Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2) | ||||
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Greatest hits album by | ||||
Released | 12 September 1969 | |||
Recorded | 8 August 1963 – June 1969 | |||
Genre | Rock, psychedelic | |||
Length | 42:30 | |||
Language | English | |||
Label | London (US), Decca (UK) | |||
Producer | Andrew Loog Oldham, The Rolling Stones, Jimmy Miller | |||
The Rolling Stones chronology | ||||
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The Rolling Stones compilations chronology | ||||
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Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2) is the second compilation album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released in September 1969 by Decca Records in the UK and London Records/ABKCO Records in the US.
According to Bruce Eder of AllMusic, the album resulted from "three coinciding events – the need to acknowledge the death of the band’s founder Brian Jones (whose epitaph graces the inside cover) in July 1969; the need to get 'Honky Tonk Women,' then a huge hit single, onto an LP; and to fill the ten-month gap since the release of Beggars Banquet and get an album with built-in appeal into stores ahead of the Stones' first American tour in three years." [1]
Because the Stones' first Big Hits compilation had been released in separate formats, with the Aftermath -era material appearing only on its UK edition, the American edition of Big Hits Vol. 2 included hit singles from the Aftermath period.
The British track listing included the more obscure "You Better Move On", from The Rolling Stones' self-titled 1964 debut EP and "Sittin' on a Fence", an Aftermath outtake originally released in 1967 on the US-compiled Flowers album. In addition to those songs, many tracks, notably single-only releases, were collected for the first time on a UK Rolling Stones album: "Let's Spend the Night Together", "Ruby Tuesday", "We Love You", "Dandelion", and "Honky Tonk Women".
The name of the album is a play on a line from the KJV translation of 1 Corinthians 13: "For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face..." [2]
The LP was packaged in an eight-sided die-cut gatefold sleeve, featuring an epitaph for Jones: "When this you see, remember me and bear me in your mind. Let all the world say what they may, speak of me as you find." [3] Album cover design John Kosh
Released on 12 September 1969, [4] both versions of Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2) proved to be popular releases, reaching #2 in the UK and US with enduring sales.
In August 2002 the US edition of Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2) was reissued in a new remastered CD and SACD digipak by ABKCO Records.
The British version was again made available to the public as part of a limited edition vinyl box set, titled The Rolling Stones 1964–1969, in November 2010. It was also re-released digitally at the same time.
It was released in 2011 by Universal Music Enterprises in a Japanese only SHM-SACD version. For Record Store Day 2019 ABKCO Records released the record on orange vinyl, with a gatefold cover in the octagonal-shape of the original issue.
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Tom Hull | A− [6] |
Reviewing for Rolling Stone in September 1969, Greil Marcus hailed Through the Past, Darkly's American edition as "an album of tremendous impact" and "one of the great party records", with all the songs fan-favorites and "loud, tough, flashy rock and roll". However, he lamented the absence of singles and early songs of the Stones that had not yet appeared on any US album, as well as the aspect of repetition in the song selection. [7] Robert Christgau echoed this disappointment in The Village Voice : "Some are repeated for a third time ('Ruby Tuesday,' 'Let's Spend the Night Together') while great B sides ('We Love You,' 'Who's Driving My Plane?,' 'Child of the Moon,' and 'You Can't Always Get What You Want,' which exists in a nine-minute version) remain uncollected. And whose fault is that?" [8] More receptive was Rob Sheffield, who wrote years later in The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004) that the compilation had adequately summarised the Stones' "brief but tasty" psychedelic music period. [9]
All tracks written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, except where noted.
Side one
Side two
All tracks written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
Side one
Side two
The Rolling Stones
Additional musicians
Album
Year | Chart | Top Position |
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1969 | Finland Soumen Virallinen LPs Chart [10] | 9 |
1969 | UK Albums Chart [11] | 2 |
1969 | Billboard Pop Albums [12] | 2 |
Singles
Year | Single | Chart | Top Position |
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1969 | "Honky Tonk Women" | UK Top 50 Singles [11] | 1 |
1969 | "Honky Tonk Women" | The Billboard Hot 100 [13] | 1 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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United Kingdom (BPI) [14] | Gold | 100,000![]() |
United States (RIAA) [15] | Platinum | 1,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Michael Kevin Taylor is an English guitarist, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (1967–1969) and the Rolling Stones (1969–1974). As a member of the Stones, he appeared on: Let It Bleed (1969), Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert (1970), Sticky Fingers (1971), Exile on Main St. (1972), Goats Head Soup (1973) and It's Only Rock 'n Roll (1974).
Let It Bleed is the 8th British and 10th American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released 28 November 1969 on London Records in the United States and shortly thereafter by Decca Records in the United Kingdom. Released shortly after the band's 1969 American Tour, it is the follow-up to 1968's Beggars Banquet. As with Beggars Banquet, the album marks a return to the group's more blues-sound approach that was prominent in the pre-Aftermath period of their career. Additional sounds on the album draw influence from gospel, country blues and country rock.
