When the Rolling Stones kick a celebration into high gear, they're not kidding. Hot on the heels of various and sundry documentaries, DVDs, Blu-rays and luxury vinyl box sets, the world's greatest rock and roll band has just announced its first-ever compilation-styled career-spanning box set. GRRR! is a joint project of ABKCO and Universal Music Group, and it's slated to arrive on November 13 in the U.S. and one day earlier in all other territories.
The new set is more comprehensive than the 2-CD career-spanning 40 Licks, tracing the band's career from its first single release and earliest hits to the present day, via two all-new recordings recently completed in Paris, France: new songs "Gloom and Doom" and "One Last Shot." And you just might go, ahem, ape over the artwork created by longtime Stones associate Walton Ford! GRRR! is being offered in four distinct formats as follows, although the track listings are not yet available:
- Standard 3-CD Edition
50 tracks housed in a digipak, with 24-page booklet - Deluxe 3-CD Edition
50 tracks housed in a DVD-style package with 36-page hardcover book and five collectible postcards - Super Deluxe Box Set (5-CD and Vinyl)
80 tracks on 4 CDs plus: one bonus CD, 7-inch vinyl, hardcover book, five collectible postcards and a poster - Vinyl Box Set (12-Inch Vinyl)
50 tracks on five 12-inch vinyl LPs
After the jump, dive into the official press release, where you'll also find pre-order links and track listings!
The Rolling Stones, ABKCO Music & Records and Universal Music Group are pleased to announce the release of GRRR! by The Rolling Stones on the 12th of November 2012 for the World Excluding North America and on the 13th of November 2012 in North America
Available in various different formats - including a three-CD 50 track version featuring 50 tracks, and a four-CD Super-Deluxe version gathering a whopping 80 tracks - the collection tells the fascinating ongoing story of the Greatest Rock'n'Roll Band In The World, from their high octane version of Chuck Berry's "Come On," their first single issued in June 1963, via the thrilling chart-toppers "The Last Time," "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," "Get Off Of My Cloud," "Jumping Jack Flash" and "Honky Tonk Women" and the perennial juke-box and concert favourites "Brown Sugar," "Tumbling Dice," "Miss You" and "Start Me Up," all the way to the present day with the inclusion of "Gloom and Doom" and "One Last Shot," two new studio recordings recently completed by the group in Paris, France.
These brand new recordings constitute the first time Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood have all been together in the studio since completing the exalted A Bigger Bang album in 2005, and follow on from the critically-acclaimed expanded re-releases of the historic 40th Anniversary live Madison Square Garden concert "Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!" in November 2009 and of two of their seventies masterworks, Exile on Main St., in May 2010, and Some Girls, in November 2011.
All GRRR! formats will feature a striking painting by award-winning American artist Walton Ford, who has created the latest in a long line of iconic artwork that has always been part of the band's DNA.
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were school friends who lost touch, met up again at Dartford train station in 1960, and bonded over a shared love of rock'n'roll and Chicago blues. Within a couple of years, they were joined by guitarist Brian Jones and pianist Ian Stewart and became part of the rich rhythm and blues scene that gravitated around Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies in London. By January 1963, they had added drummer Charlie Watts and bassist Bill Wyman and were playing a repertoire of Chess Records favourites Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters - whose Rollin' Stone composition provided their name - and Howlin' Wolf - whose "Little Red Rooster" became their second UK number one in 1964. Jagger and Richards forged a creative partnership that endures to this day and has produced some of the most memorable songs in music history, including the much-covered Ruby Tuesday and Wild Horses.
The Jagger-Richards catalogue is remarkably consistent, full of unexpected lyrical and melodic twists which helped shaped popular music. Compositions like "19th Nervous Breakdown," "Paint It, Black," "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?" and "Let's Spend The Night Together" articulated the feelings and frustrations of the counterculture generation and held a mirror to British society. In 1968, the Rolling Stones made the seminal Beggars Banquet album, featuring the heart-of-darkness opener "Sympathy For The Devil" and the finely-observed "Street Fighting Man" whose "what can a poor boy do, except to sing for a rock'n'roll band?" lyric sounds more apposite than ever. They survived the loss of Jones, replaced by Mick Taylor who proved a sterling contributor to Let It Bleed, the influential 1969 album which included the elegiac "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and the ominous, eerily prescient "Gimme Shelter".
