Well I will let IGTB off the hook as I agree w/you Palace. I don't know about Dead Flowers though, it just seemed like it could have used more kick. That's why I have always liked the live performances. 2 standouts to me have always been the L&G version and the Voodoo Miami performance.

Beggar's Banquet

Jimmy Miller was the man.

Ya Yas.

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theimposter
Well I will let IGTB off the hook as I agree w/you Palace. I don't know about Dead Flowers though, it just seemed like it could have used more kick. That's why I have always liked the live performances. 2 standouts to me have always been the L&G version and the Voodoo Miami performance.

Yeah it's always great when Robert Cray is in the neighborhood: Stop Breaking Down...







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-07-24 02:08 by Chris Fountain.

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Rip This
...perhaps you need a new hearing aid....11 million copies later Some Girls remain a best seller.

11 million copies has nothing to do with the quality of the mix/sound.

Sticky Fingers
Exile On Main Street
Some Girls
Tattoo You

sticky fingers
black n blue
some girls
let it bleed

Stripped.

Them all..

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DragonSky

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Rip This
...perhaps you need a new hearing aid....11 million copies later Some Girls remain a best seller.

11 million copies has nothing to do with the quality of the mix/sound.

from the opening deep base note to the last crash of the cymbals Some Girls is in your face, crisp, clean and deep..... and just a little less perhaps on Tattoo You...the sound is so accessible and so signature and unmistakable that the sales of these 2 records were over the top for the Rolling Stones. If you think there isn't a corrrelation between the sound of these 2 records and the sales that's cool...but the sales speak for themselves.

The sound of Sticky Fingers is perfect IMO. It's clear and clean yet still earthy. It isn't over-produced and is not affected by all of the bad things that happened to sound as you move foreword into the rest of the 1970s and 80s and beyond.

The sound of Steel Wheels is horrendous. There is something about it that is so soul-less and homogenized. It feels like it is highly compressed perhaps without actually being compressed. Almost like each track in the mix was inherently compressed so the final mix had to sound compressed no matter what you did. It's like the sound of each instrument on the mix is "small" so you end up with final mix where each element is barely heard.

Except for Angie, the sound of GHS is a big disappointment also.

There is just something about the sound of Sticky Fingers that is "Goldilocks" perfect.

For a live album sound, it's Ya Ya's. Even if it might be doctored it doesn't sound doctored and back in the day nobody had access to those types of nitty-gritty details like you do nowadays. All of their later live albums suffer from the "small sound," the Steel Wheels sickness.

MileHigh

'Black and Blue' by a long shot. Audiowise, that and 'Who's Next' have a perfect sound to my ears.

Steel Wheels used to be my least favorite Stones album. And the sound had a lot to do with it. But ever since the Rough Mixes appeared I have completely changed my opinion of that album; made a huge difference hearing those songs in warm, tattered sound. Suddenly sounding like real Stones songs. So with SW it was those final-mixing and mastering sessions that killed it for me.

I think one rough rule of thumb I have is - the Stones are not to be listened to on headphones. If the song works on headphones, it's most likely not good Stones.

I still think my old LP's sound better than any CD I have

-------------------
Keep On Rolling

B&B and TY. And the Pathe Marconi sessions of course.

Mathijs

Some Girls. I think Wood and Richards sound their best on it - perfectly recorded and mixed.

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Rip This
...the sound is so accessible and so signature and unmistakable that the sales of these 2 records were over the top for the Rolling Stones. If you think there isn't a corrrelation between the sound of these 2 records and the sales that's cool...but the sales speak for themselves.

I think that's just a coincidence and convenient at best. It was the singles Miss You and Start Me Up (and to a lesser extent Beast Of Burden and Waiting On A Friend) that propelled the sales of those albums (Some Girls 6 million plus US sales; Tattoo You 4 million plus US sales) and raised massive awareness of and for the Stones, not the sound. It's the songs, to a major extent. Harry Belafonte had the first LP to sell one million copies and that was in 1956. It had a very successful single on it, which most likely helped a lot with sales. Tattoo You could have easily not had Start Me Up on it and the sound of it would not have been any different - but the sales most certainly would have.

