If faced with the absurd dilemma of pickin
g one album to represent the meanin
g of rock music, the Rollin
g Stones compilation HOT ROCKS--which collects most of their commercially and artistically successful son
gs from 1964 to 1971--would certainly be in the runnin
g. A two-CD set (ori
ginally released as a double LP), HOT ROCKS' 22 tracks each have the rin
g of historical inevitability about them; more importantly, of course, they are
great tunes. From the soulful wailin
g of "Time Is On My Side" (the only non-Ja
ger/Richards ori
ginal here) to the nervous pop shuffle of "Mother's Little Helper" throu
gh the Indian-influenced psychedelia of "Paint It Black" and the
gospel-inflected strains of "You Can't Always
Get What You Want," it is hard to ar
gue with the power of this music. Many of these son
gs have been tattooed on the cultural psyche--the amped-up rock nirvana of "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Satisfaction" (with their indelible
guitar riffs), for example--but everythin
g here sparkles and thrills: the mod clatter of "19th Nervous Breakdown," the in-your-face sass of "Brown Su
gar." At their very best, as on "Sympathy for the Devil" and "
Gimme Shelter," the Stones prove capable not only of creatin
g compressed rock masterpieces, but of makin
g music emblematic of their entire
generation (and future
generations). The Rollin
g Stones are often referred to as "the World's
Greatest Rock Band." HOT ROCKS makes that claim hard to dispute.