What You Want
6. Memo From Turner
7. Brown Sugar
8. Wild Horses
9. I Don't Know Why aka Don't Know Why I Love You
10. Try A Little Harder
11. Out Of Time
12. Jiving Sister Fanny
13. Sympathy For The Devil

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #62271 in Music
• Released on: 2002-11-01
• Number of discs: 3
• Formats: Original recording remastered, Box set, SACD, Hybrid SACD

Customer Reviews

the best way to experience 60s Stones
This fabulous and very reasonably priced collection contains all The Rolling Stones' Decca (UK) and London (USA) single A- and B-sides. If they originally appeared on 45 in mono (the vast majority) they're in mono here - apart from Honky Tonk Women for some reason. The 2002 remasters finally do justice to this material on CD - they sound fabulous.

The 60s A-sides (with the arguable exception of their debut, Come On) are uniformly brilliant, surprisingly varied and superbly produced, especially after they began recording in the USA; the B-sides, with only 1 or 2 exceptions, are good to excellent. There is surprisingly little overlap with albums (especially UK ones) and where there is, several tracks are in otherwise unobtainable mono. Really, until about halfway through CD 3, this collection is pretty much flawless - there are only about 5 tracks on the whole thing I'd not want to listen to. There isn't a better way to listen to the Stones' first (and best) 7 years.

For those who care about these things, there are minor quibbles as follows; anyone who just wants a great collection of 60s Stones singles can ignore them because for most people this will be nit-picking:
1) the presence on CD 3 (tracks 9-12) of out-takes understandably not issued at the time of recording. These were issued on 45 in 1975 to promote the dodgy Metamorphosis collection of out-takes; they may belong here in principle as Decca/London 45s but they don't belong here in spirit; their low quality only devalues the collection overall.
2) the presence of Brown Sugar and Wild Horses. These were recorded in 1969 without the knowledge of Decca/London, to whom the Stones were still contracted; subsequent legal manoeuvres have made them available to Decca/London's successors Abkco but they've never to my knowledge been issued as 45s on Decca/London. If they (or the also rather superfluous Sympathy For The Devil) were mono or otherwise different mixes they'd be worth including, but otherwise most people who'd buy this will already have Sticky Fingers and Beggars Banquet.
3) by far the most important: the absence of their 3 UK EPs of 1964-65 (The Rolling Stones, 5 x 5 and Got Live If You Want It); these could have been included if 1) and 2) had been omitted and the collection would have been better for it.

The Early Rolling Stone catches the worm (or something like that)
These were exciting times in the early sixties. This captures all of that urgency. There was a new recording every other week. How the band managed to do so much in the studio and so much on the road defies explanation. They musta been on drugs or something. So some of the production isn't what we've got used to these days - it's raw, it's passionate, it's almost live. This gives you the transition from cover versions of mainly black R&B artists to Jagger\Richard originals - and it's seamless. These lads learnt their art well and preserved it for us brilliantly.

The later stuff from the band (Sticky Fingers onward) is a faint shadow of these early recordings. It has no great enthusiasm or sexual energy. Jagger became jaded and comfortable. These tracks were pretty well all recorded as potential three minute hit singles. The booklet adds a lot of background - like how Lady Jane got onto tape - unbelievable. Ian Stewart gets his credits and Brian Jones' influence is prominent (but fading). Three CD's crammed to the gunnels and there's not a track I'd want to lose but a few I wish had been included - Take it or Leave it\Poison Ivy\Under the Boardwalk\Oh Carol.

THE LONDON YEARS
Good times bad times some bads have had just that,in they time but not The Rolling Stones who just keep rocking for years. This collection of brill songs from the stones will not Fade Away in any collector collection. If you like Brown Sugar and Playing With Fire or have Sympathy for the Devil then this is the one. (Sweet,Hot,wicket)