Amazon.com Customer Reviews
awesome set from The Stones - Review written on May 30, 2008
Rating: 5 out of 5
16 customers found this review helpful, 2 did not.
Hot Rocks 1964-1971 is an awesome two CD Stones compilation set that has so many of their best hits. This also makes a great introduction to the band, too, just as other people have said. The sound quality is excellent and the artwork is really nicely done.
The first CD starts with "Time Is On My Side;" this classic Stones tune really rocks well and they deliver this with lots of positive energy! The percussion is great; and The Stones sing and play this to perfection! "Heart Of Stone" has a great beat; and Mick Jagger sings this passionately--with all his heart and soul. He sings of a woman he knows and it all works very well. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" is easily one of their best hits ever--and one of the best rock songs ever written, too. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" explores the frustration a man can feel when he doesn't have a girlfriend; and that's something many guys can relate to. The song rocks well anyway; and I could never tire of hearing The Rolling Stones doing "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." Excellent!
"Get Off Of My Cloud" is another classic by the Stones; this song has a great beat and they handle complicated tempo and key changes like the pros they were and still remain! Mick sings great and "Get Off Of My Cloud" is a major highlight of this two CD set; the lyrics are very creative, too. "Mother's Little Helper" uses some pretty awesome electric guitar; and listen for The Rolling Stones to do their very best on "Paint It Black." "Paint It Black" has one of the best arrangements The Stones ever wrote and sang; and the music is also very well done. "Under My Thumb" is yet another classic tune by this incredible band; they ace this easily and I always like to hear this song.
The first CD ends strong with The Rolling Stones doing "Let's Spend the Night Together." "Let's Spend the Night Together" celebrates the happiness of attraction between a man and a woman and that's terrific.
The second CD continues the hits. "Jumpin' Jack Flash" has a pretty cool flavor to it; those electric guitars work well and Mick Jagger sings this very well. "Sympathy For The Devil" was always one of my very favorite Stones tunes; "Sympathy For The Devil" keeps the new listener guessing at who the song is about until the song is well along and that draws in the listener really well. There's also the poignant "You Can't Always Get What You Want" with its sublime female chorus; this song about life makes its point well and that's the strength of this song in addition to the music. "Brown Sugar" rocks so hard that I love hearing this--even if it's over and over again! "Brown Sugar" is easily one of their best songs ever and the topic is interesting, to say the least...
The second CD ends with "Wild Horses;" "Wild Horses" is a passionate love song that always tugs at my heartstrings when I hear it. It moves me a lot and it's a total masterpiece. Good for them!
Overall, The Rolling Stones turned out a "greatest hits" set so strong it DID take on a life of its own. Even all these years later, this album sells quite well and newcomers are always buying it. This two CD set proves that The Rolling Stones were-and are--one of the best rock and roll bands of all time. It will be a long, long time before we see another band this good again.
Brilliant music better heard elsewhere - Review written on February 19, 2008
Rating: 3 out of 5
2 customers found this review helpful.
Between 1964 and 1971, the Rolling Stones made some of the most un-friggin'-believable rock `n' roll music of all time. Their raw, sweaty fusion of blues, country, soul, and rock, all of it united under Mick Jagger's sullen grimace and Keith Richards' (not to mention Brian Jones'!) barnburning guitar work gave the world of popular music that raucous kick in the drawers that it had been craving since Elvis was drafted and Chuck Berry went to prison (hey, four years is a long time in rockworld!). Their music was full of anger and sex, full of joy and singalong catharsis and booze-soaked attitude, and it positively ruled.
And this collection aims to sum that sound up. If you're just getting introduced to the `Stones, it presents itself as a pretty darn good introduction: It's got a lot of the big hits ("Satisfaction," "Time Is On My Side," "Under My Thumb," etc.) in one place, with cool cover art to boot. If you're a beginner, it allows you to temporarily sidestep their first few albums, which a lot of people think are spotty and inconsistent. Plus, it has a few songs that were only released as singles, never appearing on a proper album, such as "Honky Tonk Woman." Good deal, right?
