Rolling Stones Re- Issue Albums

• 5th Apr 2009

Universal Music Group are pleased to announce the reissue of the Rolling Stones re-mastered, post-1971 studio albums into the market throughout 2009 starting in May. The Rolling Stones remain one of the most successful, prolific, thrilling and influential bands of all time, as evidenced on their recent A Bigger Bang tour, which broke all box office records, and in Shine A Light, the stunning concert film directed by Martin Scorsese. The release of the soundtrack from the critically-acclaimed movie marked the beginning of the band’s new relationship with Universal Music Group last year.

Starting with the legendary Sticky Fingers, Goats Head Soup, It’s Only Rock’n’Roll and Black And Blue in May 2009, right up to 2005’s triumphant A Bigger Bang to be reissued in July, along with Dirty Work, Steel Wheels, Voodoo Lounge and Bridges To Babylon, with such acknowledged classics as Some Girls, Emotional Rescue, Tattoo You and Undercover, due out again in June, fans will get a chance to rediscover many of their past favourites and unearth some forgotten gems along the way too …all re-mastered and sounding better than ever.

Max Hole, Executive VP, Universal Music Group International said, ‘The Rolling Stones redefined music. By making these iconic albums available again – and retaining the essence of the original track listings and sleeve design – we believe that music fans will rediscover just why they are the world’s greatest rock & roll band.’

The seventies was the decade when the Rolling Stones became known as the world’s greatest rock’n’roll band, a tag they thoroughly deserved and have yet to lose. They performed groundbreaking concerts in arenas and moved effortlessly into open-air stadiums. They stuck their collective tongue out at the British establishment and became citizens of the world. They made front page news wherever they went, from the French Riviera to Switzerland via the US and Canada. They set up their own label and made the most of their new-found artistic freedom. They were au fait with reggae years before many other rock bands, recording in Jamaica in 1972, and covering Eric Donaldson’s Cherry Oh Baby in 1975. And, most importantly, they issued a series of definitive studio albums, on a par with the best work they had produced at the end of the sixties.

Recorded at Muscle Shoals in Alabama, with the Rolling Stones mobile and at Olympic Studios in London, Sticky Fingers is an acknowledged masterpiece and rightly features on the list of Rolling Stone Magazine’s Greatest Albums Of All Time. It came housed in a controversial ‘zipper’ sleeve conceived by Andy Warhol – and topped the album charts on both sides of the Atlantic. The US number one single Brown Sugar has become the ultimate rock anthem but the riffy Bitch is just as intoxicating while the ballads Sister Morphine and Moonlight Mile are timeless classics . Sticky Fingers also provided rock fans with Can’t You Hear Me Knocking and Sway. The much-covered Wild Horses and Dead Flowers inaugurated a rich run of country-tinged material for the band. Keith Richards & Mick Jagger’s songwriting partnership had reached another level as this album was unveiled in 1971.

Originally issued in 1973, Goats Head Soup was another transatlantic chart-topper. Recording started at Byron Lee’s Dynamic Sound Studios in Kingston, Jamaica, in late 1972 and was completed in London and Los Angeles the following year. Packaged in another iconic sleeve shot by photographer David Bailey, it’s fondly remembered for the ballad Angie, a US number one, and the swear words on the raunchy closer Star Star. The ominous opener Dancing With Mr. D, the funky Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker) and the gorgeous Winter have been a tad overshadowed by the rest of the group’s mighty canon and are well worth rediscovering.

Produced by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards under their Glimmer Twins guise, It’s Only Rock’n’Roll was another number one album in the US in 1974, and contains two hit singles, the title track and a great reworking of an old Motown favourite, The Temptations’ Ain’t Too Proud To Beg. Guy Peellaert’s fin de siècle sleeve beautifully captures the mood of the times. Mick Taylor ended his tenure with some wonderful guitar work on Time Waits For No One while his eventual replacement Ronnie Wood hosted the sessions for It’s Only Rock’n’Roll (But I Like It), a concert favourite to this day.

The Rolling Stones went through the process of auditioning several guitarists, including Wayne Perkins and Harvey Mandel, who both guest on Black And Blue, the album which debuted at number one in the US in 1976. But Wood was always the favourite and duly joined Charlie Watts on the back of the gatefold sleeve. Recorded in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the US, Black And Blue features the wonderful ballads Fool To Cry and Memory Motel and some top notch riffing on Hand Of Fate and Crazy Mama. The irresistibly funky Hot Stuff became a club hit, a sign of things to come for a formidable band equally at ease with blues, rock, country, reggae or dance.

The next two set of re-issues – Some Girls, Emotional Rescue, Tattoo You and Undercover in June, and Dirty Work, Steel Wheels, Voodoo Lounge, Bridges To Babylon and A Bigger Bang in July – will bring the story of the Rolling Stones right up to date.

They include further classic tracks like Miss You, Beast Of Burden, She’s So Cold, Start Me Up, Waiting On a Friend, Undercover Of The Night, the band’s cover of Bob & Earl’s Harlem Shuffle, Mixed Emotions, Rock And A Hard Place, Love Is Strong, You Got Me Rocking, Anybody Seen My Baby?, Saint Of Me, Rough Justice and Streets Of Love.

These albums will be re-mastered and all retain the original track listings and sleeve design.

Fans will have the option of purchasing a collector’s box in which to house all 14 studio albums. The catalogue will also be available digitally. The classic album Exile on Main Street will also be released later in 2009 by UMG as wider plans are being prepared to celebrate its release.

1st batch – 4 May

Sticky Fingers [2009 re-mastered]
Goats Head Soup [2009 re-mastered]
It's Only Rock 'N' Roll [2009 re-mastered]
Black And Blue [2009 re-mastered ]

2nd batch – 8 June
1. Some Girls
2. Emotional Rescue
3. Tattoo You
4. Undercover

3rd batch – 13 July
1. Dirty Work
2. Steel Wheels
3. Voodoo Lounge
4. Bridges To Babylon
5. A Bigger Bang

Exile On Main Street will be released later this year, as part of wider plans for this title.