They have so many, band approved and not. And supposedly another one on the way.

There are the obvious ones with the hits and then there are the somewhat odd ones with a couple of hits and then album tracks, live tune and a few B-sides. I get that Hot Rocks might be the one in highest regard, followed closely by the recent reissue of Rolled Gold. And Forty Licks was a interesting career review.

Does Metamorphosis count as a compilation? I guess it is technically, it's just not a hits compilation.

Anyway, just wanted to see some thoughts.

Is Through The Past Darkly perhaps their most imperative hits compilation regarding their career? Is Made In The Shade a joke? Is Flowers a kind of slow time release bomb? Is Hot Rocks all you really need? What about contractual obligations like Time Waits For No One and Sucking In The Seventies? For some reason I lean towards the last two just because they are a bit different and not so typical perhaps, maybe at least for their time.

Either version of Rewind is pretty good. Jump Back is worse than Rewind and not exactly much newer either. Forty Licks could have been better with Disc 2 having actual hits on it instead of the four new songs, which is easy to replace on iTunes or whatever, your own CD etc.

For the most part the album covers were pretty good. They "toured" for two of them in terms of not having a new LP out, although Rewind came out a year before the Tour Of The Americas. Wasn't the 1976 tour the actual Black And Blue tour?

ABKCO has release more compilations than anything the Stones did starting in 1974 (six counting disc 2 of Forty Licks). Does anyone draw the line with these releases? Perhaps the Stones did by only releasing 5 on their own and the sixth being a combination with ABKCO via Virgin. And does Jump Back really count or was that strictly something Virgin wanted to do to help promote their reissues and the Stones said OK we're fine with that.

Technically ABKCO has released a very little amount of compilations considering what they could have been doing.

After 1971 they have released:

Hot Rocks
More Hot Rocks
Metamorphosis
Singles Collection
Rock 'N' Roll Circus
Singles 1963-65 / 1965-67 / 1968-71
Rolled Gold +
Get Yer 'Ya-Ya's Out! Deluxe Edition

Other than that, the back catalouge have been given re-release 3 times, and they have collaborated on Forty Licks.

The Stones themselves have been far more outrageous with compilations.

After 1971:

Made In The Shade
Time Waits For No One
Sucking In The Seventies
Rewind
Jump Back
Forty Licks
Rarities
Singles 1971-2006

And then I'm not even going to mention Decca in England, and how they released the most horrible compilation after another!

I always dug More Hot Rocks (Big Hits and Fazed Cookies). It introduced me to the band on a deeper level, including songs never really available in the States. It's also the most Brian-centric of the compilations.

Wasn't there also a compilation titled "Slow Rollers"? I think it was a Decca release in England that was dedicated to all the slower ballad hits, if I'm not mistaken. I also think there might have been another package called "Stone Age" but I really don't know how these releases fit into the official scheme of things.....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-12-08 07:02 by sf37.

A few more Decca/London Compilations since '70:

Milestones (1971)
Stone Age (1971)
Gimme Shelter (1971)
Rock & Rolling Stones (1972)
No Stone Unturned (1973)
Rolled Gold (1975)
Stones Story (1976)
Get Stoned 30 greatest hits (1977 Arcade)
30 greatest hits (1977)
Slow Rollers (1981)
Stones Story vol. 2 (1981)
Stones Story vol. 3 (1982)
Story Of The Stones (1982)
The Rolling Stones Film Collection vol. 1(1983)
The Rolling Stones Film Collection vol. 2 (1983)
Get Stoned (1983)
Legends Of Rock (1983)
Rolling Berries
Who's standing in the shadow?
Live! Deluxe

and probably much much more

The "Rolled Gold" 1975 double album was fantastic.




It impressed a lot of people on the record player of the 6th Form lounge when I was at school.

I loved the picture on the back.




"Rolled Gold" is expanded now for CD I think.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-12-08 10:26 by GravityBoy.

Decca released many different compilations.

- Stone Age (compilation of tracks not released in the UK at that time)

- Gimme Shelter (one side with studio tracks, one side with live tracks from Got Live If You want It)

- Milestones (a compilation mixing singles-only tracks and rarely compiled album tracks)

- Rock 'n Rolling Stones (mostly Chuck Berry covers by the Rolling Stones)

- No Stone Unturned (hard-to-find singles b-sides and more unreleased tracks in the UK)

- Metamorphosis (demo's and outtakes from the 60's)

- Rolled Gold ("hits" comp. on 2 LP's)

- Solid Rock ("rockers" comp.)

- Slow Rollers ("slow" songs comp.)



Most of them are actually quite well put together. Plus some features a couple of rare stereo versions.

Big Hits ( High Tide And Green Grass) .... UK version ...
Great LP comp.... lived with that one for months inta years
and spent a lotta time staring at those shots in the booklet...

But it's gotta be the UK release even though it came out
some 9months after US ... better running order... more tracks....

The first side killed then ya flipped it for a second blast before easin' out at the end with Lady Jane...Time On My Side and Red Rooster...Classic Stuff



ROCKMAN

Big Hits ( High Tide And Green Grass) .... UK version ...
Great LP comp.... lived with that one for months inta years
and spent a lotta time staring at those shots in the booklet...



I found that one on Green Decca Label last week...booklet and all...a fantastic finding...

2 1 2 0

cool Come On.......good score



ROCKMAN

Probably the most played compilation Big Hits ( High Tide And Green Grass) the same reason as Rockman mentioned and Trough The Past Darkly, I do have all the compilations but actually never played them a lot.

