Album: The Rolling Stones

Singles 1968-1971, UNIVERSAL

Following the same format as the previous two Stones singles boxes - basically, their A and B sides in chronological order on individual CDs - this set covers the period from "Jumpin' Jack Flash" to "Brown Sugar". The Beggars Banquet-era material finds the Stones clawing their way free of their recent ill-fitting flower-power whimsy with a timely dose of shamanic voodoo rhythms. "Honky Tonk Women" recaptured their powers via re-immersion in their Southern R&B roots, a move which reached fruition in the rock, blues, gospel and country threads woven into Sticky Fingers, represented here by the colossal "Brown Sugar"/"Bitch" and the US-only pairing of "Wild Horses" - the song they generously donated to Gram Parsons - with "Sway". It's a remarkable rebirth for a band widely considered washed-up after Their Satanic Majesties Request, though frankly I could have done without the Neptunes, Fatboy and Full Phat remixes of "Sympathy for the Devil" that bulk out the box. More welcome are

Following the same format as the previous two Stones singles boxes - basically, their A and B sides in chronological order on individual CDs - this set covers the period from "Jumpin' Jack Flash" to "Brown Sugar". The Beggars Banquet-era material finds the Stones clawing their way free of their recent ill-fitting flower-power whimsy with a timely dose of shamanic voodoo rhythms. "Honky Tonk Women" recaptured their powers via re-immersion in their Southern R&B roots, a move which reached fruition in the rock, blues, gospel and country threads woven into Sticky Fingers, represented here by the colossal "Brown Sugar"/"Bitch" and the US-only pairing of "Wild Horses" - the song they generously donated to Gram Parsons - with "Sway". It's a remarkable rebirth for a band widely considered washed-up after Their Satanic Majesties Request, though frankly I could have done without the Neptunes, Fatboy and Full Phat remixes of "Sympathy for the Devil" that bulk out the box. More welcome are the US-only singles "Out of Time" and Stevie Wonder's "I Don't Know Why", which afford one the chance to hear B-side rarities like "Try a Little Harder" and "Jiving Sister Fanny"; ditto Jagger's Performance single "Memo from Turner", with its B-side, "Natural Magic", an instrumental by Ry Cooder, a guitarist once strongly favoured to fill Brian Jone's shoes.