The Rolling Stones on CD part III

We last visited the topic of the Rolling Stones on cd on August 20th, 2018 with the first post in this series being from November 21st 2016 which followed getting the Rolling Stones in Mono box set in October of that year.
It is then kind of apt to be revisiting the topic some four years on with a couple of recent addiitions to the collection.

 Apart from the differences between the UK and US original albums for much of the 1960's  it is also the case the compilations issued during and that era too are also different  which was very annoying when having been brought up with those in the cd era they are all replaced by US editions.
On October 30 Universal Japan decided to reissue Big Hits better know to some of us by the bracketed title  "High Tide and Green Grass"  which was originally issued in late 1966 in the UK with 14 tracks which included a high proportion of single only tracks.

 They also issued Thru The Past Darkly (Big Hits Vol:2) which came out originally in 1969 just three months before the essential Let It Bleed album of that year.
There was less difference between this album in its UK form compared to the US with the UK version gaining You Better Move On, a EP only song and the US version gaining Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow? which because the US version of High Tide and Green Grass had been issued in April, it had missed off unlike the UK version.
Both were issued in mono and stereo forms at the time with the mono version going out of print by 1970 thus by the time I bought these on record they were stereo only (and some fake stereo too!).
Earlier in the year for Record Store Day both titles had been reissued on vinyl after 30 odd years and it's the version for that which used for these cd  issues on Shm plastic which is said  to be more reflective and less likely to have errors than conventional polycarbonate cds.
Although on High Tide and Green Grass they have reprinted the original "OBI" sash the Japanese lp had, it is not strictly accurate as this cd like the reissued record is all mono not stereo but does contain the gatefold sleeve being a mini lp and the much loved insert with prime mid sixties pictures of various members of the band and notes.
Thru The Past Darkly reproduces the original octangular lp jacket which later made square shape and both cds have the DECCA record company logo.
The last time they were out in Japan on cd was the early 1990's from so-so sources and never issued in Europe or North America so I was delighted that they've emerged in good sounding versions.
They can join the collection for practical reasons such as the length and the whole revisiting the past side. 

The Rolling Stones on CD part II

This week we resume the music posts that go back to November 21 2016 no less where I did discuss my collection of Rolling Stones cds.
 As explained at the time in as far as their recordings before 1971 go, they are the property of Abkco Records who have released them as they felt fit and whose last re-issue series goes back to 2002 although in 2006 that series was reissued on standard cd in jewel cases.
Why did I say Standard cd?
Simply because in Europe, Japan and North America they all were issued that year on Super Audio cd with a layer playable on regular cd players too so that on those Super Audio cd players you would get a sound much closer to the original analogue recordings.
I bought a good many of them at the time but apart from missing the odd US only title that had little to offer over the UK one I didn't get around to picking up this one.

It is the least understood album of theirs of that era entitled Their Majesties Satanic Request and issued originally in December 1967 in mono which came on cd in the Rolling Stones in Mono box set and stereo.
The original sleeve used a 3D art insert of the band in the centre but this was dropped several years later as it was way too expensive to make and assemble.

 The whole theme of the album is so "The Summer of Love" it was almost dated on release but while it does contains a number of great songs it's biggest downfall was the the combination of the group using the recording sessions to just drop in the studio, goofing about without a producer to say "enough of that" and turbulent events around the including arrests and group founder Brian Jones increasing drug addiction with all the issues from it.
They had to pull bits up to make a album very quickly from very little that could be regarded as releasable.
Throw in experimenting widely with a psychedelic sound in the studio, incorporating unconventional instruments, sound effects, string arrangements, and African rhythms and what you had was an album far removed from the rock sound they had only created the previous year on their groundbreaking Aftermath album, Paint It, Black and Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadows? singles.
It took me a while to get into this album mainly on the back of hearing free form jazz and even then some touches like the snoring segment before 2,000 Man which was covered by Kiss, still don't make any sense.
It's a interesting album to listen to especially in SACD but the group clearly learned from their experiences making this album bring in producer Jimmy Miller and a more disciplined approach to recording for their next album Beggars Banquet.

