• AllMyVinyl #135
• Band: The Rolling Stones
• Album Title: Hot Rocks: 1964-1971
• Release Date: 20 Dec 1971
• Date purchased: 4 May 2025
• Location purchased: Discogs.com Marketplace
• Color of vinyl: black
• Number of discs: 2
• Links: [ Wikipedia | Discogs | Band Website | Complete album on Youtube ]

“….It’s just a shot away”

This is one that is a simple concept to grasp.  It’s a 2 LP disc of Rolling Stones tracks from their early days to the early 70’s.  It’s titled well.. “Hot Rocks: 1964-1971” which pretty much describes the album too.  Their  best tracks from that eight year span from the 60’s into the 70’s.   It’s kind of hard to write about a compilation album, because 99% of them have no real story behind them.  “Oh here,s some good tracks you probably already own”.   In this case I don’t.  I don’t have a ton of Stones on vinyl, and in fact one of my other reviews in this series is the 100% direct reason I own this on vinyl.

In decades gone by when got into the Stones and found out how wide ranging their recorded history was I wasn’t going to go out and buy all that, so I bought this compilation on CD way back in the 80’s somewhere.  Still have in my archive of old CD’s somewhere, but on vinyl, the only Stones I owned prior to this was A couple of live albums (Still Live & Steel Wheels Live), Tattoo You, Hackney Diamonds, and Honk.  In fact, Honk is the main reason I have Hot Rocks.  When I wrote about Honk, my brain didn’t process that the early tracks weren’t on there.  In my review there, I lamented that Satisfaction & Gimme Shelter weren’t on that one.  But my brain didn’t process that all the other stuff from that era wasn’t there either.  When I posted the review to Twitter (fuck “X”, it’s Twitter), someone in the replies pointed out that issue of Honk only being from a certain point forward.  Why I didn’t see that myself?  Who knows.  Rich Goad – one of my followers suggested this to me:

I thought about it a bit, and thought “Damn, that’s right”, so a few hours later I went on Discogs Marketplace, found a copy in decent shape, and ordered it.  That’s why I’m doing Hot Rocks now.  Alphabetically it fits in right where I am in the overall #AllMyVinyl project, so here we are.  Big shout out to Rich (I hope that’s your actual name, I grabbed it off your Twitter profile) for this entry.  A first in the series, that I’m doing one based solely on the suggestion of one of the folks reading my reviews.  :)

Time is On My Side – This is a Stones song I have mixed feelings about.  I like the overall song, but it’s got that super tinny early 60’s sound to it – like some of the earliest Beatles songs do as well.  I never was a big fan of that 60’s tinny sound.  Having said that the actual song here works well enough despite that.  The song starts off with a Richards riff that sounds like it’s dancing around with a totally different sound.  Stones can really rock out, and this is on the slower side of their songs.  I do really the way Mick delivers the vocals in the chorus with “You’ll come running back”.  Good stuff, if not the most in your face opener.

Heart of Stone – Another one borne of the 60’s shorter sub 3 minute song with that tinny sound.  It’s got some great guitar work on it (presumably Keith), and I also like Mick’s vocals here when he repeats “never break” over and over.  That’s pretty much the thing.  Some great guitar work for one of their slower tracks, and I like Mick’s vocals.  Pretty much a classic Jagger/Richards combo.

Play With Fire – We’re definitely starting off with the slower side, as Play With Fire is for sure a ballad level song.  Not bad of course, but definitely slower than the two that precede it on the album.  It’s also VERY short, at 2:14.  It’s enjoyable enough, but not one that leaps to the top of the list of my fav Stones songs.  It’s mostly acoustic Keith with Mick singing along.  Not *ALL* that mind you, but it’s close.

Satisfaction – The Stones most well known track (in my opinion).  It’s also got one of my favorite Keith Richards riffs.  It mixes both a power that we’d hear from them more later with the “60’s tinny” sound perfectly.  I far prefer the 60’s original studio track for this one do any other version we’ve heard in the decades since.  This is for me the best individual track the Stones have put out in the 60’s.  It’s not y favorite overall Stones song (that shows up later in this compilation), but for this era, I don’t think the Stones have done any better.  That’s even despite the massive overplay this song it received on FM Classic Rock Radio.  The power of this riff transcends even the overplay and it remains awesome.  It was released as a single 4 Jun 1965, so from the date I’m writing this (27 May), it’s just eight days away from turning 60 years old!

As Tears Go By – We’re back to the slow stuff again, another ballad.  This one however isn’t one I really care for at all.    It does have some nice orchestration, but other than that it doesn’t do much for me. Other than Satisfaction, this has been a really “slow” start to the compilation overall.

