ABKCO Releases Eight Classic Rolling Stones Albums In Dolby Atmos On Streaming Platforms

 

ABKCO Music & Records has released six full-length albums and two EPs by The Rolling Stones in the Dolby Atmos® audio format for the first time ever. These include the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers’ The Rolling Stones EP (1964), The Rolling Stones (UK) (1964), England’s Newest Hit Makers (1964), Five by Five EP (1964), 12 X 5 (1964), The Rolling Stones No. 2 (1965), The Rolling Stones, Now! (1965), and Let It Bleed (1969). All eight titles are simultaneously available on Apple Music, TIDAL and Amazon Music.

The Rolling Stones titles are part of ABKCO’s ongoing campaign to reissue classic titles on Dolby Atmos®, starting with several releases by The Animals (The Animals, The Animals on Tour, Animal Tracks, Animalization, The Animals Retrospective), followed by Sam Cooke (Portrait of a Legend, Keep Movin’ On, Sam Cooke at the Copa, Ain’t That Good News).  

It was standard industry practice in the 1960s for a recording artist’s UK and US releases to feature different track lists, often times with different album titles and/or cover art. The early catalog of The Rolling Stones was no exception. Not long after the group burst onto the scene with its unique brand of rock and roll that was heavily indebted to American blues, Decca -- their British label at the time -- released a self-titled EP, a self-titled LP and the Five by Five EP all within calendar 1964. 

On this side of the Atlantic, London Records, the group’s US label, released the optimistically and prophetically-titled England’s Newest Hit Makers LP and 12 X 5 LP that same year. Filled with their versions of songs by Chuck Berry, Rufus Thomas, Willie Dixon, Bo Diddley, The Valentinos and others, these records also offered a glimpse into the brilliance of the emerging Jagger-Richards songwriting team with “Congratulations” and their first US Top 40 hit “Tell Me (You’re Coming Back)”. In early 1965, Decca issued The Rolling Stones No. 2 while London Records put out The Rolling Stones, Now! – the latter containing “Heart of Stone,” the band’s entrée into the Top 20 of Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. 

By the end of the decade, The Rolling Stones were an international household name, but the original lineup was fracturing. Released in 1969 with identical cover art and track lists in the US and UK, Let It Bleed represents the end of the Brian Jones era (he plays autoharp on “You Got the Silver” and percussion on “Midnight Rambler”) and the beginning of the Mick Taylor era (slide guitar on “Country Honk,” guitar on “Live with Me”). Most of the acclaimed double platinum Jimmy Miller-produced album was recorded by core members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts, with contributions from outside musicians such as Ian Stewart, Nicky Hopkins, Ry Cooder, Leon Russell, Jack Nitzsche, Al Kooper, Merry Clayton and Doris Troy, among others. Let It Bleed is bookended by the evergreen Jagger-Richards songs “Gimme Shelter” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”

This fall, ABKCO Music & Records will continue rolling out titles by The Rolling Stones in Dolby Atmos®. These will include Beggars Banquet (1968), Got Live If You Want It! EP (1965), both the US and UK versions of Out of Our Heads (1965), the US and UK versions of Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass) (1966) and December’s Children (And Everybody’s) (1965).