Side effects (The Rolling Stones) (LP 4707 - 4709)

Steeleye Span  Live at Last! (Vinyl, Chrysalis Records, 1979) *** 

The Rolling Stones  Foreign Tongues (CD, Polydor Records, 2026) ****  

Anthony Williams  Spring (Vinyl, Chrysalis Records, 1966) *** 

Genre: Folk rock, rock, jazz

Places I remember: Vinyl Countdown, JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Rough and Twisted (Stones)

Gear costume: Montrose (Steeleye Span)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8

Active compensatory factors: This post reviews three albums from a recent trip to New Plymouth and Palmerston North that cover three very different genres.

The Steeleye Span live album is both their first live album and final album of the seventies. It features Martin Carthy amid the band's gloriously updated folk rock sound. Honestly - any album featuring the combined vocals of Maddy Prior, Tim Hart and the others is worth hearing. 

Maddy is in great form here and she makes the album come alive. The Highlight is the lengthy Montrose and an expanded version of The False Knight on the Road which was originally from their 1971 album Please to See the King.

The latest Stones album has arrived in shops and like Hackney Diamonds, it is produced by Andrew Watt. He again achieves some great results from the threesome (Mick, Keef and Ronnie) plus guests (Macca again plays bass on one song).

It's not as consistently brilliant as Hackney Diamonds, but it is still a solid set of Stones songs with some familiar touches - the falsetto vocal songs, a country song and Keef's song all making an appearance.

Remarkably, Mick Jagger's vocals seem untouched by the years. He's remarkable!

Tony Williams (billed as Anthony here) is an amazing drummer. This was his second album as leader. He assembled a stellar cast for the album -  tenor saxophonists Sam Rivers and Wayne Shorter, pianist Herbie Hancock and bassist Gary Peacock.

The sub genre of jazz that is on offer here - post bop or modal jazz, is one step away from free jazz and it's an acquired taste. I don't mind being challenged by music but a lot of post bop is at the outer limits of my taste.

When they settle into a more lyrical stride I'm more on board, as on side two with both Love Song and Tee. That's largely down to the wonderful playing of Herbie Hancock on piano. I'm much more content with those than I am with the wild shronking horns of Extras which leads off side one. Even then though, there are things to learn, and it's good to stretch the taste boundaries from time to time.

Where do they all belong? Three excellent additions in three different genres.

Shine a light (The Rolling Stones) (LP 4540 - 4544)

The Rolling Stones  Jump Back - The Best of The Rolling Stones '71 - '93 (CD, Virgin Records, 1993) ***  

The Rolling Stones   Stripped (CD, Virgin Records, 1993) ***

The Rolling Stones   A Bigger Bang (CD, Virgin Records, 2005) ****

The Rolling Stones   Blue and Lonesome (CD, Polydor Records, 2016) ****

The Rolling Stones   Hackney Diamonds (CD, Polydor Records, 2023) ****

Genre: Rock, pop, disco

Places I remember: The Warehouse, JB Hi Fi.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Whole Wide World (Hackney Diamonds)

Gear costume: Rough Justice (A Bigger Bang)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: As the nineties kicked off Bill Wyman decided he'd had enough and left them to it. Bill is an amazing bassist, maybe not such a great human being. His melodic bass was a great companion for Charlie's drums. Together they had a distinct personality - which doesn't exist anymore in the band.

The Rolling Stones had a few studio albums post Jump Back but I didn't bother keeping them. I even went to the Voodoo Lounge tour gig in Auckland but that and Bridges to Babylon were too long and average sounding so I flicked them off. It had been a long time since the Stones were cutting edge and relevant.

Jump Back is okay - their first compilation of the CD age but the same criticisms I made about Time Waits For No One still apply.

The next real album I bought and kept was Stripped. Only because it's different to the other live albums (I also sold off Flashpoint). I don't play Stripped much these days to be fair, but the acoustic mood is at least pleasantly consistent. On the negative side it is just a tad too cozy.

A Bigger Bang was the second to last album to have Charlie Watts occupying the drum stool. He's great on this album and Blue and Lonesome too. Mick at one point on El Mocambo quips that Charlie is a jazz drummer who was doing it for the money. The first part is right. I like to think he hung in there as a Rolling Stone for the lads and the music. But who knows.

