Some Girls: Deluxe Edition [Import]

The Rolling Stones | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 21, 2011)
• Original Release Date: 2011
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Label: Universal Republic
• ASIN: B005N95JA4
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (295 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #978 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist

Universal Music Group and The Rolling Stones are pleased to announce the release on November 21, 2011 of the re-mastered, expanded, Super-Deluxe, Deluxe and Digital editions of Some Girls, the groundbreaking album which introduced the music of the Rolling Stones to a whole new generation of fans.

Justly considered one of the finest works by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman and Ronnie Wood, Some Girls topped the US charts over three decades ago and remains the best selling album of their storied career. This new package will include some undiscovered gems that include tracks that have recently been unearthed from the Rolling Stones vaults by producer Don Was.

Some Girls is the Rolling Stones' most direct and diverse collection of material, from Mick Jagger's irresistible falsetto on the four-on-the-floor filler Miss You, their eighth US number one, to the country-flavoured Far Away Eyes via the Chuck Berry meets punk snarl of Respectable. And let's not forget the sensuous, Beast Of Burden, one of Keith Richards' finest tunes, which reached number 8 on the US singles chart, the garage rock of Shattered, the album's third US Top 40 entry, and the soulful swagger of the group's version of The Temptations' Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me), another timeless offering in their canon of classic Stones Motown covers.

Following the critical praise and commercial success afforded the re-mastered, expanded editions of Exile On Main Street, which matched the chart performance of the epochal 1972 album, and returned the Rolling Stones to their rightful place at the top of the British charts in 2010, the extensive reissue of Some Girls constitutes the next step in the band's ongoing relationship with Universal Music Group. This started in April 2008 with Shine A Light, the soundtrack from the stunning concert film directed by Martin Scorsese, and has encompassed the reissues of the Rolling Stones re-mastered, post-1971 studio albums, several live albums and classic compilations, and the exhaustive box-set Singles 1971-2006 earlier this year.

Some Girls holds a special place in the history of the Rolling Stones and demonstrates why they remain one of the most thrilling and influential bands of all time. The 1978 album features a Keith Richards' classic Before They Make Me Run, a signature song he stills performs defiantly to this day. Some Girls documented Mick Jagger's love of 70's funk reflected in Miss You, the dance track that wrongfooted many people, made the club and black charts, and made it okay for other mainstream acts at the time to `go disco'.

The 1978 album courted controversy because of Jagger's tongue-in-cheek lyrics on the title track, on Miss You and on Respectable, perceived as a retort to the punk and new wave groups who had borrowed so much attitude and copped so many anti-establishment moves from the Rolling Stones. Ironically, the furore around the elaborate Some Girls package, designed by Peter Corriston and featuring the band members in drag - a nod in the direction of the picture on their 1966 single Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow? - and likenesses of Lucille Ball, Farrah Fawcett, Raquel Welch, Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe that hadn't been legally cleared, necessitating a swift withdrawal and rethink.

Some Girls demonstrated the distinctive and definitive riffing from Keith Richards, with its abundance of unstoppable licks and majestic power chords driving the band into its brand new musical direction. This album not only defined him and his playing, but also defined a new era for the Rolling Stones, which Richards since described as a `sense of renewal'. Some Girls marks the only other time since recording Satisfaction where Richards used an effects pedal to `elevate' the sound.

The album cemented the position of guitarist Ronnie Wood, who had joined in 1975, and added his trademark slide and pedal steel playing to several of the album's most memorable tracks, including When The Whip Comes Down and Shattered. He also co-wrote the Shattered B-side Everything Is Turning To Gold. Some Girls also marked a move to the Pathé Marconi Studios in Paris for the Glimmer Twins production team of Jagger and Richards. These factors helped what is arguably the group's most focused and dynamic album, driven by the sans pareil rhythm section of drummer Charlie Watts and bassist Bill Wyman. Some Girls featured fewer guest musicians than any Rolling Stones albums since 1971, but the contributions keyboard-player Ian McLagan, Wood's bandmate in The Faces, saxophone-player Mel Collins, and harmonica-player Sugar Blue - discovered busking on the Paris métro - made Miss You in particular sound brighter than ever.