Well, sure, it's a very good deal. If you're a beginner, you should pick this up. I mean, there's no such thing as a bad album that has "Get Off Of My Cloud" or "Heart Of Stone" on it. But here's the thing: This album doesn't have "The Last Time." Or "Not Fade Away." Or "Tell Me." Or "It's All Over Now." Those are all fantastic songs, and no aspiring `Stones fan should be without them (especially "The Last Time." Excluding that song was a stunningly weird idea). You know what collection does have those songs on them, though? Big Hits (High Tide And Green Grass). It's a single disc collection that brings together a bunch of the stuff from their first few albums. It doesn't cover as wide a period as this collection, but a lot of the songs on Hot Rocks come from albums like Beggar's Banquet and Let It Bleed and Sticky Fingers, and nobody thinks that those records are spotty. Nobody who counts, anyway. You're gonna wanna get those albums early on, so getting a collection with songs from those albums is a bit redundant. Just a thought.
So, this album is full of great music, and if you're getting introduced to the Rolling Stones, you'll probably like it a lot. I recommend getting the Big Hits record, though. After that, pick up Aftermath, Beggar's Banquet, et al. Have fun! (If you like good music, you certainly will)
Sounds better than ever - Review written on July 29, 2007
Rating: 5 out of 5
1 customer found this review helpful.
This sonically enhanced two-CD set provides seven years worth of vintage Stones from their peak period. Compare these delectable tracks to the rock music of today and one wonders where things went wrong in the mainstream. Melodic, meaningful, powerful and innovative, these Stones songs represent everything that is special about rock music.
Although there's not one mediocre track here, my favorites include the bluesy Time Is On My Side, Heart Of Stone, Wild Horses and Ruby Tuesday (covered by Melanie Safka among others), the raucous rock of Satisfaction, Get Off My Cloud, Street Fighting Man and Brown Sugar, with songs of social comment (Mother's Little Helper, 19th Nervous Breakdown), and beautiful ballads: As Tears Go By (covered by inter alia Marianne Faithfull), Play With Fire and Paint It Black.
The Stones must be the ultimate rock band, more influential than the Beatles in their 4 decades plus consistency and their exploration of the wilder side of life. This is an absolute masterpiece. If an alien came down and asked me to recommend some quality rock music, this album will top my list. It deserves 7 stars!
Rolling Stones Hot Rocks SACD - Review written on June 13, 2007
Rating: 4 out of 5
2 customers found this review helpful.
For any Stones fan, I think this was the culmination or consensus of the greatest hits album for any band. I have owned this title on vinyl, cd and now SACD. First of all, any compilation album is subject to the producer's vision, and I understand that. That is each song may have been produced differently.
On the first disc, it is obvious that the early days of stereo engineering meant separating everything into left and right, but the clarity of SACD really shines through.***Note** Just because it's SACD doesn't mean it's 5.1 surround. I was especially impressed with Ruby Tuesday. I finally can hear that the distortion in the left speaker is actually an over-mike'd cello and not (as I thought for years) some funky bass line.
The second CD really stood out with some great tunes, especially Honky Tonk Women and Midnight Rambler. I tend to prefer when songs are mixed as if I where listening to the band live. That is, I like the lead singer in the middle and drums behind the lead singer. Guitars, bass and backing vocals should be on either side. I was really disappointed with Gimme Shelter because this mix seemed to cram everything towards the center. I don't know if this was the original production or just this cd. The rest of the cd is great. Now if they can just re-engineer the Who's Who's Better, Who's Best on SACD, I'll be in Heaven. ***Another note*** This review may be nullified by the fact that, as my children have pointed out, I'm old, and as such, I can afford a lot better speakers than I could when I was young.
An Early And GREATEST Stage Of A Continuing Phenomenon - Review written on April 02, 2007
Rating: 5 out of 5
2 customers found this review helpful.
