Out of Our Heads

The Rolling Stones - Hot Rocks 1964-1971 (1971) {2006 Japan MiniLP, UICY-93031~32}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 519 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 200 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 17 Mb | 5% repair rar | DSD | Mastering by Bob Ludwig
© 2006 ABKCO Records / Universal Music Japan | UICY-93031~32
Rock / Classic Rock / Blues Rock

This two-LP/two-CD set is both a lot more and a bit less than what it seems. It is seven years' worth of mostly very high-charting – and all influential and important – songs, leaving out some singles in favor of well-known album tracks, and in the process, giving an overview not just of the Rolling Stones' hits but of their evolving image. One hears them change from loud R&B-inspired rockers covering others' songs ("Time Is on My Side") into originators in their own right ("Satisfaction"); then into tastemakers and style-setters with a particularly decadent air ("Get Off of My Cloud," "19th Nervous Breakdown"); and finally into self-actualized rebel-poets ("Jumpin' Jack Flash," "Midnight Rambler") and Shaman-like symbols of chaos.

Hello were one of the more exciting bands of the mid-'70s glam explosion in the U.K., cutting some effervescent, almost giddy slabs of wax bolstered by thundering drums, heavy guitars, huge hooks, and boyish vocals. Not too many were hits, but a quick run through this collection of singles and their flip sides makes it clear that many more should have been. Starting in 1972 with the boogie glam of "You Move Me" and ending with a solo single from their drummer Jeff Allen from 1982, the collection covers a decade's worth of worthy attempts to scale the charts as tastes and sounds shifted around them.

The Rolling Stones - Flowers (1966) {Japan Mini LP Remastered 2006, UICY-93025}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 223 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 88 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 9 Mb | 5% repair rar | DSD | Mastering by Bob Ludwig
© 2006 ABKCO Records / Universal Music Japan | UICY-93025
Rock / Classic Rock

Flowers was dismissed as a rip-off of sorts by some critics, since it took the patchwork bastardization of British releases for the American audience to extremes, gathering stray tracks from the U.K. versions of Aftermath and Between the Buttons, 1966-1967 singles (some of which had already been used on the U.S. editions of Aftermath and Between the Buttons), and a few outtakes.

The Rolling Stones - Singles Collection: The London Years (1989) [3CD] {2006 Japan MiniLP, UICY-93035~37}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 743 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 410 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 106 Mb | 5% repair rar | DSD | Mastering by Bob Ludwig
© 2006 ABKCO Records / Universal Music Japan | UICY-93035~37
Rock / Classic Rock / Blues Rock

The three-disc box set Singles Collection: The London Years contains every single Rolling Stones singles released during the '60s, including both the A- and B-sides. It is the first Stones compilation that tries to be comprehensive and logical – for all their attributes, the two Hot Rocks sets and the two Big Hits collections didn't present the singles in chronological order. In essence, the previous compilations were excellent samplers, where Singles Collection tells most of the story (certain albums, like Aftermath, Beggars Banquet, and Let It Bleed, fill in the gaps left by the singles). The Rolling Stones made genuine albums – even their early R&B/blues albums were impeccably paced – but their singles had a power all their own, which is quite clearly illustrated by the Singles Collection.

The Rolling Stones - Through The Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2) (1969) {2006 Japan MiniLP, UICY-93028}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 249 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 91 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 47 Mb | 5% repair rar | DSD | Mastering by Bob Ludwig
© 2006 ABKCO Records / Universal Music Japan | UICY-93028
Rock / Classic Rock / Blues Rock

This album was spawned by three coinciding events – the need to acknowledge the death of band co-founder Brian Jones (whose epitaph graces the inside cover) in July of 1969; the need to get "Honky Tonk Women," then a huge hit single, onto an LP; and to fill the ten-month gap since the release of Beggars Banquet and get an album with built-in appeal into stores ahead of the Stones' first American tour in three years. The fact that the Stones had amassed a sufficient number of hits since their last greatest-hits compilation in early 1966 (Big Hits: High Tide and Green Grass) made this a no-brainer, and its song lineup was as potent at the time as any compilation of hit singles by any artist.

The Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones, Now! (1965) {Japan Mini LP Remastered 2006, UICY-93015}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 143 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 79 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 13 Mb | 5% repair rar | DSD | Mastering by Bob Ludwig
© 2006 ABKCO Records / Universal Music Japan | UICY-93015
Rock / Classic Rock / Blues Rock

Encore press release of The Rolling Stones cardboard sleeve reissue series featuring DSD remastering. Part of a 22-album The Rolling Stones cardboard sleeve reissue series featuring the albums "England's Newest Hit Makers," "12 x 5," "The Rolling Stones, Now!" "Out of Our Heads," "Out of Our Heads (UK Version)," "December's Children (And Everybody's)," "Big Hits (High Tide And Green Grass)," "Aftermath," "Aftermath (UK Version)," "Got Live If You Want It!" "Between The Buttons," "Between The Buttons (UK Version)," "Flowers," "Their Satanic Majesties Request," "Beaggars Banquet," "Through The Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2)," "Let It Bleed," "Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!" "Hot Rocks 1964-1971," "More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies)," "Singles Collection: The London Years," and "Metamporphosis (UK Version)."

The Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet (1968) {Japan Mini LP Remastered 2006, UICY-93027}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 264 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 95 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 31 Mb | 5% repair rar | DSD | Mastering by Bob Ludwig
© 2006 ABKCO Records / Universal Music Japan | UICY-93027
Rock / Classic Rock / Blues Rock

The Stones forsook psychedelic experimentation to return to their blues roots on this celebrated album, which was immediately acclaimed as one of their landmark achievements. A strong acoustic Delta blues flavor colors much of the material, particularly "Salt of the Earth" and "No Expectations," which features some beautiful slide guitar work. Basic rock & roll was not forgotten, however: "Street Fighting Man," a reflection of the political turbulence of 1968, was one of their most innovative singles, and "Sympathy for the Devil," with its fire-dancing guitar licks, leering Jagger vocals, African rhythms, and explicitly satanic lyrics, was an image-defining epic.