Sticky Fingers

This is an exceptional LP; I wholeheartedly concur with the general consensus. Tracks like "Moonlight Mile," "Sister Morphine," "Dead Flowers," "I Got the Blues," "Can't You Hear Me Knockin'," and "Sway" truly stand out. The entire album is a masterpiece that only seems to grow in appreciation over the years. I want to delve into one of the most famous tracks, "Brown Sugar." Can there ever be a more politically incorrect hit song? This remarkable rock anthem showcases a complex blend of themes such as racism, sadism, sexism, violence, and cruelty. The lyrics are delivered with clarity, yet they are mixed in a way that ensures they don’t fully reveal their darker meanings all at once. Moreover, the craftsmanship of the words is so fluid and literate that many listeners may not immediately grasp the severity of what they’re hearing. The song offers an exhilarating narrative from the perspective of an individual involved in the slave trade—a "slaver" who transported slaves to market. In contrast, Randy Newman's "Sail Away," which explores a similar theme, comes across as considerably safer and more explicit. This observation underscores my broader point about the Rolling Stones. As we remember their legacy today, the spotlight tends to focus on the sheer brilliance of their music, the iconic status of Mick Jagger as a singer and performer, and the outstanding musicianship of Keith Richards and Charlie Watts. Their enduring presence in the music industry, along with their provocative image associated with sexuality, satanism, and the "bad boy" archetype, often overshadows another pivotal aspect: they were also among the most astute satirists in the realm of rock music. Their earlier work, particularly from the Andrew Loog Oldham era, is rife with biting sarcasm and social commentary. The Stones tackled the same societal issues as Bob Dylan but delivered their messages with far more humor and irony. Similar to Randy Newman, Ray Davies, and Warren Zevon, they frequently adopted the personas of obnoxious, loathsome, or even dangerous characters to convey their themes. They ingeniously gave these morally ambiguous figures enough rope to metaphorically hang themselves, illustrating the complexities of human nature and power dynamics. "Brown Sugar" epitomizes this approach, pushing the boundaries of satire to their absolute limits. The song unapologetically forces the listener to confront and, in a sense, identify with the dark, hedonistic pleasures experienced by someone wielding absolute power—the "whip-hand." It is a brilliant piece of art that is both frightening and rife with devilish irony. This intricate layer of the Rolling Stones’ artistry is often overlooked or insufficiently acknowledged by both critics and fans alike, yet it is a vital aspect of what makes their work so compelling and thought-provoking.

For many Stones fans this album is the bands greatest recorded moment, for me that award goes to Exile On Main Street, but this album runs it very close and is one of the great rock albums. Recorded in America and the UK in 1970/71 it comes right in the middle of the Stones purple patch, they'd just come off a successful American tour, albeit with the disaster that was Altamont still ringing in their ears, and were at the top of their game. Crammed full of Stones classics such as Bitch, Can't You Here Me Knocking, Moonlight Mile and, of course, concert favourite Brown Sugar. The Deluxe 2 CD edition has one disc of the original album and one disc of alternate takes and 5 live tracks recorded at London's Roundhouse on the tour to promote the album. The album has been remastered, by the same guys who remastered it back in 2010. There is an improvement in the sound, a bit more kick here, better definition on the instruments there, but to be fair not hugely different to the previous edition. The real reason for investing in this edition comes on disc two. Those of us who have purchased the Deluxe Editions of the Zeppelin remasters will know that not all alternate takes offer up something interesting. Hearing some of those songs with missing lyrics has hardly set the heart pumping, and other tracks seemed to show no difference with the released version leaving a feeling that we'd been sold the emperor's new clothes. But here we have alternate takes of Brown Sugar, Wild Horses, Can't You Hear Me Knocking, Bitch and Dead Flowers that are instantly recognisable as being different to the released versions. The one that has garnered the most interest has been the version of Brown Sugar with Eric Clapton on guitar. Available on various bootlegs and on Youtube for years, here the sound is nicely cleaned up and although not better than the version on the album still an exciting version of a classic track. Wild Horses is an even more acoustic version of a song that was already soaked with acoustic guitars. Can't You Hear Me Knocking is a very raw early version without the extended sax and guitar break at the end and no keyboards. Bitch is a much longer version than that on the album with the whole band cutting loose for final two minutes and the alternate version of Dead Flowers is clearly another raw work in progress. Next up we have the 5 live tracks. I've used the word raw a few times already in this review but it is the best word to describe these five tracks. Remember these were recorded back in 1971, no auto tune here, when a guitar went out of tune it stayed out of tune to the end of the song. But what may have been lost in tunefulness is more than made up for in the performance level. It's widely acknowledged that the bands two best live albums are the official Get Yer Ya Ya's Out from 1969 and the not quite as official The Brussels Affair from 1973. This performance sits right in the middle of those two recordings when The Stones were right at the height of their live powers, perhaps only The Who could touch them at this time, and that live prowess just shines through on these recordings. One other reviewer has said these are the same recordings as Ya Ya's, they are not, they may have been previously available on bootlegs but this is their official release debut. A full gig from Leeds University is available of the Super Deluxe edition but I wasn't prepared to fork out an extra £60 for some vinyl I can't listen to and this gig. If you feel the same but want to hear the Leeds gig it's on Spotify Overall this is a very good reissue, the slightly improved sound, the excellent alternate takes and of course some live tracks to show what the band was really capable of. My only gripe would be the lack of any liner notes. It would have been interesting to have some scribe tell us how the album was recorded and especially how, and where EC, came to be involved in a recording of Brown Sugar.