With Jagger, the ultimate showman setting the gold standard for other lead singers, and Richards, the iconic guitarist raising the bar in riff-making, the Rolling Stones were the first band to master the art and craft of playing arenas and effortlessly made the groundbreaking move into stadiums in the seventies. They have remained the world's top concert attraction with every successive record-breaking tour, as effective performing beautiful ballads like "Angie" and "Fool to Cry" as the out-and-out rocker Respectable, their 1978 riposte to the punks who copped so many moves from them. The arrival of Wood, who took over from Taylor in the mid-seventies, added his signature slide and pedal steel guitar to an already heady brew and proved the perfect partner in the "ancient art for weaving" for Richards on tracks like "Beast Of Burden," coincided with the funkier direction of the dancefloor fillers "Hot Stuff" and "Emotional Rescue." In 1983, the edgy, sonically-adventurous "Undercover Of The Night" showed the group still had their finger on the pulse of alternative culture; the controversial "Undercover" video, directed by Sex Pistols associate Julien Temple, provided another highlight in a storied career that has seen them collaborate with world-famous film-makers like Nicolas Roeg, Jean-Luc Godard, Martin Scorsese, the Maysles and Peter Whitehead.
The Rolling Stones overcame the mid-eighties hiatius that nevertheless saw them score one of their biggest successes with their superior version of Bob & Earl's "Harlem Shuffle," and returned stronger than ever with the Steel Wheels album and its irresistible lead off-track "Mixed Emotions" in 1989. Following Wyman's exit in 1993, they soldiered on and hit another purple patch with the Voodoo Lounge and Bridges To Babylon albums and their respective singles, the harmonica-led "Love Is Strong" and "Anybody Seen My Baby," their first hit to feature sampling and rapping. In 2005, the soulful, gospel-infused ballad "Streets Of Love," from A Bigger Bang, became a worldwide smash 42 years after their first chart entry, while the 1972 outtake "Plundered My Soul" helped the expanded Exile On Main St. return to the top the UK album charts 38 years after its original release, a feat unmatched by any artist.
Cherry-picking timeless hit singles and classic album tracks from their peerless catalogue and bringing the story up to date, the various formats of GRRR! offer the perfect package to help Rolling Stones fans celebrate the group's fiftieth anniversary in style.
In celebration of the Rolling Stones' incredible journey, an innovative campaign has been launched to reveal their GRRR! Greatest Hits album sleeve using 3D Augmented Reality. During a three week teaser campaign, fans were invited to download the free uView app in preparation for a big announcement. From today, using the uView app fans can scan the GRRR! sleeve and watch the stunning imagery come to life in 3D animation right before their eyes. The campaign will have further exciting updates coming soon.
The use of one of the most advanced forms of mobile technology currently around solidifies The Rolling Stones as one of the most innovative bands in the world and as relevant as they have always been. The technology has been developed in partnership with Aurasma, the leaders in image recognition and augmented reality technology.
UPDATE 10/9/12: We now have track listings available!
The Rolling Stones, GRRR! (ABKCO, 2012, 3-CD Version -Standard Packaging / Deluxe Packaging)
CD 1
- Come On
- Not Fade Away
- It's All Over Now
- Little Red Rooster
- The Last Time
- (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
- Time Is On My Side
- Get Off Of My Cloud
- Heart Of Stone
- 19th Nervous Breakdown
- As Tears Go By
- Paint It, Black
- Under My Thumb
- Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?
- Ruby Tuesday
- Let's Spend The Night Together
- We Love You
CD 2
- Jumpin' Jack Flash
- Honky Tonk Women
- Sympathy For The Devil
- You Can't Always Get What You Want
- Gimme Shelter
- Street Fighting Man
- Wild Horses
- She's A Rainbow
- Brown Sugar
- Happy
- Tumbling Dice
- Angie
- Rocks Off
- Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
- It's Only Rock 'N Roll (But I Like It)
- Fool To Cry
CD 3
- Miss You
- Respectable
- Beast Of Burden
- Emotional Rescue
- Start Me Up
- Waiting On A Friend
- Undercover Of The Night
- She Was Hot
- Streets Of Love
- Harlem Shuffle
- Mixed Emotions
- Highwire
- Love Is Strong
- Anybody Seen My Baby?