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, 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. Four new songs are included on the second disc. The album was a commercial success, as it reached No. 2 on both UK and US charts. Concurrently with the album's release, the Stones embarked on the successful, year-long international Licks Tour, which would result in the subsequent Live Licks album being released in 2004.
Between the Buttons is the fifth British and seventh American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 20 January 1967 in the UK and on 11 February in the US as the follow-up to Aftermath. It reflected the Stones' brief foray into psychedelia and baroque pop balladry during the era. It is among the band's most musically eclectic works; multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones abandoned his guitar on much of the album, instead playing a wide variety of other instruments including organ, marimba, vibraphone, and kazoo. Piano contributions came from two session players: former Rolling Stones member Ian Stewart and frequent contributor Jack Nitzsche. It would be the last album produced by Andrew Loog Oldham, who had to this point acted as the band's manager and produced all of their albums.
"Ruby Tuesday" is a song recorded by the Rolling Stones in 1966, released in January 1967. The song became the band's fourth number-one hit in the United States and reached number three in the United Kingdom as a double A-side with "Let's Spend the Night Together". The song was included in the American version of Between the Buttons.
Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!: The Rolling Stones in Concert is the second live album by the Rolling Stones, released on 4 September 1970 on Decca Records in the UK and on London Records in the US. It was recorded in New York City and Baltimore in November 1969, just before the release of Let It Bleed. It is the first live album to reach number 1 in the UK. It was reported to have been issued in response to the well known bootleg Live'r Than You'll Ever Be. This was also the band’s final release under the Decca record label and not under their own label Rolling Stones Records.
Made in the Shade, released in 1975, is the third official compilation album by the Rolling Stones, and the first under their Atlantic Records contract. It covers material from Sticky Fingers (1971), Exile on Main St. (1972), Goats Head Soup (1973) and It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (1974).
"Honky Tonk Women" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. It was released as a non-album single on 4 July 1969 in the United Kingdom, and a week later in the United States. It topped the charts in both nations. The song was on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Flowers is the second compilation album by the Rolling Stones, released in the summer of 1967. The group recorded the songs at various studios dating back to 1965. Three of the songs had never been released: "My Girl", "Ride On, Baby" and "Sittin' on a Fence", the first of which was recorded in May 1965 during the sessions for "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," and the other two of which were recorded in December 1965 during the first lot of Aftermath sessions. The rest of the album tracks either appeared as singles or had been omitted from the American versions of Aftermath and Between the Buttons.
Metamorphosis is the third compilation album of the Rolling Stones music released by former manager Allen Klein's ABKCO Records after the band's departure from Decca and Klein. Released in 1975, Metamorphosis centres on outtakes and alternate versions of well-known songs recorded from 1964 to 1970.
Singles Collection: The London Years is a compilation album by the Rolling Stones, released in 1989. It was released as a 3-CD and a 4-LP set.
Big Hits is the first compilation album by the Rolling Stones. With different cover art and track listings, it was released on 28 March 1966, on London Records in the US and on 4 November 1966, by Decca Records in the UK.
"Let's Spend the Night Together" is a song written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and originally released by the Rolling Stones as a double A-sided single together with "Ruby Tuesday" in January 1967. It also appears as the opening track on the American version of their album Between the Buttons. The song has been covered by various artists, including David Bowie in 1973.
"We Love You" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones that was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. It was first released as a single on 18 August 1967, with "Dandelion" as the B-side. The song peaked at number eight in Britain and number 50 in the United States, where "Dandelion" was promoted as the A-side and peaked at number 14. The recording features a Mellotron part played by Brian Jones and backing vocals by John Lennon and Paul McCartney of the Beatles.
"Sittin' on a Fence" is a song written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the English rock and roll band the Rolling Stones. The song was given to the singing duo Twice as Much, who released it as their debut single in May 1966. This version became a Top 40 hit on the UK Singles Chart, and also received some attention in the United States, where it charted on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.
"Dandelion" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and first released as a B-side to "We Love You" in August 1967. John Lennon and Paul McCartney sing backing vocals. Billboard described the single as "an easy beat rocker with good story line."
"Live with Me" is a song by the Rolling Stones from their album Let It Bleed, released in December 1969. It was the first song recorded with the band's new guitarist Mick Taylor, who joined the band in June 1969, although the first record the band released with Taylor was the single version of Honky Tonk Women. Taylor later described the recording of "Live with Me" as "kind of the start of that particular era for the Stones, where Keith and I traded licks."
Rolling Stones: Live at the Max is a concert film by the Rolling Stones released in 1991. It was specially filmed in IMAX during the Urban Jungle Tour in Europe in 1990. It was the first concert movie shot in the IMAX format.
No Stone Unturned is a compilation album by The Rolling Stones released in 1973. Eight of the twelve tracks had been previously released on single b-sides in the United Kingdom, and the rest had been released on EPs.
The Rolling Stones in Mono is a box set by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released by ABKCO Records in September 2016. It contains most of the group's British and American studio albums from the 1960s in mono format, on fifteen compact discs or sixteen vinyl records. All tracks were remastered using the Direct Stream Digital process by Bob Ludwig. The original recordings were produced by Andrew Loog Oldham, Jimmy Miller and the Rolling Stones.