Disco de The Rolling Stones: “Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2)”

This is the remastered September 12, 1969 - U.S. London release that was dedicated to Brian Jones. This US version covered their American hits from 1966-1969. Here are the songs on this album, in the order they were released as singles in the U.S.:

5-6-66 Paint It, Black

7-1-66 Mother's Little Helper

9-23-66 Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?

1-13-67 Ruby Tuesday

1-13-67 Let's Spend The Night Together (B side of Ruby Tuesday)

8-18-67 Dandelion

12-22-67 She's A Rainbow

12-22-67 2000 Light Years From Home (B side of She's A Rainbow)

5-31-68 Jumpin' Jack Flash

8-30-68 Street Fighting Man

7-3-69 Honky Tonk Woman

For some reason the album did not include the US single release of In Another Land or We Love You (the B side of Dandelion).

All the songs on this album are different from those that appear on the 1st compilation album Big Hits (High Tide & Green Grass).

This album is different from the album released by U.K. Decca the same day. There were 2 tracks that were not included on each release. Here are the differences:

At the time of the release, it was the only album that included the following tracks:

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.

Through The Past, Darkly is the second greatest hits collection from the Stones and as the title suggests, many of the songs take on a harder, darker edge. "Paint It Black", "Jumping Jack Flash", "Mother's Little Helper", "Street Fighting Man" and "Have You Seen Your Mother Baby, Standing In The Shadows?" all have that deep, dark, ominous sound that makes the band seem so dangerous. The album contains songs from their brief foray into psychedelic music in the shape of "Dandelion", "She's A Rainbow" and one their most underrated songs "2000 Light Years From Home". They are at their best, though, when the explore the dark, underbelly of life and you get ample amounts of that vibe on this disc.

The results of the remastering on this, the Stones' second Big Hits compilation, are more rewarding than those of the first one (subtitled High Tide And Green Grass) that also came out just recently. "Honky Tonk Women" sounds great, especially when compared with the version that's on the ABKCO CD of the mid-1980s. The first few seconds of THAT version sounded as though a tone arm had alighted on a worn 45. Other noticeable improvements on this newly remastered anthology are "Paint It Black," "Street Fighting Man" and "Jumpin' Jack Flash."

Still, I can't give this remastered classic a 5-star rating because it, like High Tide And Green Grass, just doesn't live up to months of media hype surrounding the so-called "revelatory" sound quality the entire reissued Stones catalogue supposedly would have. Sorry. The remastered Stones CDs I have listened to thus far are a little cleaner, and a few of the songs do indeed enjoy a substantial sonic boost (the ones I mentioned here and "Satisfaction" on High Tide) over their previous incarnations. But if you're expecting the kind of "(2000) light years better" sound that other bands enjoyed when their catalogues in whole or in part were remastered (Beach Boys, Byrds, Doors, Santana, CCR), you're going to be disappointed.

So embrace the band and embrace their songs. I do. So MUCH of the band's creative output from the 1960s was and is essential to my well-being. But these ABKCO remasterings are -- on average -- only so-so improvements over the mid-1980s ABKCO releases, which I'm keeping for now.

What a collection when it first came out...new age octagon shaped cover, heightened sensuality, this release truly captured the Stones at their height despite the uncertainty after Brian Jones passing, the singles of Honky Tonk Women,Jumping Jack Flash found the light of the day on this collection combined with the remaining classics on this CD makes this one to play on your IPOD back to back with High Tide And Green Grass...what great sound.

This 1967 album was the Stones' second hits collection and reflects the styles and times of the middle sixties. It is heavy with their brand of psychedelia in shimmering masterpieces like Dandelion, She's A Rainbow and Paint It Black. Also the poetic Ruby Tuesday of which the most memorable cover version is probably that of Melanie Safka. Talking of covers, David Bowie's interpretation of Let's Spend The Night is a noble effort but doesn't come close to the original. The most raucous moments of the album occur in the classic rock numbers Jumpin' Jack Flash and Honky Tonk Women, while 2000 Light Years From Home has a spacey, atmospheric feel. Street Fighting Man with its menacing air reflects the times as it was inspired by the student riots of the 60's, while Have You Seen Your Mother Baby is a soulful powerballad with a devastating hook. Mother's Little Helper is a topical song about the abuse of prescription drugs and contains the classic lines: "Doctor please, some more of these/Outside the door, she takes four more ..." Most of these tracks were subsequently included on the two Hot Rocks collections but this album remains a worthwhile purchase since every song here is a masterpiece and the sequence is just perfect. The music of the Stones gets better and better as the decades pass.