Rolling Stones - Studio Albums Vinyl Collection 1971-2016

25 April 2018 

Whenever The Rolling Stones do anything, they do it with quality and gravitas. Having defined rock’n’roll in the 60s, The Rolling Stones entered their imperial phase in 1971 with Sticky Fingers. What followed is a run of albums that couldn’t have happened at any other time, by any other band: the decadent excess of Exile On Main St, the Jamaican voodoo swamp of Goats Head Soup, the disco and punk-infused prowl of Some Girls. With each new decade, the Stones evolved while staying true to their roots, coming full circle in 2016 with Blue & Lonesome, a love letter to their first inspiration: the blues. Today, The Rolling Stones and Universal Music announce ‘The Studio Albums Vinyl Collection 1971-2016’, a brand new 15-disc limited-edition vinyl box-set collection, released on 15 June 2018 and available to pre-order here. View the unboxing trailer here. 

‘The Studio Albums Vinyl Collection 1971-2016’ presents this monumental era in rock’n’roll history in a highly bespoke, lenticular mounted, limited edition box-set housing the 15 studio albums from Sticky Fingers through to Blue & Lonesome in faithful and intricate original packaging replications. Every album has been lovingly remastered and cut at revelatory half-speed at Abbey Road Studios, from 

vinyl specific original tape transfers designed to get the very best possibly sound from the format. Each album is pressed on heavyweight 180-gram black vinyl and includes a download card for HD digital redemption of the catalogue and includes a numbered certificate of authentication.

Cut at half speed, these are among the highest quality vinyl pressings that these classic Rolling Stones albums will have ever received. Half speed mastering and pressed to a very high standard ensures top notch sound quality for the listener  

Special care has been taken to create packaging to the same high standards, creating a detailed artwork reproduction for each album. ‘Some Girls’ comes housed in the replica design including 20 cut-outs on the cover, while the sleeve of ‘Sticky Fingers’ is presented as Andy Warhol’s original design, complete with a working zip with a hidden image underneath and ‘Exile On Main Street’ comes with a set of 12 original postcard inserts.

ABOUT THE PROCESS

Abbey Road Studios’ engineers have been cutting grooves into discs since the studios first opened in 1931. In 2013, award-winning engineer Miles Showell joined their existing mastering team, bringing a wealth of disc-cutting experience with him. 

One of the artisan techniques offered by Abbey Road Studios that results in the very highest quality sound reproduction is Half Speed Cutting. This process involves the master source being played back at precisely half its recorded speed while the cutting lathe is similarly turned at half the desired playback speed. This allows the cutting head twice the time to cut the intricate groove, allowing considerably more accuracy with important matters such as frequency extremes and micro-dynamic contrasts. The resulting cuts have excellent high frequency response (treble) and very solid and stable stereo images.

It’s not quite as simple as running everything at half rate. There is an EQ curve applied to all vinyl records and by running the lathe at half speed, all the frequencies are wrong. However, the technical staff at Abbey Road Studios have had new custom-built filters installed which allow Miles to practice half speed cutting to the full on a modified Neumann VMS-80 lathe.

 

‘The Studio Albums Vinyl Collection 1971-2016’

• Sticky Fingers (1971)
• Exile On Main St (1972)
• Goats Head Soup (1973)
• It’s Only Rock’n’Roll (1974)
• Black And Blue (1976)
• Some Girls (1978)
• Emotional Rescue (1980)
• Tattoo You (1981)
• Undercover (1983)
• Dirty Work (1986)
• Steel Wheels (1989)
• Voodoo Lounge (1994)
• Bridges To Babylon (1997)
• A Bigger Bang (2005)
• Blue & Lonesome (2016)

 

Tracklisting:

 

Sticky Fingers

Brown Sugar, Sway, Wild Horses, Can’t You Hear Me Knocking, You Gotta Move, Bitch, I Got The Blues, Sister Morphine, Dead Flowers, Moonlight Mile

 

Exile On Main St

Rocks Off, Rip This Joint, Shake Your Hips, Casino Boogie, Tumbling Dice, Sweet Virginia, Torn And Frayed, Sweet Black Angel, Loving Cup, Happy, Turd On The Run, Ventilator Blues, I Just Want To See His Face, Let It Loose, All Down The Line, Stop Breaking Down, Shine A Light, Soul Survivor

 

Goats Head Soup

Dancing With Mr. D., 100 Years Ago, Coming Down Again, Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker), Angie, Silver Train, Hide Your Love, Winter, Can You Hear The Music, Star Star

 

