Customer Reviews

Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass)

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With the release of the remastered super audio CDs (SACD) of the Stones ABCKO catalog (which includes all the early Decca/London material), there is now some confusion as they have released some of the early albums in both US and UK versions.

This is the version of Big Hits (High Tide & Green Grass) that was released on Apr 1, 1966 in the US. The American record company execs had tampered with the original UK design of most of the Stones albums up to this time, often releasing inferior American versions. On this one they reversed the trend and the UK design, which was released Nov 4, 1966, did not include Paint It, Black. The UK version substituted Mother's Little Helper and added 3 additional tracks (Take It Or Leave It, Out Of Time, and What To do).

This US version covered their American hits from 1964-1966. Here are the songs on this album, in the order they were released as singles in the U.S.:
3-6-64 Not Fade Away
6-12-64 Tell Me (version 2)
7-24-64 It's All Over Now
7-24-64 Good Times, Bad Times (B side of It's All Over Now)
9-25-64 Time Is On My Side (version 2)
12-18-64 Heart Of Stone
3-12-65 The Last Time
3-12-65 Play With Fire (B side of The Last Time)
6-4-65 (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
9-24-65 Get Off Of My Cloud
12-17-65 As Tears Go By
2-11-66 19th Nervous Breakdown

There is an interesting story about the cover art and 8 page photo book that was part of the original album. The photos were originally done for an album to be called Could You Walk On The Water?, but the concept was so controversial at that time that the photo of the Band walking on the water of a California reservoir was dropped and the photo of them standing on the bank was used. The album was renamed After-Math (although the American version dropped the hyphen) and the artwork was used for this greatest hits album.

This is the remastered super audio CDs (SACD) of the Stones ABCKO catalog (which includes all the early Decca/London material. ABCKO acquired the Stones' catalog after Allen Klein became their manager in 1965. The resulting legal battles produced releases that the Stones opposed (they took out full page adds asking fans not to buy them), including the controversial Metamorphosis releases (which are now available on CD for the 1st time ever). But the sad fact is that the Stones lost control of their great early material. With these remastered SACD releases, we at last have some idea of what they really sounded like in the studio. I guess if we had these 40 years ago they would have ended up Greatest Rock And Roll Band in the Universe instead of Greatest Rock And Roll Band in the World.

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.

"Big Hits (High Tide And Green Grass)" is one of the evergreen hits collections--in thirty-six years, it's never been out of print, and there's a reason for that: There are almost no weak spots on this album. Sure, there are better or more complete Stones collections ("Hot Rocks," "The Singles Collection" box, "Forty Licks"), but this one manages to capture the band while it was in the midst of conquering the world. How else to explain the brass of an album that leads off with the Stones then-biggest hit to date, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and then fails to go downhill, like most other hits compilations?

Being one of the new hybrid CDs, not only has the sound been largely improved (I say "largely" because there are a couple of exceptions--more in a moment), but so has the packaging--the booklet of color photos that was inside the original gatefold LP jacket has been restored. And "Satisfaction" does indeed live up to the hype--it sounds like it's coming out of the control room speakers, even on a regular CD player. "The Last Time," however, still sounds like it's coming out of a transistor radio (remember those? I don't) someone chucked into a garbage can three or four alleys away--I've got a first pressing copy of the vinyl and it still sounds bad there, so I guess it's never going to sound much better. And while four tracks are in stereo ("Satisfaction," "Time Is On My Side," "It's All Over Now," and "Heart Of Stone"), the rest are mono--and you've got to be listening to tell which is which, because, at least on the copy I listened to, there's no indication on the packaging of what mixes were used where. The CD isn't any help, as it proclaims the entire album to be in stereo. Obviously ABKCO still has a lot to learn about being honest with its customers.

Quibbles aside, most of the album has been hugely sonically improved, and for the better. And you can't go wrong with that track listing, aside from "Tell Me," which sounds like a bad Merseyside imitation (Herman's Hermits, anyone?). Nearly every track is a winner--and the Stones were really still in the early days, yet (even if it didn't seem like it at the time). If you don't have any other Stones records, you can't go wrong starting with this one. And if you do have some other Stones records, give it a spin and listen to the soundtrack of a band beginning to form a legend as yet unsullied by age, scandal, and bad rock videos.