Get off of My Cloud – This one has something that I’ve found is a strength of the Stones over time.  Great guitar riff I enjoy with Mick’s vocals.  I love how the “Hey and You” are duplicated in vocal delivery before Mick sings the title.  Back in 2019, the Stones produced an animated music video for this.   The riff repeats a lot, and is the main sound behind this, but it works for me.  Good solid Stones song.

Mother’s Little Helper – Another one with a killer Richards riff to go with the song.  The main beat that runs through it doesn’t involve that opening riff, but it does appear a few times during the song – usually around the chorus.  I remember this being one of the earliest songs I tried to figure out the meaning of, as when I first heard it I wondered what it was all about.  Supposedly about valium.  Now that I’m about 60 myself, I can see the other side of the lyrics that the early teen version of me couldn’t.  Love the riff.

19th Nervous Breakdown – We’ve moved into the 70’s sound here, leaving behind the 60’s tinny sound.  Another Richards riff I really dig.  The vocal delivery is killer too – the two go together quite well.  Towards the end of the song we get another sound introduced that sounds like some fat bottom end bass thing, but I’m no musician, not sure how to properly describe that.  It’s only in the back end of the song, it was a nice way for the song to go out with something new that I always felt matched the other sounds the song presented to this point.  The only way I could think of to describe it would be what it would sound like if you took one of those large sheets of metal, and wobbled it, that kind of thing.  :)

Paint it, Black – A Stones classic.  One of those songs I never bothered to figure out the lyrics to.  In my younger days I always wondered why there was a comma in the title, too.  :)  Musically I love the restrained guitar sound that runs in the background behind the more in the front guitar riff that’s the main driver.  It’s a great combination of dual riffs – I have to imagine one is Richards and the other is Brian Jones. I also dig the humming that Mick does during the song – a great sound.  It’s been covered by a ton of people, one of which is the 80’s metal band WASP.  But the Stones original remains a classic track, and definitely worthy of being on anyone’s playlist.

Under My Thumb – This song came out in 1966, but it doesn’t sound a lot like the rest of the songs from that era.  I love the guitar sound that runs under the verse.  I’m not quite sure how to describe it.  The riff is different in different parts of the song.  That’s the strong point for me here – the guitar work.   I mean it’s (mostly) Keith Richards that shouldn’t be a surprise.  But killer riff.  I also feel this is another track where the studio original is superior to other live versions we’ve got many years later.  Live versions have the main riff out in front, and a lot of what makes this song work for me are the subtle background guitar work which is either lost completely in live versions or is totally dominated in the mix by the primary riff.

Ruby Tuesday – When I first heard this song, I thought it was the Beatles. I know – sacrilege, but the vibe is more Beatles. It’s never been one of my favorites.  The vocals have a sound that sounds “off” to them – like it’s two people singing together but it’s not synced properly.  I’ve never been able to get past that – ever.  So it takes me out of the song trying to figure it out.

One totally unrelated thing.  The current iteration of Doctor Who has a companion character by the name of “Ruby Sunday”.  The modern version of Doctor Who has a habit of using popular music in the show, I was always hoping they’d license Ruby Tuesday and use it in the show somehow.  They never did.

Let’s Spend The Night Together – This is a song that it’s a solid piece of music, but whenever I heard it, I can’t NOT think of the controversy over he lyrics when it was originally released. This was in 1967 on the Ed Sullivan show when he didn’t want the song sung  because of the suggestive lyrics.  The band compromised and replaced them “Let’s spend some time together”, but several band members reacted oddly while signing that, and it got them banned for several years.   THAT is what I think of when I hear this song, another one where reality gets in the way of me enjoying the song.   Thanks Mr. Sullivan.

Jumping Jack Flash – This is another song where non song things have changed my perception of the song.  In 1986, there was a spy comedy film called “Jumping Jack Flash” starring Whoopi Goldberg.  There’s a scene in the middle of the film where she tries to decipher Mick’s lyrics from just listening to the song on a cassette tape.  It’s a funny bit, because several of the things she got tripped up on were things I had issues figuring out myself.  To this day, when I listen to the song, I can’t NOT hear Whoopi going “These are some fucked up lyrics Mick” when the song is on.  EVERY single time.  I’ve embedded the clip below, and while she doesn’t technically say “fucked up” – that’s the meaning.  ha.  :)

Street Fighting Man – Back to a song that I recall for just being a song not something else.  This is another song where I prefer the studio original to live versions.  That’s because again there’s some subtle background stuff going on in this song that is lost on live versions.  I’m not even sure how to describe it..  the lyrics  “What can poor boys do?” are there when this subtle background stuff is going on.  It’s a great solid song, but I think it’s enhanced by the more subtle aspects of what they’re doing musically.

