Customer Reviews

Singles Collection: The London Years

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The Rolling Stones Singles Collection - The London Years was originally released August 15, 1989 in the U.S. only. There are no other compilations that include all the single hits. This is very much a Stones collectors album that encompasses the era of the 45 RPM single from their start in 1963 through 1969, with some things from as late as 1975. The set includes all the London singles and B sides plus all the Decca UK single releases that were not released in the US. Plus Brown Sugar and Wild Horses (which were recorded for Rolling Stones Records while the Decca/London contract was still in effect), Jagger's soundtrack song Memo From Turner, and the 4 single tracks (I Don't Know Why, Try A Little Harder, Out Of Time, and Jiving Sister Fanny) that were pulled from the Decca/London vaults and released against the Band's wishes in 1975 (from the controversial Metamorphosis album). The booklet that comes with the 3 CD set has notes on each song, so I will just outline which singles, B-sides, etc. came from which year for you here. I have also indicated which other US compilation albums the song appears on.

Code:
B = Big Hits (High Tide & Green Grass)
T = Through The Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2)
H = Hot Rocks 1964-1971
M = More Hot Rocks (Big Hits And Fazed Cookies)

1963
.....Come On (M)
.....I Want To Be Loved (Bside Come On)
.....I Wanna Be Your Man
.....Stoned (UK release only Bside I Wanna Be Your Man)
1964
.....Not Fade Away (BM)
.....Little By Little (UK release only Bside Not Fade Away)
.....It's All Over Now (BM)
.....Good Times, Bad Times (Bside It's All Over Now) (BM)
.....Tell Me (US release only) (BM)
.....I Just Want To Make Love To You (Bside Tell Me)
.....Time Is On My Side (BH)
.....Congratulations (Bside Time Is On My Side)
.....Little Red Rooster (UK release only, never released as a single on London in US)
.....Off The Hook (Bside Little Red Rooster)
.....Heart Of Stone (US release only) (BH)
.....What A Shame (Bside Heart Of Stone)
1965
.....The Last Time (BM)
.....Play With Fire (Bside The Last Time) (BH)
.....Satisfaction (BH)
.....The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man (US release only as Bside Satisfaction)
.....The Spider And The Fly (UK release only as Bside Satisfaction)
.....Get Off Of My Cloud (BH)
.....I'm Free (US release only as Bside Get Off Of My Cloud) (M)
.....The Singer Not The Song (UK release only as Bside Get Off Of My Cloud)
.....As Tears Go By (US release Aside, UK release Bside 19th Nervous Breakdown) (BH)
.....Gotta Get Away (US release only as Bside As Tears Go By)
1966
.....19th Nervous Breakdown (BH
.....Sad Day (US release only as Bside 19th Nervous Breakdown)
.....Paint It, Black (TH)
.....Stupid Girl (US release only as Bside Paint It, Black)
.....Long, Long While (Bside UK Paint It, Black) (M)
.....Mother's Little Helper (US release only) (TH)
.....Lady Jane (US release only as Bside Mother's Little Helper) (M)
.....Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow? (BM)
.....Who's Driving Your Plane (Bside Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby?)
1967
.....Let's Spend The Night Together (UK Aside) (TH)
.....Ruby Tuesday (US Aside) (TH)
.....We Love You (UK Aside) (M)
.....Dandelion (US Aside) (TM)
.....She's A Rainbow (US release only) (TM)
.....2000 Light Years From Home (US release only as Bside She's A Rainbow) (TM)
.....In Another Land (US release only)
.....The Lantern (US release only as Bside In Another Land)
1968
.....Jumpin' Jack Flash (TH)
.....Child Of The Moon (Bside Jumpin' Jack Flash) (M)
.....Street Fighting Man (TH)
.....No Expectations (US release only as Bside Street Fighting Man) (M)
1969
.....Honky Tonk Women (TH)
.....You Can't Always Get What You Want (Bside Honky Tonk Women) (H)
1970
.....Memo From Turner (UK release only)
1971
.....Surprise, Surprise (UK release only as Bside Street Fighting Man)
.....Brown Sugar (Aside recorded during London years, released on Rolling Stones Records)(H)
.....Wild Horses (Aside recorded during London years, released on Rolling Stones Records)(H)
1975
.....I Don't Know Why
.....Try A Little Harder (Bside I Don't Know Why)
.....Out Of Time (M)
.....Jiving Sister Fanny (Bside Out Of Time)
1976
.....Sympathy For The Devil (UK release only Bside re-release of Honky Tonk Women) (H)

