Includes a 24 page color booklet with liner notes by David Wild.
The Rolling Stones: Mick Jagger (vocals, guitar, harmonica, percussion); Keith Richards (acoustic & electric guitars, bass, bowed double bass, background vocals); Mick Taylor (electric & slide guitars, bass); Brian Jones (electric guitar, sitar, recorder, harmonica, piano, marimba, tamboura, background vocals); Ron Wood (electric guitar, background vocals); Bill Wyman (bass, maracas, background vocals); Charlie Watts (drums, percussion, background vocals).
Additional personnel includes: Merry Clayton (vocals); Sugar Blue (harmonica); Bobby Keyes (saxophone, percussion); Mel Collins (saxophone); Chuck Leavell (piano, organ, keyboards); Nicky Hopkins, Ian Stewart, Ian McLagan, Al Kooper (piano); Don Was (keyboards); Darryl Jones (bass); Blondie Chaplin (percussion, background vocals); Sly Dunbar, Luis Jardin (percussion); Clydie King, Vanetta, Ivan Neville, Bernard Fowler, Lisa Fischer, Sara Dash, Doris Troy, Madeline Bell, Nanette Newman, Marianne Faithfull, Anita Pallenberg (background vocals); The London Bach Choir.
Producers include: Andrew Oldham, Jimmy Miller, The Glimmer Twins, Don Was.
Forty Licks, like Elvis' 30 #1 Hits, is a career-spanning compilation that wouldn't have happened without the unprecedented, blockbuster success of Beatles 1. Where Elvis' set is hurt by the simple fact that there are too many damn Elvis comps on the market, the Rolling Stones benefit greatly from the fact that there has not been any set that chronicles all their recordings from the '60s through the '90s. It also benefits that this is the concept behind the record -- it's meant to be a journey through their biggest songs, not just the number one hits. Of course, the Stones couldn't have had a CD containing just their number ones that spanned one disc, much less two, because they never topped the charts that frequently. This is a liberating thing (compare it to Elvis', which got weighed down with the number ones, resulting in some subpar selections), since it opens the door for almost every Stones song of note to feature on this collection, along with four new songs (not great, but solid songs, all). Sure, there are many great Rolling Stones moments missing, and not just fan favorites Beggars Banquet or Exile on Main St., either -- "Play With Fire," "2000 Light Years From Home," "Tell Me," "Heart of Stone," "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)," "Lady Jane," "Time Is on My Side," "Waiting on a Friend," "I'm Free," and "We Love You" are all missing in action. The thing is, as the disc is playing, you don't miss any of them, and it feels like all the hits are here. At first, the nonchronological order seems to be a mistake, but both discs flow well, especially since they're roughly divided thematically (the first is devoted largely to the '60s, with the rest on the second). Yes, the Stones made great albums that should be in any serious rock collection, but if you just want a summary of their best moments, Forty Licks is it; it does its job as well as Beatles 1 did. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Thirty years after the release of what had been the definitive Rolling Stones anthology, HOT ROCKS, the arrival of the two-disc Stones collection FORTY LICKS seemed bound to prompt compare/contrast debates. In the end, it's pretty much an apples-and-oranges situation. HOT ROCKS does have some great '60s tracks absent from the later release, but time is on the side of FORTY LICKS, which takes advantage of access to all the Stones' great post-1971 material, which is abundant, despite cynics' protests to the contrary. So besides the early hits/classics it shares with HOT ROCKS ("Satisfaction," "Brown Sugar," "Jumping Jack Flash," you know the drill), FORTY LICKS offers the stuttering, sassy "Start Me Up," the sensual, disco-tinged "Miss You," mission statement "It's Only Rock 'N Roll (But I Like It)," and such tearjerkers as "Fool to Cry" and "Angie."
Impressively, FORTY LICKS simultaneously captures the glory of the Stones' first couple of phases and puts the lie to the benighted notion that the early '70s were this hardy band's last hurrah. And that's not even mentioning the four new, previously unreleased tracks these seemingly indefatigable icons saw fit to throw in. minimize