Forty Licks is a double compilation album by The Rolling Stones. A 40-year career-spanning retrospective, Forty Licks is notable for being the first retrospective to combine their formative Decca/London era of the 1960s, now licensed by ABKCO Records (on disc one), with their self-owned post-1970 material, distributed at the time by Virgin/EMI but now distributed by ABKCO's own distributor Universal Music Group (on mostly disc two). Four new songs are included on the second disc. Concurrently with the album's release, the Stones embarked on the successful, year-long international Licks Tour, which would result in Live Licks in 2004.
Originally distributed by Virgin Records in 2002, Forty Licks went out of print after Virgin parent EMI lost distribution of the Stones' post-1970 material to Universal Music in 2008.
All tracks are digital remasters in stereo, except for most tracks pre-1968, which are digital remasters in mono. (Pre-1968 tracks "It's All Over Now", "Under My Thumb" and "She's a Rainbow" are in stereo, but "Paint It, Black", "Ruby Tuesday" and "Let's Spend the Night Together" are not).
Contents[]
Critical reception[edit][]
Forty Licks has received mostly positive review from music critics, but not all. Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine felt that Forty Licks was similar to ELV1S: 30 #1 Hits because both were influenced by The Beatles' 1, but that Forty Licks had a better concept than ELV1S.[1] Although Rob Brunner's review of the album for Entertainment Weekly was favorable, he felt that the album was not needed because most of the band's fans already own all of the notable songs on the album.[2] Darryl Sterdan of Jam! CANOE also felt that most fans already owned most of the songs on the album and that "Losing My Touch" was the only good previously unreleased song on the collection.[3] Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone felt that there were several songs missing from the album, but that the compilation was exciting and the four new songs were much better than their other recent work.[4] Stylus magazine's Colin McElligatt felt that the band needed an "all-inclusive" collection, but the collection will not please everyone.[5]
Track listing[edit][]
All songs written and composed by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, except where noted.
| Disc one | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Album (Date) | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "Street Fighting Man" | Beggars Banquet (1968/12) | 3:15 | |||||||
| 2. | "Gimme Shelter" | Let It Bleed (1969/12) | 4:31 | |||||||
| 3. | "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" | Out of Our Heads (US) (1965/07) | 3:43 | |||||||
| 4. | "The Last Time" | Out of Our Heads (US) (1965/07) | 3:41 | |||||||
| 5. | "Jumpin' Jack Flash" | Through the Past, Darkly (1968/04) | 3:42 | |||||||
| 6. | "You Can't Always Get What You Want" | Let It Bleed (1969/12) | 7:28 | |||||||
| 7. | "19th Nervous Breakdown" | Big Hits (US) (1965/03) | 3:56 | |||||||
| 8. | "Under My Thumb" | Aftermath (UK) (1966/04) | 3:41 | |||||||
| 9. | "Not Fade Away" (Buddy Holly, Norman Petty) | England's Newest Hit Makers (1964/05) | 1:48 | |||||||
| 10. | "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?" | High Tide and Green Grass (UK) (1966/11) | 2:36 | |||||||
| 11. | "Sympathy for the Devil" | Beggars Banquet (1968/12) | 6:17 | |||||||
