The Rolling Stones *sigh*

[Lonely Summer]

I love the Beach Boys, love the Beatles, but IMO the Rolling Stones are very overrated. That's not to say I don't like them - especially the 60's output. Maybe it's just the image of these old wrinkled guys going on the umpteenth stadium tour and getting slavish praise from the rock press, but I do NOT consider them the world's greatest rock 'n' roll band. Mick Jagger can't hold a candle to John Lennon or Paul McCartney as a singer, and I would take Dave Davies over Keith Richards any day as a rock 'n' roll guitarist. And when was the last time they put out an album anyone cared about?

[alf wiedersehen]

The Rolling Stones have three (or 4, I guess) classic albums. They are Beggar's Banquet, Let it Bleed, and Sticky Fingers (and Exile on Mainstreet, I guess.) Their earlier albums are great too, but the four mentioned are truly their best work. However, I would steer clear of Their Satanic Majesties Request, it's an over-indulgent album that was attempting to compete with Sgt. Pepper's. Seriously, listen to "On with the Show" and tell me it's not a rip-off.
Also, their singles from the 60's are absolutely stellar.

About your last point, they released a studio album in 2005 called A Bigger Bang. It went platinum in the U.S., Canada, and Germany. It went gold in France and the U.K.. It stayed on the charts in those countries for a collective 106 weeks and scored a 73 on metacritic. Also, they recently released a new single "Doom and Gloom" which has met with great commercial and critical success. So, it seems someone cared.

Also, I would say that Mick Jagger is a pretty good singer. Songs like "Gimme Shelter" are absolutely spine-tingling, even if he is upstaged by Merry Clayton.  

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

The Rolling Stones have three (or 4, I guess) classic albums. They are Beggar's Banquet, Let it Bleed, and Sticky Fingers (and Exile on Mainstreet, I guess.) Their earlier albums are great too, but the four mentioned are truly their best work. However, I would steer clear of Their Satanic Majesties Request, it's an over-indulgent album that was attempting to compete with Sgt. Pepper's. Seriously, listen to "On with the Show" and tell me it's not a rip-off.
Also, their singles from the 60's are absolutely stellar.

About your last point, they released a studio album in 2005 called A Bigger Bang. It went platinum in the U.S., Canada, and Germany. It went gold in France and the U.K.. It stayed on the charts in those countries for a collective 106 weeks and scored a 73 on metacritic. Also, they recently released a new single "Doom and Gloom" which has met with great commercial and critical success. So, it seems someone cared.

Also, I would say that Mick Jagger is a pretty good singer. Songs like "Gimme Shelter" are absolutely spine-tingling, even if he is upstaged by Merry Clayton.  

Overrated? Sure (only because I think The Kinks were better in nearly every way) but Mick is most likely the greatest frontman in rock history (Sorry, OSD: Mike is number 2) and the band sported one of the coolest rhythm sections of all-time (back when such a thing really really mattered).

Classic Stones albums

Out Of Our Heads
Aftermath
Between The Buttons
Beggars Banquet
Let It Bleed (though most of the songs were blown away by their live versions of that era)
Sticky Fingers
Exile On Main Street
Get Yer Ya Yas out! (live, sure, but a barn-burner)

Great Stones albums:

Goat's Head Soup
It's Only Rock N Roll
Some Girls
Emotional Rescue
Tattoo You
Undercover
Voodoo Lounge
Love You Live (Moccambo side especially)

Good Stones Albums:

Bridges To Babylon
A Bigger Bang
December's Children
12X5
England's Newest Hit Makers
Their Satanic Majesties Request

Not so good Stones albums:

Steel Wheels
Dirty Work
Got Live If You Want It

UNSUNG STONE COLD CLASSIC FOR THE AGES:

Black N Blue!!!!!!!!!

Not to mention a bunch of kick-ass singles!

............................................................ Not a bad track record at all...... They're kind of like AC/DC where it's easy to slag them off and say they sucked balls from this point or that point on, but then you examine it and it comes down to them really only having one or two "bad" albums out of a whole bunch of awesomeness.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

Personally, I think Their Satanic Majesties Request is one of their best...

I love Aftermath, TSMR, and Beggar's the most and those are three very different sounding albums.

