Track Listing

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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11568 in Music
• Released on: 2009-05-04
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .19 pounds
• Running time: 48 minutes

CD Description
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.

Customer Reviews

Its only a rock'n'roll remaster but I like it!
As I stated in my review of Sticky Fingers 2009 remaster I got the rest of this current batch of remasters. This one is a real relevation. Once again the new technology has allowed more information and less dirt/noise to get through.

I always beleived that there was no excuse for a duff sounding record since about 1950 as the technology and talent to nail a great performance onto tape was out there. The proof is in the loads of stunning jazz and classical recordings that folk have in their collections eg. Kind Of Blue by Miles Davis. Giles, Giles and Fripp 1968 "The Brondesbury Tapes" is a testament to the ingenuity of Peter Giles' abilities with a Rvox F36 two track recorder in the modified front room of their flat in London, and sounds stunning.

So where did the Stones go wrong? The only reason I can think of to explain away the muddy sound that this album suffered under until now is the wholehearted joining of all involved in "recreational" pursuits. The music was presented in a sonically murky and limited way.

The last remaster, Apogee chiz chiz by Bob Ludwig, went a long way to redressing this problem, however this version is noticeably better again. Jaggers singing really stands out, the guitars all sound well separated, previously unnoticed keyboard parts make themselves known.

At last the album can be heard as it ought to be, bright and shiny lively music and not a grimy trudge. The overall sound on this album is improved by a larger margin than Sticky Fingers.

Disappointing sleevenotes, uplifting music!

5 stars for the music; 3 stars for the package
So the first batch of Stones remasters are upon us and what are we getting for our hard earned cash?

The packaging is the same as the previous Virgin issues from 1997, no extra photos from the cover shoot or sessions. No insightful sleeve notes from someone like Roy Carr or Charles Shaar-Murray whose long out of print Rolling Stones - An Illustrated Record is still required reading.

The mastering is an improvement over previous issues but not as startling as I would have expected given high resolution technology etc. It is still better than the original vinyl which was a bit muddy in places.

On the down side the discs have not been issued as hybrid s.a.c.d. like the A.B.K.C.O. issues of the Stones' Decca back catalogue from a few years back which set the bar higher for Stones issues.. The c.d. cases are also those flimsy super audio jewel boxes which seem to be the fashion these days and they break all too easily.

As for the the music I now feel that this is a much under rated album having initially been viewed as part of a creative slide after Exile On Main Street. I think time has been a bit kinder to it. Mick Taylor excels and Keith's rumoured absences during the sessions has yielded a different sounding Stones album.

A Stones nut like me will buy without hesitation. Others will have to decide if the sound improvement is worth the extra outlay.

Good music - rubbish package
I have been waiting for a decently re-mastered version of this album for ages - sadly, this ain't it.

The sound quality hardly improves on my old cassette tape, well, maybe not quite that bad (and not as poor as the Goat's Head Soup re-issue) but not the improvement I would have expected with current technology.

As for the "booklet" - and that's an overstatement - there's hardly any more than the cassette had. Go take a look at other re-issues whoever produced this miserable apology for a booklet - almost everybody does it better, even the ones that you know are cheap and cheerful.

4 stars for the music only - none for the re-issue: a huge disappointment!