Great album

This review is specifically for the mp3 download of the Sticky Fingers 2015 Super Deluxe version. Approximately two hours and forty minutes of music. 01 Brown Sugar (Remastered 2015) 02 Sway (Remastered 2015) 03 Wild Horses (Remastered 2015) 04 Can’t You Hear Me Knocking (Remastered 2015) 05 You Gotta Move (Remastered 2015) 06 Bitch (Remastered 2015) 07 I Got the Blues (Remastered 2015) 08 Sister Morphine (Remastered 2015) 09 Dead Flowers (Remastered 2015) 10 Moonlight Mile (Remastered 2015) 01 Brown Sugar (feat. Eric Clapton) 02 Wild Horses (Acoustic Version) 03 Can’t You Hear Me Knocking (Alternative Version) 04 Bitch (Extended Version) 05 Dead Flowers (Alternative Version) 06 Live With Me (Live At The Roundhouse 1971) 07 Stray Cat Blues (Live At The Roundhouse 1971) 08 Love In Vain (Live At The Roundhouse 1971) 09 Midnight Rambler (Live At The Roundhouse 1971) 10 Honky Tonk Women (Live At The Roundhouse 1971) 01 Jumpin’ Jack Flash (Live at Leeds University 1971) 02 Live With Me (Live at Leeds University 1971) 03 Dead Flowers (Live at Leeds University 1971) 04 Stray Cat Blues (Live at Leeds University 1971) 05 Love In Vain (Live at Leeds University 1971) 06 Midnight Rambler (Live at Leeds University 1971) 07 Bitch (Live at Leeds University 1971) 08 Honky Tonk Women (Live at Leeds University 1971) 09 (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (Live at Leeds University 1971) 10 Little Queenie (Live at Leeds University 1971) 11 Brown Sugar (Live at Leeds University 1971) 12 Street fighting Man (Live at Leeds University 1971) 13 Let It Rock (Live at Leeds University 1971) The CD of Sticky Fingers that I had before this 2015 reissue, was the 1994 Virgin Records Sticky Fingers (CDV2730), and the improved sound of the 2015 version is instantly noticeable. How much of an improvement or not it will be over other issues of the album I don’t know, but if you unsure whether to purchase it again I would definitely recommend doing so. Apart from the remastered Sticky Fingers there are another twenty-three tracks that come with the Super Deluxe version and all of them are superb. The only advantage of the download over the physical discs is that it is cheaper. Obvious disadvantages is the fact that there isn’t any information that may come with the actual discs and there is only audio versions of the DVD tracks to name but two. But at £18.99 compared with £72.99 at the time of purchase it was the download I went for – it was a significant saving. If fans get the more expensive version all the better but whatever format might be purchased it should be a welcome addition to anybody’s music collection. Highly recommended.

Firstly, I would like to say that the four stars are for the bonus disc as I am not really reviewing the original album here - just the bonus disc. Everyone interested in The Stones will already have the original album, and know how fantastic it is. As an avid Stones collector (and without being too downbeat about this release), I must say I was fairly disappointed. This may be because we were so spoiled with Some Girls and Exile though. We had quite a few 'cleaned-up' demos and 'new' (previously only available as poor-quality bootlegs) songs on the Exile bonus disc, and with Some Girls we got 12 cleaned up 'new' tracks too (apart from So Young, which had already been given an official release). In fact on Some Girls, there weren't even any alternate versions or demos at all. It was pretty much a whole new album. However with Sticky Fingers, we get five (albeit, very good) alternate/demo tracks and five live tracks. Now don't get me wrong, as I said, I am an avid collector and a HUGE Stones fan, but do we really need five more live tracks? Admittedly, this is undoubtedly their best live-era, but could they not have included these in a separate release of the full 'Roundhouse' show? We know it exists, as a lot of us have it as a bootleg... Also, the live versions here are of songs from Let It Bleed, so why not hold these back for a deluxe edition of that? I am aware that Let It Bleed is not as easy for them to do as a deluxe-edition due to licensing issues, but come on! I, off the top of my head can think of two tracks from the Sticky Fingers sessions which could have been cleaned up and added to this - 'Potted Shrimp' and the infamous 'C**ksucker Blues'. That's without trawling through my Sticky Fingers-era bootlegs - I am sure there are loads of others! So come on guys - for the next one, let's have a few demos and a few unreleased songs. We don't need any more live tracks on things like this - save them for the 'From The Vault' releases! :)

