the rolling stones decided to reissue their classic 1971 masterpiece, ‘sticky fingers’, by remastering once again, and then adding a bonus disc comprised of outtakes and alternate versions, plus a half dozen songs from a 1971 gig from the promotional tour. their recent tour focused heavily on this material. it is my second favorite stones album, and the one i think that they came closest to studio perfection. as such, i had to pull the trigger. the original album has been remastered a couple of times, and i have read reviews that are not favorable to this version. many prefer the 1994 virgin records issue instead. i am not enough of an expert to weigh in on this debate, only to say that it does sound different than what i have, which is the original cd pressing. i can say that there is more separation in the instruments, and the sound is brighter and grittier, if that makes sense. i am not sure it is worth the effort to buy this on the first disc alone, but that is not what really prompted my curiosity anyways. the second disc starts off with an alternate version of ‘brown sugar’ and has eric clapton on guitar. you will be happy to own this. the second cut is what they call an acoustic version of ‘wild horses’ which seems to my ear merely to be the original track with the electric guitar stripped off. what is interesting about it is the renewed prominence of the second acoustic guitar part, in the original, but overpowered by the electric. third is a weak sauce ‘can’t you here me knocking’. the original, with the massive coda at the end featuring the seamless interplay between mick taylor, keith, and bobby keys on sax, is just simply one of the finer moments in rock history. no such luck here, and very disappointing. ‘bitch’ is next, and it is a very good alternative, and mick really stands out here, almost james brown like at times. the last outtake is ‘dead flowers’, always one of my favorite all time tunes of theirs, and it is well done and different enough to be worth owning. in my mind the country aspect of this song was a big influence on an awful lot of musicians (seek out townes van zandt’s version, for example), and for whatever reason i hear uncle tupelo and the jayhawks when i hear this version – mick almost sounds like jay farrar at times (or vice versa). the rest is non sticky material played at the roundhouse in 1971, the last gig on the tour i believe. nicky hopkins on piano, keys on sax, jimmy price on trumpet. good stuff.
redeyegin 
since i stream most of my music these days (and have been for some time) i probably miss some of the tonal nuances of some of these reissues. in fact, if Neil Young were in the room right now he’d be pounding his fist on the table and screaming at me “exactly!” but streaming allows me to sample first, and determine if it is something i truly want to own. the pros and cons are a matter of a different debate.
nuances notwithstanding, some of these reissues are not as interesting as they promise to be. i found that to be true with the reissue of Exile. It didn’t live up to the hype of the press. the best thing about that was my old copy was missing and i wanted to listen to it completely.
the reissue of sticky fingers hits me in much the same way. it’s interesting but to me at least not compelling enough to invest beyond streaming all or some of it. and weak sauce is right on CYHMK but again, i expect these to be more iterations of the final product than nuggets of gold that make me wonder why the album version made it and not the alternate take.
if you enjoy remasters/reissues, i am enjoying what Page has been doing with old Zep albums, in particular Physical Graffiti. one of my all time favorite albums.
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