This information comes from "It's Only Rock And Roll: The Ultimate Guide To The Rolling Stones" by Karnbach and Bernson (which is available from amazon.com) and from my own collection.

The previous reviewer apparently is unaware of the fact that up until the late 1960s or even early 1970s many rock singles continued to be release in mono, not stereo, despite the fact that the albums containing the hit singles were often in stereo and contained stereo mixes of the songs.

The Singles collection is in fact all the singles mixes in chronological order. The new reissue features dramatic improvement in sound over the previous release--just play "Time is on My Side" back to back with the earlier release and you'll hear detail that's masked on the earlier release cut apparently from poor source material and indifferently mastered.

But you won't hear too much stereo. That's good and bad. The mono single mix of "Let's Spend the Night Together" has a driving quality that the stereo mix dissipates as the rhythm section is spread out over the stereo field. And the earliest singles on this collection were never recorded in stereo anyway, so no loss there. In other cases there's not all that much difference between the stereo and mono mixes--as on "Jumpin' Jack Flash" cut, as it was as a non-LP single that all involved knew would be mono anyway. But even the later singles--like You Can't Always Get What You Want--are here in mono, and with its choral section "You Can't...." does not sound good in mono. (Oddly, Honk Tonk Woman is in glorious stereo here).

If you're only interested in the stereo mixes of the mid 1960s hits, Through The Past Darkly is a great collection of the stereo versions of thos singles from "Paint It Black" through to "Honky Tonk Woman."

The original three Cd set issued back in 1989 had problems. Many songs were spliced together from different sources (Heart of Stone and Honky Tonk Woman had stereo intros attached to mono mixes. Time Is On My Side was not the single version.

The new digipack corrects these mistakes. Oh and kudos on Street Fighting Man with Mick Jagger's tripple track vocal. It is the single mix. It sees the light of day on this set.

But, more mistakes appear. Tell Me is the album take not the single edit. Honky Tonk Woman is in stereo (it never appeared that way as a single). And Ruby Tuesday is a fold down of the alternate stereo version that appeared on Between the Buttons and Hot Rocks. It is missing Mick's extra vocal overdub on the chorus. The remastering gurus are silent on this major flub! It is correct, I believe on Forty Licks!

The Under-Assistant West Coast Promotion Man" on the original set was a 3:14 "uncensored" edit of the track. The new ABKCO set loses this variant, and instead uses the album version from Out Of Our Heads.

So, better sounding than its predecessor. But where problems were corrected from the old set, new ones are made!