[Ian]

Personally-I love the Stones, the Beatles, the Kinks, the Who and the Beach Boys! I think anyone who doesn't all the 1963-1972 albums of these bands is absolutely missing out.  Everyone of these bands put out consistently incredible stuff during that time.  I like all the Kinks LP's up to Muswell Hillbillies, all the Stones up to Exile (also like Some Girls and Tattoo You), all the Who up to/including 1975's Who By Numbers and all the Beatles and BBs.

[SMiLE Brian]

The 1960s were great, not so much afterwards. Though their hype machine says differently...

[The Demon]

The Rolling Stones have three (or 4, I guess) classic albums. They are Beggar's Banquet, Let it Bleed, and Sticky Fingers (and Exile on Mainstreet, I guess.) Their earlier albums are great too, but the four mentioned are truly their best work. However, I would steer clear of Their Satanic Majesties Request, it's an over-indulgent album that was attempting to compete with Sgt. Pepper's. Seriously, listen to "On with the Show" and tell me it's not a rip-off.
Also, their singles from the 60's are absolutely stellar.

Depends on your taste.  I always found Beggar's and Exile to be pretty dull.  Satanic Majesties is my favorite album of theirs by far (no fan/critic thinks music is self-indulgent when it pleases them, but both qualities are not mutually exclusive), and is not nearly as much like Pepper as it's made out to be.  It sounds much more like they were listening to Piper at the Gates of Dawn, a little Kinks, and Frank Zappa.  "On With the Show" isn't a rip-off of Sgt. Pepper--it's a rip-of of Zappa's "America Drinks and Goes Home."  Both are meant to simulate performances in night clubs, something no song on Pepper does.

I also think Aftermath is a great Stones album and worth mentioning.  It has some of my favorite songs by them, such as "Lady Jane."

[drbeachboy]

The 1960s were great, not so much afterwards. Though their hype machine says differently...

I absolutely agree. I would even include the 1970-1972 period in there, as well. Music on the whole took a big turn in and around 1973.

[Juice Bronston]

I wish Mike was here.

[alf wiedersehen]

"On With the Show" isn't a rip-off of Sgt. Pepper--it's a rip-of of Zappa's "America Drinks and Goes Home."  Both are meant to simulate performances in night clubs, something no song on Pepper does.

"America Drinks and Goes Home" is a guy at the end of a set talking to the audience and taking requests for his next show. It's very boozy and has an atmosphere of winding down. "On with the Show" is different entirely. The atmosphere is different, the attitude is different, and the setting is different. It feels so much like Sgt. Pepper. Pull up the lyrics to "On with the Show"and "Sgt. Pepper"(not the reprise) and the similarities are uncanny.

I also think Aftermath is a great Stones album and worth mentioning.  It has some of my favorite songs by them, such as "Lady Jane."

I also really hate Lady Jane. We must be on opposite ends of the spectrum.  

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Absolutely love the Stones, apart from Steel Wheels.

[MBE]

I'm a Brian Jones nut so 1963-67 are the best to me. Cooler look, more of a real band. 1968-78 was still pretty damn good, just not as special to me. After 1978 AVOID except Tattoo You.

[alf wiedersehen]

I'm a Brian Jones nut so 1963-67 are the best to me. Cooler look, more of a real band. 1968-78 was still pretty damn good, just not as special to me. After 1978 AVOID except Tattoo You.

Brian Jones was a really cool guy. He's certainly someone who left us too soon. However, Mick Taylor was a pretty good choice to fill his spot.

On a related note, are there any recordings of Brian by himself? Maybe some demos or attempted solo work?

[LetHimRun]

I do think they are overrated in terms of the absolute drooling they get left and right at every turn especially for their output in the '70s. But saying that, I really love pretty much all of what they released from 1964-1968.

I know it is just one person who has brought it up, but I really like Lady Jane. The harpsichord is beautiful. I'm also a fan of Their Satanic Majesties Request, I wouldn't skip it. Sure it is a rip off of Sgt. Peppers in terms of production, theme, etc, but it still stands on some of its own merit. It's much better in mono also. Citadel is a favorite of mine, but do not like the nearly 9 minute long Sing This All Together.

Their singles from It's All Over Now until Honky Tonk Women are pretty well one stellar song after another.

[beatnickle]

 The Stones were great up untill the Ron Wood period with a few exceptions..... ( Start Me Up and a few more)
 I am probably in a minority but I have always loved "Between the Buttons" A very eccentric and unique Stones album.
  Also Aftermath, Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed stand out to me.
  Satanic Maj Request fascinates me because Brian Jones was so heavily involved in its instrumentation.
  Sticky Fingers was their last great album imo.
  

