Studio outtakes from 1963-1970
Yellow Dog Records, YD 046/047/048

Track Listing CD1:

Heart Of Stone
Not Fade Away
And Mr. Spector And Mr. Pitney Came Too
Andrew's Blues
Don't Lie to Me
Hi Heel Sneakers
Stewed And Keefed
Look what You've Done
Tell Me, Baby, How Many More Times
Down In The Bottom
We're Wasting Time
Hear It
Sleepy City
Try A Little Harder
Something Just Stick In Your Mind
As Time Goes By
Blue Turns To Grey
Satisfaction*
Looking Tired
Paint It, Black*
Lady Jane*
Get Yourself Together
Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow? #1*
Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow? #2
Let's Spend The Night Together*

Track Listing CD2:

Get Yourself Together*
Let's Spend The Night Together*
All Sold Out*
Yesterday's Papers*
Ruby Tuesday*
Complicated*
Please, Go Home*
My Obsession*
Cosmic Christmas
Family
Downtown Lucy
Hamburger To Go
I'm A Country Boy
Memo From Turner #1
Memo From Turner #2
Sister Morphine
Still A Fool
You Got The Silver
Highway Child

Track Listing CD3:

Sympathy For The Devil
Country Honk
Gimme Shelter
Loving Cup
Jiving Sister Fanny
Honky Tonk Women
All Down The Line (Acoustic)
All Down The Line (Electric)
I Don't Know The Reason Why
I'm Going Down
You Gotta Move
Brown Sugar #1
Brown Sugar #2
Bitch
Good Time Woman
Sway
Schoolboy Blues

Review:

- 5 (out of five)

"The Black Box" is a very expansive set. It contains tracks from many different times in the Stones' evolution as a band, from the 1964 "Heart Of Stone" to 1970's "Sway." In all, it is an incredibly satisfying set, the songs well picked and the packaging well put together. The main drawback to the set is the inclusion of the entire Rolling Stones Karoke album, also put out by Yellow Dog. Without it, this might have been a simpler 2-disc set. They're fun for parties, but that's about it. Many tracks are earlier versions of classic songs, like "Gimme Shelter" (which is often played like it is here rather than the "Let It Bleed" version), "Brown Sugar," "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?" "You Got The Silver" (with Mick on vocals), "Country Honk" (without the automobile noise - very crisp, very clean). It's also interesting to hear how a song has metamorphosized, like the acoustic "All Down The Line," "Blue Turns To Grey" (with added horns), "Memo From Turner" (both versions here are better than the one released), "Jiving Sister Fanny," and "Good Time Woman" (an early version of "Tumbling Dice"). Most intriguing are tracks that never saw the light of day, like the Richards/Brian Jones composition "Hear It," the Bill Wyman-penned "Downtown Lucy," and the infamous "Schoolboy Blues" (a.k.a. "Cocksucker Blues"). All in all, this is a very good set. The inclusion of the Karoke tracks can be overlooked due to the wealth of other great stuff on this 3-disc set.

* = Karoke tracks