The Rolling Stones – Blue & Lonesome

Universal's 2018 set The Studio Albums Vinyl Collection 1971-2016 isn't the first time the Rolling Stones] post-Decca catalog has been boxed up. Back in 2010, all the albums up to 2015 (which means it didn't include 2016's blues record Blue & Lonesome) were offered in a set that was a companion to the similarly limited-edition box The Rolling Stones 1964-1969. In a sense, the 2018 set functions as a cousin to ABKCO's The Rolling Stones in Mono – a 2016 box containing mono mixes of all the material the Stones officially released on Decca – but where that set was issued on both CD and LP, The Studio Albums Vinyl Collection 1971-2016 is, as its title suggests, explicitly designed as a vinyl package…

Universal's 2018 set The Studio Albums Vinyl Collection 1971-2016 isn't the first time the Rolling Stones] post-Decca catalog has been boxed up. Back in 2010, all the albums up to 2015 (which means it didn't include 2016's blues record Blue & Lonesome) were offered in a set that was a companion to the similarly limited-edition box The Rolling Stones 1964-1969. In a sense, the 2018 set functions as a cousin to ABKCO's The Rolling Stones in Mono – a 2016 box containing mono mixes of all the material the Stones officially released on Decca – but where that set was issued on both CD and LP, The Studio Albums Vinyl Collection 1971-2016 is, as its title suggests, explicitly designed as a vinyl package…

When The Rolling Stones’ former manager Allen Klein assembled one of the band’s earliest compilation series in 1971 and 1972 (Hot Rocks 1964-1971 and More Hot Rocks), he was surveying an entirely different group than the one we know today. Four and a half decades later, there’s a whole lot more catalog to consider than what that original, unassailable run of ’60s albums offered at the time. Honk essentially picks up where Hot Rocks left off, plucking 36 tunes from a range of LPs starting with 1971’s Sticky Fingers and ending with 2016’s Blue & Lonesome. But while that timeframe is broad, the focus is stylistically tight. Aside from a few classic ballads (“Wild Horses,” “Angie”), Honk serves as a reminder of what the band built their name on: strutting rockers and barroom stompers.

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. The first stable line-up consisted of bandleader Brian Jones (guitar, harmonica, keyboards), Mick Jagger (lead vocals, harmonica), Keith Richards (guitar, vocals), Bill Wyman (bass), Charlie Watts (drums), and Ian Stewart (piano). Stewart was removed from the official line-up in 1963 but continued to work with the band as a contracted musician until his death in 1985…

“If you don’t know the blues, there’s no point in picking up the guitar and playing rock’n’roll or any other form of popular music,” says Keith Richards. Blues pioneers such as Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Elmore James, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Big Bill Broonzy and Robert Johnson had a huge impact on the young Rolling Stones, influencing Richards’ guitar licks and Mick Jagger’s vocals and songwriting.