at costco today i was looking through the cds (they have the smallest selection ever, but cheap and some good box sets). Anyway, they have a ton of the Stones cds for like 8 bucks each. I didn't look to see which ones they had, but i know I saw like the obvious "classics"...so I don't own any Stones cds (I have like 5 on mp3)...so should i buy them? and tell me which ones. In order.

Exile On Main Street
Sticky Fingers
Let It Bleed
Beggars Banquet
Goats Head Soup
Aftermath

You really can't go wrong with the first four.

Let it Bleed would be the first I would buy. Or maybe Exile.

My order would be:

Let It Bleed
Exile on Main Street
Sticky Fingers
Aftermath
Beggars Banquet
Some Girls

I would recommend starting with Let it Bleed or Beggars Banquet. Then move on Sticky Fingers and Exile. Then go either backwards or forward chronologically. It all depends on what you like about those.

1. let it bleed
2. sticky fingers
3. exile on main street


pretty much the holy trinity and for 24 bucks is a must buy....unless you dont like music

a bunch of good ones already mentioned, Between the Buttons, Sticky Fingers and Exile are all great, but I'm a sucker for Some Girls.

I still say Aftermath is their best then either Let It Bleed or Sticky Fingers.

Exile is overrated. Its such a canonized album that I think its become an automatic answer for some without even thinking about it. I think I had it on my listmania too, shame on me. Still a fine album but maybe 4th or 5th best stones album in my mind.

np: The Tyde "Once"

this is the correct order.

Hey, opinions are like assholes but don't ever say that Exile is overrated. it's not. And I dont canonize Stones albums. (shit, i'm listening to Indian Girl off Emotional Rescue right now).

Just say you like Aftermath better and move on. A swipe at Exile is not your friend.

My order:
1. Aftermath
2. Exile
3. Let it bleed

there are no duds on exile, and the best songs are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good.

i went into that album thinking, "this has GOT to be overrated" and ended thinking it was better than people say it is.

Get over yourself. No albums are above criticism. I don't like it is as much as you do. You don't like Caetano Veloso's Transa as much as I do. I'm not going to lose any sleep over that.

I was merely pointing out that its one of those albums that has become an automatic answer for many without really considering the merits of it. I'm not speaking of you when I say that, you're a HUGE stones fan. I'm speaking of the more casual fan. There's such a large mythology around the album, eg recorded in France while the band was in "exile", all the hangers-on at the time that may have had influences on the sound (eg gram parsons, etc), all the drugs, etc. that I think has unconsciously elevated the album's mystique. I'm sure all this contributed to it making my listmania. It wouldn't make a revised list.

Looking at it more critically, I don't think its very close to them at their best. Its a very good, maybe a great album. Most bands would die to have an album this good, for the stones I think they've done much better. I also think its bad guidance for anyone to recommend this as a starting point for the stones (know that you didn't). Its really not an a typical stones album, sessions players played a much bigger role on this album than any of the other big stones albums.

Hell, even Mick Jagger has said he doesn't like the album that much. Why don't you start bugging him and leave me alone.

np: The Merrymakers "Bubblegun"

Billy, easy, bubba. you are half right -- Exile is the stock go to album, but I wouldn't reccomend it as a starting point, the casual fan needs to, like the band, build up to that album.

i myself just recently got into the stones- started with exile... i love it, but i need to get some girls strictly for miss you b/c i'm OBSESSED with that song. gotta get some more stones.

I can send you this via AIM if you have such technology.

And, that is the first Stones album I ever bought, it rocks the house.

that would be awesome. right now my aim is acting funky so i can't sign on, but i'll be on at some point during the day.

was there a certain point where their albums stopped being good? i got voodoo lounge and i so didn't like it. seems like their later stuff wasn't as bueno as their earlier catalog, correct me if i'm wrong...

If you re-listen to Voodoo Lounge, there are some awesome songs (Blinded By Rainbows comes to mind) IMO, they never stopped being good. Even Dirty Work has One Hit to the Body...but me and the Stones are like you and Radiohead, I just can't see why they aren't everybody's favorite band.

I'll be sitting right here for the next few hours doing data entry, so hit me up when you sign on, Puma.

yes. It's Only Rock and Roll with a relapse for Some Girls

With apologies to Bloor and the right honorable Senator, the Stones stopped being the Stones after Exile On Main Street. I'm telling you this and I'm a fan - after Exile they rode on some leftovers for a couple albums. Goat's Head Soup and It's Only Rock 'n' Roll each had some moments of swaggering cool, but overall they were evidence of a band that had lost its way.

Black And Blue, while I like it a lot, is their least Stones-sounding album. It's mostly half-baked jams squeezed into songs. Again, there's moments ("Fool To Cry" was a good single, "Melody" is a personal fave, and "Memory Motel" is the typical Stones ballad codified).

And the worth of Some Girls depends on one's age; it's either a majestic return to form (if it was one's starting point) or a mere shadow of their former greatness. And hey, I love "Miss You" - it was the penultimate great Stones single ("Start Me Up" being the last) - and occasionally groove to "Shattered", but, seriously, this was the end of it for me. Some Girls marked the point where Jagger and Richards decided, consciously or not (I suspect the former), to stop experimenting and attempt to grow old gracefully (and rich) by churning out annual variations of the same set of songs. I'm not saying they're bad - every now and then they manage to improve on the formula - just that the power, sex, and decadence that created the Stones mythology has long since dissipated.

Goat Heads Soup is pretty awesome, but yes it was the start of the decline.

Thank you for the apologies, you S grade paint huffer

I could make a good 10 song Mix from album released after Some Girls (especially if we consider Tattoo You, which is mainly gussied up outtakes) that beats anything released in that time period (OK, not really, but it'd rock)

I can see what you mean, by the fact that they started doing variations on the same themes, but those variations were inevitably better than a lot of shit coming out

with the exception of "Saint of Me", the only post-Rock n' Roll songs are slow ones. and Some Girls in its entirety.

Lay off the dust remover, Cotton:
from Black and Blue:
Hand of Fate

Tattoo You:
Start Me Up
Hang Fire
Little T&A
Neighbours

Emotional Rescue:
Dance
Summer Romance
She's So Cold

Undercover:
Wanna Hold You

Dirty Work:
One Hit to the Body

Steel Wheels:
Mixed Emotions

All examples of good faster songs by them post It's Only Rock and Roll