Aftermath, Let It Bleed and Exile On Main Street (although I prefer Sticky Fingers, I think Exile would be the better business move). I'd pay never to hear Dirty Work, nor to look at the cover, ever again.

OK, for me, the absolutely indispensable Stones records are...

(1) Sticky Fingers
(2) Exile On Main Street
(3) Let It Bleed

However, there is a very strong case for including the new CD reissue of 'Rolled Gold', as it collects their peerless 60s singles and the cream of their early 70s work. But I thought I'd stick with studio albums.

The runt of the litter, and there are many candidates, must surely be 'No Security', a live album with possibly the worst cover in the history of rock n' roll. Some wag on the internet reviewed it thus:

"Rolling Stones you rock my world with this album. Any Rolling Stones fan will rock with this album also. Roll with the Rolling Stones."

Ignore that, it's terrible.

Gimme Shelter really ought to be one of them, I'd have hoped it was the long term earner that the cognoscenti will always want.

As a record company however, I'd more realistically plump for Sticky Fingers, Exile and Rolled Gold as the packages that really sum up their career and deliver the most riffs, pouts and preens per platter.

...also I, like many others i'm sure, could easily name all the Led Zep and Floyd albums in order. Now ask me to do that with the Stones and I'm afraid I couldn't. Has there been a little less care taken over their legacy?

With The Beatles. It's got Not A Second Time on it. And Hold Me Tight.

Couldn't do just three because you'd have to have

The Rolling Stones (Debut)
Aftermath
Beggar's Banquet
Let It Bleed
Get Your Ya-Ya's Out!
Exile On Main St. (Still the greatest album of them all)
Sticky Fingers
Goat's Head Soup
Some Girls
Tattoo You
Forty Licks (has this been deleted?)

And while I'm at it, I could take a lot of stuff from all their other albums except the live records since Love You Live, which are all dogs (although Stripped is pretty good). The "new" record for Universal is purported to be yet another live "document", who needs it? Where's all the unreleased stuff from when they really were the greatest?

As a record company (excluding greatest hits, live albums and other comp's) I would go for...

Exile on Main Street
Constant critical acclaim and rock stars referencing it keep 'Exile' simmering in the public domain.

Let it Bleed
'Gimme Shelter' and 'You Can't Always Get What You Want' are so saturated in pop culture, radio and TV that it's perma' promo for the album

Sticky Fingers
'Brown Sugar' being on constant rotation and possibly being played somewhere in the world at any given moment is the clincher for sticking to 'Fingers'

Dirty Work
This is the stoner I'll swerve. An album of musical gruel so bad Mick wouldn't tour it and Ronno' gets 4 writing credits. 'Dirty Work' indeed.

Fortunatley this is almost my top 3 anyway - just swap Sticky Fingers for Beggars Banquet.

was the most cynical exercise in corporate greed imaginable (maybe Mick needed a new town house in Noo Yawk - go on, sue me rubberlips, I dare ya!).

We know this is true, as we all bought the bloody thing because we'd given up waiting for Rolled Gold to come out on CD.

And now look what they've released. Bastards, the lot of them.
Like the book though, Ronnie.

... also had an intimate, smoke-wreathed and pretty good little b/w film to back it up.

... to add. Exile, Sticky Fingers, then a toss-up between Beggars Banquet and Let it Bleed. I'll have Let it Bleed 'cos Gimme Shelter's on it.

I persevered after It's Only Rock n Roll, put it down to a temporary loss of form. I bought Tattoo You, never mind, I kept going. It was when I got Emotional Rescue that, for the first time in my life, I understood the law of diminishing returns. The GLW bought me their last one, and it's got maybe 3 good tracks on it. Isn't that about standard for an album nowadays?

Now we can see where this is heading, where does the forum stand on Satanic Majesties, then?
Curio or clunker?
Never bought it myself, so can't comment.

Now we can see where this is heading, where does the forum stand on Satanic Majesties, then?
Curio or clunker?
Never bought it myself, so can't comment.

