rollingbest

The Rolling Stones – Self-Titled

More of the Music of The Rolling Stones

  • You’ll find solid Double Plus (A++) sound from first note to last on this outstanding pressing of The Stones’ 1964 release – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • We guarantee there is dramatically more richness, fullness and presence on this copy than others you’ve heard, and that’s especially true for whatever godawful Heavy Vinyl pressing is currently being foisted on an unsuspecting record buying public
  • This is the real, honest sound of the early, early Stones
  • “The Stones’ debut knocked The Beatles from the chart summit… They were on their way.” – BBC Review
  • If you’re a fan of the early Stones, their debut from 1964 belongs in your collection.

The best word I could use to sum up both the sound and the music on this record is HONEST. If you want to hear how early Rolling Stones records sound when they sound right, this is the ticket. This is the real sound of the early, early Stones.

Probably what any modern engineer would want to do to the album would only end up making it worse. It is what it is and that’s good enough for us. Since the tapes are now more than 60 years old, no modern reissue will sound remotely as good as this one.

The Stones wanted their stuff to sound like the old Blues albums they grew up on and revered, and with that sound in mind you can’t argue that they didn’t succeed here.

(more…)

The Rolling Stones – Emotional Rescue

More of the Music of The Rolling Stones

  • An Emotional Rescue like you’ve never heard, with a STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side two mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side one – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • “Dance (Pt. 1)” and “She’s So Cold” sound great on this copy, and the title track, “Emotional Rescue,” is every bit as good
  • An underrated Stones album – too good to call a guilty pleasure – and very well-recorded by Chris Kimsey
  • Maybe it’s good because “Mick Jagger sounds like he’s having a great time…” – Eric Klinger, PopMatters.com

(more…)

The Rolling Stones – Black and Blue

More of the Music of The Rolling Stones

  • With two STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sides or close to them, this copy is guaranteed to blow to the doors off any other Black and Blue you’ve heard
  • Glyn Johns engineered, and the better pressings are full-bodied and lively, with solid and present vocals, as well as excellent clarity all around
  • A copy this good lets you appreciate Billy Preston’s contributions on the keys – he’s all over the album, a very good thing indeed
  • “‘Melody’ ought to be a tentative experiment with Billy Preston’s jazzy keyboard sound. Instead, it’s a triumph, Jagger’s voice swooping and snaking around Preston’s piano and harmonies.” – Rolling Stone

This is in fact one of the better sounding “later period” (1976) Stones records we’ve played, that’s if we’re talking about the better copies of course, like this one. The best pressings are big, open, dynamic and full-bodied, with exceptionally lively percussion. As always, credit goes to the recording engineers, Glyn Johns et al., as well as Lee Hulko at Sterling, the original mastering engineer (who’s cut about as many good sounding records as anyone we can think of).

“Hand of Fate” is our favorite on side one, sounding like an unreleased track from Exile on Main Street. I’m guessing Glyn Johns had a lot to do with that one sounding as meaty and raw as it does on the better copies. Following “Hot Stuff,” it balances that one’s bright, clear sound nicely, making it easy to separate the real winners from the also-rans.

(more…)

The Rolling Stones – Tattoo You

More of the Music of The Rolling Stones

  • Both sides of this vintage copy were giving us the big and bold sound we were looking for, earning incredible Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) grades – just shy of our Shootout Winner
  • The midrange is both rich and clear, with Jagger’s vocals front and center, exactly where they belong
  • The piano has real weight, the grungy guitars are suitably distorted, and the tonal balance is correct from top to bottom – our classic Hot Stamper sound in a nutshell
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Tattoo You captures the Stones at their best as a professional stadium-rock band… ‘Waiting on a Friend’ and the vigorous rock & roll of the first side make Tattoo You an essential latter-day Stones album, ranking just a few notches below Some Girls.”
  • If you’re a Stones fan, this title from 1981 is one of their better later releases

In the tradition of other late-70s / early-80s Stones albums (Some Girls, Goats Head Soup, It’s Only Rock And Roll), the sound is a bit raw at times, but a copy like this one gives you the kind of energy, body and richness to make for some very enjoyable serious listening.

The sound here is big and rich, with more “meat on the bones” as we like to say. The guitars are chunky and powerful, which exactly the sound you want for a song like Start Me Up, which leads things off here. The best sides have more extension up top and more size to the soundfield as well.