We *may* also have to go back to using Firefox on the Windows laptop until some issues with Google's Blogger and that resolve themselves on Pale Moon since the major change on version 28 in the last few days get bug fixes.

Rolling Stones on CD

This really is a kind of a follow on from the Rolling Stones in Mono cd entry from October where I talk a little about some of the other recordings on cd by them I have.
I'll ignore anything that is duplicated with that box set as they are off the shelf and in a storage box and start by saying the first main set of  "Decca era"cds by them I bought were the 2002 sacd playable on regular players to ones which came in a digi-pak packaging.

12x5 -six of the 12 songs here are in stereo as they were only mixed to stereo.
Rolling Stones, Now - Heart of Stone  and two others in stereo
December's Children - Look What You've Done in stereo

Between The Buttons (UK) - whole UK version of the album in stereo. The original cd version was US version missing two tracks.
Flowers - whole album in stereo
Beggars Banquet - whole album in stereo
Hot Rocks - has a number of singles in stereo including Paint It, Black
More Hot Rocks - I Just Can't Be Satisfied and Child Of The Moon in stereo
The London Years - complete UK/US mainly mono  singles set with extensive notes.
The original European cd series from the 1980's wasn't one I collected in full but a good number remain preferable or tie in different areas compared to the 2002's.

Aftermath - The whole album in wide stereo with no overuse of noise suppression issued in 1985
Flowers - Has the 'correct' full stereo Ruby Tuesday mix and sounds more open.
Their Satanic Majesties Request - Whole album in stereo
Let It Bleed - Whole album in stereo.Trades extreme low notes of the 2002 for openness
Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out - a overdubbed by enjoyable set of concerts from New York's Madison Square Gardens in late November 1969.

Rolled Gold Plus:

This was a short-lived November 2007 expanded  two cd reissue of the groundbreaking 1975 double lp presenting in near complete chronological order hit sides of their 45's plus notable album tracks that is more satisfying as a listen than the Hot Rocks sets. The album art is a mess, the sleeve notes are very centred on the 90's but this is a extremely intelligently compiled compilation.

The Rolling Stones Records era (1971 - to date)
Unlike the Decca era these recordings are owned by the Rolling Stones themselves who lease it to labels over fixed terms and on cd this has covered Columbia/CBS (1986-1992), Virgin (1994-2007) and currently Polydor/UMG (2009 onward).
In general I find the more open sound and better contrast between sound on the Columbia discs preferable to either the Virgins and many feel the 2009/10 issue are too constantly loud.
Sticky Fingers
Exile On Main Street
Hot Stuff
Love You Live -  double album of Concerts recorded in Paris 1976/7 and Toronto 1976.

The cd used a double cd try of twice the thickness of a single which was normal until the mid 1990's.
Some Girls - with altered single tone album cover showing models compared to first issue colour cuts withdrawn after complaints from depicted persons.

Emotional Rescue
Tattoo You
Rewind - 1984 compilation reissued in 1987 covering hits from 1971-1984 issued to coincide with video anthology of the same title. This has a slightly different track list compared to the 1984 UK lp/tape.
Steel Wheels
While not perfect I feel these two of the 1994 Virgin remastered series have greater clarity and more 'snap'.
Goats Head Soup
It's Only Rock and Roll
Jump Start - 1993 Virgin compilation covering 1971 thru 1989.
Made In The Shade - 1975 ten track compilation from the first four 70's albums.
Sucking In The 70's -1981 compilation with remixes and unissued versions
Way back in the earliest days of cd, EMI had the European license and issued two titles before that changed in the mid 80's.
Undercover - 1985 made in Japan issue of the 1983 studio album.

Teen Beat XXV - The Rolling Stones in Mono

First off in this strange age of social media I've gained an extra follower on the blog itself so thank you as I launch the twenty-fifth edition of "Teenbeat".
Many years ago when I had an active 'Big' blog I wrote a substantial entry around the longstanding British rock band, the Rolling Stones and my recordings by them and on September 30th, a 15 cd box set of their recordings was issued.

