The best Rolling Stones album is Sticky Fingers.

I put forward that the best Rolling stones album is Sticky Fingers.
You can read all about it somewhere on the internet i'm sure.
Yup, better than the rest. Exile on Main Street? nope. Let it Bleed? ok, that was really good, but not the best!


Just have a look at the track listing:

1. "Brown Sugar" 3:48
2. "Sway" 3:50
3. "Wild Horses" 5:42
4. "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" 7:14
5. "You Gotta Move" (Fred McDowell/Gary Davis) 2:32
6. "*****" 3:38
7. "I Got the Blues" 3:54
8. "Sister Morphine" (Jagger/Richards/Marianne Faithfull) 5:31
9. "Dead Flowers" 4:03
10. "Moonlight Mile" 5:56

Come on, those are their best songs. Can't you hear me Knocking is my favourite for sure.
Who doesn't love Brown Sugar or Wild Horses?
Sister Morphine is crazy good (sorry Marianne Faithfull).
Our band used to jam ***** and it was crazy fun to do. People loved it.

Anyway, you'll notice that I have nothing to substantiate my claim other than the power of the songs.
Really, what else do I need.

Go listen to it and tell me I'm wrong. I dare you!!!!

Let it Bleed is #1
SF is #2

Luckily I don't have to decide. I am pretty fond of Beggar's Banquet and 12 x 5 as well.

I can live with SF being asserted as their best. Damned fine album. Taylor's work on "Knockin" is brilliant. But if SF is #1, it is #1a and Exile is #1b. And they have a mess of almost as great as those albums. Really fine discography...up through Some Girls, at the very least. Then it gets a bit shaky.

I would concur if you don't count Hot Rocks since it is a best of.

Yes.

While I prefer Exile, I think trying to compare say SF and Exile is a bit futile - it's apples and oranges. Both albums do what they do very well, but they're doing very different things.
I suppose of the big 4 Stones albums, my order would be:
1. Exile
2. Sticky Fingers
3. Beggars Banquet
4. Let it Bleed

There might be better albums, but I've listened to "Some Girls" more than any other Stones release.

1. Miss You
2. When The Whip Comes Down
3. Imagination
4. Some Girls
5. Lies
6. Far Away Eyes
7. Respectable
8. Before They Make me Run
9. Beast Of Burden
10. Shattered

Not too shabby!

I guess mine would be Aftermath (US). I like my Stones pre Satanic Majesties and my Beatles pre Sgt Peppers.

All good points. At the end of it all notice how many great albums they did have? Fantastic!!

I had a '59 Chevy Truck with Let it Bleed playing in it for 3 years, and it wasn't stuck. It just never was taken out.

Let it Bleed ftw.

SF is my #1

I have two copies on vinyl and one on CD.

Bah! The Stones are WAY over rated, maybe if they had someone decent on rhythm guitar...

-s

Sorry, but I have to disagree with you. While SF does have many great songs, it is also burdened by filler stuff like "I Got the Blues," and "You Gotta Move," two of their their totally subpar songs, and the jam on "Can You Hear Me Knockin'," which is just dull filler.

As far as I'm concerned, the best Stones album is "Beggar's Banquet." They plumb nearly ever kind of American music, from the Appalachian sounds of "Prodigal Son," "Dear Doctor" and "Factory Girl" to the scratching blues of "Stray Cat Blues" to the Motown inversion of "Street Fighting Man." And don't forget the bravado of "Sympathy For the Devil," which may the best lyrics of any Jagger/Richards song and quite possible the best guitar solo.

I was never their biggest fan, but they have an extraordinary body of work.

The Stones are icons today because of Let it Bleed, Beggars Banquet, Sticky Fingers, Exile, and Some Girls. Without those masterpieces, all of the hit singles that came before would put them in the company of the groups who came up with a short string of great songs and faded away. And none of their albums since then have come close. But I've never heard rock vocals nearly as good as Mick's Sticky Fingers singing on any other rock album.

P.S. raisindot is right about almost everything he's ever said, of course (yes, the jam on "Knockin'" is filler, designed to cash in on Santana's new-found popularity at the time), but Mick's vocals on "I Got the Blues" is close to the top on my list of greatness.

SmoovD said:

I can live with SF being asserted as their best. Damned fine album. Taylor's work on "Knockin" is brilliant. But if SF is #1, it is #1a and Exile is #1b. And they have a mess of almost as great as those albums. Really fine discography...up through Some Girls, at the very least. Then it gets a bit shaky.

Click to expand...

Big +1

Exactly what I was thinking.

Shall I post a thread on the best Beatles album?
Maybe toss one out there on Led Zeppelin??