The Rolling Stones - Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits, Vol. 2) [US Remastered] (CD)

All Music Guide

This album was spawned by three coinciding events the need to acknowledge the death of band cofounder Brian Jones (whose epitaph graces the inside cover) in July of 1969; the need to get "Honky Tonk Women," then a huge hit single, onto an LP; and to fill the tenmonth gap since the release of Beggars Banquet and get an album with builtin appeal into stores ahead of the Stones' first American tour in three years. The fact that the Stones had amassed a sufficient number of hits since their last greatesthits compilation in early 1966 (Big Hits: High Tide and Green Grass) made this a nobrainer, and its song lineup was as potent at the time as any compilation of hit singles by any artist. From the group's excursions into fey psychedelia ("Paint It, Black," "Ruby Tuesday," "She's a Rainbow," "Dandelion"), space rock ("2000 Light Years From Home"), punk decadence ("Mother's Little Helper"), and back to straightahead rock roll ("Jumpin' Jack Flash"), some of it with a topical edge ("Street Fi...ghting Man"), it's all incredibly potent, though also redundant to the extent that "Ruby Tuesday" and "Let's Spend the Night Together" had previously appeared on two U.S. albums. The presence of "Honky Tonk Women" propelled it to gold record status upon release on both sides of the Atlantic, although the simultaneously released British version (long out of print, except as a bootleg CD) is different and more confusing, but also more diverse and rewarding musically than the American version. Both this album and Big Hits: High Tide and Green Grass have been supplanted by Hot Rocks and More Hot Rocks, but are still handy in their tight respective focuses.The Rolling Stones' London/ABKCO catalog was reissued in August of 2002, packaged in digipacks with restored album artwork, remastered, and released as hybrid discs that contain both CD and Super Audio CD layers. The remastering performed with Direct Stream Digital (DSD) encoding is a drastic improvement, leaping out of the speaker yet still sounding like the original albums. This is noticeable on the standard CD layer but is considerably more pronounced on the SACD layer, which is shockingly realistic in its detail and presence yet is still faithful to the original mixes; Keith Richards' revvedup acoustic guitar on "Street Fighting Man" still sends the machine into overdrive, for instance. It just sounds like he's in the room with you. Even if you've never considered yourself an audiophile, have never heard the differences between standard and goldplated CDs, you will hear the difference with SACD, even on a cheap stereo system without a highend amplifier or speakers. And you won't just hear the difference, you'll be an instant convert and wish, hope, and pray that other artists whose catalog hasn't been reissued since the early days of CD Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, especially the Beatles are given the same treatment in the very near future. SACD and DSD are that good.] - Bruce Eder, All Music Guide Read more Less