Amongst many eagerly-awaited extras, the Super-Deluxe edition of Some Girls will include a stunning, previously unseen Helmut Newton photo session from 1978, an essay by esteemed author and journalist Anthony DeCurtis putting the album in its cultural context, and a 7" single of Beast Of Burden/When The Whip Comes Down in its banned sleeve.

Thirty-three years on from its original release, the re-mastered, expanded, Super-Deluxe, Deluxe and Digital editions of Some Girls show why the 1978 album has often been hailed as the equal of Exile On Main Street. Some Girls is both a time capsule and a timeless listen. It features the band at their tightest and toughest, at their most vibrant and vital. It's an all-killer, no-filler, must-have album. It still packs a punch.

SOME GIRLS - now bigger, brighter and better than ever.

Product Description

Digitally remastered deluxe two CD edition of the Rolling Stones' 1978 masterpiece including a bonus disc of previously unreleased recordings taped during the Some Girls sessions. A fresh, uncompromising attempt to incorporate then-modern pop techniques into the band's familiar sound, Some Girls opens with the Disco sass of "Miss You" and closes with the self-destructive punk of "Shattered." In between, you have an album that solidified their reputation as the world's greatest Rock 'n' Roll band. Some may cite Exile On Main Street as their finest '70s moment, but Some Girls is it's equal, if not a smidgen more exciting.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

132 of 142 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Stick With a Virgin.. December 13, 2009

By Exile On My Street VINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

As a huge Rolling Stones fan I have to say I am disappointed in this remaster. It is one of my favorite Stones albums but this version on UMG is highly compressed with a major loss in any dynamic range it had.

Yes, the guitars are louder and even clearer in some cases and because of this, many of the songs seem to lose their swing. Oh, it rocks, alright, but the swing that was present in the Virgin issue of 'Respectable' is gone. The break in 'Miss You' (OOooohh ooohh, Everybody waits so loooong) loses it's impact as well as the vocals and Charlie's drums in 'Before They Make Me Run.' In the latter song, the drums used to kick and the chorus used to stand out from the rest of the recording, which it no longer does. The break at about 1:35 in 'Shattered' where the bass drum kicks in is a plodding mess and much clearer and listenable on the Virgin '94 issue. The record, as a whole, loses much of it's depth and warmness as a result.

Perhaps the biggest travesty, and I don't recall any other reviews mentioning this, but at the beginning of 'Beast Of Burden', Keith's guitar is in the right channel and in the left you hear an echoing or 'bleeding' effect of the guitar lines. It is plainly obvious on the Virgin issue and all previous issues of the recording. On the UMG this is all but GONE! Even when I isolated the left channel and turned it up it was close to inaudible. I put on the Virgin and it's very audible, even without much volume or isolation of the left channel.

If you want the issue that sounds better and sticks closer to the integrity of the original recording, seek out the '94 Virgin remaster and not this.... If these sort of nuances are not an issue for you and just prefer loud guitars at the loss of any dynamic range, then by all means, fire away and pick up this UMG remaster. Those of you not familiar with the original recording will not notice a thing. Those of you who are familiar with it do not feel that an upgrade is necessary. Read more ›

229 of 253 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Album That Saved The Stones September 29, 2002

By Richard R. Carlton

Format:Audio CD

Some Girls was originally released June 9, 1978, it went to #1 in the US and #2 in the UK. This is their best selling album ever (>8,000,000 copies to date). Although the Stones seemed to be on somewhat of a female bashing kick (and certainly aroused intense ire among feminist groups) with their billboards for Black and Blue and the album cover for some Girls (which produced lawsuits and a revised cover), the sessions for Some Girls were the most productive the Band would ever have and saved the Stones from oblivion. The album included not only the superhit Miss You (their first #1 hit in 7 years), but Beast Of Burden (Keith's tender last love song to Anita Pallenberg), When The Whip Comes Down, Shattered, Before They Make Me Run, Respectable, and Just My Imagination. Most people know the music, so in my reviews I try to give you data on the sessions and interesting facts connected with the songs and the album. Here we go:

