The Rolling Stones

In Mono

Every Stones studio recording from 1963 until 1969, both UK and US versions, presented as they were (almost) all originally heard in playback by the band themselves. Although not directly cut from the master tapes (Grammy Award-winning engineer Bob Ludwig, utilised Direct Stream Digital transfers) the records – lacquer-cut at Abbey Road, and pressed onto 180-gram vinyl – sound truly fantastic. This writer could only listen to CD masters so make of that what you will, but the delights are many, including the full angry punk-rocket dirt of those early cuts and a revelatory multilayered Satanic Majesties mono mix. Reservations? Let It Bleed and Beggars Banquet sound a wee bit muddy to these ears, closer to the original fold-down mono mixes rather than something entirely startling and fresh.