Let It Bleed, the title track especially, has an incredible sound - but it didn't sell nearly as well as Some Girls and Tattoo You (LIB has 2 million plus US sales), perhaps because it didn't have a big single on it. Sticky Fingers (3 million plus US, as was Exile, which really equals 1.5 million people bought it, and Goats Head Soup), which also has a very big and full sound like Let It Bleed, did have a big single on it and it did sell a bit more.

Being a pure LP-listener it's Tattoo You that's the best sounding. Take a good listen to Black Limousine and Waiting on a friend if you want to share that experience...

2 1 2 0

What do folks think of the early, first five albums? The remastered versions?

And then the mid 60 to psychedelic era?
There was quite a quantum leap up to Banquet in '68.

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Palace Revolution 2000
What do folks think of the early, first five albums? The remastered versions?

And then the mid 60 to psychedelic era?
There was quite a quantum leap up to Banquet in '68.

Buy the LPs, in Mono...

2 1 2 0

Stones related : The " Main Offender " album is very well recorded.

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klrkcr
Ya Yas.

Interesting choice. Carol, however, is strangely muddy. There's a version Time Trip Vol. 4 from the tour that simply blows the released version out of the water.

As for best sounding, LIB or Sticky Fingers are my choices.

I always remember how shockingly good Tattoo You sounded when I first bought it.

Stellar.

Tattoo You was the first Stones album I bought. I had a very good old style Luxor, all-in-one (Rec player, radio, cassette deck), stereo and I remember how good the record sounded. The second album I bought was Some Girls and my first impression was that it sounded a bit outdated compared to Tattoo You. Maybe it was more the production than the actual sound. Nowadays I appreciate how many good songs there are on Some Girls. But at the time I thought Tattoo You sounded more modern an up to date.

Black and Blue, which is not my favorite Stones album, is the best sounding album and Exile, which is my favorite, is arguably the worst sounding album.

A Bigger Bang...

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Palace Revolution 2000
I think one rough rule of thumb I have is - the Stones are not to be listened to on headphones. If the song works on headphones, it's most likely not good Stones.

I kinda see what you mean, but I don't agree at all. The textures of Beggar's Banquet and Exile, just to mention but two of their masterpieces, are incredible through headphones. I've spent so many hours listening to the Stones on headphones ... Jump Back when going to bed, Handsome Girls on the train, Tattoo You on cassette while clearing weeds from the lawn ...

All of them up until Dirty Work, or SHe's the Boss.

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LieB

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Palace Revolution 2000
I think one rough rule of thumb I have is - the Stones are not to be listened to on headphones. If the song works on headphones, it's most likely not good Stones.

I kinda see what you mean, but I don't agree at all. The textures of Beggar's Banquet and Exile, just to mention but two of their masterpieces, are incredible through headphones. I've spent so many hours listening to the Stones on headphones ... Jump Back when going to bed, Handsome Girls on the train, Tattoo You on cassette while clearing weeds from the lawn ...

I also see what you mean. I didn't phrase it well enough. I too have listened to the Stones on headphones for thousands of hours. It sets my head swirling.
But if you are looking for Hi Fi quadrophonic stupendous separation, and stereo tricks, and panning games - the Stones are not the one. That's what I meant.
Now if you love (like me) to hear Ronnie bang the slide against the neck, a pick drop, studio chatter in between cuts, but also great rock'n roll that feeds of energy and joy, not wizardry, then the Stones are the one.

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LieB

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Palace Revolution 2000
I think one rough rule of thumb I have is - the Stones are not to be listened to on headphones. If the song works on headphones, it's most likely not good Stones.

I kinda see what you mean, but I don't agree at all. The textures of Beggar's Banquet and Exile, just to mention but two of their masterpieces, are incredible through headphones. I've spent so many hours listening to the Stones on headphones ... Jump Back when going to bed, Handsome Girls on the train, Tattoo You on cassette while clearing weeds from the lawn ...

Isn't that something for the gardener to do, and would he be listening to the stones?