The Rolling Stones

Without a doubt, the most overrated rock'n'roll band of all time.

"Their Satanic Majesties Request"

  1. "Sing This All Together" (3:46)
  2. "Citadel" (2:50)
  3. "In Another Land" (3:13)
  4. "2000 Man" (3:05)
  5. "Sing This All Together (See What Happens)" (7:58)
  6. "She's a Rainbow" (5:18)
  7. "The Lantern" (4:24)
  8. "Gomper" (5:12)
  9. "2000 Light Years from Home" (4:45)
  10. "On with the Show" (3:40)

Ok, somehow I got it in my head to buy this complete album on CD, because a) none of the songs appear on Hot Rocks, and b) it's something of a psychedelic departure from the band's ordinary cock-rock blues. The joke was on me, though. Despite having a couple worthwhile songs ("She's a Rainbow", "Citadel"), most of this thing is just random noodling or pointless experimentalism. Gotta love the title, though.

"Forty Licks" (2CD compilation)

    disc one:
  1. "Street Fighting Man" (3:16)
  2. "Gimme Shelter" (4:32)
  3. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (3:44)
  4. "The Last Time" (3:42)
  5. "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (3:43)
  6. "You Can't Always Get What You Want" (7:29)
  7. "19th Nervous Breakdown" (3:57)
  8. "Under My Thumb" (3:42)
  9. "Not Fade Away" (1:49)
  10. "Have You Seen Your Mother Baby?" (2:36)
  11. "Sympathy for the Devil" (6:18)
  12. "Mother's Little Helper" (2:47)
  13. "She's a Rainbow" (4:13)
  14. "Get off My Cloud" (2:56)
  15. "Wild Horses" (5:45)
  16. "Ruby Tuesday" (3:15)
  17. "Paint it Black" (3:45)
  18. "Honky Tonk Women" (3:01)
  19. "It's All Over Now" (3:28)
  20. "Let's Spend the Night Together" (3:27)
    disc two:
  1. "Start Me Up" (3:33)
  2. "Brown Sugar" (3:49)
  3. "Miss You" (3:35)
  4. "Beast of Burden" (3:27)
  5. "Don't Stop" (3:58)
  6. "Happy" (3:05)
  7. "Angie" (4:31)
  8. "You Got Me Rocking" (3:33)
  9. "Shattered" (3:46)
  10. "Fool to Cry" (4:07)
  11. "Love is Strong" (3:48)
  12. "Mixed Emotions" (4:01)
  13. "Keys to Your Love" (4:12)
  14. "Anybody Seen My Baby?" (4:07)
  15. "Stealing My Heart" (3:42)
  16. "Tumbling Dice" (3:46)
  17. "Undercover of the Night" (4:13)
  18. "Emotional Rescue" (3:42)
  19. "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll" (4:10)
  20. "Losing My Touch" (5:05)

Boy, did I screw the pooch on this one. When this 2-disc retrospective set was released, I considered long and hard whether it was worth buying to replace my copy of Hot Rocks, which only has half the songs and only covers the band's 60's period. The problem, of course, is that most of the Stones' music since 1971 SUCKS!!! So I made up my mind to buy it ONLY if disc two contains the long versions of "Miss You" and "Emotional Rescue", which was difficult to verify, since the greedy music companies don't like releasing track length information to Amazon or AMG. I had to resort to checking WinMX, which did show both songs as the full-length versions, all labelled as "Forty Licks Disc 2 Track ##" and everything. Well, guess what...they were WRONG! Both songs are the crappy single edits! Ahh--PISS!!!!!

So that basically leaves NOTHING worthwhile on Disc 2, except for "Undercover of the Night" (which is also the short version, but I can live with a 10-second edit) and possibly the Microsoft Theme Song (you know the one.) Everything else is crap from the 70's/80's/90's, including four brand new tracks, which of course suck. Plus they left off a number of GOOD songs: "Waiting on a Friend", "Hang Fire", "Too Much Blood", and especially "Bitch"!!! Luckily I was able to download all those from WinMX, along with the long versions of the two I mentioned before. (Funny, it was no problem finding Rolling Stones songs for immediate download, unlike the rare b-sides and whatnot that I normally use file-sharing programs for, which are getting increasingly more difficult to find. Ironic, isn't it?)

Okay...as for Disc 1, well it's basically the same track listing as Hot Rocks, with a few of the more annoying songs cut out (the most significant omission being "Time On My Side", but I can live without that song quite well, thank you!), a few songs like "It's All Over Now" and "The Last Time" added, and "Brown Sugar" moved to disc two. The biggest advantage is that it comes in a slim 2-CD case, instead of that big fat non-environmentally friendly case that I'm having more and more difficulty storing these days. The packaging is also nicer. Still, I'm tempted to just rip the songs I like to my own custom compilation, along with mp3s of the songs they left out or eviscerated...these fuckers have MORE than enough money, anyway!

As for cover versions...well, "Paint it Black" seems to be the most popular, being done by Anvil, U2 and W.A.S.P.; "Jumpin' Jack Flash" has been covered by Peter Frampton; "Gimme Shelter" by Grand Funk Railroad and Sisters of Mercy; "Honky Tonk Women" by Def Leppard and Sammy Hagar; "Sympathy for the Devil" by Guns'N'Roses; "It's Only Rock'n'Roll" by Ozzy Osbourne; "Bitch" by Exodus and Great White; "Under My Thumb" by Kim Carnes; "Satisfaction" by Devo (and...ick...Britney Spears!); and, umm, that's all I can think of right now but I'm sure there's more.

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