__________________________

In the early 70s I was much more of a singles buyer than a LP buyer and often when I did buy an album I bought compilations. What I really liked was a compilation that had a few album tracks on it that I didn't know. So comps like Sladest and Bolan Boogie were just like 'real' albums to me and led to me buying other albums.

When somebody gave me a copy of Rolled Gold I felt just the same way because I hadn't bought all the Decca albums then and getting those great tracks was a real eye opener and certainly contributed to my becoming a proper Stones fan.

In the early 80's when I tried to complete my Stones collection two DECCA compilations were functional: NO STONE UNTURNED and FOR COLLECTORS ONLY. Very rare single b-sides and stuff like Italian version of "As Tears Go By" and "Memo From Turner". Those were kind difficult to find at the time at least in my part of world. With those two albums I guess the whole 60's official output was covered (if one had teh all the normal ablums plus BIG HITS and THROUGH THE PAST DARKLY or a wonderful ROLLED GOLD). It is very different these days.

- Doxa



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-12-08 20:50 by Doxa.

It is true that FORTY LICKS remains to be a kind of flavor of the month type of collection. Those four new songs that surely helped to boost the sales at the time does not any justification to exist in greatest hits type of album. It is sad that the only collection that covers their whole career is spoiled with anomaly like that.

- Doxa



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-12-08 20:58 by Doxa.

I grew up with Hot Rocks being 'the' compliation to have. It was my gateway away from Beatle obsession.

Interesting how it leaves out anything from their lame 'psychedelia' phase. No 2000 Light Years, Have You Seen Your Mother (i've always actually hated that song), We Love You, She's a Rainbow, etc.

Instead, we get album tracks like Under My Thumb, Play with Fire, Gimme Shelter and the live Rambler from Ya-Yas. It's probably their best thought-out complitation ever to give someone an idead of what they're best at!

Not a 'greatest hits', but very close to a 'best of' for sure!

[thepowergoats.com]

This is my first Stones record which has a good liner note and a detailed chronology by professor Mike Koshitani.
He is the man who made Stones famous in our country actually.

Another vote for Hot Rocks and More Hot Rocks which has Child of the Moon and also We love you and then some songs that were only released in England or somehow, were not previously available in the states like Bye Bye Johnny, Long Long While and I can't be satisfied, perhaps others. Simply put, both Hot Rocks albums are generally agreed to be a good retrospective of their early years. [en.wikipedia.org])



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-12-09 06:35 by BroomWagon.

hot rocks and tattoo you were my first stones akbums

The only Beatles-album I owned 7 december 1980 were The red and blue double-albums...Now I got it all incl solos and you name it..

I never bought Stones greatest hits albums except for 'No stoned unturned' and 'Metamorphosis' but nowadays I grab them when I run over them...Through the past darkly with cutted corners is a future wet dream to find...

2 1 2 0

This reminds me.

I need to get "More Hot Rocks".

Thanks.

There were some terrible ABKCKO compilations after the Stones left Klein, but one I really like is "No Stone Unturned". Lots of great B-sides like "Child Of The Moon" and things like "Who's Driving Your Plane", "Surprise Surprise" and "Congratulations". Oddly, it works for me as a legitimate Stones album.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-12-09 10:40 by 71Tele.

Quote
71Tele
There were some terrible ABKCKO compilations after the Stones left Klein, but one I really like is "No Stone Unturned". Lots of great B-sides like "Child Of The Moon" and things like "Who's Driving Your Plane", "Surprise Surprise" and "Congratulations". Oddly, it works for me as a legitimate Stones album.

Again, Klein had nothing to do with the Decca compilations from England in the seventies. Maybe he was greedy, but ABKCO has only released 9 or 10 compilations over the years.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-12-09 15:12 by Blueranger.

Here is the cover of FOR COLLECTORS ONLY - it is done faihfully to eh early Stones style, and like their two fisrt albums in UK - no name or title in the cover:




- Doxa

Yep, I bought that one too pretty early (for collectors only) and found it very worth owning...

2 1 2 0

This was the very first album I got when I was around 6 years old.

Through the past darkly is my favourite!

This TV-advertised album, released in time for Christmas 1977 in the UK on ARCADE Records, was the LP that got me into the Stones for the first time...




Most TV-advertised compilations around that time seemed to be from Arcade or K-Tel. I think Arcade folded a few years later, but K-Tel kept going. Eventually, in 1982, they put out their own compilation -




Both albums had 30 songs over two LP's, but there were about ten songs that were different. 'Get Stoned' included the two ABKCO 'Sticky fingers' songs (Brown Sugar and Wild Horses) whereas the K-Tel release stopped at 1969.

Quote
Gazza
This TV-advertised album, released in time for Christmas 1977 in the UK on ARCADE Records, was the LP that got me into the Stones for the first time...




Most TV-advertised compilations around that time seemed to be from Arcade or K-Tel. I think Arcade folded a few years later, but K-Tel kept going. Eventually, in 1982, they put out their own compilation -




Both albums had 30 songs over two LP's, but there were about ten songs that were different. 'Get Stoned' included the two ABKCO 'Sticky fingers' songs (Brown Sugar and Wild Horses) whereas the K-Tel release stopped at 1969.

You beat me to it. Great album. It had a great pic of a stick thin Mick looking out at the audience on the 72 US tour.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-12-09 15:34 by Silver Dagger.

This one is pretty good, too. Very similar to Now/NO2, though.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-12-09 15:35 by DandelionPowderman.

Many good memories from listening to this one as well back in the day: