Customer Reviews

Jump Back: The Best of the Rolling Stones

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Jump Back: The Best Of The Rolling Stones: `71-`93 was released only in the UK on November 22, 1993. It was the *18th* compilation album released in the UK. It was also the first release of the Stones new contract with Virgin Records. None of the songs appear on either Hot Rocks or More Hot Rocks. The album seems mis-titled because it does not include any of the single releases from 1989-1993 and in fact does not include *16* UK single releases from this time period. It was an attempt to release the most the most popular of the Stones hits since they left Decca (London in the US) in 1971. A better title would have been "Some Stones Hits '71-`89", but then who would have bought an album with an ambiguous title and the last hit 4 years earlier....other than those rabid Stones fans, anyway? Well, this is what happens when you have such a huge catalog of hits and you try to do a greatest hits album. Look at all the stuff that had to be left off of the 2002 release 40 Licks. If they ever release the entire Stones catalog as a box set it will have to come in a trunk that comes with a dolly to get it out of the store.

These songs are the most popular from the Rolling Stones Records releases. Here are the original UK release dates of each song (US release and re-release dates were often different during this period):
4-16-71 & 6-29-84 Brown Sugar
4-16-71 Bitch
4-23-71 Wild Horses (on Sticky Fingers - not released as a single)
4-14-72 Tumbling Dice
8-21-73 Angie
7-26-74 It's Only Rock `n' Roll
4-16-78 Hot Stuff
4-16-78 Fool To Cry
5-19-78 Miss You
8-29-78 & 6-1-82 Beast Of Burden
9-14-78 Respectable
6-20-80 Emotional Rescue
8-14-81 & 2-11-83 Start Me Up
12-1-81 Waiting On A Friend
11-1-83 Undercover Of The Night
3-4-86 Harlem Shuffle
8-17-89 Mixed Emotions
10-24-89 Rock And A Hard Place

Here are the *16* UK single releases that were NOT on the album. Ruby Tuesday, Highwire, Terrifying, Almost Hear You Sigh, Jumpin' Jack Flash, One Hit (To The Body), She Was Hot, Let's Spend The Night Together, Time Is On My Side, Going To A Go Go, If I Was A Dancer, Honky Tonk Women, Out Of Time, I Don't Know Why, Sad Day, Street Fighting Man

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.

The Rolling Stones have been the most enduring rock and roll band in music history. Their music has been out there for over 35 years. This is no accident. New listeners may want to know why, and this CD provides the answer.

Importantly, this CD is a fresh blended sample of their studio music, that provides an excellent answer to the question "What has kept the Stones on top for so many years?"

For fans, we already OWN all of the songs that we wish were on this CD. We know Sticky Fingers by heart. In order. But Sticky Fingers, Exile, Some Girls, and the other greats were all written and recorded within a specific time and place.

This mix of Stones grabs from all time periods. Stone fans already know that the Stones' themselves figured this out years ago - their live concerts continue to present more and more of their older stuff, instead of only promoting their newest music.

Fans want to hear the songs they know. New listeners should want to hear why there are so many fans. This CD is a good start, with the music delivered in an unfamiliar order.

Sure there are songs that I wish were on this CD - T&A, Let Me Go, Under My Thumb. The list is endless.

DON'T JUDGE IF THE VERY BEST OF YOUR MOST FAVORITE SONGS ARE INCLUDED. This CD is not a voting survey, it is a presentation of the Stones from all time periods, as they were in the studio.

For this reason alone, the CD is a must.

"Jump Back" is a very well assembled and reasonably well annotated overview of the Stones' 70s and 80s output. The sound is excellent, and almost everything that the casual fan could want is here. 74 minutes of tough, raunchy rock n' roll, from the gritty "Bitch" and the swaggering "Brown Sugar" to the soulful "Waiting On A Friend" and the ballad "Angie".

