I've been considering getting into Rolling Stones lately, and want to know what their best albums are and where to begin. Can anyone make some recommendations please?

Thanks!

[Edited 10/12/10 10:50am]

When you have as many albums as them, you could go different routes.

Personally, I got Hot Rocks first (double album greatest hits) and that was a lot of great material.

As for the albums:

Beggar's Banquet

Let It Bleed

Exile on Main Street

Sticky Fingers

...are a good place to start

Later material:

Some Girls

NDRU said:

When you have as many albums as them, you could go different routes.

Personally, I got Hot Rocks first (double album greatest hits) and that was a lot of great material.

As for the albums:

Beggar's Banquet

Let It Bleed

Exile on Main Street

Sticky Fingers

...are a good place to start

Later material:

Some Girls

That was exactly my plan of attack. I had Hot Rocks for forever (awesome) and then bought Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main St. for the org 70s poll a few months ago. I'll get Beggar's Banquet and Let It Bleed when the 60s poll is announced.

NDRU said:

When you have as many albums as them, you could go different routes.

Personally, I got Hot Rocks first (double album greatest hits) and that was a lot of great material.

As for the albums:

Beggar's Banquet

Let It Bleed

Exile on Main Street

Sticky Fingers

...are a good place to start

Later material:

Some Girls

echo that. hot rocks is the early hits, songs you will know, just like the beatles early hits, but the later stuff is better. if you only have one album, get exile on main street. one other album to mention is exiles follow up, goats head soup, another jimmy miller production. if you want the stones version of sgt pepper then you have satanic magesties, which is also pretty good, but different to the normal stuff. there's also another hits compilation from recent years, but you probably know that compilations vary a lot from an album. look at the discography and go from beggars banquet to black and blue and then be very wary after that. the unplugged album wasn't bad, but stick to the studio albums for a start

sextonseven said:

NDRU said:

When you have as many albums as them, you could go different routes.

Personally, I got Hot Rocks first (double album greatest hits) and that was a lot of great material.

As for the albums:

Beggar's Banquet

Let It Bleed

Exile on Main Street

Sticky Fingers

...are a good place to start

Later material:

Some Girls

That was exactly my plan of attack. I had Hot Rocks for forever (awesome) and then bought Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main St. for the org 70s poll a few months ago. I'll get Beggar's Banquet and Let It Bleed when the 60s poll is announced.

Yeah that is actually the order I bought them in, too, Exile first, because none of those songs were on Hot Rocks

Exile on Main Street is a great album, but it was not easy for me to get into. It was underwhelming, sounding just like a collection of ordinary songs, but 20 years later it is one of my favorite albums.

Sticky Fingers I liked right away, I think the songs felt like that had more individuality & personality, though, again, Exile really grew on me.

unique said:

NDRU said:

When you have as many albums as them, you could go different routes.

Personally, I got Hot Rocks first (double album greatest hits) and that was a lot of great material.

As for the albums:

Beggar's Banquet

Let It Bleed

Exile on Main Street

Sticky Fingers

...are a good place to start

Later material:

Some Girls

echo that. hot rocks is the early hits, songs you will know, just like the beatles early hits, but the later stuff is better. if you only have one album, get exile on main street. one other album to mention is exiles follow up, goats head soup, another jimmy miller production. if you want the stones version of sgt pepper then you have satanic magesties, which is also pretty good, but different to the normal stuff. there's also another hits compilation from recent years, but you probably know that compilations vary a lot from an album. look at the discography and go from beggars banquet to black and blue and then be very wary after that. the unplugged album wasn't bad, but stick to the studio albums for a start

yeah as a minimal approach, Hot Rocks & Exile would cover quite a bit of ground.

I tend to think the Stones are not as much of an album band as the Beatles, and that a compilation is a perfectly fine way to listen to them.

NDRU said:

When you have as many albums as them, you could go different routes.

Personally, I got Hot Rocks first (double album greatest hits) and that was a lot of great material.

As for the albums:

Beggar's Banquet

Let It Bleed

Exile on Main Street

Sticky Fingers

...are a good place to start

Later material:

Some Girls

They have so much material out there, I think you could really jump in just about anywhere (...haven't heard a Stone's album yet that I didn't like). I would also add "Tattoo You" to the list of suggestions.

And my "Greatest Hits" double CD suggestion would be "Jump Back: The Best of the Rolling Stones 1971-1993". (Digitally remastered edition of this collection spanning the first 22 years on their own Rolling Stones Records label, 1972-1993).