High Tide was originally issued as separate US and UK albums with slightly different track listings. This CD reissue has superb sound quality and contains most of their early classics. The exclusion of Lady Jane and Little Red Rooster is unfortunate. But there's enough of their brilliant classics in various styles here, for example brooding ballads like The Last Time, Time Is On My Side and Play With Fire. As Tears Go By was of course a massive hit for Marianne Faithfull. Classic, raucous rock surfaces on Get Off My Cloud and I Can Get No (Satisfaction) - amongst its many cover versions was a 1974 hit by the flash-in-the-pan Bubblerock! Other great songs include the visceral Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown and Not Fade Away. I'm giving it only four stars, though, since the album Through The Past Darkly has a better selection of their early work, while the two Hot Rocks compilations contain a wider selection of their classic 60's work. But this is still a great album.

If your not interested in The Rolling Stones beyond February of 1966, and all you want are the U.S. hits and some B-sides then this is the cd for you! Released largely as a vehicle for their new single "19th Nervous Breakdown" (#2 on the U.K. & U.S. charts) "Big Hits" concentrates on the singles released in the U.S. between March 1964 and February 1966. As part of a larger Stones collection this anthology works in that it's fun to listen to the singles offerings of this period in isolation.

Possibly the most famous song the band ever recorded, "Satisfaction" (U.K. & U.S. #1) was their first #1 in the U.S. and picks up where "The Last Time" left off, combining aggressive music with angry lyrics to create a scorching piece of music that still sounds fresh today. "The Last Time", recorded three months before "Satisfaction" is the archetypal Rolling Stones song. With a signature guitar hook, lyrics that begin with a warning, and a sound that could fill the Grand Canyon (Phil Spector was present during the recording) you've got an instant classic. "As Tears Go By" originally written for Marianne Faithfull (went to #9 in the U.K.), is a beautiful acoustic ballad replete with strings that kept the hit machine humming, reaching #6 in the U.S. What else can be said about "Time Is On My Side"? the version heard here with Ian Stewart's organ intro was the bands first song to break the top 10 in the U.S. eventually landing at #6. "It's All Over Now" (U.K. #1 U.S. #26) with it's thundering opening riff and great guitar interplay between Messrs. Jones and Richards was the second classic to come out of "12 X 5". "Tell Me" (U.S. #24) (the first Jagger/Richard composition to appear on a Stones recording) is interesting, but off the mark.

The reason why we were called here in the first place, "19th Nervous Breakdown" is a cyclone of a song. Launched by a high voltage guitar riff courtesy of Keith Richards, and piloted by some stinging vocals from Mick Jagger, this song is a powder keg that sounds like it could've been recorded yesterday. "Heart Of Stone" (U.S. #19) is next and is the strongest Jagger/Richards composition to that point. This is a song full of danger and angst that easily could have been sung by Johnny Cash. Ok try to stay seated..., I'm not crazy about "Get Off My Cloud" (U.K. & U.S. #1). The more I hear this song the less I like it, and I think I've figured out why. We're treated to an amazing opening; Joe Frazier couldn't have hit skins any better than Charlie Watts does here, Mick Jagger shouts, Keith Richards launches into a great riff; good opening stanza, great chorus, and we're off to the races...or are we? In runners' parlance the song then hits the wall, the lyrics are little goofy, and blasphemy Richards and Brian Jones' guitars are going in opposite directions! Having said all of this the song did deliver the desired result; it became their 2nd #1 single in the U.S. With the opening acoustic riff, and the maracas kicking in a moment later "Not Fade Away" (U.K. #21, U.S. didn't chart) is a rollicking number that does justice to the Buddy Holly classic. "Good Times, Bad Times" (B-side "It's All Over Now") is a semi-acoustic slow blues that simmers throughout, and is aided and abetted by some of Brian Jones's great harp playing. "Play With Fire" (B-side "The Last Time") finds the band in rare Edwardian form. This largely acoustic song has a haunting quality to it, and features Phil Spector on guitar and Jack Nitzsche on guitar and harpsichord.

Notes: Surprisingly enough, even though we tend to think that the Stones were rife with hits during this period, this album contains one song that didn't chart in the U.S. and two B-sides. This cd represents another repackaging opportunity for ABKCO in that they could include the U.K. singles, all the U.K. B-sides, and the remaining U.S. B-sides.

Recording notes: "19th Nervous Breakdown" recorded 12/3-8/65 RCA Studios, Hollywood. For recording notes on the remaining songs see the reviews of the albums from which they came.

Most of these classic songs will remain 5-star, life-enhancing nuggets of blues-rock genius long after we've all passed on. But considering the near "Second Coming" hype the new Stones CD remasters have been getting, I'd say, "Buy one or two titles and listen for yourself."

This was my first and so far only purchase of the Stones' vintage albums on remastered CD. Frankly, after A-B'ing this version with the older ABKCO version from the mid-1980s, my speakers and headphones went, "That's it?"