The Singles Collection first came out in 1989, in vinyl, cassette and CD editions, and was re-issued in 1995. Its purpose was to collect the singles released on the Stones' American and British labels London and Decca. Since the singles are presented in order of their release, it is a set that compiles itself. The EPs The Rolling Stones, 5 By 5 and Got Live If You Want It were not included.
The 1989 edition contained many botched edits, some fake stereo and the UK album version of Time Is On My Side instead of the single. This CD re-issue corrects many of the faults of the earlier releases, including Time Is On My Side, and claims to contain the original single masters. It represents a very useful way of replacing worn and scratchy old 7" singles or LP compilations. It has been mastered using Sony's Direct Stream Digital process and also contains an SACD layer for those with the appropriate equipment.
The track listing has not been changed, or the warts and all packaging. "The original sleeve artwork and liner notes have been retained," Steve Rosenthal, the archive co-ordinator for the Stones' back-catalogue project, said on its release. "We've not added anything - if things are misspelled, that's because that's the way they were done at the time." Indeed, many of the recording dates and other information appear to be questionable.
Other Stones CD singles collections such as Big Hits (High Tide And Green Grass), Through The Past Darkly, Hot Rocks, More Hot Rocks are said to feature true stereo recordings 'where appropriate'. "They have artistic integrity and deserve to come out for historical purposes," said Jody Klein, the restoration producer. The majority of The Rolling Stones Singles Collection, including all of the first two discs, is in mono (for reasons of authenticity, one would hope), as per the original release of each single, but the sound quality and definition, even on standard systems, would be hard to better.
Have You Seen Your Mother Baby Standing In The Shadow? and Mother's Little Helper appear at slightly faster speeds in this series of re-issues as it was found that previous tape masters were slow due to a production fault. This is also true of the three titles that appear on Beggar's Banquet.
Sometimes, when stereo and alternative mono mixes were prepared, further overdubbing and other differences were introduced. Where album versions differ from the singles, such as with Brown Sugar, Street Fighting Man and Tell Me (You're Coming Back), the correct single version should have been used, but there are examples in this new edition where this has been fudged.
The single mix of Brown Sugar was not quite the same as the one included on Sticky Fingers and the 45 was variously available in mono and stereo in different regions and/or pressings. The version here does appear to be a stereo mix of the single, thankfully. Similarly, Street Fighting Man appeared on the US single in a unique mono mix with a triple-tracked lead vocal, and this is the version here.
Tell Me (You're Coming Back) originally appeared in the UK on the debut album The Rolling Stones where it was over 4 minutes long and had a raggedy ending where it just stopped instead of fading out. Some later issues corrected this and had a fade ending at around 3:47. It wasn't on the US version of the album but was released instead as a single in an edited version which omitted the instrumental break and the chorus that follows, running at around 2:37. This is the version that should be here, but instead the fade-out album version has been used. The correct version was used in The Singles Box facsimile version.
The Under-Assistant West Coast Promotion Man is apparently the Out Of Our Heads version, not the US B-side with its reportedly "uncensored" lyric. Ruby Tuesday is not the single mix, which had an extra Mick Jagger vocal overdub on the chorus, but is the album version, first found on Between The Buttons in the US, but in this case mixed down to mono. It thus lacks both authenticity and the benefits of stereo sound. This may also be true of Heart Of Stone, although I do not have the stereo mix with which to compare. It would be interesting to know if the Singles Boxes that were subsequently released corrected any of these errors.
For UK purchasers, on the first CD, all but seven of the 25-tracks did not appear on original Rolling Stones albums (though they may have been anthologised elsewhere), and three were unreleased at the time. On the second disc there are 12 UK non-album tracks out of 20, including Sad Day, which didn't get a UK release until over seven years later. This is therefore a set worthy of consideration for a buyer who has or intends to have some original albums in their British versions. Of course, many more singles were included on their American LPs, making this set less good value.
Things go slightly awry with the basic concept of the box set on the less essential third CD. Firstly, Street Fighting Man is included without one of its British B-sides (Everybody Needs Somebody To Love). It's other B-side, Surprise, Surprise is of interest as it is an early example of a Jagger/Richards composition, recorded in September 1964. They evidently didn't care too much for it and donated it to a charity compilation LP called Fourteen (Lulu and her Luvvers made a more impassioned version of it and put it on a B-side the following year). Honky Tonk Women then breaks ranks and bursts into full stereo from the first cowbell, whereas the single was mono. Its B-side, the short version of You Can't Always Get What You Want, is found here in mono (The same stereo version of Honky Tonk Women can be found on the SACD issue of Through The Past Darkly).
After that, Mick Jagger's solo single Memo From Turner turns up, from the film Performance. This does not involve any other Stones apart from Keith, who co-wrote it, and again it is anachronistically stereo. The rest of disc 3 is entirely stereo but by this time singles that played in stereo were becoming commonplace.
Brown Sugar follows, but this is the single that launched their own record label, Rolling Stones Records and also served to introduce the Sticky Fingers album. Neither it nor its US follow up, Wild Horses, belong here as they were not released on the London or Decca labels. Their B-sides - Bitch, Let It Rock (Live At Leeds) and Sway (an alternative version) - all recorded during the same period as Sticky Fingers, are not included, so suddenly the whole collection lacks its internal consistency.
After this, no more Rolling Stones Records are included, but releases which their old labels London and Decca continued to release throughout the seventies, without the Stones' approval, fill the rest of the third disc, including some publishers demos Mick and Keith put together in the sixties (all of these can be found on Metamorphosis) and recycled album tracks.
The collection ends with Sympathy For The Devil, the version from Beggar's Banquet, which turned up in 1976, on the flip of a re-issue of Honky Tonk Women. It's a great track, but not one that the Stones themselves ever released on a single.
Without these final tracks, starting with Memo From Turner, and with errors corrected, the collection would have made a superb and cogent double CD. With the missing EPs included instead it would have been a wonderful box set. As it is, it is still valuable but an imperfectly realised round-up.