As with any Stones album, don’t expect any sonic miracles. Hot Stampers aren’t going to turn this into Tea For The Tillerman. If you want to hear an amazing sounding Demo Quality record, this ain’t it, but if you love this music and are frustrated with the sound of the typical pressing, I bet you’ll enjoy the heck outta this one. (more…)

The Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed

More of the Music of The Rolling Stones

  • With solid Double Plus (A++) sound or close to it on both sides, here is an outstanding All Analog pressing showcasing the Stones at the peak of their rock and roll powers
  • “Love In Vain” is one of the best sounding Stones songs ever recorded – the acoustic guitar harmonics and the rich WHOMP of the snare prove indisputably that Glyn Johns is one of the engineering greats
  • Marks and problems in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these Classic Rock records, but once you hear just how superb sounding this copy is, you might be inclined, as we were, to stop counting ticks and pops and just be swept away by the music
  • Top 100, 5 stars – Jason McNeil wrote that Beggars Banquet and Let It Bleed are “the two greatest albums the band’s (or anyone’s) ever made.” [Add Sticky Fingers to complete the ultimate Stones Trilogy.]
  • This is a Must Own album from 1969, one that should have a place in any audiophile’s pop and rock section

This is, in our humble opinion, the second or third best record the Stones ever made. (Sticky Fingers is Number One, and either this or Beggar’s Banquet comes in a strong second.) With this wonderful early domestic pressing we can now hear the power and the beauty of the recording itself, a fact that we consider the very definition of a Hot Stamper.

Killer Stones Sound

Both sides have more ambiance, more life, and more presence than you probably dreamed possible. Take the sound of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” to pick just one example. The breathtaking transparency of this copy allows you to pick out each voice in the intro. The vocals on the other songs are no less present, full-bodied and breathy.

(more…)

The Rolling Stones – Their Satanic Majesties Request

More of the Music of The Rolling Stones

  • Their Satanic Majesties Request is back on the site after a twelve month hiatus, here with KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound on this vintage British Decca pressing
  • The band’s one and only psychedelic album, one that came out right before the raging bluesy rock of Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed and Sticky Fingers
  • This is some crazy Stones music, with loads of psychedelic madness, balanced by a good number of catchy tunes
  • It’s a lot of fun on a pressing that sounds as good as this one, with the space, clarity and richness that vintage vinyl offers in such abundance
  • Every one of the original Decca stereo pressings we’ve played has come up short against these recuts from the Seventies – if you want an original on this album, the one with the cool lenticular 3-D cover, just know that you’re choosing second-rate sound (which, of course, is your choice)
  • 4 stars: “Never before or since did the Stones take so many chances in the studio… a fascinating anomaly in the group’s discography”.

This is the Stones at their most experimental, so there are plenty of strange effects and trippy arrangements. Only the best copies manage to make sense of it, but when you find one this music is a lot of fun.

If you’re looking for the raging bluesy rock of Sticky Fingers and Let It Bleed, you’ll find some of that here but also a lot of psychedelia too. You do get some great rockers though — “Citadel,” “2000 Man,” and “2000 Light Years From Home” to name a few. “She’s A Rainbow” is the poppiest song here, and on this copy it sounds WONDERFUL.

(more…)

The Rolling Stones – Out of Our Heads

More of the Music of The Rolling Stones

  • With INSANELY GOOD Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades from top to bottom, this is certainly as good a copy as we have ever heard – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • These British sides impressed us with their Tubey Magical, fairly natural sound
  • With top engineers like Dave Hassinger and Glyn Johns one would hope for better sonics, but this is pretty much as good as it gets as far as we know
  • 4 1/2 stars: “In 1965, the Stones finally proved themselves capable of writing classic rock singles that mined their R&B/blues roots, but updated them into a more guitar-based, thoroughly contemporary context. The first enduring Jagger-Richards classics are here…”
  • Out of Our Heads is an album with one set of very special stampers that consistently win shootout after shootout, for years now

Like the really good Decca version of Aftermath, this record has amazing transparency, rich bass and relatively little distortion compared to many of the other versions we’ve played.

Also, like Aftermath, some songs sound much better than others. That’s just the way old Stones record are. Part of this album was recorded in Hollywood and part of it was recorded in Chicago — that may explain some of the variation in the quality of the sound.

By the way, stick with true stereo on this album; the mono pressings — at least the ones we played — aren’t worth anybody’s time (scratch that: any audiophile’s time).

(more…)

The Rolling Stones – It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll

More of the Music of The Rolling Stones

  • It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll returns to the site for only the second time in three years, here with solid Double Plus (A++) grades or close to them on both sides
  • On this side two you will find sound quality that is both clean and clear, with much less grit and grain than you are used to, assuming you have any copy of the album at all, and side one is not far behind in all those areas
  • I’m guessing most audiophiles gave up on this one after hearing the average pressing, but here you will find the kind of richness that is fundamental to getting this album to sound its best (particularly on side two)
  • The superbly talented Andy Johns engineered, so you can be sure that this is the sound the Stones were aiming for
  • Marks in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these Classic Rock records – there simply is no way around them if the superior sound of vintage analog is important to you
  • “Throughout, the Stones wear their title as the ‘World’s Greatest Rock & Roll Band’ with a defiant smirk, which makes the bitter cynicism of ‘If You Can’t Rock Me’ and the title track all the more striking, and the reggae experimentation… all the more enjoyable.”

