1964-1969 Remastered

I've had mine for two years now and it's just a fantastic box set. The covers are fine. Yes, they're all matt finish. With the exception of Rolling Stones No.2. That one don't look that great. Bad coloring. The sound of these records is very clean and spectacular. No surface noise once cleaned. Nice analog sound throughout, even though they were mastered using DSD technology. Warm mids, punchy clear bass, clean bright trebles. All perfectly mastered from a very fresh source. While I noticed, some aren't as strong and up front as my original Decca pressings i compared them with. Aftermath, BTB, Let It Bleed, & Their Satanic Majesties Request, all sound brilliant. Beggars Banquet is the correct speed, Let It Bleed has become most every audiophile's preference. You just can't go wrong with this box set. I wish it wasn't a limited edition. I bought mine when it first came out. Wish I could have afforded another one. Well, I can say in some cases prefer my original Decca pressings, but BTB, Beggars Banquet And Their Satanic Majesties Request, all sound gorgeous, and have a really clear high quality analog sound. Grab it before it's too late. My review is at this time, the only one relevant. As I have done the AB comparason on real UK Decca pressings. I'm a audio lunatic, I own over 2,000 vinyl. Most are originals, some Hoffman masterings, some Parlophone Beatles lps etc. I would never get rid of this set. I play it quite often, and I love it. These babies have gone up since I bought mine for $230.00. Good luck.

Well, now we've come full circle in StonesLand.Going from the 60's and Mono/Stereo/FakeStereo/to 8 Track/To Cassette/Reel to Reel/To Cd/iPod/Downloads/Back to Vinyl Box Sets with some Mono and some Stereo.........Whew!!!What to think of these two Box sets, especially after Christmas 2010??I got a version of the first Box last Week From Amazon Warehouse Deals and it was a mixed bag. The Box, as they described, just had a tad blemish but when I opened it ALL of the albums jackets were damaged on top....the top spines were all 'shaved' through like the box had been put through a vibration machine and the vinyl all cut through the tops of the jackets, so back it went. But, the vinyl was beautiful and flat. I wish I could have kept it but at $228 with tax it wasn't a deal at all. But, again, the pressings themselves looked great. So with that I ordered another box, brand new this time, from an alternate Amazon site. Amazon really needs to get better on the packaging of fragile items like vinyl-there is simply no excuse in putting a 12 pound box inside a flimsy cardboard box with a couple of air pillows!! So we'll see if the other boxes come in unscathed.Now, in tracking down another replacement for the 64-69 box I stumbled onto various Stones sites that had lots of information going back to the Mobile Fidelity Box from 1984. What I found out made it clear that this box set, apart from the 1971-2005 one, which is totally separate as far as it's not nearly as desirable as the Abkco early box to alot of us collectors, is something special due to the work Abkco did back in 2002, in going through their tape library and redoing the catalog as best as they could. I believe that a box like this will Never be released again due to the rapidly changing technology for playing music. In fact, it's pretty amazing that it came out at all in this day and age. This current Vinyl revival is not going to last forever, and once this is out of print, you could pretty much kiss it goodbye! The Major companies Hate to put this kind of work into a release and that's why there are so few of these in the history of box sets. There was the Germany issued 'The Rolling Stones Story' back in the 80's, but that was far from comprehensive as it used various album issues from Europe and included alot of the fake stereo garbage tracks. And then there was the Mobile Fidelity in the 80's which took most of it's albums from the American configurations, but as we know the original British configurations seem more satisfying. Which is exactly what this set has...the British configuration. So, except for the odd boxes issued around the world, as far as a early nearly complete box, there hasn't been many, and the fact that this set is Audiophile Quality makes it, imho, a necessity even if you own the Mobile Fidelity set. Again, I'm 52, and I seriously doubt I would see another Box set of the Decca period in my lifetime...I'm jazzed with getting this set! A bit expensive, but if you look at ebay and see what original Decca's are going for, then it truly turns into a bargin.Rock On!! Indeed!Gerard Masters

Arrived very securely packaged. Records, all except for one, were in MINT condition, and that one blemish is superficial and makes no difference to the sound. Full marks to the supplier ("from the Vault"). The LPs give opulent clear musical sound, 45s not so good (shallow grooves, some distortion). Major disappointment is - and this is owing to the use of the British released versions without exception - that you don't get the US released 12 X 5 LP, which here in Australia was the second RS LP to be released. instead you get two thirds of the 12 x 5 songs spread across other LPs / 45s. In consequence you miss out altogether on that lovely song "Congratulations" and three others. Nor, of course, because again the British variants have been used without exception, do you get that amazing classic "The Spider and the Fly" that went out only on the US version of "Out of our Heads". There are a few other losses from that early period prior to Aftermath, enough to have made up an entire LP. I would rather have seen those classics included than the rubbish album "Metamorphosis", which the Stones themselves never wanted released. That album is a waste of space and the few tracks on it worth issuing could have been placed on another disc along with the lost classics mentioned above.