You've got to have:
Let it Bleed
Exile on Main Street

The 3rd would have to come from either Beggar's Banquet, Get Yer Ya Ya's Out or Sticky Fingers. If the house was burning down I woudn't dither over the 3rd.

I've never heard all of Satanic Majesties, but the bits I've heard make it fairly disposable.

Suppose nearly everybodys three will come from the period of Beggars thru to Exile. I'll have to leave Sticky Fingers out 'cos even though where it's good, it's great, I find 'Can't you hear me knocking' to be just that little bit too dragged out.

Does that make me a heretic?

You need Exile. You need Let it Bleed (cos it has, as others have said, Gimme Shelter)

Sod it, i'll say for my third that I'd go outside 89-72 and go for Some Girls. It's a toss up between that and Beggars Banquet, but wins

1) It's ten songs long
2) It comes in under 45 minutes
3) Before they Make Me Run is as close to the Keith manifesto as you'll get
4) Far Away Eyes is hilarious.
5) Miss you still has a brilliant groove; Charlie was good that night as well!

So far have not seen any negative comments re Stones best work(on this site)as usually occur at some point - for example 'just don't get it' or 'is it me or is ...?' 'what's so great about...?' etc. Seems that we all accept the classic period was er classic and that what came later was mostly not. This kind of agreement is unusual - is this the one act we all more or less agree on?

I think Exile would be better if it was shorter. Nothing on the second half except Shine A Light lives up to the quality of the first.

weren't the Stones, essentially, always more of a singles band?

I remember that coming out and the general reaction was one of disappointment. A letter in the Melody Maker said "the only one doing his job is Charlie Watts."

Considering that, according to Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts' job was to follow Keith Richards. Wyman, I believe, maintained that the drumming was always slightly behind Richards' guitar, which gave the Stones their unique sound.

Sorry, this refers to DH's post which is now several miles above this one.

that no one else has mentioned "Gimme Shelter" (Decca SKL5101)

The first side has everything (bar Brown Sugar) a freshly landed Martian would need to know about the Stones before hastily readjusting his thrusters and buggering off somewhere safer.

It's an UTTERLY fabulous ride:

Jumpin' Jack Flash
Love In Vain
Honky Tonk Women
Street Fighting Man
Sympathy For The Devil
Gimme Shelter.

How on EARTH can you beat that for a side of vinyl?

1. The Rolling Stones
2. Aftermath
3. Let It Bleed
Which is why I have no business running a record company.

is bloody wonderful, now you mention it. I used to work in the Virgin Megastore in Brent Cross and someone once came in and asked for the best version of Route 66. He seemed very disappointed that I insisted on the Stones' version.

Anyone who gave up on the Stones years ago should hear Stripped. I love it. Not a bad track on it.

Other than that, any 3 from between '68 and '72.

...is fine, of it's time perhaps, but fine nonetheless. With a nod to the eminent Lucas Hare, my favourite version of Route 66 is from the Dr Feelgood BBC Sessions Album.

For me the three best are :
"Exile on Main Street" "Sticky Fingers" and, just to be different, "Black and Blue".
Although Black & Blue was not, perhaps, as good as "Let it bleed" it's the tour when I first saw them and I will always remember that
As for clunkers the last two studio albums "Bridges to Babylon" and "A bigger bang" are pretty dreadful

... always gets lost in the shuffle. It's woefully under rated. My view is that it, and not 'Exile', marks the end of their glory years. It's second on my list behind "Exile' and ahead of 'Some Girls'. Is this sufficiently controversial?

..but sounds as if it's been recorded through a stout horse blanket.

you're listening to "It's Only Rock'nRoll' by mistake there David? Or did you mean a stout hemp blanket?

on Chuck Berry than "Star Star" anywhere in their catalogue?

I contend that the rot set in with their own imprint and although the first three or four beyond Sticky Fingers have lovely moments, my own preference is for the songwriting and sound of the Decca years, and since I suppose Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass) is deemed ineligible:

1. Let It Bleed
2. Aftermath
3. Beggars Banquet

The nadir:

Voodoo Lounge

came via my Mum's copy of that record. I don't know if I have it, nor if it's in mono; but I remember that it came with a booklet insert - photos of Mick and Keith, I think.

