ROLLING STONES, THE
THE 1970S SESSIONS

From their early beginnings in the clubs of London, The Rolling Stones became one of the central groups in rock music, building a formidable run of releases through the 1960s and early 1970s. By the time the group released Goats Head Soup in 1973, followed by It's Only Rock 'N Roll a year later, the band had already secured a reputation for combining instinctive rhythm and blues with a drive that would help define hard rock. Both albums were major international successes, producing lasting favourites and reinforcing The Stones’ place as ‘the greatest rock and roll band in the world’.

The recordings collected here follow the creative road towards those records. Drawn from sessions that moved between Kingston, Munich and London, they capture a band evolving and continually refining new material. Much of Goats Head Soup emerged from the atmosphere of Dynamic Sound in Kingston, Jamaica, whereas It’s Only Rock ’n Roll often leaned towards the immediacy of musicians playing together, striving to retain the energy of a live performance by combining a half studio, half live approach to recording.

These demos, recorded throughout the 1970s, offer a valuable glimpse of that evolution. Alongside early versions of familiar songs sit unreleased tracks, alternate mixes and extended early versions, altogether making for a treasure trove of rarities drawn from the various sessions across the decade.