Guide to British Music of the 1960s

January 2004

CD Review

The Rolling Stones- Singles Collection The London Years

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The Rolling Stones were one of the top singles artists of the 1960s. Just listening to this compilation of, mostly, 1960s singles shows how powerful they were. The argument as to whether they were better than the Beatles is not really appropriate as the two groups were very different, even if they shared a few songs. The Rolling Stones were effectively the spearhead of the British R & B movement and brought this music to a wider audience, making the connection between R & B and British pop music.

At this time the singles market and the album market were quite separate. Singles were probably more important and albums were released, often, to cash-in on the success of a hit single. Furthermore, many albums of the 1960s did not contain any singles, quite unlike today when they are a collection of hit singles and little else. The Rolling Stones were certainly a great singles band in the 1960s as this collection proves. However, unlike the Beatles, it was some time before they started to record their own songs. In the UK, they released four covers before being brave enough to release the classic The Last Time. Up to this point they showed they could produce excellent commercial versions of blues and R & B classics like Little Red Rooster (with superb Brian Jones slide guitar), Buddy Holly's Not Fade Away (again with Jones to the fore but this time on harmonica), Bobby Womack's It's All Over Now and Chuck Berry's Come On. And the b-sides weren't bad either. Sandwiched amongst these was the second single. Written for the Stones I Wanna Be Your Man is a powerful rocker that shows that the Stones could produce a riff where it mattered. Few would contest that this is far better than the version that later appeared on With The Beatles. Other Jagger-Richard originals were starting to appear, even if they sometimes went under the pseudonym Nanker-Phelge, a bit of a Stones in-joke. Tell Me was released as a single in the US but remained a track on the first album at home.

A major breakthrough came when Jagger-Richard started to appear as the writing credit. Starting with The Last Time the trademark Stones sound with the powerful, jarring guitar riffs underlined a series of classic singles that have lost none of their strength. The CDs takes the listener through (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, Get Off My Cloud, 19th Nervous Breakdown, Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?, Let's Spend the Night Together and more. One of the highlights of disc two is the epic Paint It Black. Brian Jones' sitar playing makes this single completely different from anything else that was around and it combines superbly with Keith Richards chopping rhythm guitar.

The Rolling Stones could also do ballads. The Singer Not The Song, As Tears Go By, I'm Free and Ruby Tuesday are ample evidence of this. As Tears Go By is a Jagger-Richards song that was written for Marianne Faithful. The Rolling Stones version shows just how good a song it is with its added orchestration.

As the sixties progressed, the style of Stones' singles changed. The group experimented with psychedelia although it never really suited the Stones. However, some excellent tracks came out at this time including 2000 Light Years From Home, She's A Rainbow and the double A-side We Love You / Dandelion. The latter was released after Mick and Keith had been released from jail following the discovery of marijuana at Keith Richards' Sussex home. Note the slamming of prison doors at the beginning of We Love You and the solidarity shown by Beatles Paul and John on backing vocals.

Towards the end of the decade, The Rolling Stones returned to their R & B roots. Probably the greatest guitar riff of all time is the hallmark of the outstanding Jumping Jack Flash. A similar tone goes through Street Fighting Man. This is what rock & roll is all about. Honky Tonk Women marks the arrival of Mick Taylor (from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers) to replace Brian Jones.

The guitar riffs are back with Brown Sugar, the party favourite. Was this about heroin or an illicit affair? Another of the highlights completes the album. Sympathy for the Devil is a haunting track that builds into a crescendo. Starting with the samba rhythms the song continues to grow with more instruments, voices and banshee wails.

This is an excellent compilation of some of the Stones greatest work, covering both the long run of classic singles but also some superb album tracks. Curiously, the CDs start with the tracks running in order but towards the end the running order appears more random. While this makes it appear somewhat slipshod in its compilation, it does not detract from the quality of what is there.