[Lonely Summer]

The worship of Brian Jones is another thing I don't get.

[bluesno1fann]

The worship of Brian Jones is another thing I don't get.

what do you mean? Brian was THE Stones at one stage. He founded the band, picked the members, named the band, and acted as their first unofficial manager. Also, while he wasn't the best guitarist of the band (Keith and Mick Taylor are better), he was hands-down the best musician. Just look at how many instruments he could play! The Stones just wouldn't be the same without him, Songs from 1963 to 1968 would either be completely different, or wouldn't exist, and they wouldn't be called the Rolling Stones! Shame he went downhill and was murdered 

Even Bill Wyman made clear of just how significant Brian Jones was to the band

[Gertie J.]

no jones, no stones?

[MBE]

The worship of Brian Jones is another thing I don't get.

what do you mean? Brian was THE Stones at one stage. He founded the band, picked the members, named the band, and acted as their first unofficial manager. Also, while he wasn't the best guitarist of the band (Keith and Mick Taylor are better), he was hands-down the best musician. Just look at how many instruments he could play! The Stones just wouldn't be the same without him, Songs from 1963 to 1968 would either be completely different, or wouldn't exist, and they wouldn't be called the Rolling Stones! Shame he went downhill and was murdered 

Even Bill Wyman made clear of just how significant Brian Jones was to the band

Amen, he was the visionary. Mick and Keith wrote about what he lived.

[Lonely Summer]

As an outsider looking in at the monster that is the Rolling Stones, the singling out of Brian Jones seems a bit like saying "Pete Quaife was the real talent in the Kinks", or "there would be no Beach Boys without David Marks".

[MBE]

As an outsider looking in at the monster that is the Rolling Stones, the singling out of Brian Jones seems a bit like saying "Pete Quaife was the real talent in the Kinks", or "there would be no Beach Boys without David Marks".

First they were Brian's idea and band. He booked the gigs, picked the members, the sets, everything.

Brian was the first of his generation in London to not only like Chicago styled blues, but he could play it. He was the first to play slide guitar of his generation, he would have Clapton floored when the Stones first came out. Making R&B a scene in London, Brian was a huge part of making happen. The early Stones of 1962-64 influenced so many other London area groups to form blues bands. Little Red Rooster, Can't Be Satisfied, Mona (Bo Diddley said Brian was the only one who ever got his sound perfect), I Wanna Be Your Man, these are Brian's stones. Mick wasn't sure if he would leave school Keith had no organization skills to make a band at that point, Stu joined Brian's band.

Then as the sixties wore on, Mick and Keith saw that he was insecure and pounced for the leadership. Brian had to redefine himself, he became unique in how he could pick up any instrument and do something with it. His experimentation on the sitar and mellotron went beyond the Beatles ornamentation, he made them rock. He co-wrote songs like Ruby Tuesday without credit, sang back up as well as Keith, gave them a unique image, and was again the true bad boy (the kindest and also the rottenest member). I fell the Stones became a great hard rock band in his wake, certainly the shows and image got bigger. However in terms of lighting, shade, innovation, well I wouldn't have the 750 Stones vinyl records I do, or like them more than casual, if Brian Jones was not there.  Keith's book is one big lie about Brian Jones, read any of Bill's to get the truth. Crossfire Hurricane was pretty fair with him compared to the older documentaries. Again Paint It Black, Ruby Tuesday, Aftermath, Between The Buttons, Satanic, We Love You, 2000 Light Years, Lady Jane, The Last Time. Brian dominated them all with his playing.

Like him or his music, no Jones, no Stones. Not even in the same galaxy as what Pete or David were, with no disrespect meant.

[Alex]

The Rolling Stones have three (or 4, I guess) classic albums. They are Beggar's Banquet, Let it Bleed, and Sticky Fingers (and Exile on Mainstreet, I guess.) Their earlier albums are great too, but the four mentioned are truly their best work. However, I would steer clear of Their Satanic Majesties Request, it's an over-indulgent album that was attempting to compete with Sgt. Pepper's. Seriously, listen to "On with the Show" and tell me it's not a rip-off.
Also, their singles from the 60's are absolutely stellar.

