Customer Reviews

Forty Licks (Spec)

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(5)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the collector's edition, which comes in a large white box with a tongue that changes color. I liked the huge book with the photographs and the large poster of the original band with Bryan. It's worth the extra expense for any real Stones fan. But what really matters is the music....so here we go:

40 Licks was released worldwide on October 1, 2002. Obviously, there are 40 tracks including 4 new ones (the single Don't Stop, Stealing My Heart, Keys To Your Love, and Keith's Losing My Touch). This one is the 22nd compilation album the Stones have released. It is the 19th compilation in the UK and the 9th in the US. There are lots of opinions about what should and should have been included/left off (there are *25* single releases that were not included). Remember, if anyone ever releases the entire Stones catalog as a box set it will have to be packaged in a trunk that comes with a dolly to get it out of the store. Since everybody knows the songs anyway, how about if I list what is on it from when for you?

These songs are the most popular from the Rolling Stones Records releases. Here are the original US and UK release dates of each song (US release and re-release dates were often different during this period):

3-6-64 Not Fade Away
7-24-64 It's All Over Now
3-12-65 The Last Time
6-4-65 (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
9-24-65 Get Off Of My Cloud
2-11-66 19th Nervous Breakdown
5-6-66 Paint It, Black
7-1-66 Mother's Little Helper
7-1-66 Under My Thumb (not a single, from album Aftermath)
9-23-66 Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?
1-13-67 Let's Spend The Night Together
1-13-67 Ruby Tuesday
12-22-67 She's A Rainbow
5-31-68 Jumpin' Jack Flash
8-30-68 Street Fighting Man
12-6-68 Sympathy For The Devil (not a single, from album Beggar's Banquet)
7-3-69 Honky Tonk Woman
12-5-69 Gimme Shelter (not a single, from album Let It Bleed)
12-5-69 You Can't Always Get What You Want (not a single, from album Let It Bleed)
4-16-71, 5-7-71, & 6-29-84 Brown Sugar
4-23-71 & 6-11-71 Wild Horses (on Sticky Fingers - not released as a single)
4-14-72 Tumbling Dice
5-12-72 Happy (on Exile On Main Street - not released as a single)
8-21-73 Angie
7-26-74 It's Only Rock `n' Roll
4-16-78 Fool To Cry
11-28-78 Shattered
5-19-78 Miss You
8-29-78 & 6-1-82 Beast Of Burden
6-20-80 Emotional Rescue
8-14-81 & 2-11-83 Start Me Up
11-1-83 Undercover Of The Night
8-17-89 Mixed Emotions
7-5-94 Love Is Strong
9-94 You Got Me Rocking
97 Anybody Seen My Baby?
10-1-02 Don't Stop (new)
10-1-02 Stealing My Heart (new)
10-1-02 Keys To Your Love (new)
10-1-02 Losing My Touch (new)

Here are the *25* single releases that are NOT on the album: Saint Of Me, Out Of Contol, Like A Rolling Stone, I Go Wild, Out Of Tears, Sex Drive, Highwire, Terrifying, Almost Hear You Sigh,, One Hit (To The Body), She Was Hot, Time Is On My Side, Going To A Go Go, If I Was A Dancer, Out Of Time, I Don't Know Why, Sad Day, Hot Stuff, Respectable, Waiting On A Friend, Harlem Shuffle, Rock And A Hard Place, Heart Of Stone, As Tears Go By, Tell Me, Dandelion

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.

This release could have easily been a four disc set. There are far too many songs not included that should be there. In addition, I think the packaging in the 12x12 limited edition set leaves a lot to be desired. You get a skimpy 12x12 booklet and a decent poster. Instead of housing the two CD's in jewel cases, they slide into two slots in the bottom of the box. What were they thinking?

If I were to do it again, I'd go for the standard issue.

Until now, the Rolling Stones really didn't have a CD on the market that I was interested in. I'm a casual fan who enjoys their well-known songs, but never heard enough consistency in their more recent recordings to buy any of them. The Stones have had several hits discs, most of them covering specific time periods in their long career. In addition, they have a box set on the market which covers roughly the first half of the band's history. So what's a casual fan to do? Should I illegally download all the tracks I want? Many bands and record companies are fighting back against piracy by doing exactly what the Stones have done: Release a greatest hits package that covers all the really important stuff (without getting too obscure) and sell it for less than $25. Box sets are nice for fanatical completists. One-disc hits CDs are great for fringe listeners. But the current trend is toward stuff like FORTY LICKS.
So what's great about it? Thirty-six of the tracks here are proven winners. Most have withstood the test of many years and are the very definition of the term "classic rock". In addition, there are four new cuts which range from new classic ("Don't Stop") to good ("Keys To Your Love"). The songs have been digitally remastered and sound incredible.
The negatives are few, but they do exist. If I had to pick the 36 absolute best Stones' songs, "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby?" "You Got Me Rocking" and "Love Is Strong" would be left in the discard pile with "Harlem Shuffle". On the other hand, I wouldn't even consider leaving off "Waiting On A Friend", "Rock And A Hard Place", or "Hang Fire". I might even be talked into adding "She's So Cold". But hey, everybody's going to have their own opinion on what's represented or not, that's just mine. Lastly, there are two versions of this CD. The standard version is a 2-disc set in a clear 2-disc jewel case with a booklet featuring pictures and personnel info for each track. The "Limited Collectors Edition" version takes the standard version and wraps it lovingly in a cardboard sleeve with the exact same cover (front and back) as the CD inside. Fantastic if you're a cardboard collector, I guess, but I was hoping for something a bit more special.
All told, you'd be hard pressed to find a better Rolling Stones package. A must-have for any rock fan.