This well assembled retrospective really shows the depth of the Stones' collective talents, blending rock n' roll, blues, R&B, and a little bit of country into a distinctive "Stones" sound, anchored by the greatest rhythm guitarist in the business, Keith Richards.
And this is a CD, right? So you can just program out the hideous disco-experimentalism of "Emotional Rescue" and the forgettable "Undercover Of The Night".

Compare this compilation with disc two of "Forty Licks" and you'll find that "Jump Back" blows "Licks" out of the water.
Coupled with "Hot Rocks: 1964-1971" (or the magnificent box set "The London Years"), this album provides the best career overview currently available.
If you don't want to spring for the Stones' original albums, this is the way to go.

JUMP BACK * THE BEST OF THE ROLLING STONES has tracks that span the years 1971 to 1989. Taken direct from masters, and using what was then the latest technology (20 bit), sound quality of these 18 tunes is excellent. Included is a nicely illustrated 12-page booklet, that has comments about each song by band members-- the sort of details fans and trivia buffs go for. Some examples: "Brown Sugar" was written by Mick while he was filming NED KELLY in Australia, the demo of "It's Only Rock 'N' Roll (But I Like It)" featured Jagger and David Bowie, "Undercover Of The Night" was inspired by a William Borroughs novel called CITIES OF THE RED NIGHT, and so on.

JUMP BACK is a solid collection of later-career Rolling Stones tracks, recorded while they were still at the top of their game.

TOTAL RUNNING TIME -- 74:19

Compared to what they did in the sixties, everything the Rolling Stones did subsequently seems (at least to me) modest by comparison - yet, judged on its own merit, this collection of their later music is easily worth five stars. In fact, Brown sugar and Wild horses (the first two tracks here) were actually recorded in 1969 but not released at the time. The extensive liner notes are taken from an interview with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

Although less successful than their sixties music, they continued to have plenty of hits. They didn't reach number one in the UK but they had two American number ones - Angie and Miss you. In the UK, Brown sugar, Tumbling dice, Angie, It's only rock'n'roll but I like it, Fool to cry, Miss you, Emotional rescue and Start me up all made the top ten, while Undercover of the night and a cover of Harlem shuffle both came close. All those hits are here although there is one serious omission, Far away eyes - it was released as the B-side of Miss you but the single was later credited as a double-A side.

My favorite tracks from this album are Tumbling dice (later covered by Linda Ronstadt on her classic album, Simple dreams), Miss you, Brown sugar and Wild horses.

This compilation is (as I write this) the only compilation of Rolling Stones music covering the seventies and beyond that does not also cover the sixties. (Note that the double CD, Forty licks, covers their whole career.) As such, this is an ideal companion to a collection of their early work (in my case, the triple CD London years).

This import-only CD (and why Virgin hasn't issued this disc, or something like it, in the U.S. is beyond me) is an okay introduction for the uninitiated or for those who only want the biggest radio hits, but you really can't do without albums like STICKY FINGERS, EXILE, and SOME GIRLS. And I agree with those who decry those who would butcher (er, edit) these tracks just to cram 'em onto a single CD.

Speaking of the Virgin label, whatever happened to the box sets and rarities compilations that fans were promised when the label acquired the Stones' post-Sixties catalog? They've reissued the original albums, released a handful of new titles, and put out this best-of overseas, but that's pretty much been it. Why isn't the catalog of this monumental band being handled more thoroughly and creatively? Are the Stones themselves to blame, or is it Virgin's fault? At any rate, between ABKCO (1963-1970) and Virgin (1971-present), this band's recorded output (and its fans) have been rather ill-served, I'm afraid. Oh, well, maybe things'll improve in another 15 or 20 years...

If you don't want to dive headfirst into all of the biggest hits covered on "Forty Licks", "Jump Back" is a great place to start your Stones collection.

