The Rolling Stones Album: “England's Newest Hit Makers [Remaster]”

The Rolling Stones way back when started off as a R&B, Blues band that interpreted the songs of their idols. On this album, we get to see the influences first hand, and I can only wish that they still made songs like this. There are some good songs here that only casual Stones fans wont know, but they are missing some great music. I think that the listener should give these following songs a real listen to: NOT FADE AWAY, ROUTE 66, I JUST WANT TO MAKE LOVE TO YOU, HONEST I DO, CAN I GET A WITNESS, LITTLE BY LITTLE, I'M A KING BEE. These songs are great and fun to listen to. With the bonus of being remastered, I think compared to the earlier CD, you can hear a difference. I highly recommend this CD for every STONES fan, and this isnt a bad place for some casual fans to start.

This was the Rolling Stones first album, and it was an excellent debut. Having not yet developed as songwriters, nine of the twelve songs here are covers of American rock, R&B, and blues songs. The album gets off to a great start, with a cover of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away", which was the Stones first UK Top 10 hit. Then the band goes through several other great covers, which they probably had played many times at their live appearances. As for the original material... "Now I've Got a Witness" is an enjoyable instrumental jam, with the title obviously being a play on "Can I Get a Witness", the Marvin Gaye song that they cover here. "Little By Little" is a fun bluesy number, which Phil Spector shared credit for writing with "Nanker Phelge". The real gem of the original songs is "Tell Me", which is a tender ballad that probably caught a lot of people by surprise at the time. "Tell Me" went on to become the Stones first US Top 30 hit (it was not released as a single in the UK). A great debut by one of the greatest bands of all times, and highly recommended. Oh, I should mention that despite this CD being labeled as "stereo", it is actually in mono.

This is the first Stones album out and the first one I got when it came out. It was awesome, and the best things about the Stones was how incredibly TIGHT they were, and there were always so many great things going on at once in each song that, in the words of me and my best friend at the time, "you don't know what to listen to first." They were the greatest blues band at the beginning, with Brian Jones, and this is a great intro to their blues-rock sound, way different than they later became. I also would love to see the current Stones play "small" clubs and theaters and just play the early Stones songs! Just the music without a lot of theatrics.

Let me start this pragmatic way. Back in the British Invasion ( musically ) this was the first album by the Rolling Stones released in the U.S. At the time of release their top 40 songs

were " Not Fade Away " & " Tell Me ". The other 10 were various reneditions made famous by other R & B artists. The unique talent of the Stones during this period was that they could take someone elses song and make it sound better ( A talent Van Halen had in the Diamond Dave era ). Everything from Rte#66 to Walkin' the Dog had the distinct touch only the "Brian" era Stones could give to an R & B piece. I recommend this as a BUY.

I'm usually pretty skeptical about these higher priced "remastered" versions of the albums that were the soundtrack of my youth. But this ABKCO series is the best thing they've ever done. On first listening I thought--"Wow, they really did Charlie justice!!!" Then I realized that everyone sounds better than ever. There are nuances in Jagger's vox that aren't apparent on the original vinyl or the pretty horrible original ABKCO CD releases from the '80s. By all means, go for these if you've got the scratch.