About your last point, they released a studio album in 2005 called A Bigger Bang. It went platinum in the U.S., Canada, and Germany. It went gold in France and the U.K.. It stayed on the charts in those countries for a collective 106 weeks and scored a 73 on metacritic. Also, they recently released a new single "Doom and Gloom" which has met with great commercial and critical success. So, it seems someone cared.

Also, I would say that Mick Jagger is a pretty good singer. Songs like "Gimme Shelter" are absolutely spine-tingling, even if he is upstaged by Merry Clayton.  

I love Satanic Majesties. I always thought Beggar's Banquet was too much of a "safe" retreat back into blues-rock after having been pretty damn adventurous on the previous couple of albums. But apparently the general public, or rather the classic rock stations that tend to inform the tastes of the general public, think otherwise.

[alf wiedersehen]

The Rolling Stones have three (or 4, I guess) classic albums. They are Beggar's Banquet, Let it Bleed, and Sticky Fingers (and Exile on Mainstreet, I guess.) Their earlier albums are great too, but the four mentioned are truly their best work. However, I would steer clear of Their Satanic Majesties Request, it's an over-indulgent album that was attempting to compete with Sgt. Pepper's. Seriously, listen to "On with the Show" and tell me it's not a rip-off.
Also, their singles from the 60's are absolutely stellar.

About your last point, they released a studio album in 2005 called A Bigger Bang. It went platinum in the U.S., Canada, and Germany. It went gold in France and the U.K.. It stayed on the charts in those countries for a collective 106 weeks and scored a 73 on metacritic. Also, they recently released a new single "Doom and Gloom" which has met with great commercial and critical success. So, it seems someone cared.

Also, I would say that Mick Jagger is a pretty good singer. Songs like "Gimme Shelter" are absolutely spine-tingling, even if he is upstaged by Merry Clayton.  

I love Satanic Majesties. I always thought Beggar's Banquet was too much of a "safe" retreat back into blues-rock after having been pretty damn adventurous on the previous couple of albums. But apparently the general public, or rather the classic rock stations that tend to inform the tastes of the general public, think otherwise.

It may have been a safe move rather than a risky one, but they weren't the only to move back to its roots. The Beatles made the same exact move with Get Back and Bob Dylan with John Wesley Harding.

Besides, the songs, I think, still stand out quality wise, whether they were pushing the boundaries or not.

[MBE]

The Rolling Stones have three (or 4, I guess) classic albums. They are Beggar's Banquet, Let it Bleed, and Sticky Fingers (and Exile on Mainstreet, I guess.) Their earlier albums are great too, but the four mentioned are truly their best work. However, I would steer clear of Their Satanic Majesties Request, it's an over-indulgent album that was attempting to compete with Sgt. Pepper's. Seriously, listen to "On with the Show" and tell me it's not a rip-off.
Also, their singles from the 60's are absolutely stellar.

About your last point, they released a studio album in 2005 called A Bigger Bang. It went platinum in the U.S., Canada, and Germany. It went gold in France and the U.K.. It stayed on the charts in those countries for a collective 106 weeks and scored a 73 on metacritic. Also, they recently released a new single "Doom and Gloom" which has met with great commercial and critical success. So, it seems someone cared.

Also, I would say that Mick Jagger is a pretty good singer. Songs like "Gimme Shelter" are absolutely spine-tingling, even if he is upstaged by Merry Clayton.  

I love Satanic Majesties. I always thought Beggar's Banquet was too much of a "safe" retreat back into blues-rock after having been pretty damn adventurous on the previous couple of albums. But apparently the general public, or rather the classic rock stations that tend to inform the tastes of the general public, think otherwise.

When Brian no longer played a major musical role they lost much of their unpredictability. Beggars gave them a public persona they played on ever since. Sure the styles of the intervening decades was felt, but the basic persona of Mick and Keith as we know them took root. Granted Keith got a lot more freaky in his speech and looks after 1978.

[donald]

Speaking of new Stones material, I like Doom and Gloom beter than anything they've done is quite a while.

And I just have to say this somewhere, and this is as good a place as any;  Eric Burdon's recent release "Til Your River Runs Dry" has a song that, to these ears, is a MUST COVER for the stones;  The title is "Old Habits Die Hard".  Try to have a listen to this CD and especially to this song.  I can just hear Mick, Keith, and Charlie all over this.