Hence, the 3-star rating here. But that so-so rating applies only to the sound quality. Maybe listening to these remasters on an SACD system would knock my socks off. (I'd be interested in reading reviews by you folks who have the SACD capability in your stereo system. If you say these remastered Stones CDs sound unbelievably great in the "surround sound" format, then maybe I need to reconfigure my stereo to include SACD.)

On my top-notch stereo system I'd say some of the songs here (most notably "Satisfaction") sound better than my old vinyl records and over ABKCO's mid-1980s Stones releases on CD. But "Last Time" still sounds muddy and the crack and thump of Charlie's drums on "Get Off Of My Cloud" may be cleaner but not especially sonically improved over the first ABKCO version of this CD. Unfortunately for me, those are two of my favorites from the Stones' early catalogue.

I agree with fellow reviewer Scott Miller of Colorado that it's great to see the company has restored the original artwork of the old London vinyl record. Obviously a lot of care and attention to detail have gone into these remasters.

I'm still going to buy the newly remastered "Through The Past Darkly" because ANY change in how "Honky Tonk Women" sounds will be a HUGE improvement over the older ABKCO release of that CD. And I might buy "Let It Bleed." But if "Big Hits" is any indication of what's in store soundwise regarding this series of Stones remasterings, I'll put my money toward some Junior Wells CDs I've had my eye on.

Back in the days of records, the first three "albums" I ever bought for myself were SURREALISTIC PILLOW by the Jefferson Airplane and AFTERMATH and BIG HITS (HIGH TIDE AND GREEN GRASS) by the Stones. Looking back, that was a great purchase. All are classics and are loaded with absolute killer songs. On BIG HITS, "It's All Over Now" and "The Last Time" were the tunes that first made me a Stones fan, and "Satisfaction" is considered by many to be the greatest single rock song of all time. At a time when the Beatles usually occupied the top spot on the "charts", Satisfaction" was a monster hit and dominated radio airplay for months during the spring and summer of 1965. With the recent purchase of this CD, I now have all three of the albums from my first purchase on disc.

BIG HITS was the first of many collections of Stones "greatest hits". It was the definitive collection when I first got it, but because it's their earliest greatest hits release, many of the cuts on this disc are relatively unpolished and some are now less well-known than later material. Nevertheless, these are still great songs and, on it's own, this disc is still very much worth owning. The problem is that, if you're a real fan, you have these songs on other discs, so this one is a bit superfluous. Conversely, if you're just a casual listener, there are now several Stones "hits" collections that are bigger and more complete.

I don't want to downplay this disc. It's still a great set and there are people out there that will want to own it, but most will simply want to look elsewhere for Stones collections, and that's why I've only given it 4 stars. It's a 5 star body of material, but it's utility has been outmoded by subsequent releases. Still, if it fills a need for you, or a gap in your music library, go for it. It remains a superb body of work and the sound quality on this disc is quite good.

Warning --- NOT a SACD disc - it is a DSD remaster - sounds really good - but NOT SACD good.

The UK version released in November 1966 may be a slightly better set: "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?", "Paint It, Black", "It's All Over Now", "The Last Time", "Heart of Stone", "Not Fade Away", "Come On", "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", "Get Off My Cloud", "As Tears Go By", "19th Nervous Breakdown", "Lady Jane", "Time Is On My Side", "Little Red Rooster".

You can't go wrong with this one. It features the early Stones singles that "jumped out of the radio". Satisfaction, Get Off My Cloud, The Last Time, It's All Over Now, Tell Me, etc. etc. I agree there may be more compilations that cover a more comprehensive look at the stones career, but I recommend getting the Vol. 2 as well (Through the Past Darkly, Big Hits Vol 2) since it picks up with singles Paint It Black in '66 and goes through their Honky Tonk Women era of '69. The remastered sound is clean and spacious with more definition on lows as well as highs. Vol. 1 is the same as the early release in 1966, that was worn out by every college student throughout America. It also includes a picture book with color photos of the early Stones. A fabulous greatest hits package by one of the greatest rock bands in history.

I have a SACD player, but even the CD layer is great on this CD. I bought 3 RS remasters, and while playing Beggers in the car (CD layer), I decided to stop at another store and buy High Tide and Green Grass. I will buy more.

Right now, I'm having difficulty deciding which is my favorate of the remasters. It's between Let It Bleed, Beggers Banquet, and High Tide, Green Grass. Aftermath (US)is recorded well, but some of the cuts are not that interesting to me.

For a week now, I've been playing the Stones in my car, on my computer, and at home on my SACD based Home Theater System. I can't get enough of these remasters.

I used to own High Tide, Green Grass in vinyl. This remaster is better.