As a child of the 1960's (born in 1946), The Rolling Stones have made music that I have listened to at each stage of my adolescent and presumably post-adolescent life. At each juncture, their music has been through changes as has one or two of the band members, as have I! Asked when he planned to retire some years ago, Mick Jagger - in classic Mick Jagger style - responded something like, "... no one asks Muddy Waters or John Lee Hooker that question. Why are you asking me? I sing my version of the blues and plan to do so until I can't. That might include being wheeled out on stage in a wheelchair some years from now, still doing what I do as best as I can." That is not intended to be a direct quote, but is rather the way I recall hearing the story told and retold over the years. I recall it this way because it makes sense to me ... a LOT of sense. Often characterized as the quintessenal rock and toll band, The Rolling Stones were, are and I expect will continue to be and become a continuing phenomenon of musical expression. That being said, even bands that seem to go on forever have their stronger and weaker periods; their peaks of high creativity and valleys of times when they simply have to fulfill a contractual obligation by releasing an album and/or touring.
For most Stones fans, the period the collection at hand provides an unarguably thrilling sampling of is that in the years from 1964 to 1971 during which the Stones wrote, performed and recorded some of the greatest music in the continually developing story of the genre we call Rock and Roll.
This is a two CD set is produced on two layers. One is a `normal' CD, the second is a Super Audio CD (SACD). Both layers have been produced from the original takes using DSD (Direct Stream Digital) encoding which does a simply tremendous job of capturing each and every subtle moment, tone and innuendo on each track - be it from voice or instrument. It actually sounds a lot better than the original recordings and is far superior to standard `remasterings' of older studio and/or live recordings. So, even though there are no real surprises on these CDs, there is much delight to be had by the Stones audiophile in hearing just how good they really sound(ed) during this period.
The specific tracks are all known, verbatim, to many of my generation and include, on the first CD:
1. Time Is On My Side
2. Heart Of Stone
3. Play With Fire
4. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
5. As Tears Go By
6. Get Off Of My Cloud
7. Mother's Little Helper
8. 19th Nervous Breakdown
9. Paint It, Black
10. Under My Thumb
11. Ruby Tuesday, and
12. Let's Spend The Night Together
The second CD picks up where the first one leaves off with:
1. Jumpin' Jack Flash
2. Street Fighting Man
3. Sympathy For The Devil
4. Honky Tonk Women
5. Gimme Shelter
6. Midnight Rambler (Live)
7. You Can't Always Get What You Want
8. Brown Sugar, and
9. Wild Horses
Clearly, the Rolling Stones have produced dozens of albums and hundreds upon hundreds of songs: most are at least better than average and many (some would argue, most) are far superior to most of everything else that has ever (or may ever be) written for, performed or recorded in this particular musical genre.
Whether you believe that the Stones are simply one of the greatest Rock and Roll bands to ever perform or that they are THE greatest, you will have no regrets about investing in this remarkably hypnotic, engaging and enthusiastic pair of CDs. La crème de la crème. The best of the best. Vocally, musically, ensemble-wide: in all measurable respects. Close your eyes and sing along - with your voice or in your mind. Either way, you won't be disappointed.
Rolling Stones are awful...dont buy this!! - Review written on December 24, 2006
Rating: 1 out of 5
4 customers found this review helpful, 78 did not.
What a disaster!!! How could anyone like this lousy rock band? They have sold more than 20 lame albums and they most surely could not make good music at all. Mick Thornten,the lead singer just screams,can't sing,sounds more like baby just like Robert Plant. Keith Richmond is what I call the worst guitar player in the world,never took lessons,always out of tune,and only two string power chords. Willie Whatts is the worst drummer ever, he never could drum as good as Lars Ulrich(Metallica drummer). They even have put up some of the even more lousiest and worst songs ever made like Brown Sugar, Satisfaction, Get Off My Cloud, and Sympathy For The Devil. Even a Green Day CD has better music than this!
