Another review of the Stones sampler

Found this thread on a Stones message board, regarding the sampler for the upcoming remasters.

http://www.novogate.com/board/968/109525-1.html

In particular check out this post:

I notice that, like Luke, this guy singles out "Factory Girl" as sounding especially fine. I hope that holds for all of Beggars, that's probably my favorite Stones album after Exile.

 

I've heard "Skippy" is a bit "out there" sometimes. Some of what he says doesn't really make much sense. Like the part about remixes - other than *maybe* Satisfaction, none of these songs are remixes. Why he would think otherwise is unclear.

 

I might as well post my reaction to the CDR I got of this today...it's hardly complete (and I haven't done any headphone listening yet)

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Well, finally got the sampler today...thank god the post office people
caved in to my whining and gave me my mail before ten...hehe.

Anyway, some reactions:

a) Christ almighty, is the bass boosted or what? It's the first thing I notice on most of the tracks, in fact, especially things like Get Off Of My Cloud (which is still sort of dull and echoey, but MUCH louder thanks to the bass boost).

b) I don't get the fold-downs. At all. Especially on tracks like Honkey Tonk Woman...why bother? (I haven't figured out whether this is a Miss Amanda Jones-alike, though...)

c) Continuing from the above, Miss Amanda Jones seems to be sort of weird, though. Firstly, the fold-down seems confined to the intro (After the intro, there are definately distinct sounds left/right that have no overlap), and the general feel of the track is so markedly different that I'd peg it as a possible alternate mix if I didn't know better. Jagger's lower vocal has never been that prominent, and it suddenly becomes the "main" vocal of the song.

d) She's a Rainbow sounds pretty much the same, but has a major bass boost.

e) I find I Am Waiting to be a bit less "murky" than on the After-math disc, but this is possible due to the fold-down emphasizing vocals, or something. Another odd-sounding track.

f) Wild Horses and Brown Sugar. Big ****ing whoop. I can't believe ABKCO pulled the game of "We have these two tracks on Hot Rocks...here they are AGAIN." Maybe they can be on BOTH discs of "40 Licks."

g) I've never liked the live Midnight Rambler. I know this has nothing to do with the sound quality of the sampler, but Ya Yas just never impressed me, sonically or otherwise...I dunno.

h) You Got the Silver sounds pretty good, but Let It Bleed as an album (barring Gimme Shelter, really) has always sounded pretty good, even on ABKCO. Although hearing the Keith vocal version (for the first time in ages) was somewhat jarring.

i) When not listening on headphones, the 'new' Satisfaction isn't as obnoxious, but I honestly can't see the point. So it sounds like the mono mix...big freakin' deal. The distortion all over the vocal track is also pretty interesting, as it's a very "analogue" sort of distortion.
It isn't unpleasant, exactly, just odd, as it's never been there before, and nothing ELSE in the song has it.