Interesting notes include:
.....the most famous story about Some Girls concerns the cut-out cover which originally had images of Lucille Ball, Raquel Welch, Farrah Fawcett, and Sophia Loren, all of whom threatened legal action, causing a revised cover to be released (both the original and revised covers from the original vinyl album are easily available on e-bay and in vinyl shops)
.....the original album cover was issued in 3 different color variations
.....Keith argued (and won) to have Start It Up removed from the album because he was afraid he had copied the main riff from the radio (it turned out it was his own licks he had heard)
.....when asked by a reporter why the name Some Girls had been chosen, Keith replied, "Because we can't remember their (freak)ing names!"
........the first Stones disco mix was made by Bob Clearmountain from a tape of Miss You

The sessions for Some Girls were the most productive the Stones would ever have. They started in Paris Oct 10, 1977 and ended Mar 2, 1978 with final mixing at Atlantic Studios in New York Mar 15-31, 1978. The sessions were:
Oct 10 - Dec 21, 1977 at Pathe Marconi/EMI Studios in Paris
.....Miss You (Mick on guitar)
.....When The Whip Comes Down (Mick on guitar)
.....Just My Imagination (Mick on guitar)
.....Some Girls (Sugar Blue on harmonica, Keith on bass & acoustic, Ron on acoustic, Mick on guitar, Bill Wyman on synthesizer)
.....Lies (Mick on guitar)
.....Far Away Eyes (Mick & Keith on piano, Ron on pedal steel)
.....Respectable (Mick on guitar)
.....Beast Of Burden
.....Shattered (Ron on bass, pedal steel, and lead guitar)
Jan 5 - Mar 2, 1978 at Pathe Marconi/EMI Studios in Paris
.....Before They Make Me Run

Everything Is Turning To Gold was also recorded (it was released as a B side and special collections track).

Tracks from these sessions that were never released included the famous Claudine (which was never released because it was sure to cause litigation from Claudine Longet after she was reprieved from killing her boyfriend), plus Everlasting Is My Love, Covered In Bruises, Indian Girl, Misty Roads, Jah Is Not Dead, We Had It All, Fiji Gin, I Can't Help It, Do You Think I Care, The Way She Held Me Tight, I Need You, Let's Go Steady, Petrol, No Spare Parts, You Win Again, It's A Lie, It's All Wrong, Never Let Her Go, Never Make You Cry, Not The Way To Go, Biscuit Blues, Disco Music, When You're Gone, Angeline.

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. Read more ›

76 of 82 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars You Know, The Audiophiles Are Right: Stick With The Virgin Remaster! May 24, 2010

By Erik Morton

Format:Audio CD

I'm no audiophile; I own no fancy speaker systems or equipment, I don't know any of the lingo that goes along with sound quality, I don't own any vinyl, etc. I'm a casual music lover who still prefers to buy the CDs, but listens to the vast majority of my music on my iPod through $10-$20 headphones. And even I have to agree with what people are saying: the 1994 Virgin remaster by Bob Ludwig is better than this 2009 Universal remaster.

When I first bought this album a few months ago, it was the 2009 version. Right from the get-go, something about the sound quality hurt my ears; I don't blast my music very loud or often at all, but it actually gave me a bit of a headache listening to this album a few times. It just sounded too "bright," somehow, for lack of a better way to phrase it. Mind you, it's still a perfectly listenable CD.

So I finally bought the older 1994 version, and the difference is extremely subtle (to the point where I'm not sure if I can put my finger on the exact reasons), but to my untrained ears it sounds better than the 2009 version. It sounds more "full," more like the Stones I know. Sounds are perhaps less clear and crisp, but you know what? That's how I like my Stones. They're one of those bands who actually benefits from some "muddy" sound in their music, so to speak. It just gives them a certain atmosphere. I think the 2009 remasters cleaned up the recordings a little too much, and in doing so not only made a less pleasurable listening experience, but also lost a lot of that Stones feeling.

Conclusion: The 1994 Virgin CD is the way to go. Mind you, the 2009 UM version isn't the travesty a lot of people have made it out to be, but it's still a less satisfying listening experience, IMHO.... I can't speak for any of the other 2009 remasters, but based on my 'Some Girls' experience, I'll continue to seek out the 1994 Virgin remasters. Read more ›