[la gran siete]

First listened it when I was 17 back in 1970 . I then forgot about it until i heard it recently . WOW ! Gotta be one of the best live albums ever made . tight or what ? Richards and Taylor complement each other perfectly on guitars and Jagger's voice is at its best.But for me the main man is Taylor . Richards gets down and dirty but Taylor provides the sublime guitar work

[overkill]

Funny you should say that, as I felt that once Taylor left it was over for the Stones. Ronnie Wood is great, but like Richards he's really a rhythm guitarist, not a lead. Two rhythms = a rather predictable sound. The Stones were anything but predictable up until Taylor departed. Arguably they did their best studio work with him as well. 'Let it Bleed' is a masterpiece.

[la gran siete]

Originally Posted by overkill

Funny you should say that, as I felt that once Taylor left it was over for the Stones. Ronnie Wood is great, but like Richards he's really a rhythm guitarist, not a lead. Two rhythms = a rather predictable sound. The Stones were anything but predictable up until Taylor departed. Arguably they did their best studio work with him as well. 'Let it Bleed' is a masterpiece.

agreed. I bought the remastered version plus downloaded Goats Head Soup into iTunes
a lot of people feel Exile on Main Street was their best effort. I like all the ones from that period I just feel ,though, that they were so tight and together in that live album.It all kind of blends so well. Charlie Bill et all.

Please please can i ask you something my parents love playing The rolling stones First Album's one starts with Route 66 and i have learnt to play Carol (my first chuck berry tune) from it. It sounds so dam tight its wonderful. Can anyone tell us because all hear at Burrell towers think this is a wonderful album. Why dose it sound so good. Is it because they were hungry. Is it Brian Jones superb playing re frame that no every ones superb playing.. what is it that makes that album so great for us. The consensus hear is the rolling stones peeked at Tumbling dice. or reached the top of the hill before um.......... mind you that's not fair.. Because there music has spanned so many generations.

[Kenny Glasgow]

Lisa

Probably because the album was recorded in a few days rather than a few years.......

[overkill]

Originally Posted by la gran siete

agreed. I bought the remastered version plus downloaded Goats Head Soup into iTunes
a lot of people feel Exile on Main Street was their best effort. I like all the ones from that period I just feel ,though, that they were so tight and together in that live album.It all kind of blends so well. Charlie Bill et all.

Not big on CD (or many hi-res) re-masters. Some of them, well, the majority I've bought have been poor compared to the originals. Bitterly disappointed with the Dylan SACD's, hated the Tull re-masters, bought Nick Drakes 'Five leaves left' 'superbitmapped'. They shouldn't have bothered................ Yes, you hear 'that' detail that's 'missing' from the original but the overall sound is so bad it's a waste of time and money. MFSL vinyl, or not all is what I'm finding.

A well recorded original CD is also often better than the 're-master'. The exceptions I've found have normally been well re-worked DVD-A's. For example 'Automatic for the People'.

Exile is seen as their 'classic' album, and I wouldn't argue it is a fine LP, but, I prefer Let it Bleed as that album is more 'gritty'. I agree, that period, including, Goats head, and 'It's only rock and roll' is supreme for the Stones.

[Kenny Glasgow]

My fav Stones period runs from Between The Buttons to Black & Blue, the best for me being Let It Bleed.

The ABKCO re-masters are fantastic (both SACD and CD layers). If you compare Brown Sugar on Hot Rocks to the same track on Sticky Fingers (Virgin) the ABKCO version is far superior.


Overkill

I'm surprised that you didn't like the Dylan SACDs For me they are a vast improvement over the original CDs and a big improvement on the original LPs.

Being a collector of Dylan (and a few others) I am lucky enough to have various pressings of original and import LPs, mono and stereo.

Two examples of ranking would be Blonde On Blonde and Street Legal

BoB
1/. SACD layer of hybrid
2/. CD layer of hybrid
3/. Original UK mono LP
4/. Japanese 70's re-issue stereo
5/. UK original stero LP
6/. "Original" CBS CD

Street Legal
1/. SACD layer of hybrid
2/. CD layer of hybrid
3/. 1999 CD re-issue
4/. Original Japanese LP
5/. Original UK LP
6/. CBS CD

Some of the MFSL LPs and CDs can be bettered, for instance the MFSL LP of Magical Mystery Tour is not a patch on either the Japanese Apple 1970s issue (EAS series) or the German 1968 Apple original LP (known as the Hor Zu version with the colour Strawberry Fields sleeve)

There are plenty more examples each one with different merits for each release, no carte blanche for anything I'm affraid

[overkill]

Sorry Kenny, I have bought (and sold off again) about five now. I find them thin, over bright, and what the original vinyl lacked (although I'm not sure what you mean here, as I played the SACD and vinyl versions of Blood on the tracks back to back and there was one winner - the LP hands down) in detail they make up for in 'musicality'. Blonde on Blonde on SACD is a disaster! I'm not the only one to have said that either, as I've seen consumer reviews which reflected that. One guy described it as the worst version he'd heard!

The problem is, for very bit of extra information on the re-master, the modern mastering techniques ruins by producing an un-listenable to overall sound. See the excellent article on this posted on another thread.

Oh I quite agree that some MFLS versions can be bettered. I have some Half speed masters by CBS and others that are better than the MFSL version. I agree there is no carte blanche. I have just been disappointed (as, on other dedicated music forums, have a lot of other people) thus far with many digital re-masters.

However, and before this turns into an un-necessary row , it is all down to personal taste, and equipment, anyway.

I have heard the argument that Japanese pressings can be better than MFSL versions and yet, other people have rubbished that view. Some of the ding dongs about this on other music forums are great entertainment!

Frankly I really don't care enough to argue the toss either way. If I find a version I like I keep it, if not it goes. Hence I have recently flogged off a load of hi-res and CD re-masters. Along with some poor quality vinyl and ordinary CD's............

[Kenny Glasgow]

Overkill

No ding-dong from me I can assure you

You're right in saying that once you have found a version of something that you like then stick with it.

The 1987 digital issues on CD and LP of Help! are poor in comparison with the original stereo and mono albums, whilst Revolver on CD blows everything else away

Donald Fagan's Nightfly is better on vinyl than CD although the DVD-A is good too.

All the Pink Floyd original LPs are better than the current CDs, DSOTM being an exception and the various versions of that on silver disc can open a real can of worms... (I like the Gart DVD-A myself)

[overkill]

Originally Posted by Kenny Glasgow

Donald Fagan's Nightfly is better on vinyl than CD although the DVD-A is good too.

That was one of my biggest surprises. I liked the CD, it's well recorded, but the vinyl version was top quality. Same as Talking Heads Little Creatures. The CD was ok, but then I bought the vinyl and it seemed as if someone had injected adrenaline into the recording.