The aim for A Bigger Bang was apparently to make a basic, hard rock album that hearkened back to their 1960s – 1970s heyday. Darryl Jones was again on bass (he'd been on Stripped). Although it's still a couple of songs too long, the album is a return to form. They certainly sound like they mean it again.

Interestingly, many of the songs are love songs where love has turned sour and it's her fault. It's a really strong set of songs, coupled with the band doing what they do best - be The Stones! Almost a five-star effort this one. Almost.

After an 11 year gap, Blue and Lonesome came next in 2016. It was a covers album and a perfect length at around 40 minutes. It was also the band having fun. It was recorded over three days, and it sounds like they rolled in and thought - what shall we have fun with today? Mick's harmonica playing is awesome on these old blues songs.

Their latest studio album and the last one on my list is Hackney Diamonds. Simply: it's a triumph. Andrew Watt is the producer and he does a great job working with the band's well-established strengths: Mick's vocals; Ronnie and Keef's guitars. It sounds like The Stones in all their glory even though there are some notable guests - Lady Gaga, Bill Wyman, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Paul McCartney and even Charlie Watts makes an appearance. 

Where do they all belong? Few would be betting on Hackney Diamonds being the last Stones album. What a career and what an amazing body of work that they've sustained on and off since the early sixties. Truly, one of a kind.

Dance (The Rolling Stones) (LP 4534 - 4539)

The Rolling Stones  Emotional Rescue (Vinyl, Rolling Stones Records, 1980) *** 

The Rolling Stones  Tattoo You (Vinyl, Rolling Stones Records, 1981) ****   

The Rolling Stones  Still Life (American Concert 1981) (Vinyl, Rolling Stones Records, 1981) **** 

The Rolling Stones  Undercover (Vinyl, Rolling Stones Records, 1983) **

The Rolling Stones  Dirty Work (Vinyl, Rolling Stones Records, 1986) **

The Rolling Stones  Steel Wheels (Vinyl, Rolling Stones Records, 1989) ****

Genre: Rock, pop 

Places I remember: Marbecks Records, 

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Black Limousine (Tattoo You)

Gear costume: Under My Thumb, Twenty Flight Rock (Still Life)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: It's hard to imagine what Mick was trying to achieve with Emotional Rescue. There are so many different styles on it and the pull of disco was a strong one for him.

It does have some good Stonesy moments - Let Me Go, Where the Boys Go and especially She's So Cold. Then again it has some terribly cringey moments as well - Indian Girl and the title track are just wrong. Charlie and Bill's expressions on the mimed video for She's So Cold are perfect.

Keef's vocal cameo had become a thing on each album and each one, so far, was either great or at least a breath of (authentic) air amid the disco extravaganzas. All About You was a case in point on Emotional Rescue.

Tattoo You continued the blend of styles that had appeared on Some Girls,  but with a great lead off song - Start Me Up. Although the album is made up of songs held over from the last few albums (like Emotional Rescue) it still hangs together far better than Emotional Rescue. 

It certainly has loads of more great moments like Start Me Up. Hang Fire is a lot of fun, Slave has one of Keef's effortless but effective riffs, Neighbours is an excellent punk rush of energy, Black Limousine harks back to Exile on Main St. greatness and Waiting On A Friend is a terrific ballad (great videos too for once).

The fun was sustained during the 1981 American tour which resulted in Still Life. I love this album! Mainly because it's full of oldies but goldies given a new lease of life in the eighties. Under My Thumb starts the arena party and it ends with Satisfaction. They even include a terrific Twenty Flight Rock.

The next studio album was Undercover which suffered from being the start of the schism between the modernist looking Mick (always wanting to embrace the new sounds), and Keef's retro blues rock leanings. For the time being things hadn't yet reached their nadir (that was coming though).

Undercover's highlights: I actually like the title track and She Was Hot but the wild eclecticism means the whole album is very bitty. In the end, I'm in the Keef camp, so, although this album was okay in 1983 when I was living in New Plymouth, I find its Mick endorsed dance style songs have dated quite a bit since then.