This was the first greatest hits collection to cover this period in the Stones' career, as their early career in the 1960s' has been covered countless times. This one does have its share of the classic hits, including "Brown Sugar" & "Start Me Up". But it also has its share of lesser known chart hits, including the funky "Hot Stuff", the achingly beautiful "Fool To Cry" ( Mick's true emotions finally come full circle on this one ) and "Mixed Emotions" ( featuring great harmonies on the tag ). Thrown in the mix too are "Wild Horses" ( probably their best ballad ), "Rock In A Hard Place" and "Undercover Of The Night".

I'm sure some people are going to complain about song omissions, and I would have too preferred songs like "Happy" and "When The Whip Comes Down", not to mention the "Just My Imagination" ( not a single, but I love this song ) and the Top 30 hit "Ain't Too Proud To Beg". But "Jump Back" is a comprehensive enough hits collection and a good place to start if you want to get into the Stones' later period.

The other reviewers have already mentioned that there are some
obvious ommissions and some hard-to-explain selections, but the
biggest problem with this CD is that the sound quality on some of
the tracks is much worse that it should be. For a CD that claims
20-bit mastering, the result is a bit below expectations.

The Stones really need to come out with a multi-CD set that picks
up where "Hot Rocks" left off...

Greatest Stones anthology put on the market since Hot Rocks. Finally, a respectable single-disc collection became released that gave listeners the chance to experience assembled Bad Boy favorites more than less how they wanted. The song table provided a nice follow-up/alternative to Hot Rocks as over time and constant repeat those hits seemed to loose a bit of original spark. Were the cuts Wild Horses and Brown Sugar (already included on above) substituted by say the upbeat Hang Fire and Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker), all songs from the now OOP Rewind for example would have been covered. Maybe had She Was Hot and She's So Cold also been granted disc space, any man and his gal (or whatever your preference is) I'm sure would have had enough incentive available to sing their own perfect rendition of `I Just Want To Make Love To You`.

Still, I guess, as most Stones enthusiasts are aware, You Can't Always Get What You Want. Well nothing, I guess, has an easy alternative but one I believe should be thankful there are things in life that remain desirable. After all, who could feel happy without rewards of any kind? At least with having some sort of Satisfaction, anyway. People are best off to get what they need and hope that everything else turns out for the better. And in case you're wondering, `Geez, is this some guy who thinks he has yet another solution to life's everyday problems?` My answer would be no, I don't care much for shrink freaks or any reason-strung analyst but only a Stones fan who believes Canada would be far better off had it `em Honky Tonk Women living around...

This disc is a good complement to Hot Rocks. However, it needs to include songs after 1993 and there are some essential songs like "Sweet Virginia" from the period it covers that it needs to include. Since "Hot Rocks" goes through 1971 and also has "Wild Horses" and "Brown Sugar," why not make a "Jump Back: 1972-2010"?

From Exile on Main Street
1. "Tumbling Dice" 3:45
2. "Sweet Virginia" 4:25
3. "Happy" 3:04
4. "Loving Cup" 4:25

From Goat's Head Soup
5. "Angie" 4:33

From It's Only Rock `n Roll
6. "It's Only Rock `n Roll" 5:07

From Black and Blue
7. "Fool to Cry" 4:06

From Some Girls
8. "Miss You" 4:48
9. "Beast of Burden" 4:25
10. "Shattered" 3:48

From Emotional Rescue
11. "She's So Cold" 4:12
12. "Emotional Rescue" 3:41 (40 Licks edit)

From Tattoo You
13. "Start Me Up" 3:31
14. "Waiting on a Friend" 4:34

From Undercover
15. "Undercover of the Night" 4:31

From Steel Wheels
16. "Mixed Emotions" 4:01

From 40 Licks
17. "Don't Stop"

From A Bigger Bang
18. "Rough Justice" 3:10
19. "Rain Fall Down" 4:53

From Exile on Main Street reissue
20. "Plundered My Soul" 3:59

I think this version would make a nice update. Stones fans don't need songs like "Hot Stuff" and "Respectable," but they do need songs like "Shattered" and "She's So Cold." Thank you for taking the time to read my review and feel free to leave me a helpful/not helpful feedback.