I've just opened this set and as a package it is beautifully put together - the mono versions of the first five albums are excellent with that weird compelling gestalt of the Brian era Stones rendered even more fascinating by the way in which these guys all mesh with each other in mono - Brian's filigree guitar lines and harp playing, Keith's impeccable sense of what a rock riff is, Bill's picked bass lines, and of course Charlie - the ineffable charlie - and Mick's voice and his and Keef's lyrics.God knows what particular crossroads these guys did their deal on, but the truth revealed here is that they played this mostly black music like they were born just outside of Clarksdale and - to boot - they were a unit - only the Butterfield band gets into this kind/level of synchromesh and they didn't manage to sustain it for very long. So its all good and if you've got a good deck and decent valve amp, put it on, pump it up and take a little trip.a couple of caveats - the albums are not the original UK releases in each case - the album that was first released as "Out of Our Heads" is not here in its UK form but it supplied with the "Decembers Children" Cover ( and that album is not here at all). I think I'm right in saying that this combination was what the US market got. That is a pity because the "real" "Out of Our Heads" is a triumph of sequencing, opening up with their slow drag through "Mercy,Mercy" and then hitting stride on track 3 with "The Last Time" and then of course the impeccable side 2 opener "Satisfaction" ..... maybe its what one grows up with - but no "spider and the fly" ??? or "One More Try" ? I can only assume thats the abkco factor at work.... also, the 3-D cover of "Satanic Majesties" has been replaced with a straightforward photograph so the originals will head steadily north in value. Also, "High Tide and Green Grass" comes with its booklet but this not an integral part of the sleeve as it was on the original disc - but - these are minor quibbles. This is a great set and one that will appreciate in all senses.[I note elsewhere that the second box is already becoming hard to find which is a mystery as most of its contents have been remastered/ reissued already and the recordings were generally better on these albums in any case, (quite apart from the question marks over the writing quality in some of the later albums). Although "A Bigger Bang" really is (in parts) the best thing they've done for some time... ] Whatever, this 64-69 vinyl box is the proverbial real deal.

In answer to questions posed by others, the lineage of this box is as follows. The albums Rolling Stones, No2, Out of Our Heads, Big Hits and Through the Past as well as the two EP's are 2010 remasters. The rest of the albums are 2002/3 remasters and are, as far as I can see, identical to the vinyl issued around the time of the SACD upgrade.Rolling Stones, No2, Out of Our Heads and the two EP's are listed as being in Mono which they are. However, Big Hits is also in mono as well.As for sound, the mono pressings do sound remarkable. The sonic clarity is incredible, as are the pressings with no background static at all between tracks. I agree with an earlier reviewer, this is indeed the way to hear these albums. In fact, Out of Our Heads is a pleasure to behold in this form. These versions are available on bootleg CD, and on the original pressings, but for me this trumps the lot.If anything lets this box down, it's the sleeves. If you're going to spend all of this time and effort in pressing high quality vinyl then why not invest the same time and effort on the sleeves?- All of the sleeves are printed on dull matt card, no laminate.- Satanic Majesties retains the gatefold but instead of a blue or red background defaults to silver as per the 2002 SACD sleeve. I suppose it is a bit too much to ask for the 3D sleeve then...- Big Hits has the original booklet but as a three panel foldout.- Beggars Banquet uses the toilet sleeve instead of the original "invite" sleeve.- No poster with Let It Bleed- Each sleeve has reissue information printed on it along with the usual barcode cluttering up the image. Why not issue reproduction sleeves and have all the reissue information on a stand alone sheet?On the plus side, Through The Past does have a the die cut sleeve and also comes with a fascimile inner with the blue margin showing through the punch hole at the rear. Also, the sleeve images are generally speaking crystal clear - Rolling Stones looks blurred and No2 way too dark, but they always did.Finally, the labels revert to red for mono and blue for stereo.You also get a download code to access all tracks in MP3 format. At least now the bootleggers willbe able to update the mono CD's out there.So, on balance the music is 5*, the sleeves only 3*. Whether this represents value for money is a moot point. If the mono pressings and Through the Past get issued as stand alone vinyl then it won't. If not, then it may. Each box is individually numbered on the base so it does infer on it a certain amount of individuality.