Dirty Work was that widely anticipated low point in relations but it's not a completely bad album. Anger is an energy (according to John Lydon) and that fuels a lot of Dirty Work which kicks off with two frenetic songs - One Hit to the Body and Fight - both by Jagger/ Richards/ Wood. 

The mid-eighties production values surface a bit too much for my liking (Keith's Too Rude solo spot is not good), but at least they were recording again after a three-year delay.

Steel Wheels was a major return to form (Mick and Keef had kissed and made up by this time). The big numbers - Mixed Emotions and Rock and a Hard Place set the album up for success.

Where do they all belong? Against the odds (including a poor start to the decade with Emotional Rescue) the band had survived Mick's attempts at a solo career, some mid period stinkers, and had ended the decade with their best eighties album by some distance. They did so by returning to what the Stones did best - rock and roll baby! Could they sustain it into the nineties?

I got the blues (The Rolling Stones) (LP 4524 - 4533)

The Rolling Stones  Sticky Fingers (Vinyl, Rolling Stones Records, 1971) *****  

The Rolling Stones  Exile on Main St. (Vinyl/ CD, Rolling Stones Records, 1972) *****  

The Rolling Stones  Goats Head Soup (Vinyl, Rolling Stones Records, 1973) ***

The Rolling Stones  It's Only Rock'n Roll (Vinyl, Rolling Stones Records, 1974) ***

The Rolling Stones  Black and Blue (Vinyl, Rolling Stones Records, 1976) ***

The Rolling Stones  Love You Live (Vinyl, Rolling Stones Records, 1977) ***

The Rolling Stones  El Mocambo 1977 (2CD, Rolling Stones Records/ Polydor, 2022) *****

The Rolling Stones  Time Waits For No One: Anthology 1971 - 1977 (Vinyl, Rolling Stones Records, 1979) **

The Rolling Stones  Some Girls (Vinyl, Rolling Stones Records, 1978) ****

The Rolling Stones  "Bakersfield" (Vinyl, White label, 1978) *

Genre: Blues rock, pop

Places I remember: Marbecks Records, Record Fair, JB Hi Fi, record shop in Monterey.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: All Down the Line (Exile on Main St.)

Gear costume: Wild Horses (Sticky Fingers)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: The seventies kicked off in spectacular fashion with Sticky Fingers, their ninth studio album. It appeared on their new label - Rolling Stones Records with the iconic tongue and lips logo. This wasn't Apple Records, though, where the label was created to release loads of other artists. Apart from Kracker and Peter Tosh, the label was mainly a vehicle for solo Stones albums and the band itself.

Sticky Fingers kicks off with Brown Sugar as a statement of intent - no faffing abaht - just brilliant blues rock/pop in a loose ramshackle fashion. Each song has taken on a life of its own now, while Wild Horses is a song for the ages. Keef as the human riff was somehow able to produce brilliance through his decadent, chemical haze infused years.

That decadent world, full of hard drugs, sexual openness and ambiguity and the rock'n'roll touring lifestyle could have (should have) made Mick and Keith a cautionary tale but instead they seemed to thrive despite the chaos. Mick, Bill and Charlie must have been concerned as 1970 turned into 1971 and the band moved to the south of France for tax reasons.

What they produced there was miraculous on many levels. Suffice to say they made my favourite Rolling Stones album OAT. I just need to list a few song titles: Happy; All Down the Line; Tumbling Dice; Sweet Virginia; Rocks Off; Rip This Joint; Shine a Light; Soul Survivor. All towering peaks!

Inevitably, their next album couldn't hope to equal or better Exile on Main St. Goats Head Soup (still no apostrophe usage yet for the Stones) isn't a bad album but it does signal the point where the fey Stones (check out jet set celebrity Mick on the cover) with a slight whiff of parody started to creep in. 

Still, there's always Keith (looking positively strung out on the back cover) and Mick Taylor's guitar to save the day. The highlights: Coming Down Again; Angie (a great song but maybe it should have been a single only release?), Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker). The less said about Star Star the better, though. Suffice to say, I had to take the needle off before it came on when I was a teenager - mum would not have approved!

The only song on GHS that wouldn't have been out of place on Exile on Main St. was Silver Train. Some great slide guitar on it, but Mick's vocals don't sound as frenetically committed as they did on Exile.

