Occasional Albums Thing 035 - Rolling Stones “Through The Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2)”

I love music from the 1960’s. Mostly obscure British and US Freakbeat/Garage/Psyche bands, obscure groups that made one, or if they were lucky two singles, and lesser known Soul artists. But I do like the big boys of the period too, my real favourites among them being the Small Faces and The Kinks. If, back then, I had been made to choose between the big two of the day I would definitely have come down on the side of the Rolling Stones over The Beatles. The Stones were rougher, tougher, more punk, before that term was in common use to label music.

Prior to my 40th year I’m sure the only Stones record I’d ever owned was a battered old copy of “Get Off Of My Cloud” that I picked up somewhere. Then for my 40th birthday a friend presented me with the very elaborate “Forty Licks” box set he’d transported all the way from America for me. A strange gift I thought at the time, having never expressed to him an admiration for the Stones, but one day I sat down to listen to it and…bloody hell that one was good…ooh and that one…and this one’s a belter…you get the picture (“yes we see”). I suddenly found myself appreciating the Rolling Stones far more than I ever thought I would.

Which brings us to this, the Stones second (in the UK) hits collection from 1969. I like unusual records and this one fits the bill. The sleeve is octagonal, special octagonal inner sleeves had to be made for it, which I’m sure delighted Decca when the bill came in. There’s a tribute to Brian Jones, who had died a few months before this record’s release, inside the gatefold sleeve. It came in to the shop in a collection I bought, it was pretty mucky but the gatefold sleeve was still intact and it still had its octagonal inner sleeves, you’d be amazed how many of these I’ve seen where the inner is missing.

As for the track listing (don’t worry I won’t go through it song by song, if you’re not familiar with this stuff where have you been ?), well there are a couple of curve-balls in “Dandelion” (b-side of “We Love You”), “Sittin’ On A Fence” a rinky-dink folky single I’d almost completely erased from memory, and a most out of place 1964 cover of Arthur Alexander’s “You Better Move On”. But the rest is primetime Stones, “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”, “Let’s Spend The Night Together”, “Ruby Tuesday” and “Honky Tonk Women” among others. I gotta make particular mention of “Street Fighting Man” their 1968 single inspired by the numerous politically motivated violent encounters across the world that year. It fair leaps out of the speakers and goes straight for the throat, lyrically (Hey, said my name is called Disturbance, I'll shout and scream, I'll kill the king, I'll rail at all his servants) as well as musically, a quite remarkable blast of rage.

As I’m sure you’re aware the Stones are still at it, well, two of the Stones are still at it and I’d posit that much of that longevity is because of these songs that they wrote and performed in the Sixties (and early 70’s). Where The Beatles were the clean cut boys you could possibly take home to meet your folks the Rolling Stones were the kind of fellas your parents warned you about and hoped you’d avoid. They’re not my favourite band from the Sixties, I’m more than happy for this to be the only Stones record in my collection and honestly more for the unusual cover than anything else, although I’ll say again, “Street Fighting Man” is magnificent…have a listen…

Street Fighting Man - https://youtu.be/BUt0dZXPFoU?si=YNrwUqShTxNuIoeT