The old question of “Beatles or the Rolling Stones” never held much water for me, and I typically reply with a flippant (but wholly accurate) quip of “Black Sabbath.”
However, it is also true that my love for the Rolling Stones has been a slow but steady burner over the years, and it all started with this little compilation record.
Disc 1797 is…Hot Rocks 1964-1971
Artist: The Rolling Stones
Year of Release: 1971
What’s up with the Cover? Long-time readers of my blog will know of my fascination for the Giant Head Cover, where an artist chooses as their cover…their Giant Head.
Here the Rolling Stones have come up with a clever way to make the album cover not one but five Giant Heads each more Giant than the last.
How I Came To Know It: When I was a teenager there was a thing called Columbia House where you ordered 11 cassette tapes for 11 cents. After that, you had to spend a year picking an album a month off a little folded pamphlet they’d mail you, and if you didn’t pick fast enough, they sent you something random (and subsequently billed you).
For a music-lovin’ kid living 20 miles north of what was already an isolated town with limited record stores, this was a pretty great deal, so I did it for a while. When I ran out of albums I wanted (this happens fairly quickly in the Columbia House experience) I cancelled my subscription.
In any event, “Hot Rocks” was one of my early choices, and my first meaningful exposure to the Rolling Stones outside of the radio. I liked it plenty, but when I converted from tapes to CDs I never replaced this one, instead – armed with increased purchasing power – I collected my favourite studio albums instead. To see what those are, check out my final studio album review, which includes the list.
Eventually, I realized that while that covered the majority of my love for the Rolling Stones, there were a bunch of earlier singles on Hot Rocks that I was missing, some of which weren’t even on a studio album. I succumbed and bought this album, mostly for Disc 1 (Record One for you vinyl types).
How It Stacks Up: Compilation albums do not get stacked on A Creative Maelstrom, because they are not real records. They are convenient ways to get a bunch of songs if you are too lazy or disinterested in the band’s catalogue. This is an entirely legitimate decision to make, as some bands may only rate a “best of” level in your preference, but that don’t make compilations a proper record, so no stacking!
Ratings: Compilations don’t get rated either. They do get
talked about of course – why the hell would you be here, otherwise - and they are
part of the CD Odyssey where there is no skipping allowed!
The Stones love their compilation albums. They have almost as many compilation albums (28) as they do studio albums (31), and “Hot Rocks” is arguably the most successful of them all. Whether someone owns 30 albums or 3,000 there is a good chance “Hot Rocks” is going to be on the shelf, nestled somewhere between “Jagged Little Pill” and the soundtrack to “Saturday Night Fever”.
Despite my earlier rants about compilations, there is no shame in this. This record is chock full of awesome. My CD copy is DSD remastered and while I’m not a super informed tech wizard when it comes to audiophilia, I think it sounds pretty nifty.
Because Disc Two is mostly loaded with songs I’ve commented on previously, I’m going to stick with Disc One. I listed to both, in keeping with Rule #3 (aka “A Full Listen, Monkey!) so my honour is nevertheless preserved.
Disc One is the earlier side of the Rolling Stones. I find the Stones’ penchant for blues covers competent but uninteresting for the most part, but fortunately the anthologists responsible for “Hot Rocks” picked what I would call “all the other good stuff”.
The fast-moving rock and roll jangle songs are OK, but I am more often drawn to the quieter tracks, which showcase the brilliance of Jagger and Richards as songwriters. “Play With Fire” and “Ruby Tuesday” come to mind as understated gems that rightfully remain famous decades later.
Some of the songs are “of their time”. Like horror movies, rock and roll is a genre that should lean a little into discomfort if its being done right. “Mother’s Little Helper” digs into the sixties phenomenon of Valium in a cheeky manner that makes you smirk and sing along to the refrain and then feel bad about yourself. Doubling down on this “catchy but not OK” action is “Under My Thumb” which is as controversial and troubling a song now as it ever was. In this case a bro bragging about what appears to be a mix of gaslighting and emotional abuse. But then why do these songs have to have melodies that are so damned catchy?
Hey, that’s between you and your conscience.
If you prefer to not be challenged so much, then just sink into the pure rock and roll of “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” which has been one of the all time great driving songs long before Arnold Schwarzenegger has his masterful aristeia in a gravel pit in 1986’s “Raw Deal.” I can confirm it remains great for driving to this day (no gunfight required).
Most of my Rolling Stones love is for the era featuring guitarist Mick Taylor and “Hot Rocks” overlaps about half of that “golden era” of the Stones. However, that’s the half I said earlier I’m not going to focus on today. “Hot Rocks” reminds me that there is plenty of brilliance before Taylor ever came along, and what a unique style of music these guys were pumping out back in the mid to late sixties.
Best tracks: (Disc One only): Play With Fire, (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, Mother’s Little Helper, Paint It Black, Ruby Tuesday
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