Re: 50 years of Dirty Work Torrents
Posted by:
princerupert
()
Date: April 29, 2012 13:20
This is what the Dude self has to say about his project:
Having got tired of buying/downloading hundreds, nay, thousands of Rolling Stones official and unofficial vinyl records and CDs, only to find that there's a constant overlapping of tracks and a lot of confusion surrounding their studio output, there was one wish on my mind. That there was someone who would take it upon himself or herself to try and make sense of the many variations, overlappings etc. in the Stones catalogue and try and find the best possible audio for each and every track the Rolling Stones have ever recorded in their career. And of course I waited in vain. So I started assembling as many RS records as I could get, bootlegs and official releases, in order to try and get the complete RS discography in the best possible quality.
A very important website which has helped me with this is the one by Felix Aeppli (google is your friend). I wish to make clear that I am not him, nor am I in any way affiliated to him, hell, I don't even know the guy. But what he has done is a marvellous job, in trying to construct a complete picture of all available (and, sadly, unavailable) Rolling Stones audio.
With his work as an indispensible guide (and, indeed, using his numbering system - PLEASE check Felix Aeppli's website how to use the numbering system!) I set out to find all of the tracks mentioned on his website. I think I can say I have found most, if not all, tracks, and I am presenting you these tracks, in chronological order. This has been a labour of love for the past few years now, so I hope you all can appreciate the work that has gone into this.
I am not saying it is perfect - there are tracks missing (and where they are, it is noted), and for some tracks there may be better sources. In these cases, I hope you can help me out in trying to get this work complete and in even better sound quality.
In each track's description I have mentioned the source. These can vary from bootleg recordings to official CDs, YouTube rips and some vinyl rips. Where I used mp3s as a source, this is also pointed out. Where tracks were issued both in mono and stereo, I have included both. Where I have multiple sources for a track which sound markedly different, I included every one of them.
Not only have I tried to find all of the Stones material, I also searched for each original recording of cover songs they recorded (be it live or in the studio). These will also be presented. Where I was in doubt which version the Stones would have based their cover version on, I have included more than one track.
I am presenting you all of this material in folders which are catalogued by year. These are not presented as cut-and-dried 80 minute audio CDs, but as complete folders. Whatever you want to do with them, do so. My aim was to get it all into one place.
Please do not ask me for artwork, please do not ask me to up this as mp3s, or why I didn't include md5-files or whatever other stuff people seem to find important (I'm no good/too lazy at that stuff), but please do offer constructive criticism where due, and above all, please upload better quality tracks or missing tracks when you have them. I think the Rolling Stones' catalogue is totally underpresented and well worthy of a thorough remastering job, but since that is unlikely to happen (especially with the 1960s material), I have started this project in the hope that I/we could achieve something similar.
Where I used my own CDs, I ripped them using EAC, where I downloaded stuff I kept them as FLAC-files, unless they were mp3, in which case I converted them to FLAC as well, to keep some kind of continuity (but, again, where this is the case, I have made mention of this). After converting everything to FLAC, I used Foobar's Scan-Per-File-Track-Gain function to get similar audio levels for the tracks.
I could not have done this without some great torrent sites like Hunger City (and indeed, Demonoid) and I would like to thank each and everyone that uploads stuff, now it's (finally) my turn to give something back.
I have also taken a shot at their solo outings, but that will come later (if you'll all be nice).
I sincerely hope you will appreciate all the work that's gone into this project and hope you can help wherever possible, and for now let's shut up and enjoy
the first installment of what I have named THE ROLLING STONES - 50 YEARS OF DIRTY WORK