The Rolling Stones
GRRR!
(UME)

The Stones know greatest hits collections because they’ve released a number of them in their 50-year career. But the new three-disk, 50-song set GRRR!, which also features two new tracks, is the greatest hits of their greatest hits.

The collection begins appropriately with their first single, their cover of Chuck Berry’s “Come On” from 1963, and has all the expected hits from “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and “Paint It, Black” to “Sympathy For The Devil” and “Start Me Up.” But it’s the unexpected that makes the collection interesting, such as including some of the lesser-known hits from the 80’s and 90’s, which are solid tracks, but surprising additions such as “She Was Hot” and “Highwire.” The set also features tracks like “We Love You” from 1967, which features John Lennon and Paul McCartney on backing vocals and is a Stones sort of variation on “All You Need Is Love.” It also features “Don’t Stop” from their 2002 compilation Forty Licks, which aren’t heard that often here in the States and make for interesting additions.

The new tracks, “Doom and Gloom” and “One More Shot,” fit right into the Stones’ repertoire and hold up among their hits from the last three decades. The latter song might actually be something of a fitting theme song for the boys’ love lives over the years. The best material may be from their heyday in the late 60’s and 70’s, but if you imagine each track representing a year in their career, it’s a pretty amazing run and a few great hours of amazing music.