| 12. | "Mother's Little Helper" | Aftermath (UK) (1966/04) | 2:46 | |||||||
| 13. | "She's a Rainbow" | Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967/12) | 4:13 | |||||||
| 14. | "Get Off of My Cloud" | December's Children (1965/12) | 2:55 | |||||||
| 15. | "Wild Horses" | Sticky Fingers (1971/04) | 5:43 | |||||||
| 16. | "Ruby Tuesday" | Between the Buttons (US) (1967/02) | 3:13 | |||||||
| 17. | "Paint It Black" | Aftermath (US) (1966/06) | 3:44 | |||||||
| 18. | "Honky Tonk Women" | Through the Past, Darkly (1969/07) | 3:00 | |||||||
| 19. | "It's All Over Now" (Bobby Womack, Shirley Jean Womack) | 12 X 5 (1964/06) | 3:26 | |||||||
| 20. | "Let's Spend the Night Together" | Between the Buttons (US) (1967/02) | 3:26 | |||||||
| Disc two | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Album (Date) | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "Start Me Up" | Tattoo You (1981/08) | 3:33 | |||||||
| 2. | "Brown Sugar" | Sticky Fingers (1971/05) | 3:50 | |||||||
| 3. | "Miss You" (Single version) | Some Girls (1978/05) | 3:35 | |||||||
| 4. | "Beast of Burden" (Single version) | Some Girls (1978/05) | 3:28 | |||||||
| 5. | "Don't Stop" | Forty Licks | 3:59 | |||||||
| 6. | "Happy" | Exile on Main St. (1972/05) | 3:05 | |||||||
| 7. | "Angie" | Goats Head Soup (1973/08) | 4:32 | |||||||
| 8. | "You Got Me Rocking" | Voodoo Lounge (1994/07) | 3:34 | |||||||
| 9. | "Shattered" | Some Girls (1978/05) | 3:46 | |||||||
| 10. | "Fool to Cry" (Edited version) | Black and Blue (1976/04) | 4:07 | |||||||
| 11. | "Love Is Strong" | Voodoo Lounge (1994/07) | 3:48 | |||||||
| 12. | "Mixed Emotions" (Single version) | Steel Wheels (1989/08) | 4:01 | |||||||
| 13. | "Keys to Your Love" | Forty Licks | 4:11 | |||||||
| 14. | "Anybody Seen My Baby?" (Jagger, Richards, k.d. lang, Ben Mink, Edited Version) | Bridges to Babylon (1997/09) | 4:08 | |||||||
| 15. | "Stealing My Heart" | Forty Licks | 3:42 | |||||||
| 16. | "Tumbling Dice" | Exile on Main St. (1972/05) | 3:47 | |||||||
| 17. | "Undercover of the Night" (Edited version) | Undercover (1983/11) | 4:13 | |||||||
| 18. | "Emotional Rescue" (Edited version) | Emotional Rescue (1980/06) | 3:41 | |||||||
| 19. | "It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)" (Edited version) | It's Only Rock 'n Roll (1974/10) | 4:09 | |||||||
| 20. | "Losing My Touch" | Forty Licks | 5:06 | |||||||
Following the release of The Neptunes remix of "Sympathy for the Devil", a second edition of Forty Licks was released with a blue logo on the cover and the new remix placed at the end of disc one. Due to time restrictions, "She's a Rainbow" was left off of this version.[6]
Personnel[edit][]
- The Rolling Stones
- Mick Jagger – lead vocals, harmonica, percussion, guitar, electric piano
- Brian Jones – guitars (lead, slide and rhythm), tambura, marimba, harmonica, backing vocals, recorder, piano, sitar
- Keith Richards – guitars (lead, slide, rhythm, acoustic and bass), backing vocals, bowed double bass, lead vocals on "Happy" and "Losing My Touch"
- Mick Taylor – guitars (lead, slide, rhythm and bass), backing vocals
- Charlie Watts – drums, percussion, backing vocals
- Ronnie Wood – guitars, backing vocals, bass drum, bass guitar
- Bill Wyman – bass guitar, maracas, backing vocals, bowed double bass
- Additional musicians
- Madelaine Bell – backing vocals
