Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Even better than before!
I'm not an expert on the sixties era Rolling Stones
but I was very familiar with the Hot Rocks collections,
both this edition and the More Hot Rocks collection. I was
very impressed with the mastering job on this to say the least.
The '86 CD edition fell flat in a number of ways, this corrects the muddy and flat sound. This is probably over kill, but here's a number of thoughts on the tracks. Even if you don't own a SACD player, you hear a huge difference on a conventional CD player.Time Is On My Side - This sort of represents the R n B side of this band. Great stereo mix of this track with a lot of clarity.
Huge difference over the mono version from the '86 CD print. Heart Of Stone - Another stereo mix, the lead guitar alone is so much clearer. the lyric just shows how edgey with tounges in cheek this band was back then. Play With Fire - Same mono mix as before but with better clarity,
check out the mix on that keyboard track! Satisfaction - Of course their all time classic, great and welcomed stereo mix with the acoustic guitar filling the sound and clear. As Tears Go By - A favorite, yet one of the reasons why people complained about why the Stones were imitating the Beatles too much during the early sixties. Even if it's a bit of a take off
on 'Yesterday', still a great song. Same mono mix. Get Off Of My Cloud - Great tune, seems imitavtive of what The Kinks were doing around that time. Much better mono mix of this.
great lead guitar fill! Mother's Little Helper - The Mono Mix of this, not that fake stereo mix from the '86 CD. Another classic. 19th Nervous Breakdown - Probably my all time favorite of their
sixties era, the bass line is so much clearer on this mix, fantastic! Paint It Black - Of course another classic of that time, this stereo mix is just wonderful. Under My Thumb - This songs is one of the reasons why anyone could never accuse the Stones of being politically correct. J/K Not much of a difference between this mix and the 86' edition, still a major improvement though. Ruby Tuesday - Great ballad, brings back memories, again simply
reinforces why this remaster is such an improvement. Let's Spend The Night Together - You can hear the left channel guitar so much better on this edition The stereo mixes on the following tracks are just an major improvement, Jumpin' Jack Flash - Street fighting Man - Sympathy
For The Devil. Honky Tonk Women - Welcome edition of the stereo mix of this, the horns don't feel as cluttered as they did in the 86' edition
which had the mono mix of this great song. Again, different, yet not different are the remaining tracks -
Gimmie Shelter - Midnight Rambler (live) - You Can't Always Get
What You Want - Brown Sugar - Wild Horses Everything has so much more presence and clarity, my only complaint is that I wish they had included lyrics with this
remaster. Oh Well, You Can't Always Get What You Want, indeed.
Rating: - Been a LONG time comin' -- WELL worth it -- Incredible sound
Tired of buying CD's that claim to be "remastered" only to bring them home and not be able to tell them apart from the original? You won't be disappointed here.The Stones CD's of their 60's material were some of the most poorly mastered in history. The original Hot Rocks disc from 1986 is full of tape glitches, pops, hiss, and songs mastered at the wrong speed. Finally, justice has been served. This newly upgraded version blows away the original, fixing all the above-mentioned problems and then some. Even the most untrained ear will easily notice the vast improved sound quality. And to those complaining about certain songs like "Satisfaction" and "Get Off My Cloud" not being in stereo...have you actually HEARD those versions? They stink! "Satisfaction" is sped WAY up and the wide stereo effect on both songs (drums in one speaker, etc) gives them less "punch." Hooray to ABKCO records. They got it right this time.
Rating: - Essentially Still a Reliable Old Stand-by
(Revised with additions, 12/28/02
A lot of good Stones' philosophy runs through their first seven discs or so, from the early to mid-60s. This philosophy is vehicled much by their more obscure songs, few of which appear on this disc set.It's essential to listen to their early stuff to have a full appreciation/understanding of the Stones. Absorbing only their greatest hits material doesn't really do the job. But this is still a very worthwhile collection. A variety of greatest hits collections (Forty licks, Jump back, High Tides and Green Grass, Thru the past darkly, Flowers, etc.) are useful for customers who want variant song lists for their collections.
The advantage of this is that it expands customer options, not just publisher/distributor bank accounts. ... and you don't really know the Stones until you've listened to their unreleased tunes like "Bright Lights, Big City," "Cops and Robbers (see lyrics sites)," and the immortal "Road Runner." However, we must wait for commercial/legal releases of these and similar early 60s 'unavailables.' In the meantime, collections like this stand up well, as does MORE HOT ROCKS...P>As for variant recordings with omitted or modified musical introductions, think of it this way: we should count ourselves lucky to distract/entice fans of current lesser pop music with any good Stones at all. The 'Fab Five' remain anathema to all too many rock and roll listeners. Three cheers for the Beatles, but 60s rock was about more things than just I Wanna Hold Your Hand.
Also, get yourself some plastic 'jewel' cases (inexpensive) from a computer or CD/record store, and put your collectable cheap cardboard remastered Digipaks in a safe place...disburden yourself of resentment over the fact the remastered series as a whole has so few additional notes: scour the internet and books for all the Stones information you want/need. It's all out there ... ...and doubly enrich your Stones listening experience by checking out the Stones' lyric sights all over the internet. You'll be glad you did. It's not only enlightening, it's fun. The excellence of some of these songs transcends issues of 'sound quality,' whatever that is . . . ...I hope my additions and revisions make this review more useful to customers/fans/readers than my previously posted...
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