Exile on Main St (which is a great record) often gets the plaudits but Sticky Fingers pushes it to a very close photo finish. Simply put, it is a great album with the Stones, perhaps feeling more confident and "sparky" with Mick Taylor now in the band, take on the blues, ballads, country rock alongside their more "traditional" Chuck Berry like output. Several of the tracks were recorded in Alabama and it shows - the remastered version of Wild Horses is worth the price of the cd alone. Furthermore, as we now know from his excellent autobiography, by now Keith had mastered his own form of open tuning and his playing throughout the album is simply magnificent. Perhaps they had been listening to early Santana because by track 4; Can't you here me knocking, they were in the mood for an extended "jam" session, a term later abused by "progressive rock" but in this context it demonstrates all of their talents to excellent effect. From the beginning "killer riff" from Uncle Keith through to Bobby Keyes saxophone and then finally in comes Mick Taylor with some fabulous lead guitar. This track is a true delight. Jagger sings well, Charlie Watts is his usual sublime mode of percussive economy and in so doing demonstrates what rock drumming is all about. However in the end great albums all need great songs; Brown Sugar, Wild Horses, Sister morphine, I got the blues (with a fabulous organ solo from the late lamented Billy Preston), Moonlight Mile and arguably Sway are all up there with the best of the Stones canon. A fabulous record and the remastered version has finally done justice to the CD format. Highly recommended. I hope you enjoy Roger Bell

My favourite Stones album switches between Sticky Fingers and Beggers’ Banquet as often as I change my socks. So any record including the Brown Sugar riff, Wild Horses, Sister Morphine and Dead Flowers is going to get five stars from me. What is special about this 2CD edition, is that the bonus disc manages to hit that high standard. First up the prospect of Brown Sugar featuring Eric Clapton, this sounds too good to be true and probably is, the extra guitar simply gets in the way. Needed to be included for compare and contrast reasons, but it fails to be another While My Guitar or Badge. Exit Clappers and enter languid, beautiful, acoustic, steely powerful, Wild Horses. Jagger is on fine form and whatever Richards is doing Taylor matches it. To dissect further would shatter the magic. Can You Hear Me Knocking is more an instrumental work out than a proper take, but everyone is giving it everything for an extended Bitch, crystal clear production putting the listener in the centre of things. The final studio outtake is Dead Flowers, in ramshackle hillbilly country finery. Its appealing, shame that Jagger’s vocals in the verses take the laid back vibe a bit too far. The rest of the disc is taken up by performances from The Roundhouse, the final show of a short 1971 UK tour. Here the Stones are at their finest. Agile, cock-sure, poised . “The Greatest Rock N Roll Band” tag is more than hyperbole. To my ears this knocks spots off YaYas with even a skittish Midnight Rambler coming close to its elder brother. Top of the shop a mercurial Love In Vain, brooding and beautiful, only a sloppy end of tour Honky Tonk breaks the spell. Presentation wise, everything comes in sturdy packaging with period photos but little text. Still when the music is this good lapses can be forgiven.

A handsome package, a great album, the remastering is excellent, with 2 extra CDS and one DVD. 7inch vinyl, pictures. a stand up figure of a band member, mine was Mick T. plus A handsome book complete with zip. Brown Sugar with Eric Clapton is really good and so is Wild Horses without the electric guitars and may be preferable. A few alternate takes but these are just showing part of the process as opposed actual alternates, and a few live tracks from the Roundhouse. Its obvious the Stones come alive onstage The many times bootlegged Get Yer Leeds Lungs out CD is truly great, J J.flash is a bit tired but the rest of tracks apart from the annoying tuning up on Stray Cat,are really great. Who else could make feedback work for them? Let it Rock is prime example as it adds to the sound of the train rattling through and contributes to the rock n roll. The only disappointment is the DVD Live at the Marquee only 2 tracks, Rambler and Bitch, When there are a quite number of others, if You Tube is anything to go by, such as I got the blues and rehearsal tracks too. The line up of alcohol though perched on the amps is quite comical. The reason that I still give this 5 stars is because its a great album and a great period of the Stones.