- Don't Stop
- Doom And Gloom (previously unreleased)
- One More Show (previously unreleased)
The Rolling Stones, GRRR! (ABKCO, 2012, Super Deluxe Box Set)
CD 1
- Come On
- I Wanna Be Your Man
- Not Fade Away
- That's How Strong My Love Is
- It's All Over Now
- Little Red Rooster
- The Last Time
- (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
- Heart Of Stone
- Get Off Of My Cloud
- She Said Yeah
- I'm Free
- Play With Fire
- Time Is On My Side
- 19th Nervous Breakdown
- Paint It, Black
- Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?
- She's A Rainbow
- Under My Thumb
- Out Of Time
- As Tears Go By
CD 2
- Let's Spend The Night Together
- Mother's Little Helper
- We Love You
- Dandelion
- Lady Jane
- Flight 505
- 2,000 Light Years From Home
- Ruby Tuesday
- Jumpin' Jack Flash
- Sympathy For The Devil
- Child Of The Moon
- Salt Of The Earth
- Honky Tonk Women
- Midnight Rambler
- Gimme Shelter
- You Got The Silver
- You Can't Always Get What You Want
- Street Fighting Man
- Wild Horses
CD 3
- Brown Sugar
- Bitch
- Tumbling Dice
- Rocks Off
- Happy
- Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
- Angie
- It's Only Rock 'N Roll (But I Like It)
- Dance Little Sister
- Fool To Cry
- Respectable
- Miss You
- Shattered
- Far Away Eyes
- Beast Of Burden
- Emotional Rescue
- Dance, Pt. 1
- She's So Cold
- Waiting On A Friend
- Neighbours
CD 4
- Start Me Up
- Undercover Of The Night
- She Was Hot
- Harlem Shuffle
- Mixed Emotions
- Highwire
- Almost Hear You Sigh
- You Got Me Rocking
- Love Is Strong
- I Go Wild
- Like A Rolling Stone (Live, 7-19-95)
- Anybody Seen My Baby?
- Saint Of Me
- Don't Stop
- Rough Justice
- Rain Fall Down
- Streets Of Love
- Plundered My Soul
- Doom And Gloom (previously unreleased)
- One More Shot (previously unreleased)
CD 5: The IBC Demos (March 11, 1963) (previously unreleased)
- Diddley Daddy
- Road Runner
- Bright Lights Big City
- Honey What's Wrong
- I Want To Be Loved
7" Vinyl EP: Side A (previously unreleased)
- Route 66 - BBC Session
- Cops And Robbers - BBC Session
7" Vinyl EP: Side B (previously unreleased)
- You Better Move On - BBC Session
- Mona - BBC Session
The Rolling Stones, GRRR! (ABKCO, 2012, 5-LP Version - still awaiting pre-order link)
LP 1: Side A
- Come On
- Not Fade Away
- It's All Over Now
- Little Red Rooster
- The Last Time
LP 1: Side B
- (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
- Time Is On My Side
- Get Off Of My Cloud
- Heart Of Stone
- 19th Nervous Breakdown
LP 2: Side A
- As Tears Go By
- Paint It, Black
- Under My Thumb
- Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?
- Ruby Tuesday
LP 2: Side B
- Let's Spend The Night Together
- We Love You
- Jumpin' Jack Flash
- Honky Tonk Women
- Sympathy For The Devil
LP 3: Side A
- You Can't Always Get What You Want
- Gimme Shelter
- Street Fighting Man
- Wild Horses
- She's A Rainbow
LP 3: Side B
- Brown Sugar
- Happy
- Tumbling Dice
- Angie
- Rocks Off
LP 4: Side A
- Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
- It's Only Rock 'N' Roll
- Fool To Cry
- Miss You
- Respectable
LP 4: Side B
- Beast Of Burden
- Emotional Rescue
- Start Me Up
- Waiting On A Friend
- Undercover Of The Night
LP 5: Side A
- She Was Hot
- Streets Of Love
- Harlem Shuffle
- Mixed Emotions
- Highwire
LP 5: Side B
- Love Is Strong
- Anybody Seen My Baby?
- Don't Stop
- Doom And Gloom (previously unreleased)
- One More Shot (previously unreleased)
Everybody's Dummy (@everybodysdummy) says
I don't know what's worse -- the cover or the title. Both are pretty awful. I don't know if I can buy these songs again on the basis of two new ones.
Soccer Issilly says
I don't want another best of compilation with some new songs. I hate paying the same things serveral times. This morning I stopped being a Rolling Stones Fan.