The album covers by The Rolling Stones are great at clueing the listener into what was inside. It's Only Rock'n Roll (apostrophes!!) is a great example. Guy Peellaert's painting of the band as rock gods is terrific and signals the change towards self-parody. 

The transitional nature of the record is clear throughout with an equal number of hits and misses. Time Waits For No One remains one of my favourite Stones songs from the seventies.

The transitional still applies for their next one after Mick Taylor decided he wanted to survive the Stones experience and quit. That one would be Black and Blue. The Stones used a variety of guitarists on the album with Ron Woods eventually getting the gig.

My abiding memory of this album and its songs is the video collection with Mick hamming it up big time on songs like Hey Negritta. It wasn't a good look. Highlights: Hand of Fate and Crazy Mama. Low point - Fool to Cry is just one long cringe.

The subsequent tour to support Black and Blue resulted in Love You Love - a double live album with one side (the superior one) from El Mocambo. The rest is pre-arena rock Stones - so still quite sloppy at times and hammy.

Much, much better is the El Mocambo 1977 album recorded at the smaller Toronto venue - room for 300 punters. It's a great album - showing the band in top form as they rip this joint with a ferocious performance. Why oh why did they prefer the Love You Life performances? It's worth waiting 45 years for its official release.

The compilation Time Waits For No One: Anthology 1971 - 1977 is plain strange. For a group who complained about the Decca compilations, it's weird they should do the same to themselves. 

It's a bizarre collection of songs for sure, with a el cheapo knock-off cover. Are Star Star and Fool To Cry among the best Stones' songs from this period? Three songs from the recent Black and Blue? One song from Sticky Fingers? One song from Exile on Main St.? Really? Maybe the best question is why did I buy this pointless collection? I have no idea! 

What seems obvious now - the combination of a lack-lustre live album, and a dodgy compilation equals a band in a holding position at best following the Toronto drugs bust for Keith and Anita Pallenberg.

They needed a major win at this point and Some Girls delivered it against the odds in 1978. Although it has Mick's disco song (and big hit) Miss You on it, there are still some rock songs like Respectable and Shattered that showed they could still matter in the late seventies.

BTW: I also have a white label release of the album that I picked up from a shop in Monterey. Someone has written 'The Stones "Bakersfield" ' on the label. I guess it's a test pressing as it doesn't sound different to the actual album. It's a nice curiosity.

Where do they all belong? Into the eighties with the Stolling Rones. Tread carefully.

Get off of my cloud (The Rolling Stones) (LP 4512 - 4523)

The Rolling Stones  England's Newest Hit Makers (CD, ABKCO Records, 1964, rereleased 2002) ****  

The Rolling Stones  The Unstoppable Stones (Vinyl, Decca Records, 1965) *****  

The Rolling Stones  The Rolling Stones On Air (2CD, BBC Records, 2017) ***** 

The Rolling Stones  Out of Our Heads (Vinyl, Decca Records, 1965) **** 

The Rolling Stones  Satisfaction in Concert (4CD, MCPS Records, 1965) *** 

The Rolling Stones  Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass) (Vinyl, Decca Records, 1966/CD, ABKCO Records, rereleased 2002) ***** 

The Rolling Stones  Flowers (CD, ABKCO Records, 1967, rereleased 2002) ***** 

The Rolling Stones  Beggars Banquet (Vinyl, Decca Records, 1968) ***** 

The Rolling Stones  Gimmie Shelter (Vinyl, Decca Records, 1971) **** 

The Rolling Stones  Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert (Vinyl, Decca Records, 1970) ***** 

The Rolling Stones  Let It Bleed (Vinyl, Decca Records, 1969) *****

The Rolling Stones  Hot Rocks 1964 - 1971 (2CD, ABKCO Records, 1986) *****

Genre: Pop, Blues rock, British R&B 

Places I remember: Kings Recording (Abu Dhabi), Marbecks Records, JB Hi Fi, Keegan Purdy, The Warehouse,

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Down the Road Apiece (The Unstoppable Stones)

Gear costume: Get Off of My Cloud (single)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: It's still pretty mind-boggling that The Rolling Stones are still a going concern in 2026, having put out their first album in 1964. But they are. Still touring, still putting out excellent records. It's been a long strange trip for sure.