Singles lives up to its title; all the tracks included here are singles and their b-sides from 63 through 71. It's not a perfect package (but what is?). Some of the songs (like the single version of You Can't Always Get What You Want)are shorter than their album versions and all the early tracks are in mono. That's good and bad. Since none of the Stones singles were in stereo prior to 1970 (in fact none of The Beatles singles were for that matter. All the stereo versions are remixes until 1969 when Apple released the first stereo single for that band).

The bad part is that some classic tracks (Sympathy For The Devil) benefit from the stereo mix much more than the mono version included here. Still, the sound quality is uniformly very good to excellent even on the earliest tracks. The selection is true to the original singles the band released.

The artwork, well, it looked like a bootleg then and it still does now. Here's what bugs me; I'd prefer to have these in the jewel case. Why? They're less likely to show wear and tear. The digipaks aren't a repesentation of the original album's sleeve. It's an odd stepchild of the vinyl/CD format in design. If the spindle that holds the CD inside breaks, you can't replace it. Why ABKCO didn't go whole hog and just issue this in a limited edition replica of the original vinly sleeves is beyond me. More than likely, it's related to cost and profit.

This is a very good collection and it's primarily in mono. Is it perfect? No. I'd also recommend at least four albums from the Stones discography in addition to this; Aftermath (UK), Between The Buttons (UK), Beggar's Banquet (which I prefer in the original white sleeve) and Let It Bleed. By the way, More Hot Rocks is the exception to the rule in the reissue catalog--it does come with a couple of bonus tracks (although they're not essential they're nice to have).

If you have an older CD or DVD player, there's a chance that it might not play these discs. If it's been manufactured within the last three years or so it should. Still, I'd prefer to see these combo discs released vs. having it re-released in one exclusive format (SACD). It allows those folks who don't have an SACD player yet to enjoy some of the greatest rock music of the 60's. Now if EMI would get their stuff together and do this with The Beatles catalog (although I'd prefer it to be only the UK line up albums thank you very much).

...The Rolling Stones cut these 58 slices of electrifying rock n' roll, blues and R&B. "The London Years" brings together all of the Stones' 1963-1971 singles, their "classic" material, if you will, and while the Stones have made numerous terrific albums, their singles had a power all of their own.

You shouldn't expect state-of-the-art 2008 fidelity on these discs, but the sound is actually very good indeed, alle things considered, and only the most disgruntled audiophile will discard "The London Years" over supposed "bad" sound quality.
If you don't want to spring for the Rolling Stones' 60s albums, go for this magnificent collection instead...it's one tough, exhilarating rock n' roll gem after another.
"The London Years" presents all of the Stones' 60s singles and early 70s singles (and a few songs from the "Metamorphosis" outtakes collection) chronologically, hit and B-side, hit and B-side, from a gritty, fast-paced cover of Chuck Berry's little-known rocker "Come On" to the samba-rock of "Sympathy For The Devil".

