Mine's an original too. Its a sentimental favourite of mine partly because it was the first 'new' album around the time I became a big fan.

Its actually only behind Exile for me as my favourite Stones record ever. Maybe a tie with Sticky Fingers.

Brilliant sound, the weaving was never better. Great return to form for Mick as a writer and a singer as well.

got a couple of vinyls though the provenance of one is lacking....

I only own the CBS CD - the forthcoming (fingers-crossed) reissue will be the perfect excuse to rediscover this classic from '78

I had one (an Australian pressing). It was stolen.

A giant of a record. Right down to the cover which showed that they still had no trouble attracting trouble.

At that time I, too,was a recent convert from casual fan to flat out fanatic. It promised so much for the future too with ronnie's new energy, a post toronto keith and a stripped back sound in terms of instrumentation  (or was that more the fact that Billy P. is no where to be seen?) and mick revitalized (was it the New Wave or the new girlfriend??) which shrugged off the creative lethargy that had set in after Exile. Not to say those albums weren't any good but there is an sense of urgency on SG that hadn't (to my ears anyway) been heard since All Down The Line.

For once the hype was justified - it was the best since Exile!!

And nothing subsequent, no matter what its respective merits, has come anywhere near it. That promise of the future was never fulfilled.

It was their last great work. Only Dirty Work would have as great a significance and then not necessarily for the best or musical reasons (imho).

I got an original cover copy, not sure if it is from the 1st pressing. How can I tell? Were all the unaltered covers before the recall first pressings?

Mine is an original vinyl from 1978 ! with his great cover  with no censured pics and lyrics.
i remembered the first time i hear it with some friends that were disapointed and me too,  by the first Stones disco "Miss you" but everything was allright after "respectable " and "shattered"
my favorite is still "when the whip comes down "

I just listen it now , it has more bass and big drums  compared with the remaster from 2009 , but the level is lower but without the metallic sound of the cd.

Thanks for your thread .

I'm now getting really OCD over this topic and wishing I had original vinyl pressings of everything. I'm going to do an A/B test between my 1994 remaster cd and what I feel is the first pressing to see if I can tell of any other sonic differences.  My "first pressing" has to be a first pressing since it has the original cover with all of the famous pictures. I remember the first CD pressing has a different/generic cover.

I remember what Mick said in 1994 or 1995 in a Rolling Stone interview. I'm going to paraphrase here, but he said it's not 1972. You don't have the same speakers you did back then, the same stereo, and you're not smoking the same thing.

Maybe Mick is telling to just to enjoy the music and not get crazy over it.....

i have 3 copies on vinyl. i went through that album like a frisbie. i have 2 original pressings with the original artwork and the third has the censured art work. the day i brought some girls home, my mom had a freak attack over the cover.

mojoman wrote on Jun 16^th, 2011 at 1:02pm:

that's cause you look so darn cute that way.

Regarding Honky Tonk Man, the possible re-issue will be great to rediscover it, and Pathe Manconi outtakes recordings also!

Beats of Burden one of the great weaving guitars style Richards/Wood ever!

As Heart ofd Stone, i got the 3 versions, but dont know which was released firts, only know that censored was the third...

GotToRollMe wrote on Jun 16^th, 2011 at 4:11pm:



do you have any grey poupon?