In August, we told you that ABKCO Records would be releasing a massive box set including all of the studio albums released in mono by the Rolling Stones in the 1960s. The Rolling Stones in Mono will be available on September 30 in both 15-CD and 16-LP vinyl configurations, as well as Standard Digital, Mastered for iTunes and True HD (96k/24 bit, 192k/24 bit and DSD).
Now comes word that ABKCO has upped the ante. Best Classic Bands has learned that a deluxe version of each box will be bundled with a set of nine extremely limited Rolling Stones 7” vinyl singles. Per the announcement, “Each single is an exact reproduction of a significant hit record from a different country with original art matching how the single looked in that specific nation at the time of release. After the bundles are sold out, the remaining individual 7”s will only be available in local record stores in their respective countries.”
Pre-orders are being taken via uDiscover (with or without 7″ bundles) in advance of the September 30 release date. To order with the 7″ bundle, click here. To pre-order the vinyl box without 7″ bundle, click here.
The 7” singles:
– Poison Ivy/Fortune Teller (UK, 1963)
– Fortune Teller/Sad Day (Australia, 1966)
– Tell Me (You’re Coming Back)/Carol (Japan, 1964)
– Time Is On My Side/Congratulations (Norway, 1964)
– Empty Heart/Around And Around (Netherlands, 1964)
– Not Fade Away/I Wanna Be Your Man (Canada, 1964)
– 2,000 Light Years From Home/She’s A Rainbow (Germany, 1967)
– We Love You/Dandelion (France, 1967)
– Street Fighting Man/No Expectations (U.S., 1968)
The announcement goes on to note: “The American version of ‘Street Fighting Man’ was the Stones’ first picture sleeve single without an image of the band. Instead, it features a black and white photo of riot police at a protest, one officer with his foot on a fallen man, and another photo of riot police restraining a man. Released the same month as the 1968 Democratic National Convention, where police brutalized protestors, the art was immediately withdrawn, thereby making it one of the most valuable picture sleeve singles in existence by any artist. ABKCO has restored the controversial art for posterity.”
The Rolling Stones In Mono includes the entirety of the band’s studio output in the 1960s, many tracks of which are available in mono digitally for the first time ever. During that era, great care was put into mono mixes, which outsold stereo versions of the same records for the first half of the decade. Mixing in stereo was more of an afterthought, and as a result, mono is thought by many to be sonically superior.
The Rolling Stones in Mono covers the formative years of 1963-69 featuring hits like “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” “Get Off Of My Cloud,” “19th Nervous Breakdown,” “Paint it Black” and “Ruby Tuesday,” to name a few. The idea behind releasing the collection, the press release explains, is that, “Most rock and pop recordings were originally recorded in mono, with stereo often an afterthought, dealt with only following the completion of the original (mono) version of a given track.”
Related: Rolling Stones documentaries premiere in September
In addition to the Stones’ original albums from this period, some in both their U.K. and U.S. configurations, the collection includes an additional disc – Stray Cats – of single and EP tracks from the ’60s (see listing below).
Recording engineer Dave Hassinger, who worked with the Stones from 1964-66, explained how he mixed the Stones in mono: “They always played together at the same time,” he is quoted as saying. “They would run the parts down, work out the changes here and there, nail it down, then start recording.”
Journalist David Fricke, in his 5,000-word essay that accompanies the set, writes, “The Rolling Stones in Mono is the full studio account of that first decade of history and mayhem, newly remastered with unprecedented fidelity and revelatory detail.” His commentaries are included with the vinyl and CD box sets as part of a four-color deluxe 48-page book that features rare photos by photographer Terry O’Neill. The 16 LPs or 15 CDs are housed in the original full-color album jackets that fit along with the book into a one-piece specially crafted box.
Related: The London bar scene of the early Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones in Mono was mastered by engineer Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering.
The box includes the following Rolling Stones albums:
1) The Rolling Stones (UK, 1964)
2) 12 X 5 (1964)
3) The Rolling Stones No. 2 (UK, 1965)
4) The Rolling Stones Now! (1965)
5) Out of Our Heads (US, 1965)
6) Out of Our Heads (UK, 1965)
7) December’s Children (And Everybody’s) (1965)
8) Aftermath (UK, 1966)
9) Aftermath (US, 1966)
10) Between the Buttons (UK, 1967)
11) Flowers (1967)
12) Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967)
13) Beggar’s Banquet (1968)
14) Let it Bleed (1969)
15) Stray Cats (a new collection of single A- and B-sides plus EP tracks)*
*Stray Cats Tracklist
1) Come On
2) I Want To Be Loved
3) I Wanna Be Your Man
4) Stoned
5) Fortune Teller
6) Poison Ivy (Version 1)
7) Bye Bye Johnny
8) Money
9) Poison Ivy (Verison 2)
10) Not Fade Away
11) I’ve Been Loving You Too Long
12) The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man (single version)
13) 19th Nervous Breakdown
14) Sad Day
15) Con Le Mie Lacrime (As Tears Go By)
16) Long, Long While
17) Who’s Driving Your Plane?
18) We Love You (single version)
19) Dandelion (single version)
20) Child Of The Moon
21) Jumpin’ Jack Flash
22) Street Fighting Man (single version)
23) Honky Tonk Women
24) You Can’t Always Get What You Want (single version)
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