I don't understand why this 'Stones compilation is so underrated. It includes most, if not all, of the hits that were made by this great band from 1963 to 1971. I'm a new fan of the 'Stones and I bought this compilation because it has all the songs from Hot Rocks and many more great songs that that disc doesn't include. I'm very glad that I went with this great CD!!!

To be brief, this collection is (almost) everything a casual fan could want from the early years of the Stones.

As a big fan of the Stones I was really impressed by the song selection as it is a better representation of the band's sound than Hot Rocks (which all but excludes their dalliance in the psychedelic) This collection has a permanent home in my car.

A great compilation. (...now if someone would only get as good a collection of the Rolling Stones Records years together)

This CD was just what I was looking for. I love the old Stones and this CD delivered the goods. When people ask for examples of what makes the Stones a great band--especially young people today, they need to hear these classics. Most of these songs don't get played on the radio and these early Stones songs are the best example of their best work.

It's a great collection, bettering the two Hot Rocks releases combined by 5 tracks and featuring a similar (if questionable) mix. The sound is maybe even a little crisper and even more shrill here, the separation and staging a bit more pronounced. It's almost too well defined and clean, loosing that soft, hazy feel of the original releases that I like to think of as ambiance. A matter of taste. Memory and nostalgia can be confused with delusion so easily, so maybe these mixes are in fact better. But the more even, level equalization of the old crackling, popping lp's lent these old tunes a patina of authenticity that these later remasters seem to be snubbing their noses at. That's the question here, does making these songs clearer and cleaner actually make them better? I'm not sure, especially since I readily admit that many old albums do, in fact, benefit enormously from a technological face lift. (Van Halen and Queen, just to name two, are revelations of reanimation - their grand, broad, bombastic sound explodes wonderfully on their latest remasters.)

But the Stones have always prowled through lo-fi, low rent neighborhoods, and the muddy, hazier mixes of their earlier, greatest albums, I think, contributes to their unique magic. You can repackage 'em all you want, if that's what it takes to keep the units moving off the shelves, but tampering with the actual content is a tricky, probably cynical maneuver. Some things - a very few precious things - are best left unchanged. The old vinyls that I occasionally put on at first make me smile with their almost muffled, distant quaintness, but after a few moments I accept them warmly, gratefully for their sincerely reasonable tone. My ears haven't forgotten the joy, the bliss, that these remarkable songs brought to my drab suburban life, and I really shouldn't abandon them now for the brighter, flashier, more obnoxious remasters. Because they're dear old friends, I just don't want to disrespect them. I can't. I won't.