And if you study the track list you'll find an incredible number of top-shelf rock n' roll classics sitting next to more or less obscure (but often equally wonderful) B-sides and blues covers:
"Not Fade Away", "Heart Of Stone", "Time Is On My Side", "Paint It Black", "Jumpin' Jack Flash", "Street Fighting Man", "Honky Tonk Women", "Brown Sugar", "Get Off My Cloud"...
The Beatles played some fiery hard rock on occation, and they recorded a number of wonderful Chuck Berry-covers, but the Stones don't have to take a back seat to anybody in that regard. These rough and gritty covers of songs like "The Little Red Rooster" and "I Just Want To Make To You" are totally believable, low-down and sleazy.
There are a couple of oddities along the way, like the forgettable instrumental "Stoned" and the psychedelic "Child Of The Moon", but they are completely lost amid mega-hits like "Satisfaction" and underexposed little gems like "What A Shame" and "The Under Assistant West Coast Man", a swaggering up-tempo blues which shamelessly nicks the instantly recognizable and supremely funky harmonica riff from Buster Brown's "Fannie Mae".

When you hear the Stones' latter-day albums, or see them in concert, it's easy to forget that they were once a humble little rock n' roll combo which churned out punchy 2½-minute rockers like these. "The London Years" is over three hours of early Stones, and it's essential to anyone who wants anything more than just the biggest and best-known radio hits.
This is some of the best, toughest rock n' roll music you'll ever hear, and the booklet includes complete recording information on every song.

Five stars and no reservations at all. If you're not going to give five stars to this collection, what the hell are you going to give it to?

The purpose of this review is to completely compare the contents of "Singles Collection: The London Years" to the 3 "Singles" box sets which as a group contain the same songs plus more. There are some good comparisons in the other reviews, but also several omissions and inaccuracies, so hopefully this 1-to-1 comparison will clear things up a bit as to what songs are included on each, and which "missing" songs can also be found on the other ABKCO CD's, particularly "More Hot Rocks: Big Hits & Fazed Cookies". Each of these collections is rather expensive, so hopefully this may help you decide which sets you really need or want.

To settle one thing first though, the songs on the "Got Live If You Want It" EP contained in the "Singles 1963-1965" box set are NOT included on the full length CD "Got Live If You Want It". They share the same title but that's all, and were actually two different releases. Buying the full length CD will NOT get you all the same songs on the EP as indicated in another review. With that out of the way.....

"Singles 1963-1965": "Singles Collection: The London Years" contains all of the songs included in this box set, with the exception of 3 original British EP's exclusive to the box set. The first EP contains You Better Move On (also available on "December's Children") and Poison Ivy, Bye Bye Johnny & Money (all 3 also available on "More Hot Rocks: Big Hits & Fazed Cookies"). The second EP (originally titled "5 X 5") contains If You Need Me, Empty Heart, 2120 South Michigan Avenue, Confessin' The Blues and Around & Around, all of which are also available on the "12 X 5" CD. The third EP (the afore mentioned "Got Live If You Want It") contains early live versions of We Want The Stones, Everybody Needs Somebody To Love, Pain In My Heart, Route 66, I'm Movin On & I'm Alright, none of which are available on any other CD (with the possible exception of I'm Alright which may or may not be the same version included on the full-length "Got Live..." CD).

Conclusion: Both "The London Years" and "Singles 63-65" contain the early single/B-sides Come On (also available on "More Hot Rocks") as well as I Want To Be Loved, I Wanna Be Your Man & Stoned which aren't available on any other ABKCO CD. So both sets contain 3 songs not included elsewhere, plus the box set includes the live EP. So the deciding factor between "The London Years" and "Singles 63-65" would appear to be the live EP.

"Singles 1965-1967": "Singles Collection: The London Years" contains all of the songs included in this 2nd box set, with no exceptions. Both contain the single/B-sides Long Long While & We Love You (also available on "More Hot Rocks") and Sad Day & Who's Driving Your Plane? which aren't available on any other ABKCO CD. So both sets contain 2 songs not included elsewhere. No further conclusions.