Basically the box set covers what I'd call the Decca or (for us North Americans), the London Years where from 1963 through 1970, they recorded for Decca records of Great Britain but with a twist as this set only comprises of individual albums of studio recordings that were issued in monophonic sound.
Unlike the Beatles to whom only about five recordings were only available in mono and to whom there are mono and stereo sets of everything except the last two studio albums, it's fair to say most of the pre 1966 Rolling Stones songs are only in mono and they appeared as recent as 2002 in generally good remastered cds and a few records from the same sources. It's also important to note a good number of those 1964/5 tracks that were only mixed in stereo such as 2120 South Michigan Avenue were simply 'folded in' for the mono editions so you're not hearing different outside of the sound all now coming from the centre of your speakers on these discs.
This means there is quite a bit of duplication between those cd  issues and these new cds.

 The discs are fitted so you remove from from the top with what I'd regard as a silly magnetic catch and at the front there is a booklet with a short write up of the the groups history and pictures.
It tells you nothing about the recording history of the groups albums such as the dates, studios used when originally issued and catalogue numbers or even which albums are featured that I feel is quite an oversight.

 The albums appear in mini lp form which I favour but lack some of the individual touches such as 'fold backs' on the UK titles, period mock inner sleeves and in the instance of Let It Bleed, the poster that was included in all copies of the album. At cost the Japanese issue features all of that and more!

The European edition has see through plastic inner sleeves and plastic resealable outside sleeve jackets to protect them. This inexplicably was been missed of the North American edition which has the discs spine face down in the box so they can easily get scratched where at least the european has them slotted with the spines to the left hand side of the box
Like most sixties groups their UK and US discographies difference greatly but unlike that of the beatles they were compiled by the bands own producer for US consumption leading of itself to duplication.
To simplify, it includes the following US titles also released back in Canada on London records:
12x5, The Rolling Stones, Now, Out Of Our Heads, December's Children (and everybody's), Aftermath and Flowers plus all of the UK titles.
This means that for the first time since 1995 their first UK album is actually available here in the UK in it's original form and for the first time outside Japan, the second album is finally issued on cd, something as a person who chose back home to collect the UK versions I'm kinda delighted about.

That's the first UK album - note unlike the Beatles in 1964 it wasn't deemed necessary have the bands name on it - where next to it the London 12x5 album of July 1964 that did!
Talking of sleeves for some inexplicable reason 1968's Beggars Banquet album which only has one special mono mix on it of - Sympathy For The Devil - uses the 1984 'toilet' cover rather than the R.S.V.P. scripted one originals had. The band may of wanted that at the time as the cover but it wasn't what was issued so in many ways it kinda jars with whole notion being a facsimile of the original lp issue.
The inclusion of the American edition on London of 1966's milestone Aftermath album seems odd given they removed two other US editions and that only what is seen from a  UK vantage point of the inclusion of Paint it, black, a 1966 single and opening track is only what separates it from the UK edition as just ten of the UK versions fourteen were used with no differences in versions.
I say that because they compiled a special compilation album called Stray Cats for this set that houses other mono only tracks such as 45's or tracks from UK extended play releases not on these albums where there is space for it and where it would make more sense to have included it next to it's 'b' side. 
A number of tracks were re-transferred and others had some processing done in 2002 for initial super audio cd release removed and these do actually sound better as in more 'open' and analogue sounding.
Outside of that and the reappearance of the first two UK albums, the main plus of this set is getting the dedicated mono mixes unavailable since the late 1960's of their Aftermath, Between The Buttons and Their Satanic  Majesties Request albums that suffered from that extreme left, right so-called 'stereo' popular back then and in any event was often less of a priority than the more commonplace in the home mono. The amount of time spent varied where separate mixes were made made in four hours or less in stereo compared to days on the mono with less care about how loud any one part of mix was in stereo compared to the mono.
Personally I feel those mono mixes offer more of a sense of the performance everyone including the bands own members wanted us to hear and be judged on, sounding better balanced to my ears.
The inclusion of a completely folded  from stereo into mono Let It Bleed album, an album that is one of their very best ever is puzzling as while it was issued briefly in 1969 in this form in the UK, it was soon gone and sounds no different than playing a current version on cd with the mono button engaged. I'd of issued the stereo version with a period cd logo in mini lp form in stereo complete with replica dedicated inner sleeve and poster as a bonus as that would be of more value, making the set a good mainly mono way into the 1960's Rolling Stones recordings.
To summarize, the box set performs a valuable function in presenting the whole of the studio recordings of the Rolling Stones in mono in single spot very well transferred although the execution on the artwork and some choices on the contents could of been better given more thought and general attention to detail.