Ignore the previous 5 star reviewers below and avoid this lousy compilation. Get SULTANS OF SWING:THE VERY BEST OF DIRE STRAITS insted.
-Waiting For A Girl Like You
simply amazing - Review written on September 27, 2006
Rating: 5 out of 5
4 customers found this review helpful.
i remember getting my first cd player for christmas when i was 14 with it i got a cd carrying various classic cd's, this cd was one of them. to tell the truth i have been listing to the stones since i was 5, and i knew then i like the way they sounded. being a kid i hadn't a clue about the various styles they played, but as i grew older and started appreciating music as a whole i relized that these guys will always be remebered as the bes of the best. Ever since i got this cd, i have listened to it over and over, i am 24 now and for the first time i am going to see them live. this set cements the fact that what ever these guys touch, turns to gold. stripped is a shining example of what a comp cd should be, most comp cd's just touch on a bands greatnes, only having one or two hits and the rest the dregs of thier worst cd's. don't get me wrong it's good to hear the less played songs, some the stones best stuff is hardly ever played o nthe radio, over all this is a must have in any cd collection
WARNING!! Great music, but Amazon is not selling the SACD version of this disc - Review written on March 24, 2006
Rating: 5 out of 5
102 customers found this review helpful, 6 did not.
I give the CD five stars for content (difficult to argue with that rating, this is a classic that the part-time Stones fan can't do without)... Five stars to Amazon for quick shipping and a pleasant experience with customer service on the phone... But zero stars to Amazon for misrepresenting what they are selling.
Apparently prior reviewers didn't have this problem, but when I received my "Hybrid SACD" of Hot Rocks (March '06), I furrowed my brow in concern when I noticed that the SACD logo appeared nowhere on the packaging (it does say "DSD Remastered" on the spine of the jewel box). After tearing open the package, I found that the SACD logo appeared nowhere on the disc or in the booklet. After being inserted in my SACD compatible player, I was unable to access the SACD layer.
That's because this ISN'T the SACD hybrid version that they're advertising it to be. This is the same standard CD you can buy at your local record store, Best Buy or Wal*Mart. Speaking of BB, I took this CD to my local outlet and popped the disc(s) into one of their Sony SACD players on the shelf, just to make sure it wasn't just MY unit that wouldn't play it correctly... The unit in the store did something that my player didn't, which perfectly illustrates the problem, it actually said on the player's LED display "NOT HYBRID DISC".
Well, I guess THAT clears it up.
Figuring that it was an honest mistake, I called Amazon and pointed out that I'd been shipped the wrong disc. Kudos to the fellow at Amazon's customer service center, he apologized and promptly sent me a replacement by overnight mail (no charge), and sent a label to affix to the package to return the CD I was erroneously sent. Only problem is...
The "replacement" CD is identical to the one I was sent the first time.
Giving up on Amazon after two tries, I have subsequently purchased a lightly-used proper hybrid SACD of Hot Rocks on eBay, and the disc(s) sound great. FWIW, the hybrid SACD issue of Hot Rocks appears to have only been issued in cardboard fold-out packaging (if online pics are to be believed), so if you order this CD and get it in a jewel box without any mention of it being a hybrid SACD, you've got the "regular" version of the CD.
The UPC code of the SACD issue is 0-18771-96672-2. The "regular" CD has the same number save for the last one, which is -1. The first and last numbers are very small in comparison to the middle ten, so at first glance the CD's appear to have the same UPC code... But that little '1' or '2' at the end makes all the difference.
I assume that this is an honest mistake on Amazon's part, but potential buyers who are searching for the SACD version of Hot Rocks have been warned. I believe that the "standard" layer on the SACD disc is identical in content and quality to the non-SACD version, so if you don't have an SACD-compatible player, none of this will be of any consequence to you.
For the Casual Stones Fan it's Great. - Review written on May 22, 2005
Rating: 4 out of 5
8 customers found this review helpful, 2 did not.