- Sugar Blue – harmonica
- Blondie Chaplin – backing vocals, shaker
- Merry Clayton – vocals on "Gimme Shelter"
- Mel Collins – saxophone
- Sarah Dash – backing vocals
- Jim Dickinson – piano
- Rocky Dijon – percussion, congas
- Sly Dunbar – percussion
- Marianne Faithfull – backing vocals
- Lisa Fischer – backing vocals
- Bernard Fowler – backing vocals
- Nicky Harrison – string arrangement on "Angie"
- Nicky Hopkins – piano, backing vocals
- Kick Horns – brass
- Luis Jardim – percussion
- Darryl Jones – bass guitar
- John Paul Jones – string arrangement on "She's a Rainbow"
- Bobby Keys – saxophone, percussion
- Clydie King – backing vocals
- Al Kooper – piano, French horn, organ
- Chuck Leavell – piano, organ, keyboards
- The London Bach Choir – choir
- Dave Mason – shenai
- Ian McLagan – electric piano
- Jimmy Miller – percussion, drums, cowbell
- Jamie Muhoberac – bass guitar, keyboards
- Ivan Neville – backing vocals
- Nanette Workman – backing vocals
- Jack Nitzsche – piano, choral arrangements
- Denis O'Regan – photography
- Anita Pallenberg – backing vocals
- Jim Price – trumpet, trombone
- Ian Stewart – piano
- Doris Troy – backing vocals
- Vanetta – backing vocals
- Waddy Wachtel – electric and acoustic guitar
- Don Was – keyboards
Chart positions[edit][]
- Album
| Chart (2002) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Top 50 Albums[7] | 3 |
| Austrian Top 75 Albums[8] | 3 |
| Belgium (Flanders) 100 Albums[9] | 1 |
| Belgium (Wallonia) 100 Albums[10] | 1 |
| Canadian Albums Chart[11] | 2 |
| Danish Top 40 Albums[12] | 2 |
| French Compilations[13] | 1 |
| German Albums[14] | 2 |
| Greek Top 50 Albums[15] | 1 |
| Hungarian Top 40 Albums[16] | 26 |
| Irish Top 75 Albums[17] | 1 |
| Italian Top 20 Albums[18] | 1 |
| Netherlands Top 100 Albums[19] | 2 |
| New Zealand Top 50 Albums[20] | 1 |
| Norwegian Top 40 Albums[21] | 2 |
| Polish Top 50 Albums[22] | 16 |
| Swedish Top 60 Albums[23] | 2 |
| Swiss Top 100 Albums[24] | 2 |
| UK Albums Chart[25] | 2 |
| US Billboard200[11] | 2 |
| Chart (2003) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Finnish Top 50 Albums[26] | 8 |
| Portuguese Albums[27] | 13 |
- Singles
| Single | Chart (2002) | Peak position |
|---|---|---|
| "Don't Stop" | Mainstream Rock Tracks[28] | 21 |
| UK Top 75 Singles[29] | 36 |
Certifications[edit][]
| Region | Certification | Sales/shipments |
|---|---|---|
| Argentina (CAPIF)[30] | Platinum | 40,000x |
| Australia (ARIA)[31] | Platinum | 70,000^ |
| Austria (IFPI Austria)[32] | Platinum | 40,000x |
| Belgium (BEA)[33] | Platinum | 50,000
|
| Brazil (ABPD)[34] | Gold | 50,000
|
| Canada (Music Canada)[35] | 5× Platinum | 250,000^ |
| Denmark (IFPI Denmark)[36] | Platinum | 50,000^ |
| Finland (Musiikkituottajat)[37] | Gold | 17,382[37] |
| France (SNEP)[38] | Platinum | 300,000
|
| Germany (BVMI)[39] | Platinum | 300,000^ |
| Greece (IFPI Greece)[15] | Gold | 15,000^ |
| New Zealand (RMNZ)[40] | 2× Platinum | 30,000^ |
| Portugal (AFP)[41] | Platinum | 40,000x |
| Sweden (GLF)[42] | Gold | 30,000^ |
| Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[43] | Platinum | 40,000x |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[44] | 3× Platinum | 900,000^ |
| United States (RIAA)[45] | 4× Platinum | 2,000,000^ |
| Summaries | ||
| Europe (IFPI)[46] | Platinum | 1,000,000
|
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