Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Try as you might, you still can't lick 'em
At long last it's here. Fans have been crying out for a proper Stones retrospective for aeons and, finally, the price is right for the respective record companies and 'Forty Licks' is the result. A double set, with the 60s Decca/ABKCO material on one album (plus 1971's 'Wild Horses') and everything post-'71 on the other, although the tracks aren't sequenced chronologically. All told 40 songs from four decades, including four new tracks.Any an album that can boast 'Street Fighting Man', 'Gimme Shelter' and 'Satisfaction' as its opening three tracks is certainly onto a winner. Even though Mick Jagger's familiar pouting, snarling voice hurtles out from another place and another time, part of tracks that are now an integral part of our culture, it still sends shivers down the spine. Same goes for the opening chords, from 'Street Fighting Man's insistent, ringing acoustic opening to 'Gimme Shelter's menacing, serpent-like notes and, of course, the all-too familiar calling card of 'Satisfaction'. The first album is as bulletproof a selection as you could want. From the breakneck cover of Buddy Holly's 'Not Fade Away', through the classic string of self-penned singles ('The Last Time', 'Satisfaction', 'Get Off Of My Cloud', '19th Nervous Breakdown', 'Paint It, Black') to the meltdown of 'Have You Seen Your Mother Baby?', this is the mid-60s documented in all its incense-scented, scandal-ridden, narcissistic glory. That's the signal for the trip to get darker, though the provocative 'Let's Spend The Night Together' and the wistful beauty of 'Ruby Tuesday' proved that the band could still churn out incredible four-minute pop songs. Unsurprisingly, the nervous breakdown of a single that was 'We Love You', which documented their paranoid incarcerated summer of love, is omitted in favour of the light and airy 'She's A Rainbow'. The second album also races out of the blocks, with the legendary riffs of 'Start Me Up' and 'Brown Sugar' followed by the disco shuffle of 'Miss You'. It's no secret what the Stones themselves consider their best albums of the later period, with 1978's 'Some Girls' getting three tracks, 1972's magnum opus 'Exile On Main Street' and 1994's semi-return to form 'Voodoo Lounge' two apiece. Of the new tracks, 'Don't Stop' is a solid mid-paced rocker with a memorable chorus, the kind of single the Stones still seem able to churn out at will. But 'Keys To Your Love' and 'Stealing My Heart' are merely slight versions of what's gone before, the former with Jagger's falsetto vocal circa 1980-81 and the latter a countryfied ditty of the sort Sir Mick usually saves for his solo albums. Keith's 'Losing My Touch' is much better, though, the latest in a long line of slow-burning album closers he does so well. As ever with compilations covering such a huge body of work, there are omissions - 'Little Red Rooster', 'Time Is On My Side', 'Rocks Off', 'All Down The Line' could have easily slotted in instead of the album tracks or a couple of the new ones. But to criticise a collection containing so many incredible songs would be churlish. On the contrary, 'Forty Licks' exists as ample evidence that, away from the drugs, the women, the media manipulation, the huge stages filling one end of stadiums the world over, the Stones have got where they are because they've made music that has been, and will continue to be listened to and revered by generation after generation.
Rating: - Now And Then;The Story of the Most Greatest Rock'n Roll Band
This is the party to celebrate forty years of history in the rock'n roll world. 40 immortal tracks coming out from records that have done the story of rock'n roll(remember the Rolling Stones played together for the first time in 1959!!): Rolling Stones nr. 1, Aftermath, Simpathy for the Devil, Exile on the Main Street, etc... (If you don't have just done it) you can enjoy songs like "Not Fade Away, "It's All Over Now"both of them recorded in 1964, as 1994's "Love Is Strong"(remember the super technological video) going through the arrogant "Street Fighting Man" (it sohappens that's the opener) and "Satisfaction" (i hope i don't have to tell anything about it) respectively written in 1968 and 1965. A pleasant surprise is that, this best contanins four brand-new tracks: "Don't Stop" (that's the single you've heard on the radio), the wonderful "Keys To Your Love","Stealing My Heart" in the odour of punk and the heartfelt Keith's execution on the yearning ballad "Losing My Touch". On the sleeve of the box they have decided to design the famous "lick" made expressly by Andy Warhol on the occasion of 1971 "Sticky Fingers" pubblications. The real art is made by stealing from different styles far and wide;the Rolling Stones created the way to be greatest artists.
Rating: - Finally an anthology of the Stones entire career!
"Forty Licks" is at last a retrospective of the Rolling Stones entire career. The first disk contains the Abkco/Decca controlled material with Brian Jones through the early Mick Taylor era (mostly sixties). The second disk contains the Virgin material from the later Mick Taylor period through the Ronnie Wood years (seventies to present). The second disk also contains 4 newly recorded songs for this collection. The first disk appears to contain the new Abkco remastering but is not SACD compatible.Disk one is priceless. It contains one classic hit after another. Material ranges from early R&B covers like "It's All Over Now" to the psychedelic "She's A Rainbow" and rockers like "Satisfaction". This disk shows the evolution of Jagger/Richards into one of the greatest songwriting duos in rock history. Cuts like "Get Off My Cloud" and "19th Nervous Breakdown" spotlight the tight rhythm section of Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman. Tracks such as "Jumping Jack Flash", "Gimme Shelter" and "You Can't Always Get What You Want" are timeless classics. Disk one serves as a single disk summary of the material from the twin Abkco double disk sets "Hot Rocks" and "More Hot Rocks". I was pleased that lesser known favorites like "The Last Time", "Not Fade Away", "It's All Over Now" and "She's A Rainbow" were included. However, I would have omitted "Have You Seen You Mother Baby" in favor of "I'm Free", "Dandelion", "2000 Light Years From Home" or "Play With Fire" among others. The second disk contains classic tracks like "Brown Sugar", "It's Only Rock 'N' Roll", "Start Me Up" and "Tumbling Dice". I was especially glad "Happy" one of my favorites form this period was included. The disk also contains 4 new songs. "Don't Stop" and "Stealing My Heart" are medium tempo rockers while "Keys To Your Heart" and "Losing My Touch" are more subdued with Keith taking the vocals on the latter. The new songs sound similar to their more recent material. After listening to the second disk I could not help but be a little disappointed. While not to knock Ronnie Wood it becomes evident that the Stones miss the creative versatility of Brian Jones and the stellar musicianship and stinging slide guitar of Mick Taylor. A drawback with the second disk is that a number of the songs appear in edited versions. Many excellent cuts from this time period are omitted like "Bitch", "All Down The Line", "Heartbreaker", "Star Star", "Crazy Mama", "When The Whip Comes Down", "Before They Make Me Run", "Going To A Go-Go", "She's So Cold", "Hang Fire", "Harlem Shuffle", "Rock And A Hard Place", "Like A Rolling Stone", and "Saint Of Me" among others. "Exile On Main Street" one the best double albums (remember them) in rock history and one of their best is only represented by two cuts. While this set provides a good purchase for the novice or budget minded Stones fan, I would still recommend picking up "Hot Rocks" and "More Hot Rocks" as both contain essential tracks not included here. If you want the real story you must pick up their individual disks as each contain some hidden gems. Maybe sometime Virgin will get around to issuing a 2 disk compilation of their material with a bonus disk of rare non-lp b-sides, but until then this set will do nicely.
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