<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon®ion=GB&placement=B089HYQRTM&asins=B089HYQRTM&linkId=f0ea238545b23ae4e32b01bf6639ea6e&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>
"...Let It Rock...Or Maybe Not..."
This Review Along With 352 Others Is Available In My
SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites
GET IT ON - 1971
Your All-Genres Guide To
Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters
50th Anniversary Issue for 2021
A Huge 3,040-Plus E-Pages
All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs
(No Cut and Paste Crap)
Just Click Below To Purchase
<iframe
style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0"
scrolling="no" frameborder="0"
src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon®ion=GB&placement=B06XFXCG47&asins=B06XFXCG47&linkId=6b6b550334019077ff7a777cb9cf83a4&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>
First up, this isn't a cassette as some sites have been claiming - it's a Japanese Reissue of The Rolling Stones album "Sticky Fingers" on CD WITHOUT the Mini LP Repro packaging but with a SHM-CD (Super High Materials CD - playable on all players). But there are very real pluses and minuses here - hence the four stars. Some explanation about the cover first...
The famous Andy Warhol 'zipper and jeans' album sleeve pictured above (with underpants pictured inside) was issued worldwide in April 1971 on Rolling Stones Records. But the politics of the day made sure that the artwork underwent some interesting variations - namely this one here - the Spanish 'treacle tin with fingers' sleeve. It also sported a different track listing on Side 2 only...
1. Brown Sugar [Side 1]
2. Sway
3. Wild Horses
4. Can't You Hear Me Knocking
5. You've Got To Move
6. Bitch [Side 2]
7. I Got The Blues
8. Let It Rock (Live) - should be the track "Sister Morphine"
9. Dead Flowers
10. Moonlight Mile
An incensed General Franco banned the naughty Jeans cover in Spain, so they opted for the Fowlers treacle cover - which is arguably way worse and far more offensive. The problem is that 'Dedos Pegajosos' (as it was called there) replaced Track 3 on Side 2 - the magnificent "Sister Morphine" song, itself apparently banned because of its addiction references - with a totally out of place live cover version of Chuck Berry's "Let It Rock" - a song that had turned up on 3-Track EP copies of the "Brown Sugar" 45-single in the UK.
"Let It Rock" was for the rest of the world exclusive to that 45-single, but not in Spain. Problem is that - recorded live and muddy - it isn't a patch on "Sister Morphine" and the removal of SM reduces a truly great album down to a merely really good one.
Now to the CD, of which there are two versions - 2019 and 2020:
The Japanese (true to their meticulous standards) mimicked the 1971 Spanish artwork and track listing exactly for a 22 May 2019 SHM-CD on Rolling Stones Records/Polydor UICY-78937 (Barcode 4988031334409) - so you gain "Let It Rock" but loose "Sister Morphine" and that 'paper sleeve' repro artwork everyone loves. It has the Spanish language inner sleeve and a booklet mostly in Japanese. That variant is about £45 and can be found elsewhere on Amazon (use the barcode I've provided above to locate it).
This second variant is a 4 December 2020 global reissue of that in a standard jewel case (no paper sleeve packaging) - but with an SHM-CD inside (Super High Materials, a better form of CD). Rolling Stones Records/Polydor UICY-78937 (Barcode 600753872949) is currently selling for less than 13 or 15 pounds. It has a booklet and Obi strip and Remastered sound. If you use Barcode 600753872949 - you can locate it on Amazon to purchase.
In an ideal world we should have gotten an 11-track "Sticky Fingers" with the unique Spanish artwork for collectors and fans to enjoy but with the "Let It Rock" live track tagged on at the end of the play as a Bonus. But alas...
If you want any further information, speak to G. Franco – apparently he has the skinny on all things Seventies, European and moral...
