Hot Rocks 1964-1971

Seems silly to say (again) how awesome the Stones are, but, hey - I'm saying it. Hot Rocks has everything you love from the Stones early work; not a bad song in this collection.The recording quality on the discs I received is okay which is a modest disappointment since what I purchased claimed SACD on Amazon's product description. The info inside the jewel case said 'DSD Remastered'. Perhaps it would sound better on a more sophisticated system? But the truth is my 45 year old Hot Rock on vinyl sounds better. Just be prepared for the DSD Remastered version to sound good, not great.But the key thing to remember: this the Stones and a really great collection of their early work.

I give the CD five stars for content (difficult to argue with that rating, this is a classic that the part-time Stones fan can't do without)... Five stars to Amazon for quick shipping and a pleasant experience with customer service on the phone... But zero stars to Amazon for misrepresenting what they are selling.Apparently prior reviewers didn't have this problem, but when I received my "Hybrid SACD" of Hot Rocks (March '06), I furrowed my brow in concern when I noticed that the SACD logo appeared nowhere on the packaging (it does say "DSD Remastered" on the spine of the jewel box). After tearing open the package, I found that the SACD logo appeared nowhere on the disc or in the booklet. After being inserted in my SACD compatible player, I was unable to access the SACD layer.That's because this ISN'T the SACD hybrid version that they're advertising it to be. This is the same standard CD you can buy at your local record store, Best Buy or Wal*Mart. Speaking of BB, I took this CD to my local outlet and popped the disc(s) into one of their Sony SACD players on the shelf, just to make sure it wasn't just MY unit that wouldn't play it correctly... The unit in the store did something that my player didn't, which perfectly illustrates the problem, it actually said on the player's LED display "NOT HYBRID DISC".Well, I guess THAT clears it up.Figuring that it was an honest mistake, I called Amazon and pointed out that I'd been shipped the wrong disc. Kudos to the fellow at Amazon's customer service center, he apologized and promptly sent me a replacement by overnight mail (no charge), and sent a label to affix to the package to return the CD I was erroneously sent. Only problem is...The "replacement" CD is identical to the one I was sent the first time.Giving up on Amazon after two tries, I have subsequently purchased a lightly-used proper hybrid SACD of Hot Rocks on eBay, and the disc(s) sound great. FWIW, the hybrid SACD issue of Hot Rocks appears to have only been issued in cardboard fold-out packaging (if online pics are to be believed), so if you order this CD and get it in a jewel box without any mention of it being a hybrid SACD, you've got the "regular" version of the CD.The UPC code of the SACD issue is 0-18771-96672-2. The "regular" CD has the same number save for the last one, which is -1. The first and last numbers are very small in comparison to the middle ten, so at first glance the CD's appear to have the same UPC code... But that little '1' or '2' at the end makes all the difference.I assume that this is an honest mistake on Amazon's part, but potential buyers who are searching for the SACD version of Hot Rocks have been warned. I believe that the "standard" layer on the SACD disc is identical in content and quality to the non-SACD version, so if you don't have an SACD-compatible player, none of this will be of any consequence to you.

This was the first Rolling Stones record I bought years ago. It is a compilation of their earlier songs from 1964-1971. This is the one you want to get to introduce friends to The Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World

What do I like most: this LP encapsulates the 70’s. What do I like least: this LP encapsulates the 70’s. I say this as a child of the 70's. I remember wandering around as a child at a huge festival at some farm in Wisconsin where this was blasting through speakers way bigger than me, it was kind of cool and kind of scary to me then... This is an enhanced CD that plays on my regular CD player, and it does have a really full and excellent sound. I had no technical issues with the CD, as others have mentioned. I also had a positive quasi reigious experience listening the second CD of this, just yesterday. The production quality and musical mastery of this is impressive, especially on the second CD. In contrast, both ironically and negatively, I find the song on side one, “Heart of Stone,” to be a superb and significant example of truly horrible cultural appropriation, much worse than Elvis even. These disparate things go together though, and are a big aspect of the 70’s. In different ways, both bad and good, America has gone backwards since then. This 2 disk set is a stellar piece of American Rock 'n' Roll herstory.

Great music