A great box set at a great price! When this box went out of print, the prices skyrocketed through the roof everywhere. I found a sealed copy earlier this summer for $600 and thought that was a bargain. It was slightly dented in one of the corners so I was somewhat disappointed. Finally I came across your Amazon.ca sight and found this copy which was still sealed, in perfect condition and priced very low. I felt very lucky I was able to get my paws on this before it disappeared. And it now has (for this low reasonable price.) Many thanks to you folks!

Nice packaging,lps are well mastered,but it would have ben nice to get the mp3 download voucher as in the other boxed set,but anyway,if you buy lps,you don't care about mp3's.The covers are nice,the inserts should have been of better quality than the cheap paper ones included.

Pünktlich am Erscheinungstag ist die heiß ersehnte Box (und auch ihr "Glimmer Twin", die 1971-2005-Box) bei mir angekommen.Verpackung einwandfrei, alles original versiegelt und unbeschädigt.Habe dann das ganze Wochenende dazu genutzt, mich zunächst einmal mit der ersten Box der Decca/ABKCO-Periode 1964-1969 zu beschäftigen.Der die LP's beherbergende Karton ist stabil und wird nach oben hin geöffnet. Beim Schließen ergibt sich der interessante Effekt, dass das obere Teil ganz von selbst und quasi in Zeitlupe nach unten wandert. Auf der Unterseite ist die Box sechsstellig nummeriert (bei mir: 007848).Das Set beinhaltet die neun britischen Originalalben inklusive "Metamorphosis", die beiden "Big Hits" -Compilations sowie die EP's "The Rolling Stones" und "Five By Five", alles remastert und auf 180g Vinyl. Die EP's sind im Gegensatz zu den Originalen im 12"-Format, laufen aber ebenfalls mit 45rpm.Insgesamt 142 Tracks, einige wenige Überschneidungen, natürlich ist dies nicht der ganze Output der Decca-Jahre, da viele Singles B-Seiten und auch Tracks, die z.B. auf "Flowers" enthalten sind, fehlen.Die Druckqualität mancher Cover ist nicht optimal, die Verklebung ist auf den ersten Blick stabil, scheint aber nicht für die Ewigkeit gemacht.Schön ist die Reproduktion der originalen Decca-Labeletiketten (bis 1966 rot, ab 1967 blau).Die erste "Big Hits" enthält die originale Photo-Beilage, "Through The Past, Darkly" kommt im achteckigen Cover. "Their Satanic Majesties Request" leider nicht im 3-D-Wackelcover...aber hat das jemand ernsthaft erwartet?Die Soundqualität entspricht bei den bereits im Rahmen der 2002 CD-Remasters erschienenen Alben eben diesen. Besonders interessant natürlich, das jetzt auch "The Rolling Stones", "The Rolling Stones No. 2" und die britischen Versionen der beiden "Big Hits"-Alben vorliegen. Die EP's waren ja bereits in der ersten Singles-Box 1963-1965 enthalten.Alle LP's klingen durchgehend besser als die mir vorliegenden, hauptsächlich aus den Achtzigerjahren stammenden Pressungen.Zu der Glaubensfrage "DSD Remasters auf Vinyl - ja oder nein?" kann ich daher nicht viel sagen.Gänzlich unerwartet für mich liegt den Boxen auch ein Downloadcode für den jeweils kompletten Inhalt bei, den man auf der Back-To-Black Internetseite abrufen kann (mp3-320 kBit/s).Zu der Musik brauche ich hier natürlich nichts zu sagen, außer dass es sich selbstverständlich um den essentiellen Back-Katalog der Stones handelt.Das wird alleine schon dadurch deutlich, dass das Material aus diesen sechs Jahren dem des Box-Sets 1971-2005 (34 Jahre!) wohl immer noch zumindest knapp überlegen ist.Insgesamt gefällt mir die Box sehr gut und macht natürlich auch optisch und haptisch einiges her. Steigerungsfähig wäre wie schon gesagt, die Druckqualität und Verarbeitung der Cover.Die drei Live-Veröffentlichungen aus dieser Phase wären auch noch wünschenswert gewesen...aber ich vermute mal, das vielleicht irgendwann noch ein komplettes Live-Box-Set erscheinen wird (von der "Got Live..." EP bis zu "Shine A Light").Noch schöner wäre es, wenn die Archive endlich geöffnet würden und eine Art Stones-Anthology das Licht der Welt erblicken dürfte.Wann...? Vielleicht am Vorabend des 12.07.2012 -- träumen darf man doch wohl ;-).Solange melken Sir Mick & Co. eben die immer gleiche Kuh, und ich kann ihnen noch nicht einmal böse sein.