Back in 1964, I was 7 years old and not yet aware of Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, Keith Richard (he'd revert to his actual name - Richards, in 1978), and Brian Jones releasing this album. Indeed, it would be many years before I even bought it.

The why is simple. I'm a Beatles fanatic, so up until 1972 I wasn't interested in The Rolling Stones. Up until then it seemed to me that they were just Beatles copyists - always a year or two behind and always in the Fab's shadows.

What happened in 1972? A friend lent me a copy of Exile on Main St. and my flabber was well and truly ghasted! Ever since then I've been in catch up mode to various extents. As will be revealed - I'm no completist for the band, but I do have many of their albums. For the purposes of this collection countdown, I'll need to separate posts into decades - starting with the sixties.

That said, my sixties collection is pretty spotty, with compilations and alternative versions to the UK originals popping up.

My copy of their debut is the American version which I got while living in the Middle East. Although it kept the same cover image, it was retitled England's Latest Hit Makers (The Beatles forged the path) and plays around with the song order and swaps out singles as is usual in the early sixties for all UK bands like The Kinks and The Beatles.

It's a pretty good debut which showcases all of the band's early strengths - basically - Jagger's vocals, a spirited R&B sound and some great cover selections. Route 66, Carol, I'm a King Bee, Not Fade Away and Walking the Dog are all brilliant.

The Unstoppable Stones is a compilation from 1965 that was only released in the southern hemisphere. It includes songs used on the US album The Rolling Stones: Now! but drops some of those for other, better, songs - Come On, I Wanna Be Your Man, Not Fade Away. All very bizarre.

What is not bizarre is the quality of the songs. The boys are more confident and stretching out, if not yet away from their roots. This is a five-star classic!

To flesh out 1964 and 1965 I've dropped in The Rolling Stones On Air at this point. My copy is a 2CD set with bonus selections. It mainly showcases the period of time that they were a brilliant covers band. This is an essential document of that time. Basically, Brian Jones' harp and his guitar interplays with Keef, Charlie's drums plus Bill Wyman's brilliant bass playing, along with Mick's gifted vocal delivery make for an awesome beat combo.

Out of Our Heads is their third studio album (or 4th if you lived in America). My copy is the UK version. Satisfaction was the contemporaneous hit (not included on the UK version). This is another album of mostly R&B covers - The Rolling Stones bread and butter.

The Satisfaction in Concert 4CD set is made up of the following discs: Disc 1: Star-Spangled Airwaves 1964-65 **** (including Ed Sullivan Shows); Disc 2: live in France *** and Germany 1965-66 **; Disc 3: The British Broadcasting Collection 1964-65 ***; Disc 4: Hawaii 1966**. 

Although the sound quality varies (the Germany portion and Hawaii aren't the best sound wise - very bassy) these are great historic sixties shows. Overall, it's The Rolling Stones - on their way to becoming the greatest rock'n'roll band in the world.

I'm missing a few albums from 1966 (Aftermath/ Between the Buttons) to 1967 (Their Satanic Majesties Request). I have owned TSMR before, but it's so bad I sold it pretty quickly. I do have a few compilations that cover this period reasonably well.

Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass) is from 1966. My vinyl copy is the superior UK version (with a great gatefold cover and colour photo spread in the insert), the CD reissue is the US version. Each has different track listings (of course they do). Most of the material is from 1964-65 and it's brilliant (of course it is). Making a compilation like this is a sure bet.

Flowers from 1967 is a compilation of songs dating back to 1965, including three unreleased songs and tracks that appeared as singles or had been omitted from the American versions of Aftermath and Between the Buttons. I do so enjoy these kinds of blatant albums and it's perfect that Allen Klein's company issued this rerelease. In this case the music is superb!

And so to 1968 and Beggars Banquet (no apostrophe for these grammar rebels) and it feels like a new era within the sixties. It's historic for a few reasons: Jimmy Miller takes over production from Andrew Loog Oldham, who it should be said - did a wonderful job in that role; it's Brian's last album before his sacking and subsequent death by misadventure (drowning in his swimming pool); Jagger/Richards write pretty much everything; and finally - it's a return to no-nonsense blues rock after the silliness of Satanic Majesties.

