The In Mono [Colored Vinyl]

by The Rolling Stones

Overview

It's often unfair to compare the Rolling Stones to the Beatles but in the case of the group's mono mixes, it's instructive. Until the 2009 release of the box set The Beatles in Mono, all of the Fab Four's mono mixes were out of print. That's not the case with the Rolling Stones. Most of their '60s albums -- released on Decca in the U.K., London in the U.S. -- found mono mixes sneaking onto either the finished sequencing or various singles compilations, so the 2016 box The Rolling Stones in Mono only contains 56 heretofore unavailable mono mixes among its 186 tracks. To complicate things further, the box -- which runs 15 discs in its CD version, 16 LPs in its vinyl incarnation -- sometimes contains both the British and American releases of a particular title (Out of Our Heads and Aftermath), while others are available in only one iteration (Between the Buttons is only present in the U.K. version). All this is for the sake of expedience: this is the easiest way to get all the mono mixes onto the box with a minimal amount of repetition. To that end, there's a bonus disc called Stray Cats -- with artwork that plays off the censored plain white cover art for the initial pressing of Beggars Banquet -- collecting the singles that never showed up on an official album, or at least any of the albums that made the box. Along with the odd decision to have the CD sleeves be slightly larger than a mini-LP replica (they're as big as a jewel box, so they're larger than a shrunk vinyl sleeve, a size that's rarely seen in other releases), this is the only quibble on what is otherwise an excellent set. The sound -- remastered again after the 2002 overhaul for hybrid SACDs -- is bold and colorful, with the earliest albums carrying a wallop and the latter records feeling like they're fighting to be heard in two separate channels and all the better for it. If nothing here provides a revelation -- none of the mixes are radically different, the way that some Beatles mono sides are -- this nevertheless is the best the Rolling Stones have sounded on disc (or on vinyl) and there's considerable care in this package, from the replications of the sleeves to the extensive notes from David Fricke. Plus, hearing the Stones in mono winds up being a hot wire back toward the '60s: this feels raw and vibrant, as alive as the band was in the '60s. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	01/20/2023
Label:	Abkco Records / Umr / Universal
UPC:	0018771208112
Rank:	77976

Album Credits

Performance Credits

The Rolling Stones   Primary Artist

Technical Credits

Rufus Thomas   Composer
Naomi Neville   Composer
Marvin Gaye   Composer
Jerry Leiber   Composer
Jerry Ragovoy   Composer
Jerry Wexler   Composer
McKinley Morganfield   Composer
Otis Redding   Composer
Norman Meade   Composer
Norman Petty   Composer
William "Mickey" Stevenson   Composer
Phil Spector   Composer
Stan Lewis   Composer
Ted Jarrett   Composer
Bert Berns   Composer
Keith Richards   Composer
James Moore   Composer
Smokey Robinson   Composer
Ron Miller   Composer
Robert Johnson   Composer
Roosevelt Jamison   Composer
Mick Jagger   Composer
Arthur Alexander   Composer
Artie Butler   Composer
Willie Dixon   Composer
Eleanor Broadwater   Composer
Gonzales Ozen   Composer
Arthur Butler   Composer
Nanker Phelge   Composer
Barbara Lynn Ozen   Composer
Don Christy   Composer
Don Covay   Composer
Robert Wesley Troup Jr.   Composer
Mike Stoller   Composer
Brian Holland   Composer
Buddy Holly   Composer
Aaron Neville   Composer
Arthur Resnick   Composer
Muddy Waters   Composer
Hank Snow   Composer
Dale Hawkins   Composer
Wilson Pickett   Composer
Shirley Jean Womack   Composer
Slim Harpo   Composer
Paul McCartney   Composer
Solomon Burke   Composer
Andrew Loog Oldham   Composer
Sonny Bono   Composer
Sonny Sanders   Composer
Berry Gordy, Jr.   Composer
Bert Russell   Composer
Bo Diddley   Composer
Bobby Womack   Composer
Kenny Young   Composer
Jimmy Reed   Composer
Bill Wyman   Composer
Lamont Dozier   Composer
Clarence Paul   Composer
Chuck Berry   Composer
Ewart Abner   Composer
Eddie Holland   Composer
Janie Bradford   Composer
Ellas McDaniel   Composer
Don Raye   Composer
Jay McShann   Composer
Robert Bateman   Composer
John Lennon   Composer
Ronald White   Composer
Sam Cooke   Composer
Bobby Troup   Composer
Walter Brown   Composer
Roddy Jackson   Composer
Robert Wilkins   Composer