Big Hits - The Best Place To Start

Many will lose their virginity to the Stones with Hot Rocks and now with the more recent 40 Licks compilations. For my money, Big Hits 2, or "Darkly!" as my college friend fanatically referred to it, is the place to start. To understand the essence of the Stones, it is not fair to ask an initiate to dive into the dark excess of Exile or the hospital bed of Sticky Fingers first, while those may be more rewarding experiences later. Here is the power and glory of Brian Jones and his Rolling Stones. Paint It, Black (you devil)! Jumping Jack Flash! Honky Tonk Women! and even 2000 Light Years From Home and Dandelion! That the frail shadow of what was once Brian Jones was murdered in his swimming pool by construction workers prior to the release of this set only underlies its magnificence. Ain't Life Unkind?

Brilliant early hits collection

This 1967 album was the Stones' second hits collection and reflects the styles and times of the middle sixties. It is heavy with their brand of psychedelia in shimmering masterpieces like Dandelion, She's A Rainbow and Paint It Black. Also the poetic Ruby Tuesday of which the most memorable cover version is probably that of Melanie Safka. Talking of covers, David Bowie's interpretation of Let's Spend The Night is a noble effort but doesn't come close to the original. The most raucous moments of the album occur in the classic rock numbers Jumpin' Jack Flash and Honky Tonk Women, while 2000 Light Years From Home has a spacey, atmospheric feel. Street Fighting Man with its menacing air reflects the times as it was inspired by the student riots of the 60's, while Have You Seen Your Mother Baby is a soulful powerballad with a devastating hook. Mother's Little Helper is a topical song about the abuse of prescription drugs and contains the classic lines: "Doctor please, some more of these/Outside the door, she takes four more ..." Most of these tracks were subsequently included on the two Hot Rocks collections but this album remains a worthwhile purchase since every song here is a masterpiece and the sequence is just perfect. The music of the Stones gets better and better as the decades pass.

Differences Between This U.S. Release And The U.K. Release

This is the remastered September 12, 1969 - U.S. London release that was dedicated to Brian Jones. This US version covered their American hits from 1966-1969. Here are the songs on this album, in the order they were released as singles in the U.S.:
5-6-66 Paint It, Black
7-1-66 Mother's Little Helper
9-23-66 Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?
1-13-67 Ruby Tuesday
1-13-67 Let's Spend The Night Together (B side of Ruby Tuesday)
8-18-67 Dandelion
12-22-67 She's A Rainbow
12-22-67 2000 Light Years From Home (B side of She's A Rainbow)
5-31-68 Jumpin' Jack Flash
8-30-68 Street Fighting Man
7-3-69 Honky Tonk Woman

For some reason the album did not include the US single release of In Another Land or We Love You (the B side of Dandelion).

All the songs on this album are different from those that appear on the 1st compilation album Big Hits (High Tide & Green Grass).

This album is different from the album released by U.K. Decca the same day. There were 2 tracks that were not included on each release. Here are the differences:
U.S. London release included:
.....Paint It, Black
.....Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?
U.K. Decca release included:
.....We Love You
.....You Better Move On

At the time of the release, it was the only album that included the following tracks:
In the U.S.:
.....Jumpin' Jack Flash
.....Mother's Little Helper
.....Dandelion
.....Honky Tonk Women
.....Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?
In the U.K.:
.....Jumpin' Jack Flash
.....Let's Spend The Night Together
.....We Love You
.....Ruby Tuesday
.....Dandelion
.....Sittin' On A Fence
.....Honky Tonk Women

This information comes from "It's Only Rock And Roll: The Ultimate Guide To The Rolling Stones" by Karnbach and Bernson and from my own collection.

Essential for a complete Stones collection

Through The Past Darkly is an important release that belongs in every Rolling Stones fan's collection. The reason is that many of these songs are essential non-album singles such as Jumpin' Jack Flash and Honky Tonk Women. These two songs do not appear on any LP. For casual fans, or those interested, here's how the tracks break down:

Paint It, Black - Featured only on the US version of "Aftermath". Not on UK version.

Ruby Tuesday - Featured on US version of "Between The Buttons". Not on UK version. Also featured on "Flowers".

She's A Rainbow - Appears on "Their Satanic Majesties Request".

Jumpin' Jack Flash - Non-LP single.

Mother's Little Helper - Appears on U.S. and UK versions of "Aftermath". Also appears on "Flowers".

Let's Spend The Night Together - Appears only on US version of "Between The Buttons". Not on UK version. Also appears on "Flowers".

Honky Tonk Women - Non-LP single.

Dandelion - Non-LP single.

2000 Light Years From Home - Appears on "Their Satanic Majesties Request".

Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby Standing in the Shadow? - Appears on "Flowers".

Street Fighting Man - Appears on "Beggar's Banquet".

So, if you pick up Through The Past, Darkly and the UK versions of Aftermath and Between The Buttons (and avoid Flowers), then you'll have all of these tracks with as little redundancy as possible.

THE ORIGINAL STORY

A lot of confused or too young reviewers around. This is truly one of the best records you can buy if you want the Stones rolling with powerful raw songs, and sophisticated exercises that certainly were very progressive at the time and still are deligthful now. WHAT IS THIS DVD THEN ? IT IS NOT a DVD of an original vinyl, and neither a recopilation of songs now made from several old records.
The reviewer from Warsaw got it rigth. In september 1969 I bought a strange vinyl record, my first adventure in the Stones, which came in a strange octogonal casing, and had the picture you get in the CD now. Almost all the songs you get in this CD were there, in the original record by Decca (which by the way I lost in the 80's. Anybody out there can help?).
So then if you love the Stones, get the record straigth. Then buy this DVD. It is an outstanding representation of the classic Stones...................

Through The Past, Darker

Essential for anybody who, like me, listened to the vinyl Decca version, and admired it's strange octagonal sleeve. I don't remember whether it was actually the first Stones record I listened to, but it sure was the first I had in my hands. I'd give it 5 stars if only there were the original line-up of songs with tongue-in-cheek lyrical "You Better Move On" and splendid "We Love You" and "Sitting On The Fence" instead of "Paint It, Black" and "Have You Seen Your Mother...". In the Decca version the band's portfolio sounded more versatile. It is a shame there's no collector's item state-of-art compact disc replica of that one! Thus, the past grows darker and darker.