Sympathy For the Devil – This is a song I struggle with personally.  Musically it’s top notch shit.  There’s nothing to dislike from a musical standpoint.  One of those songs that makes you sit in your chair and play some non existent foot pedals while sitting there.  It’s got a great beat.  And the “ooo – ooo” that gets repeated a LOT through the song singing behind Mick is great shit.  The issue I have is the lyrical content. I don’t bring it up a lot, but there’s a handful of songs that I have issues with lyrically – this is one of them. However, musically there’s little better than this.  Keith’s solo smokes.   The “ooo-ooo” keeps going past the chorus into the solo, makes for a really cool sound.  Usually solos are more on their own, but this one feels far more connected as the “ooo-ooo” keeps going without stopping after the solo as well.  Towards the end we get a more in your face bass riff than you usually get in Stones song, so that was nice to hear.

Honky Tonk Women – Well named as the beat has a sound that fits the title.  It has one of those “clean” sounding Richards riffs which are some of my favorite.  While the song doesn’t sound the same by any stretch, this kind of reminds me a bit of some of what they’re doing musically in “Waiting For a Friend”.  I know a lot of the Tattoo You album was made up of leftovers, so I wonder if Honky Tonk was born musically around the same time?  Great beat, another song I usually end up singing along with.

Gimme Shelter – This is it.  Peak Stones.  Nothing better in my opinion.  Of everything the Stones have ever released, this is by far my favorite individual track of theirs.  It’s not a simple riff, it’s got more than one sound to it.  I adore the background vocals that merge perfectly with Mick’s singing.  It’s a damn near perfect song, and might possibly be in my Top 10 list of best song by any band all time. So much to love here, I find it hard to write about, I just want to listen to it – yet again.  In fact, I did – this was the last song on Side “C” of the album, so I just moved the needle back and played it again.

Midnight Rambler – Side “D” starts with this live track that runs 8:23 – the longest thing on the album.  The song is (according to the words of Keith Richards) “a blues opera”.  The studio track is 6:54, so not a LOT of extension, but to be honest, this song goes on way too long for me.  It’s not one that does a lot for me, I would have preferred they drop this and put two other shorter songs on here.  I usually skip this one when I’m listening to the album.  I didn’t today, but I did get bored in the middle.  Edit: I lied, I got too bored in the middle and skipped the end of the song.

You Can’t Always Get What You Want – One of the Stones’ most well known tracks.  I’ve seen this song get used in non musical situations a bunch.  Like on TV and things of that nature and by some politicians at rallies, too.  Beyond that stuff, it’s a great song.  Starts off with the background vocals which was a change.  Good solid riff by Keith once we get past the intro.  It also has some non typical rock band sensibilities, too.  This is another one that by the time the full band kicks in I’ve already been fully drawn in, so it was constructed well in terms of not just not starting the band at 00:00.   Lyrically I never paid a ton of attention to the lyrics, this is one of those songs that you know the chorus, and not the rest of it – and it doesn’t matter.   Good stuff.

Brown Sugar – An oddity in the band’s catalogue.  Not so much because of the music, but definitely the lyrics.  In 2019, the band stopped paying the song intentionally live due to “unease with the depictions of black women and references to slavery in the song”.  A BBC story on this removal speaks to these issues.  I honestly always thought it was about cunnilingus, but it’s apparently about something more intense than that (see article).  It’s got a nice beat that goes through it.  If you just focus on the music, it’s a great time, but depending on your take with the lyrics, you’ll either love it or hate it.  For me, this is another one of those songs where real life intrudes into the song.  I grew up in Philadelphia, and the two main rock radio stations at the time were WYSP and WMMR.  (Shout out to Pierre Robert – who is STILL going!).  One of the two stations used to use the opening riff of this song as a piece of music they’d use going to and from commercial breaks, so I heard it *A LOT*.  If anyone from YSP or MMR actually reads this, I apologize for mixing up the stations like that – decades have done a job on my memory here, it’s all kind of a blur 40 years later.

Wild Horses – Another song that is mostly slow.  It’s not one of my favorites.  It’s got some nice parts to it for sure, but I usually skip this track, as it feels to me like it never gets out of low gear.  I can like a good slow song, but the pieces of this don’t gel for me.

Overall this is a collection of excellent Stones music.  Some of it sounds like the era it was born out of more than others, but there’s nothing on here that’s actively BAD.  Even the ones I said I wasn’t a huge fan of I can recognize it for what it is.  It’s also got some absolute bangers on it.  This compilation is now 44 years old, so it’s a fair chance if you’re reading this, you own it as well.

A big thanks again to Rich Goad for suggesting this to me on Twitter.  It’s for sure the first thing that I’ve covered on my series that I didn’t own when I started it, and the first I picked up (on vinyl) from a recommendation by one of my followers.