It’s Only Rock’n’Roll

If You Can’t Rock Me, Ain’t Too Proud To Beg, It’s Only Rock’n’Roll (But I Like It), Till The Next Goodbye, Time Waits For No One, Luxury, Dance Little Sister, If You Really Want To Be My Friend, Short And Curlies, Fingerprint File

 

Black And Blue

Hot Stuff, Hand Of Fate, Cherry Oh Baby, Memory Motel, Hey Negrita, Melody, Fool To Cry, Crazy Mama

 

Some Girls

Miss You, When The Whip Comes Down, Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me), Some Girls, Lies, Far Away Eyes, Respectable, Before They Make Me Run, Beast Of Burden, Shattered

 

Emotional Rescue

Dance, Summer Romance, Send It To Me, Let Me Go, Indian Girl, Where The Boys Go, Down In The Hole, Emotional Rescue, She’s So Cold, All About You

 

Tattoo You

Start Me Up, Hang Fire, Slave, Little T&A, Black Limousine, Neighbours, Worried About You, Tops, Heaven, Not Used To Crying, Waiting On A Friend

 

Undercover

Undercover Of The Night, She Was Hot, Tie You Up (The Pain Of Love), Wanna Hold You, Feel On Baby, Too Much Blood, Pretty Beat Up, Too Tough, All The Way Down, It Must Be Hell

 

Dirty Work

One Hit (To The Body), Fight, Harlem Shuffle, Hold Back, Too Rude, Winning Ugly, Back To Zero, Dirty Work, Had It With You, Sleep Tonight, Key To The Highway

 

Steel Wheels

Sad Sad Sad, Mixed Emotions, Terrifying, Hold On To Your Hat, Hearts For Sale, Blinded By Love, Rock And A Hard Place, Can’t Be Seen, Almost Hear You Sigh, Continental Drift, Break The Spell, Slipping Away

 

Voodoo Lounge

Love Is Strong, You Got Me Rocking, Sparks Will Fly, The Worst, New Faces, Moon Is Up, Out Of Tears, I Go Wild, Brand New Car, Sweethearts Together, Suck On The Jugular, Blinded By Rainbows, Baby Break It Down, Thru And Thru

 

Bridges To Babylon

Flip The Switch, Anybody Seen My Baby?, Low Down, Already Over Me, Gunface, You Don’t Have To Mean It, Out Of Control, Saint Of Me, Might As Well Get Juiced, Always Suffering, Too Tight, Thief In The Night, How Can I Stop

 

A Bigger Bang

Rough Justice, Let Me Down Slow, It Won’t Take Long, Rain Fall Down, Streets Of Love, Back Of My Hand, She Saw Me Coming, Biggest Mistake, This Place Is Empty, Oh No Not You Again, Dangerous Beauty, Laugh I Nearly Died, Sweet Neo Can, Look What The Cat Dragged In, Driving Too Fast, Infamy

 

Blue & Lonesome

Just Your Fool, Commit A Crime, Blue And Lonesome, All Of Your Love, I Gotta Go, Everybody Knows About My Good Thing, Ride ‘Em On Down, Hate To See You Go, Hoo Doo Blues, Little Rain, Just Like I Treat You, I Can’t Quit You Baby

THE ROLLING STONES ‘THE STUDIO ALBUMS VINYL COLLECTION 1971-2016’

WILL BE RELEASED BY UNIVERSAL MUSIC ON 15 JUNE 2018

 

Details of The Studio Albums Vinyl Collection 1971-2016 as as follows:

Sticky Fingers (1971)
LP sleeve presented as Andy Warhol’s original design complete with working zip and hidden image beneath

Exile On Main St (1972) (2LP)
LP in original style gatefold sleeve complete with inner-bags and set of 12 perforated postcards

Goats Head Soup (1973)
LP in gatefold sleeve with two inserts

It’s Only Rock’n’Roll (1974)
LP with original heavyweight inner sleeve

Black And Blue (1976)
LP in gatefold sleeve with original inner bag and lyric sheet

Some Girls (1978)
LP housed in replica design including 20 cut-outs on the cover

Emotional Rescue (1980)
LP with original sized poster

Tattoo You (1981)
LP with original heavyweight inner sleeve

Undercover (1983)
LP with original heavyweight inner sleeve and lyric sheet

Dirty Work (1986)
LP with original heavyweight inner sleeve, red shrink wrapping and bespoke sticker

Steel Wheels (1989)
LP complete with original inner sleeve and sales insert

Voodoo Lounge (1994) (2LP)
2LP gatefold sleeve with original lyric inners

Bridges To Babylon (1997) (2LP)
2LP with original lyric inners

A Bigger Bang (2005) (2LP)
2LP gatefold sleeve with original lyric inners

Blue & Lonesome (2016) (2LP)
2LP gatefold sleeve with original inners