I am not a die-hard Stones fan, but I believe that their place in rock history is valid and they represent one of many facets of a very diversified musical genre. There are so many styles out there: art rock, goth rock, acid rock, etc., but the Stones represent an aspect that everyone needs to acknowledge now and then, and that would be good time, down-to-earth raunchy blues rock. That's not to say they didn't do some great ballads, but what would you rather play at a party; "As Tears Go By" or "Honky Tonk Women?"
The band had so many great hits, especially during the 64-71 era, and this represents all the best of them. Beside that, I maintain an eternal weakness for the great classic "You Can't Always Get What You Want." You can play that anywhere and blow any young kid who thinks they're cool out of the water because it's that full of attitude after all these years. The best thing about it is that it's not even aggressive compared to songs like "Brown Sugar." Now that's coolness defined. Get Hot Rocks for all the great songs you know and the album rock stations some of us were lucky enough to grow up with. Also, you may want to get Forty Licks or Some Girls for great later classics like "Beast of Burden" and "Waiting on a Friend." A little Stones go a long way for some of us, but they're still around, and they're still cool, so have fun!
if you want one collection of the Stones, get this one - Review written on April 20, 2005
Rating: 5 out of 5
4 customers found this review helpful, 1 did not.
this covers all their greatest stuff, and is really all you need if you aren't a hardcore fan. I wouldn't call myself a real Rolling Stones fan, but I do enjoy the classic songs on here like "paint it black" and "satisfaction," among others. ideal if you are new to the band, though you have likely heard of them before (they must be the most famous band in the history of rock, no?) yes, definetily get it. I know that the Stones always have released mediocre live material, but the live tracks on here are extremely good, all 2 of them. There's not that much I can say about the Stones; I like most of the music, but in general I don't dig the band that much. If you are like me, this one is for you.
Still the best early Stones compilation - Review written on December 29, 2004
Rating: 5 out of 5
5 customers found this review helpful.
Spanning the first seven years of the Stones' recording career, "Hot Rocks" includes almost every song the casual fan could want from that period.
It doesn't include their earliest blues and R&B covers, which is a shame, but once you're hooked I'm sure you can find the money to go out and get the Stones' first four LPs anyway ;-)
But look at what is here: "Satisfaction", "Heart Of Stone", "Honky Tonk Women", "Jumpin' Jack Flash", "Brown Sugar", "Sympathy For The Devil" and many, many more. This is truly the cream of the crop.
This excellent, well annotated and expertly sequenced compilation presents the Rolling Stones' early singles in warm, three-dimensional and tremendously realistic 21st century fidelity. Get "Hot Rocks" and "Jump Back: The Best Of The Rolling Stones 1971-1993" and you'll have a much better career overview than with the good-but-not-great 2002 box set "Forty Licks".
The Best its gonna get. - Review written on December 07, 2004
Rating: 5 out of 5
5 customers found this review helpful.
The Stones have produced so many great songs over the years (although not much in the past 20) and as we all know have had many different greatest hits collections. However, this one stands out in my mind as the greatest.
The greatest thing about this CD is that every song is listenable. With some of the other greatest hits cd's there are songs that some people are glad were put on but others not. With this, anyone can enjoy any song without saying "why'd they put this on here". My only real criticism of this album is why no "Last Time". This was probably one of their top five biggest songs at this time, yet its not on here. I've wondered this since I got it and, although I'm not even a big fan of this song, it has never made much sense to me.
Anyway, for the casual fan who's never really listened to or heard much of the Stones music, the standout tracks for me (or for the best introduction)would be Sympathy For The Devil,(I Cant Get No)Satisfaction,Street Fighting Man,Gimme Shelter,and Midnight Rambler. After these the best ones are (in my opinion)Jumpin Jack Flash,Brown Sugar,Paint It Black,Under My Thumb,and Honky Tonk Woman. So if you asked me, I'd say this is essential to any music collection. A great way to get the most of the biggest hits.