Gimmie Shelter is another weird compilation album in the Stones catalogue, being half live tracks from their US live album Got Live If You Want It (1966) and half previously released studio tracks from 1968 and 69. I'm a fan of the album because it was my first Stones album - bought from the World Record Club.  

A way better live album was Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert which documented the 1969 US tour. Not just a great Stones album - one of THE greatest live albums ever!

It has everything I love about a live album: it's a single, not a bloated double of triple; it has an awesome band introduction; it has judicious and now iconic stage announcements (button, Charlie); the song selection is superb and the lead singer has immense stage presence (so great it even translates to a record). All that and I haven't even mentioned the guitar gods - Mick Taylor and Keef. 

Not enough credit goes to Keith Richard and his ability to interplay with another guitarist. First Brian, then Mick and finally Ronnie. Then there's his peerless harmony vocals with Mick - Keef is egoless!! All power to him.

Let It Bleed is their final classic album of the sixties. Mick Taylor was recruited during its recording and Brian died shortly afterwards, so the guitar parts are mainly by Keef.

I love the variety on offer, the cover is superb, and the band is on fire - amazing given the situation with the guitarists.

Where do they all belong? I've included another compilation - Hot Rocks 1964 - 1971 in this set because it neatly sums up the first 8 years pretty succinctly.

I been good while I been waitin' (Bob Dylan) #431

Ron Wood Seven Days/ Breakin' My Heart (CBS, BA 222550, 1979)

Good old Ronnie eh. He HAS been good while he's been waitin' for his shot. 

I much prefer his work with The Faces to The Stones - there he seems like a superfluous foil for Keef but in The Faces he was the guvnor, even wot wif Rockin' Rod on board.

This is his go at a Dylan song. His rugged vocals are a good match here but it's the groove and the guitar that gets me.

It's off his third solo album - Gimmie Some Neck which features various Stones, Faces, and other stars like Mick Fleetwood. So yeah - it sounds pretty cool. The song builds nicely and gets the most out this (minor) Dylan song from the mid seventies.

Hidden gem: The B side is also a track off the album - bit of a sloppy mess this one though, and not in a good way. A case of too many cooks praps.

Rock and roll circus, it's the best I've ever seen (Mick Taylor) #398

Mick Taylor Leather Jacket/ Slow Blues (CBS, BA 222569, 1979)

Mick has many claims to fame - surviving life with Keef in The Rolling Stones is definitely one.

His previous roles, as a Bluesbreaker for John Mayall and as the brilliant guitar replacement for Brian Jones in The Rolling Stones, didn't really translate into a brilliant solo career. Pretty sure there have been only two studio solo albums since leaving the Stones. Mainly he seems to enjoy the sideman role.

This is a pretty cool solo single though. Leather Jacket is catchy and he sings well, as well as playing some tasteful guitar, keyboards and bass guitar!

Hidden gem: I suspect this is where his heart really lies: great slow blues guitar. This is also off that first 1979 solo album called Mick Taylor: an under rated joy!

Have you guessed my name? (The Rolling Stones) #327 - 329

The Rolling Stones Brown Sugar/ Bitch (Rolling Stones Records, XRS 19100, 1971)

The Rolling Stones Tumbling Dice/ Sweet Black Angel (Rolling Stones Records, XRS 19103, 1971)

The Rolling Stones Sympathy For The Devil (Remixes)/ Sympathy For The Devil (Remix) (ABKCO? DECCA 12", 2003)

What can I tell you about these singles that you don't know, or haven't heard a million times before?

Nothing really right? But have you heard and thought about the lyrics to Brown Sugar? Ever? They are down right nasty! Slavery and sex and violence and weird denials (I'm not a schoolboy) - nasty!

But The Stones are The Stones! These are stone cold classics (pardon the pun)- instantly recognisable from Keef's first chord, from Mick's first snarl, from Charlie's first kick.

Tumbling Dice is off the peerless Exile On Main Street set and Sympathy gets a 21st century reboot with a variety of unnecessary remixes. I wonder whose idea that was.

Hidden gems: Like Brown Sugar, Bitch is a wonderful song off the great Sticky Fingers. What a terrific single full stop. 

Sweet Black Angel is a nice complement to Tumbling Dice - a kind of mini side 1 and side 2 of the album.