Ultimate Classic Rock ranks the Rolling Stones compilation albums

Rolling Stones Compilations Ranked Worst to Best »

Here are the rankings.

14. Sucking In The Seventies
13. Metamorphosis
12. Made In The Shade
11. Jump Back: The Best Of The Rolling Stones
10. Grrr! (3 cd version)
9. Rarities 1971-2003
8. Rewind (1971-1984)
7. More Hot Rocks (Big Hits And Fazed Cookies)
6. Flowers
5. Through The Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol.2)
4. Big Hits (High Tide And Green Grass)
3. Hot Rocks (1964-1971)
2. Forty Licks
1. The Singles Collection: The London Years

You can read the commentary about each one in the article.

Rolled Gold + the cd reissue is my favorite compilation for the Abkco years.

What say you forum members?

This list also might be helpful to more recent Stones fans as well.

 

I've never owned Hot Rocks and only got Rolled Gold a couple of years ago. Hot Rocks is like opening a book a third of the way through it. Put together the two UK Big Hits compilations and you've got a much better album.

 

More Hot Rocks is my favorite. I keep going back to it.

 

The 4 disc version of Grrr! (with the '63 IBC demos bonus disc and 7 inch vinyl EP of the '64 BBC session) is my fave greatest hits comp. 89 songs total. Pure Stones heaven.

 

4. Big Hits (High Tide And Green Grass)
This was the very first Rolling Stones albums I heard as a yound lad, I'm glad it's still highly regarded after all these years.

 

Flowers

 

I would probably move the number 1 & 2 ranked items behind Through The Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol.2) at least. The singles collection doesn't really flow well for me and Forty Licks necessarily includes later year material that I could do without.

Hot Rocks and the first two Bit Hits volumes captured their ABKCO/London period well. While they still had a few good killer releases after that (Sticky, Exile, Goat's Head, Some Girls), the glory days were over.

 

I have six out of the top seven on the list.

The Singles Collection - London Years
Hot Rocks (64-71)
More Hot Rocks (Big Hits And Fazed Cookies)
Big Hits (High Tide And Green Grass)
Through The Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol.2)
Flowers*

* my wife's favorite Stones album (childhood memory)

 

Rolled Gold was my goto album for the last 30 years or so. Great entry level comp for all the Decca stuff.

 

Make your own 'Tribute to Flowers' CD

Ruby Tuesday ~ Melanie
Think ~ Chris Farlowe*
Let's Spend the Night Together ~ David Bowie
Lady Jane ~ David Garrick
Out of Time ~ Chris Farlowe
My Girl ~ The Temptations
Back Street Girl ~ Bobby Darin
Please Go Home ~ Izzy Stradlin
Mother's Little Helper ~ Liz Phar
Take it or Leave It ~ The Searchers
Ride On, Baby ~ Chris Farlowe
Sittin on a Fence ~ Twice as Much

* I cheated. There's no decent cover versions of HYSYMBSITS

 

Nothing can touch The Singles Collection !

 

There are too many essential songs left out if you do that IMHO.

 

i never understood buying greatest hits albums unless you are only buying 1 record...best thing about a record are the deep cuts, not the hits...

IMHO

 

You hit the skip button too often on The Singles Collection. Songs like Stones and I Wanna Be Loved can only be played once a decade.

 

14. Sucking In The Seventies

C'mon it ain't THAT bad....is it? Had it on tape back-in-the-day.

 

It's great but it misses tracks like Gimme Shelter, Midnight Rambler and Under My Thumb for example that are classic tracks not issued as singles.

 

Singles Collection is rightfully number 1. For a Stones fan who owns all the regular-release LPs throughout the period covered (as any self-respecting fan of the band should), it's the one collection on the list that's still indispensable...

 

Never owned Hot Rocks, Sucking in the 70s, Made in the Shade, Slow Rollers, Solid Rock, Milestones, No Stone Unturned, Collectors' Item, Time Waits For No Man, The Unstoppable Stones, Rock 'n' Rolling Stones .... etc

 

Rolled Gold was my entry to the Stones and served me proud for many many years. Rewind was solid too for the 70s/80s material. Sucking in the 70s rules.

 

If you've got all the albums originally released in Japan this is all you need



1. I Want To Be Loved
2. I Wanna Be Your Man
3. Stoned
4. Poison Ivy
5. Poison Ivy (The Other Take)
6. Bye Bye Johnny
7. Money
8. Time Is On My Side
9. I Can't Be Satisfied
10. Fortune Teller
11. Medley
12. I'm Movin' On
13. Route 66
14. She Said Yeah
15. Talkin' 'Bout You
16. Look What you've Done
17. The Singer Not The Song
18. I'm Free
19. Gotta Get Away
20. Blue Turns To Grey
21. Sad Day
22. Long Long While
23. Who's Driving your Plane
24. We Love you
25. Child Of The Moon
26. Memo From Turner

 

The Singles Collection deserves #1 IMO. The rest I am neither here nor there.

 

If you've got the 3CD singles collection you still miss out on the two UK studio EPs.

 

Hot rocks is the only thing I've owned of the Stones. It served my needs.

Ya wanna hear something odd? I didn't even know the Stones existed until around 1971-72. I never heard them on the radio and noone I knew had anything by them. WINX never played them that I know of and I didn't start hearing their music until I found out about WGTB, WMAL and WHFS. I must have been 14 when I first found out they existed on my planet.

 

Through The Past, Darkly is my favorite. I had it when I was a kid. Love the songs and the cover. I think all those early comps work well for the Stones.

 

The cover is one of the Stones' best in my opinion.