Hank says
Gee--the press release only used the word "iconic" twice--admirable restraint. (Or perhaps somebody with the label actually owns a thesaurus.)
John says
Dead interested in the track listings, since I reckon the band was really only meaningful for slightly more than a third of their overly-lengthy existence and there's a strong likelihood that they'll make the foolish move of paying equal attention (more or less) to every era. Given the band's numerous hits and crucial tracks, I wonder if there will be more rarities than the two new tracks. I kind of hope not, so I won't be obliged to buy a largely redundant collection.
JG says
My god. I see that cover, and all I can think is, "But it's not April 1st."
Anth says
I actually kind of like the Mad Magazine-ish cover, though the title sounds like one of those terrible Mad Magazine rip-offs. Anyway, my Stones collection is limited to 40 Licks so I doubt that I'd "upgrade" for ten more songs, although I would be happy with a career-spanning 4/5-disc set...but not if its cost will be inflated by vinyl, books, etc.
Shaun says
Here I felt kind of bad for ragging on the Stones the other day (well, given how filthy rich they all are not THAT bad) and then we get this ugly album cover and silly title.
I suppose some kind of collection was due, given the 50th anniversary (this has got to be about the 50th hits collection they've put out too?) but since they really haven't had a bonafide hit single since... Steel Wheels(?) it's going to mostly be songs we all already have.
And two new songs that, most likely, no one's going to care about. Including the band themselves.
Zubb says
They cannot be serious with this cover art. Good lord!
Angel says
Reading the title "Career-Spanning Box Set, All-New Songs" I was led for a moment to think it was just that, all new versions or outtakes. But no. It's the usual, extreme rehash of already re-re-re-reissued material, with the usual 2 new songs which have become the standard procedure to lure in old fans. Shameless.
The cover is appaling.
Scott Charbonneau says
Expect to see the new songs again at some point, either on the new studio LP (assuming there will be one) or, most likely, a special Black Friday 7". Why bother shelling out for this?
Paul says
The marketing machine hums along incessantly, and here is yet another hits collection. This will only appeal to absolute completists, or listeners unfamiliar with the band's legacy lured in by the 50th anniversary hoopla. The former have forked over way too much cash in the interest of builing their shrines, and the former will most likely head for the download route anyway. A head scratcher. Too bad the powers that be refuse to dip into the vast pool of 1960s, Brian Jones era archives for some real gems. That's what I have been wishing for for ages, will it ever happen??
Anyone devoted to the 60s era. please feel free to join my little, informal group: 1960s Rolling Stones Fan Club. All are welcome!
William says
Wretched album art.
Magnus Hägermyr says
Since the only career-spanning collection so far is the dubbel-CD "40 Licks" I don't think it's out of place with a more filling one in box-form to celebrate the 50-yearling and it's fans. And the price for the 3CD-box is very friendly (£ 15). But of course to add just ten songs to 50 is half hearted and if one wants to go with the more proper 4 CD 80-tracks-box the cost is frankly hostile (£ 100). That's the same ridiculous price setting we have experienced with earlier super duper deluxe nonsense from The Stones and other artists. The logically and VERY fraternal cost should be £ 20 (£ 5 per CD like the trippel). To choose those 80 songs would be a privilege and I think there's pearls to be find on EVERY Stones-album.
For the coverart work: well King Kong has always been a favourite movie of mine. Maybe that goes for The Rolling Stones too.
Magnus Hägermyr says
BTW I coudn't resist the temptation of doing my own 80-tracks-list. Considerations has been taken so almost every orginal (mostley studio) album is represented. In more or less chronological order:
1. Come On
2. I Wanne Be Your Man
3. Not Fade Away
4. Route 66
5. Walking The Dog
6. It's All Over Now
7. Time Is On My Side
8. Heart Of Stone
9. Suzie Q
10. The Last Time
11. Play With Fire
12. Satisfaction
13. The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man
14. Get Off My Cloud
15. I'm Free
16. Gotta Get Away
17. As Tears Goes By
18. 19th Nervous Breakdown
19. Mothers Little Helper
20. Under My Thumb
21. Flight 505
22. Paint It Black
23. Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?