In the sixties my sister bought the Beatles and I bought the Stones, a habit I continued upto Undercover. After that my knowledge is limited.

What is interesting is the general agreement that the Stones peaked between Banquet and Exile with goodish albums either side.

Simply due to my age (don't ask) I also have a soft spot for the first album. I'm now somewhat amused by their inability to sort out the various towns on Route 66, it probably didn't cross their mind to consult an atlas! Of course the US was a strange and exotic place when they recorded this track.

Less agreement on worst album.

The one I bought that always disappointed was Between the Buttons, UK of course. Really nothing terribly memorable on this album. Its fascinating as a study but as a piece of music disposable.

Worth noting that in the US it came with Lets Spend the Night Together and Ruby Tuesday which would immediately elevate it.

Always had a soft spot for It's Only Rock'n'Roll myself, tho I fancy I'm in a minority here.

So baffled by the frequent insistence on this thread that Exile was worthy of a still growing critical reputation, I've been blasting it for thirty six hours straight. I still can't find a song on it that matches anything Jagger/Richard did in the sixties. It just sounds like great players having fun with their roots, recorded not very well. If anyone who really loves this record hasn't heard the Jagger/Red Devils track, Checkin' Up On My Baby, from his recent solo compilation, do yourself a favour. He sounds like he is having the time of his life; the band, with the Blasters' Bill Bateman on drums, sound like men possessed; and the recording is clear and gutsy.

*Nadine Gordimer

Difficult one cause every one in the last 20 yrs is their best since Exile according to the press.

Lets go for
1) Exile On Main St
2) Beggars Banquest
3) Aftermath

Please God dont let me hear Dirty Work or Bridges To Babylon again(I bought both!)

Next question should be: Whay are Keith's solos albums really good but every time you hear he is singing on a Stones track your heart sinks?

...I would go for:
Exile On Main Street, Aftermath and The Rolling Stones.
If the choice were to be restricted to post Decca releases (which are the ones they will be making deals with) I would add Sticky Fingers and Some Girls to Exile.

So I would go for compilation - Rolled Gold and also because you need Honky Tonk Women and Jumpin Jack Flash surely. Also would take Sticky Fingers so you get Brown Sugar.
Exile I would have too. My feeling about that album (Exile) is that the production style is a plus not a minus. Somehow for me it endures as it is less immediate and more subtle than other recordings they made, and maybe more emotional? I think it is a crown jewel, a bit of a scratched and battered one maybe.

They can only take the albums from Sticky Fingers onwards.

So, Sticky Fingers, Exile & the first 4 tracks of side 2 of Love You Live CD

Sticky Fingers
Let It Bleed
Begggars Banquet

In no particular order. I also like A Bigger Bang (hangs head in shame, I know, I know but I really like a couple of the tracks). As for the 40 licks dvd, I got my other half it as he couldn't justify spending that amount on it. Greed is so unattractive.

Can't go wrong with that run from 'Beggar's Banquet' through 'Exile', IMHO. I'd throw in 'Aftermath' too as I like it a lot.

'Exile On Main Street' almost defines the term 'grower', IMHO. Didn't get it all at first but it genuinely does get better every time I hear it. Has aged really well too, IMHO.

I have a very strange relationship with everything they've done since 'Some Girls'. I enjoy hearing the likes of 'Steel Wheels' at first but then when you try to place it in the pantheon of earlier work, there's no comparison, IMHO. Last time I played 'Steel Wheels' I thought the first half was almost entirely by-numbers.

Liked 'A Bigger Bang' when it came out because of the tougher sound which really suited it, IMHO, but there's too much filler on there ('Sweet Neo Con' and 'Infamy' are particular low points, IMHO).

check on Google for the meaning of IMHO.

It's an acronym I use in most posts; I rarely post without it because someone will claim (at least on the forums I frequented!) that you are stating a fact rather than an opinion...