It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll is a consistently good, straight-ahead, no-frills rock album from the Stones with Mick Taylor still in the band. It was the last of its kind for a while; their next release was the reggae-influenced Black and Blue. The sound can be a bit gritty and grainy at times, but you gotta believe that that’s precisely the sound the Stones heard in the booth and were totally cool with. Andy Johns (younger brother of Glyn Johns) engineered and he’s made as many super-tubey, super-rich and super-smooth recordings as anybody this side of Bill Porter.

The Stones didn’t want that sound this time around. The Stones wanted this sound.

This album may have some of the best The Rolling Stones music, but those looking for top quality sonics for the Stones should head in the direction of Beggars Banquet, Sticky Fingers, or Let It Bleed. They’re simply more audiophile-friendly recordings.

(more…)

The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers

More of the Music of The Rolling Stones

  • With outstanding Double Plus (A++) grades from top to bottom, this copy will be very hard to beat – reasonably quiet vinyl too, about as quiet as we can find them
  • If you have never heard one of our Hot Stamper pressings of the album, you (probably) cannot begin to appreciate just how amazing the sound is
  • A landmark Glyn Johns / Andy Johns recording, our favorite by the Stones, a Top 100 Title (of course) and 5 stars on Allmusic (ditto)
  • Q magazine said this was “the Stones at their assured, showboating peak … A magic formula of heavy soul, junkie blues and macho rock.”
  • Marks in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these Classic Rock records – those on “Wild Horses” are especially bad – but if you can tough those out, this copy is going to blow your mind
  • 5 stars: “With its offhand mixture of decadence, roots music, and outright malevolence, Sticky Fingers set the tone for the rest of the decade for the Stones.”
  • If I had to compile a list of my favorite rock albums from 1971, this album would definitely be on it

This is the best record the Stones ever made, with Let It Bleed and Beggars Banquet right up there with it but just a half-step behind. Today I would probably modify that assessment to say that Sticky Fingers is better understood as being first among equals, primus inter pares, rather than ahead of the brilliant Let It Bleed and Beggars Banquet.

The sound is exactly what you want from a Stones album, with deep punchy bass and dynamic, grungy guitars. This record is to be played loud like it says on the inner sleeve and the surface noise is to be ignored. The louder you play it, the less bothersome the noise will be. This album ROCKS and it was not made to be listened to in a comfy chair while sipping wine.

Tubey Magical acoustic guitar reproduction is superb on the better copies of this recording. Simply phenomenal amounts of Tubey Magic can be heard on every strum, along with richness, body and harmonic coherency that have all but disappeared from modern recordings (and especially from modern remasterings).

Play I Got the Blues to hear exactly what we mean.

A QUICK TEST: The best copies have texture and real dynamics in the brass. The bad copies are smeared, grainy and unpleasant when the brass comes in. Toss those bad ones and start shooting out the good ones. Believe me, if you find a good one it will be obvious and worth whatever you had to pay for it.

(more…)

The Rolling Stones – Aftermath

More Rolling Stones


  • Excellent Tubey Magical 60s British sound throughout this vintage UK Decca pressing, with both sides earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades or close to them – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • “Lady Jane,” “Under My Thumb” and “Mother’s Little Helper” are three of the best sounding tracks – all are lively and solid here on this outstanding Double Plus side one
  • 5 stars: “… the group began incorporating the influences of psychedelia and Dylan into their material with classics like ‘Paint It Black,’ an eerily insistent number one hit graced by some of the best use of sitar (played by Brian Jones) on a rock record. Other classics included the jazzy ‘Under My Thumb,’ where Jones added exotic accents with his vibes, and the delicate Elizabethan ballad ‘Lady Jane,’ where dulcimer can be heard…”

The sound of this pressing is going to be very hard to beat. Until just recently it had been ages since we’d found a copy of Aftermath with sound quality of this caliber to list on the site. It’s surprisingly clean, clear and smooth, with prodigious amounts of Tubey Magic, which is the kind of sound that lets you play the album at the appropriate volume — LOUD.

Although some songs sound amazing, not every track is well recorded. We just have to accept that the Stones are not The Beatles when it comes consistent quality for their earliest recordings. However, a strong copy like this one paired with the great music on the album will certainly deliver a lot of pleasure to audiophile Stones fans.

Finally! Top Sound for the Stones

This is our favorite of the early Stones records. You can’t argue with “Lady Jane” and “Under My Thumb,” two of the best tracks this band ever put down on tape.

“Lady Jane,” “Under My Thumb” and “Mother’s Little Helper” are three of the best sounding tracks on side one. On side two, “Out of Time” and “I Am Waiting” are especially well recorded

Credit must go to the engineering talents of Dave Hassinger.

(more…)