Yeah I had Hot Rocks for years before I finally started buying Stones albums. I'm not - and I never have been - a big Stones fan, but comps like Hot Rocks and Made in the Shade are undeniably packed full of great songs.

Because I know Ben, and know that his Stones obsession is nigh as deep as my own, I think what he is saying is that you don't get a full grasp of what the band was all about by going by compilations.

If The Machine weren't busy gallivanting at some Trans-Canajun Conference on Failure, we could be going forward on this.

I know Derris is a fan but comeon...he was defending Cats' assertion that there are only two good songs on Made in the Shade. I know he doesn't agree with Cats but still. You don't have to listen chronologically to hear greatness in those songs.

In 1965, the Stones finally proved themselves capable of writing classic rock singles that mined their R&B/blues roots, but updated them into a more guitar-based, thoroughly contemporary context. The first enduring Jagger-Richards classics are here — "The Last Time," its menacing, folky B-side "Play With Fire," and the riff-driven "Satisfaction," which made them superstars in the States and defined their sound and rebellious attitude better than any other single song. On the rest of the album, they largely opted for mid-'60s soul covers, Marvin Gaye's "Hitch Hike," Otis Redding's "Cry to Me," and Sam Cooke's "Good Times" being particular standouts. "I'm All Right" (based on a Bo Diddley sound) showed their 1965 sound at its rawest, and there are a couple of fun, though derivative, bluesy originals in "The Spider and the Fly" and "The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man."

"The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man."

The last Stones album in which cover material accounted for 50 percent of the content was thrown together from a variety of singles, British LP tracks, outtakes, and a cut from an early 1964 U.K. EP. Haphazard assembly aside, much of it's great, including the huge hit "Get Off of My Cloud" and the controversial, string-laden acoustic ballad "As Tears Go By" (a Top Ten item in America). Raiding the R&B closet for the last time, they also offered a breathless run-through of Larry Williams' "She Said Yeah," a sultry Chuck Berry cover ("Talkin' About You"), and exciting live versions of "Route 66" and Hank Snow's "I'm Moving On." More importantly, Jagger-Richards' songwriting partnership had now developed to the extent that several non-A-side tracks were reasonably strong in their own right, such as "I'm Free" and "The Singer Not the Song." And the version of "You Better Move On" (which had been featured on a British EP at the beginning of 1964) was one of their best and most tender soul covers.

The Rolling Stones finally delivered a set of all-original material with this LP, which also did much to define the group as the bad boys of rock & roll with their sneering attitude toward the world in general and the female sex in particular. The borderline misogyny could get a bit juvenile in tunes like "Stupid Girl." But on the other hand the group began incorporating the influences of psychedelia and Dylan into their material with classics like "Paint It Black," an eerily insistent number one hit graced by some of the best use of sitar (played by Brian Jones) on a rock record. Other classics included the jazzy "Under My Thumb," where Jones added exotic accents with his vibes, and the delicate Elizabethan ballad "Lady Jane," where dulcimer can be heard. Some of the material is fairly ho-hum, to be honest, as Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were still prone to inconsistent songwriting; "Goin' Home," an 11-minute blues jam, was remarkable more for its barrier-crashing length than its content. Look out for an obscure gem, however, in the brooding, meditative "I Am Waiting."

I fucking LOVE this record. It is the best of the early period/Brian Jones period. The next is almost a pure pop record that despite its cover (which is framed in my living room) is not a high point, then you get the cheesy psychedelia of Satanic Majesties, and into the best 4 album run of any band, ever.

This is where they start to find their voice - Under My Thumb in particular. Paint It Black was the song that first got me interested in The Stones, and for many my age was first noticed as the theme of "Tour of Duty," which is a pretty dark and sinister song for 1965. As our friend Ze Doktor used to say "The difference between The Beatles and The Stones is VIOLENCE"

But you also have the pop confection of "I Am Waiting" and "Stupid Girl" and "Think"

And I don't care how many time I hear Paint It Black and Under My Thumb, it still rocks my ass off.

I just don't agree with Derris at all on this. Good songs stand on their own and Made in the Shade is full of them. I like everything on that album even Angie and Dance Little Sister Dance.

Maybe in today's world of leaks, filesharing and dem blogs, you can take the view of wanting to hear everything by the Stones in order to fully appreciate their growth as a band but you couldn't as a kid in the 70's. I think it took me two months of allowances supplemented with "income" from lying to my mom about how much my school lunch cost to be able to afford Hot Rocks on Vinyl. It was a great introduction to the Stones and I imagine was how a lot of kids my era became fans. Similarly, Decade was my introduction to Neil Young and Kinks Kronikles was my introduction to the Kinks. You had to go for the bang for the buck back then.

Ok, I joined in prematurely after all of the praise for Aftermath. I've always loved Paint It Black, and my first exposure to the song was as the intro music to Tour of Duty

Paint It Black was the song that first got me interested in The Stones, and for many my age was first noticed as the theme of "Tour of Duty," which is a pretty dark and sinister song for 1965. As our friend Ze Doktor used to say "The difference between The Beatles and The Stones is VIOLENCE"

As our friend Ze Doktor used to say "The difference between The Beatles and The Stones is VIOLENCE"

The Rolling Stones' 1967 recordings are a matter of some controversy; many critics felt that they were compromising their raw, rootsy power with trendy emulations of the Beatles, Kinks, Dylan, and psychedelic music. Approach this album with an open mind, though, and you'll find it to be one of their strongest, most eclectic LPs, with many fine songs that remain unknown to all but Stones devotees. The lyrics are getting better (if more savage), and the arrangements more creative, on brooding near-classics like "All Sold Out," "My Obsession," and "Yesterday's Papers." "She Smiled Sweetly" shows their hidden romantic side at its best, while "Connection" is one of the record's few slabs of conventionally driving rock. But the best tracks were the two songs that gave the group a double-sided number one in early 1967: the lustful "Let's Spend the Night Together" and the beautiful, melancholy "Ruby Tuesday," which is as melodic as anything Mick Jagger and Keith Richards would ever write.

I think Between the Buttons is far and away the best pre-1968 album and is miles and miles ahead of Aftermath, one of their most overrated.