24. Let's Spend The Night Together
25. Ruby Tuesday
26. Yesterday's Paper
27. All Sold Out
28. Complicated
29. Sittin' On A Fence
30. Dendelion
31. She's A Rainbow
32. Jumpin' Jack Flash
33. Street Fighting Man
34. Honky Tonk Woman
35. Gimmie Shelter
36. Let It Bleed
37. Midnight Ramble
38. You Got The Silver
39. Monkey Man
40. Sympathy For The Devil (Live)
41. Live With Me (Live)
42. Brown Sugar
43. Can't You Hear Me Knocking
44. I Got The Blues
45. Dead Flowers
46. Tumbling Dice
47. Sweet Black Angel
48. Rocks Off
49. Rip This Joint
50. Casino Boogie
51. Sweet Virginia
52. Happy
53. All Down The Line
54. Angie
55. Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
56. Star Star
57. It's Only Rock 'N' Roll
58. Dance Little Sister
59. Hand Of Fate
60. Miss You
61. Some Girls
62. Respectable
63. Before They Make Me Run
64. Beast Of Burdon
65. Shattered
66 Let Me Go
67. Where The Boys Go
68. Start Me Up
69. Hang Fire
70. Black Limousine
71. Neighbours
72. Undercover Of The Night
73. Too Rude
74. Mixed Emotions
75. Sad Sad Sad
76. Sparks Will Fly
77. New Faces
78. Suck On The Jugular
79. Saint Of Me
80. Oh No Not You Again.
I know - only ONE song from Beggars Banquet, but I always thougt that album was overrated.
JG says
Oh for the love of...
Silly me, and here I thought the 4CD version would simply be everything on the standard edition plus more. I don't have time to compare the tracklistings side-by-side, but there appears to be at least one song (She's A Rainbow) that's on the 3CD version only. I hope it's just a typo of some kind, rather than the label being dumb enough to have chosen a Venn diagram approach to box sets. Ridiculous.
Everybody's Dummy (@everybodysdummy) says
I did compare the track listings, and while the chronology is weird, everything on the 3CD set is on the 4CD set. (It's also the same sequence as the LP set.) So basically the deluxe version has the IBC demos for the first official time, and some BBC songs on a single. Pass.
rkipp683 says
Did you see She's A Rainbow in the deluxe tracklist, because I didn't! Our conclusions are the same, however: pass.
JG says
Hey, you're right! Whoops. Guess I just missed it since it's not on the same disc as 2,000 LYFH. "Weird chronology" is an understatement.
And where the hell is Rock And A Hard Place? Now I get why they're calling it GRRR.
Anth says
I would totally buy the 4-CD set if it didn't have all the extras to inflate the price. But already having 40 Licks, the 3-CD version doesn't justify an upgrade, so oh well.
Thomas Casagranda says
Why are the stonesarchive concerts not on CD ? This is a complete and utter waste of time, effort, and logistics.
Everybody's Dummy (@everybodysdummy) says
Have I used this joke before? Has anyone else? I'll try it anyway:
A better title would be "ZZZZ..."
Brian Sherman (@TheTVGod) says
Sadly, this is a bust for me. While I'm interested in the two new songs and of course the The IBC Demos, why would you put the BBC tracks on a format most people no longer use or own (debate that all you want, vinyl will never have the dynamic range of a properly mastered CD). I was really hoping they'd at least include some rarities or b-sides on the main discs to make it worthwhile...
Gerry Boy says
Why is the Rolling Stones back catalogue such a bloody mess and frankly an embarrasssment?
We have now had three rounds of CD reissues of the original 60s albums, all botched, the first, of terrible sound quality, the last, using butchered US issues and not the original UK albums.
The Stones 'best ofs' are also all over the place; the best, most straightforward release is the 3CD The London Years which includes all the A sides of the 60s and B sides and thus has familiarity and lots of hidden gems; some people like 'Forty Licks' but I never have.
This 50th anniversary set of different formats for GRRR is an slipshod release which doesnt satisfy anyone. What was needed was a proper Stones box set of 4/5 CDs along the lines of Good Vibrations, which had hits, album tracks, B-sides and unreleased songs and version.
We dont have any of that with this and I wont waste any money on the above. A great box set could have been a major occasion and been the gateway to overhauling the entire Stones catalogue and in particular the 60s albums, remastering them, sticking to UK editions and putting extra tracks on. Maybe with the way the record industry is the Stones will never receive the treatment they should have, but for it to happen someone somewhere has to care, and that hasnt happened yet and doesnt look likely in the near-future.
Bill Janowski says
The only way I'd want this is if I could WIN it...at least for the new songs anyway.