[DavidMahler]

I think its great how both versions of many of the stones albums have been released on CD in bothe UK and US format. I wish the Stones first 2 albums could have been released in UK format just for completion.........

As a Stones enthusiast and music collector do you gravitate to the UK versions or US versions.......unlike the Beatles' catalog where the UK versions are nearly unanimously considered definitive......the Stones releases have more often as far as I've seen, been considered better in US format. What's your opinion?

 

[DC2]

I've only had experience with Aftermath. Unable to decide, I bought both UK and US versions. I don't know about "better". The US version is slimmed down but includes Paint It, Black, which I had to have. The UK version doesn't include Paint It, Black but you get Mother's Little Helper, Take It Or Leave It, What To Do, and maybe most importantly, a nice long version of Out Of Time. Even though my UK disc is SACD, the sound quality is about equal. Because Paint It, Black can be found elsewhere, I guess it came out even as far as UK or US.

 

[mteorman]

DavidMahler: You are right in saying that neither US nor UK versions are canon for the Stones (unlike the Beatles). Have you seen the Rolling Stones guide at http://www.lukpac.org/stereostones/stones-cd-faq.txt? It lists extensive differences between all the digital versions of the Stones' London/ABKCO catalog, up to and including the latest masters. At the beginning of section 3 there's a list of CDs that one would have to buy to get every song from this period - since there's overlap, it's not necessary to buy the US and UK versions of everything. Notably, the UK Aftermath is on this list - it has the stereo mix of Mother's Little Helper, which no other CD has (all the compilations have it in mono). There are other "necessities" as well. These are the ones I'm personally looking out for.