This album is amazing! Not only does it include 36 of your favorite Stones songs, there are also 4 great new ones that prove these guys are still rocking. Disc One covers the best of earlier albums, with songs like "Satisfaction" and "Mother's Little Helper". Disc Two pulls mostly from the late 70's ("It's Only Rock n Roll), 80's ("Mixed Emotions"), & 90's ("Anybody Seen My Baby"), plus the new songs, including their new hit "Don't Stop". The Stones catalog is huge, and there is a lot of great music to choose from, but they managed to put together a fantastic summary of their stuff with this album. The book has great photos spanning their entire career. The collector's edition is a must for any Rolling Stones fan!!

Well guys, I guess it's my fault for not reading these reviews first. You see, I didn't even know that a Collector's Set of Forty Licks was availible until last night, when I was comparing the regular jewel-cased set with this box set. I thought to myself "For five dollars more, I can get this Collector's Set, and it's probably worth it." It was DEFINITELY worth it for the music, but I was very dismayed to learn that this box doesn't include a jewel case to house these discs. Now what do I do if I want to travel with them? I can't carry a huge cardboard box to Myrtle Beach with me! Oh well, live and learn. I'm STILL glad I got this set, and I'll probably buy the jewel cased edition as well so that I can have my Stones and pass them too! Figuratively speaking, of course.

This is a great collection of music. However, the poster is great and so is the book. The CDs however, are just placed in a 1/2 cardboard holder in the back of the box, NOT EVEN IN A JEWEL CASE! What a shame....this could have been a great package.

As a long standing fan of the Stones, I was disappointed in a number of ways.First, on CD1, only 50% OF the 20 tracks are in
true stereo.It is true that some were not recorded in stereo(eg Not Fade Away)but many are available in stereo elsewhere eg
Satisfaction,Get Off Of My Cloud,Mother's Little Helper and the
original single-length version of Paint It Black and surely the
best possible quality should be available in 2002!
As for CD2,in order to accommodate 20 tracks, Emotional Rescue
has had the most unprofessional butcher job done to take 2 minutes out and It's Only Rock 'n' Roll has been faded out one minute early.They cannot say that these are single versions because neither was ever released in these forms before.Indeed,
I would argue that the intermeshing guitars building the climax to IORR is the track's strongest point.In my view, two of the
four new tracks should have been relegated to a CD Maxi single
and the other two at the end as happened with the 1990 'live'
CD release "Flashpoint". This would have allowed both 'doctored' tracks to have appeared in full and the inclusion of two shorter tracks from the past...the Single edit of 'Saint Of Me' for one and,perhaps, Rip This Joint. In some cases, we have been taken for a ride ever since the dreadful "Sucking In The Seventies" LP of the early 198o's. However, it's not all bad...some of the
remastering is first class especially on the stereo versions of
It's All Over Now and Jumpin' Jack Flash.

There is no denying the quality of this material...unless you're a devout Stones hater, in which case you probably aren't a prospective buyer anyway.
The Stones recorded four new songs to be included on "Licks", which they needn't have done since none of them are particularly memorable, but I suppose they (or their record company) wanted to lure as many people as possible into buying this set.
And there is an awful lot of tremendous, gritty rock n' roll on this 150-minute collection, from the Stones' early 60s R&B to their raunchy 70s singles and latter-day arena rock.

Disc one is mostly devoted to the 60s (well, 64 to 70 or something like that), and it includes almost every one of the Rolling Stones' best-known songs from that period. "Honky Tonk Women" is here, one of my favorites, "Satisfaction", of course, "Paint It Black", "Jumpin' Jack Flash", and the driving "Not Fade Away" set to the Bo Diddley beat.
And disc two is, well, the rest. "Start Me Up", "Brown Sugar", "Angie", "You Got Me Rocking"...the works. Well, almost. Where the hell is "Waiting On A Friend" and "Dead Flowers"?

But I'm still not completely in love with "Forty Licks".
It's hard to really put a finger on it, but I think the song selection is part of the problem. The period from 1970-1990 is only represented by about a dozen songs, and that's just wrong! The mediocre new songs disturb the flow of disc two, and the song sequencing on disc one is not very good either. A few minor songs have been included, and some better ones have not, and together that makes the Stones seem less great than they actually are.

If someone was to ask me which should be their first Stones purchase, I wouldn't advise them to buy "Licks", I don't think. It's good, and most of the music is great, but it could have been presented better. And it has been, actually, on the excellent compilations "Hot Rocks" (which covers 1964-1971) and "Jump Back: Best Of The Rolling Stones 1971-1993".
Those two together provide the very best overview of the Stones' career currently available, even without the tracks from the two fine latter-day albums "Voodoo Lounge" and "Bridges To Babylon".
Or pick up a couple of their live albums, some of those would make a great introduction as well. But don't rush out and buy "Forty Licks" because of the four new songs.

Where is "Rock and a Hard Place?" (I ask.) There is no reason not to buy this nicely remastered chunk of gold. The old stuff is great, and the new stuff, especially "Don't Stop," is classic too.

Finally the U.S. trumps the Brits...who long had access to the 25-song "Jump Back" collection.

Boy, was I disappointed with the "Special Box Set" packaging! The poster comes folded so there are creases on it, and the CDs don't have jewel cases or even a plastic slot; they are in cardboard slots at the bottom of the box. I'm amazed that the Stones would approve such shoddy presentation. The CDs are great, so I would recommend just buying the "Forty Licks" CDs -- paying an extra 12 bucks for the "Box Set" is definitely not worth it.