Hot Rocks (Japanese SHM-CD)

Great album at a good price an delivered in time.

First released Stateside in January 1972, this has to be the best Stones compliation album ever and if you only choose to have one Stones cd in your collection than this would have to be it.Nearly all of the classics of their Decca years are included here encompassing their poignant and soulful ballads ("Time Is On My Side", "As Tears Go By", "Heart Of Stone", "Ruby Tuesday"), through ascerbic laddish rockers ("Satisfaction", "Get Off Of My Cloud"), through adroit misogyny ("Play With Fire", "19th Nervous Breakdown", "Under My Thumb"), to purveyors of something altogether darker ("Jumpin' Jack Flash", "Sympathy for the Devil", "Midnight Rambler"), which reached it's apotheosis in the bloody mayhem of the infamous free concert at the Altamont Speedway in December 1969.Which is really where this collection leaves off, the two gems from 1971; "Brown Sugar" and "Wild Horses" were recorded a couple of years earlier but were delayed from release for contractual reasons.If I have a beef over this particular cd it is very specifically centred on the sound quality, or rather lack of it. In the old days when cd's were a new phenomenon, U.K. purchasers of "Hot Rocks" were treated to stunning stereo tracks of these golden goodies, including a previously unreleased stereo take of "Satisfaction"and other gems such as "Heart of Stone" and "Play With Fire" which were crystalline in their depth and clarity.In fact this release of "Hot Rocks", which came as two separate cd's boasted all the tracks bar two - "As Tears Go By" and "19th Nervous Breakdown" in glorious stereo. Further releases on the U.K. London label held further pleasant suprises for Stones devotees and generally speaking, these releases, easily identifiable by the Red and Blue London logo were superior to their U.S. counterparts.Sadly as part of the increasing move towards "globalisation" these releases are no longer available and what we get here is the U.S. product, with the majority (11 out of 18) tracks in at times muzzy, mono. Why, when every other rock icon of the the sixties has their back catalogue available with optimum sound quality, the long suffering Stones fan should have to make do with second best is beyond me.In the final anaysis for first time listeners, this is a great cd, great because the music transcends the second rate sound quality, for serious devotees you might well want to search further afield for the optimum listening experience which these rock classics merit.

Yo! I'm loving the song Play with Fire. Who would have thought it? There's a story behind this hehe ...When me and hubby first got together, he loved Mick Jagger (not in THAT way, in a musical way lol) but frankly, I couldn't stand him. The Stones were before my time and I couldn't even think of one song that they sang. He constantly (hubby) asked for Stones music and I constantly said I didn't want it played in the house when I was in etc. I can't stand The Rolling Stones I said often.Come forward in time to Boxing Day 2012 and for some reason, Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones came into conversation again (he never gives up trying! he's persistent I'll give him that) and he asked me how could I say I didn't like someone's music when I had never listened to it. Good point. I agreed, reluctantly. I asked him what I should listen to then, if he insisted and he suggested I buy an album from Amazon. I searched The Rolling Stones on Amazon to find dozens of albums. I asked him which one, he said pick any, they will all be great, Mick Jagger is a God! *yawn* So, I looked through a few and listened to samples of songs I liked the titles of.Bizarre! I kept saying "Hey, I like this, this is great!" etc.Cut a long and probably boring story short and I ended up buying this album. The first and only Rolling Stones album I have ever listened to or paid money for. Within minutes of it downloading I was rocking like a maniac to it, hurling myself around, laughing, singing along, saying how 'sexy' his music was and what a good mood it was putting me in *LOL* (you know what I mean!)Its before my time this album but it is SHEER GENIUS. I am converted. I can now honestly say although Mick Jagger (the look of him) will NEVER be my thing, his voice is pure sexiness and pure rock. AWESOME.I LOVE this album, ALL of it. I was playing it again this afternoon whilst baking corn muffins, singing along, swaying my hips, ya know .. moving like Jagger.Very few albums do I like every single song on, but this one I do. I still say I am not a Jagger Fan and cringe when he goes on about The Rolling Stones but it was him laughing this afternoon when he came home from work to find me playing The Rolling Stones, this album.My favourite track is Play with Fire. I also love Ruby Tuesday. I love them all.FAB.

Bought for birthday pressie