Teen Beat V (iTuned Stones)

It's been a good year since I wrote the last numbered Teen Beat entry although there have been a few specials since then so while I melt in the sun here's the new entry.
There can be little denying the impact of England's Rolling Stones to contemporary rock music and over the decades their back catalogue has always been in print in one form or another although the catalogue is divided between that of their earliest work (1963 thru 1970) which is owned by Abkco Industries and (1971 to date) which they own and license periodically to different labels (Currently Polydor a division of the large Universal Music Group).
In 2002 that earlier catalogue was remastered and re-issued initially to super audio cd for Japan, the UK and North America, selected titles on vinyl lps and issued as downloads in late 2010 from the three big download sites.
Recently Apple have been attempting to improve the quality of their downloadable titles under the generic 'Mastered For iTunes" program where high "Studio" quality masters are custom mastered for Itunes to a specification and I wrote a short piece on it.
Last month, this early Rolling Stones catalogue was re-mastered for iTunes so I did some exploration of it having own records and tapes by them for a long time.
The first thing to say is this new collection follows the original UK studio album sequence and adds two short EP exclusive titles in the set however they have not included the two live recordings issued in the UK (The 'got LIVE if you want it' EPand 'Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out' discs) although they can be gotten separately.
The individual titles are available to buy separately coming with PDF booklets for front covers and original artwork but two unique compilations are added that can only bought either as part of the set or as stand alone titles from the sets own menu of titles.
These sets have the non lp singles, b sides and tracks only issued on US albums gathered together and they are called "No Stone Unturned" Volumes 1 and  2 which is based on the title of a very good UK lp compilation from the 70's.
The haven't issued in this set the UK Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass) and Thru' The Past Darkly (Big Hits Vol:2) compilations although they also have been remastered for iTunes and can be bought separately.

I bought a number of titles, Self Titled, No.2 (both of which aren't on cd), 12x5 (An American album with 6 stereo tracks), Let It Bleed and No Stone Unturned Vol:1 to test the re-mastered sound.
I felt the sound was very close to that of a cd, offering an upgrade on the previous iTunes and Mp3 versions I've heard sounding better in the percussion and generally that bit smoother.
I felt No Stone Unturned made more sense being a collection of songs being in chronological order than the US Hot Rocks and Fazed Cookies two cd sets, lending itself to being used on a portable player for the person who wants to look beyond their albums although by design it misses out a few hits. Many have said it's a pity this title isn't available on cd and I would agree. It removes the need to have to own otherwise unnecessary and often messily compiled US titles such as "Flowers" and "December's Children".
In addition I picked up a few weeks later No Stone Unturned Vol:2 which has tracks like 19th Nervous Breakdown, My Girl, We Love You, Child Of The Moon and Jumping Jack Flash.
I also re-transferred to iTunes some of my own discs to compare self transferred  to those "Mastered For iTunes" where some tracks were shared and their was a small improvement in the bought ones when I listened closely and compared although obviously you'd be paying for a title that you may well have on your shelf although the quality was actually very good.
When one considers the sound many of us had from pre-recorded cassettes in the past, I feel users of download services such as iTunes are getting a very good deal as these titles are genuinely impressive played through a middle market set of hifi separates even if they may not hold the promise of either high resolution Downloads or lp re-issues.