"Singles 1968-1971": "Singles Collection: The London Years" contains all of the songs included in this 3rd box set, with a few unique exceptions. The third box set additionally contains Everybody Needs Somebody to Love (also available on "The Rolling Stones Now!") and three non-ABKCO B-sides + 3 remixes exclusive to the box set. The B-sides are the Ry Cooder instrumental Natural Magic (from the film "Performance" soundtrack...Memo From Turner was the A-side) and Bitch & Sway which were the B-sides to Brown Sugar & Wild Horses. My guess is the licensing rights to these B-sides belong to Virgin Records, etc. and hadn't yet been negotiated when "The London Years" was originally released back in 1989. The remixes appear to be 3 different "rap" style remixes of Sympathy For The Devil. The box set also contains a bonus DVD (see the item description for more on that).

Conclusion: Both "The London Years" and "Singles 68-71" contain the B-side Child Of The Moon (also available on "More Hot Rocks") and Brown Sugar & Wild Horses (also available on "Hot Rocks 1"). So the deciding factor between "The London Years" and "Singles 68-71" would appear to be the three non-ABKCO B-sides, the three remixes and the DVD contained in the box set.

Final Conclusion: For the completest collector who has to have absolutely everything on CD, you basically have 2 choices. Buy all 3 box sets, or buy "Singles Collection: The London Years" and the two box sets "Singles 63-65" & "Singles 68-71" (a lot of duplication, though "The London Years" runs a little cheaper than the box sets + you don't have to change CD's as often).

A slightly cheaper option if you're mainly interested in completing the ABKCO Rolling Stones "canon" not released on the regular studio full-length CD's is to buy "Singles Collection: The London Years" and "Singles 1963-1965". You'd only be missing the three non-ABKCO B-sides and the 3 Sympathy For The Devil remixes.

A cheaper option still, if you're only interested in the very early singles & live EP and can live without a few later ABKCO B-Sides, is to buy "More Hot Rocks: Big Hits & Fazed Cookies" and "Singles 1963-1965". With those 2 you'd only be missing Sad Day, Who's Driving Your Plane? and the three non-ABKCO B-sides and the 3 remixes.

In truth, the 2nd & 3rd discs of "Singles Collection: The London Years" make an interesting listen because each is primarily made up of A & B sides not included on the regular studio CD's. So they're almost like listening to independent CD's without repeating too many songs you'll hear when listening to the other albums. The 2nd disc from "More Hot Rocks" and also "Through The Past Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2)" do the same, only with different selections of songs, so comparing these two further is highly recommended as well.

Decisions, decisions. Hope this helps.

Contrary to the product title and description, this item is CD-only. If you want the SACD format, look elsewhere. Apparently, ABKCO is responsible for this confusion. [...]

This is a pretty nifty box set that was released as the Rolling Stones contribution to the first rush of late 80's / early 90's box set mania. I do not actually own the remastered version but I do have 40 Licks which overlaps significantly with this and it sounds very nice.

I have a special fondness for this collection because it introduced me to some first rate semi-obscure tracks that are indeed available elsewhere but I had not been aware of:

Who's Driving Your Plane?, Memo From Turner, I Don't Know Why, The full-blown Motown style Out of Time and Jiving Sister Fanny

These have become some of my very favorite Stones songs. And really, you cannot go wrong with the singles from the Stones first heyday.

My complaint covers Stones remasters, re-releases and compilations in general: These greedy bastids are the undisputed champions of selling the same songs to their fans over and over again as vinyl, tape, cd, remastered cd, single, LP, compilation etc. Why not give us something extra from the vaults for our trouble? Where are the unreleased tracks, alternate takes, live versions etc? C'mon Mick let's see a real box set of rarities!

The only reason for my 1-star review was to hopefully direct you to amazon.co.uk where this set is infinitely cheaper. I'll delete it if the price goes up.