The Pop Corporation

For those of you with a few quid or who are insatiable completists, the Rolling Stones in Mono is a boxset of dreams and soon to be released.

There were rumours about the boxset that never really fully emerged, but now it has been confirmed and there’s a couple of surprises too. This boxset will be 16xLP on lovely vinyl and feature albums from ’63 to ’69 which is obviously a very fertile time for the group. It is available for preorder right now, and will be released January 20th. And the records themselves will be coloured, which is pretty neat.

Now, this has been a thing before, but if you look on Discogs etc, they’re going for a pretty penny (over £600) so if you’re parting with a big wodge of cash, at least this new set will be guaranteed good nick, eh? You get 14 studio albums plus the ‘Stray Cats’ comp of songs from singles and EPs and all that jive.

Basically, for your buck, you’ll get 186 tracks, and 56 of them weren’t issued in the 2016 version (and subsequently, haven’t been heard in their lovely mono versions in the digital age). Why is mono good? Because they’re punchy and, when stereo was a new thing in the ’60s, the mixes could be a bit wishy washy and something of an afterthought. Mono, in some cases, is more as nature intended.

There’s standalone LPs of course, but for fun, both the UK and US versions of ‘Aftermath’ and ‘Out Of Our Heads’. The whole thing has been mastered by Bob Ludwig and they’re all pressed on gorgeous 180g coloured vinyl. There’s booklets, interesting design with the record sleeves, essays, and all that good stuff you want from a deluxe package like this.

Here’s a video to watch, if that’s easier for you to grasp.