12/09/2021
ON THIS DATE (52 YEARS AGO)
September 12, 1969 – The Rolling Stones: Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2) is released.
# ALL THINGS MUSIC PLUS+ 5/5
# Rolling Stone (see original review below)
Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2) is The Rolling Stones' second official compilation album, released on September 12, 1969. It reached #2 on the Billboard 200 Top LP's chart and #2 on the UK Albums chart. Both singles reached the Billboard Hot 100 chart - "Jumpin' Jack Flash" ( #3) and "Dandelion" ( #14). The original release came with a limited edition octagonal-shaped album cover.
The release date was shortly following Brian Jones's departure from the group and subsequent death. In the inside flap of the album, there is a tribute to Jones, which reads: "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."
In September, Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2) — dedicated to Jones — appeared with a limited edition octagonal-shaped album cover.
Because their 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 "H***y Tonk Women".
The name of the album is a play on a line from the KJV translation of I Corinthians 13: "For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face: . . .", but it is more likely the Stones intended an homage to Ingmar Bergman and his 1961 film Through a Glass Darkly.
ORIGINAL ROLLING STONE REVIEW
This is one of the great party records. All the cuts are favorites, all are terrific—loud, tough, flashy rock and roll. Even if you already have every song on Flowers, Aftermath, Between the Buttons, and Beggars' Banquet, all together they've probably never sounded as good as they do on this LP. Whether or not the songs were chosen with great care or virtually at random, they form an album of tremendous impact, just like any record of Little Richard's greatest hits. If you're a true Stones fan, you won't be able to take your eyes off the cover.
That said, it's still disappointing that things like "Mother's Little Helper" were included while "We Love You' and "Child of the Moon," which have never been on albums, were omitted. If the Stones are really going through the past darkly they ought to at least give us a reminder of where they've really been—in jail, for instance. And they might have given American listeners a treat by including the best of their really old material: their school-boy proud versions of Chuck Berry's "Come On," "Poison Ivy," "Money," "Bye Bye Johnny," and the tune that really put the over the top, "I Wanna Be Your Man." But albums like this are part of the Stones tradition—don't be surprised when you buy "Ruby Tuesday" for the fourth time, come a year from now.
~ Greil Marcus, October 18, 1969
TRACKS:
UK RELEASE
All songs by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, except where noted.
Side one
"Jumpin' Jack Flash" – 3:40
"Mother's Little Helper" – 2:45
"2000 Light Years from Home" – 4:45
"Let's Spend the Night Together" – 3:36
"You Better Move On" (Arthur Alexander) – 2:39
"We Love You" – 4:22
Side two
"Street Fighting Man" – 3:15
"She's a Rainbow" – 4:11
"Ruby Tuesday" – 3:16
"Dandelion" – 3:32
"Sittin' on a Fence" – 3:02
"H***y Tonk Women" – 3:00
US RELEASE
All songs by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, except where noted.
Side one
"Paint It, Black" – 3:20
"Ruby Tuesday" – 3:12
"She's a Rainbow" – 4:35
"Jumpin' Jack Flash" – 3:40
"Mother's Little Helper" – 2:40
"Let's Spend the Night Together" – 3:29
Side two
"H***y Tonk Women" – 3:03
"Dandelion" – 3:56
"2000 Light Years from Home" – 4:45
"Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?" – 2:33
"Street Fighting Man" – 3:10