I missed this box set when it was released in 1993. Through chance and serendipity, I found this set online and decided to buy it. As you might notice in the lower right-hand corner, the TIME-LIFE logo announces this was a set that was mostly marketed on TV.
The seven music CDs cover 1967 through 1992. As far as I can determine, there hasn’t been an update to this set. Trying to capture the best of rock & roll of 25 years is an impossible task. But, there are plenty of great songs on these discs. Do you see any of your favorites? What songs are missing? GRADE: B+ (for the entire set)
Tracklist:
| DISC ONE: | 1967 – 1969 | ||
| 1-1 | Bob Dylan– | Like A Rolling Stone | 6:09 |
| 1-2 | Buffalo Springfield– | For What It’s Worth | 2:37 |
| 1-3 | Moby Grape– | Omaha | 2:22 |
| 1-4 | Quicksilver Messenger Service– | Dino’s Song | 3:07 |
| 1-5 | Donovan– | Season Of The Witch | 4:56 |
| 1-6 | The Doors– | Crystal Ship | 2:33 |
| 1-7 | The Jimi Hendrix Experience– | Spanish Castle Magic | 3:02 |
| 1-8 | Cream (2)– | Crossroads | 4:12 |
| 1-9 | The Who– | I Can See For Miles | 4:07 |
| 1-10 | The Jimi Hendrix Experience– | All Along The Watchtower | 4:00 |
| 1-11 | Jeff Beck Group– | Beck’s Bolero | 2:53 |
| 1-12 | Big Brother And The Holding Company*– | Piece Of My Heart | 4:14 |
| 1-13 | The Band– | The Weight | 4:36 |
| 1-14 | The Byrds– | Wasn’t Born To Follow | 2:02 |
| 1-15 | Johnny Winter– | Highway 61 Revisited | 5:05 |
| 1-16 | Jefferson Airplane– | 3/5 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds | 4:45 |
| 1-17 | Traffic– | Dear Mr. Fantasy | 5:32 |
| DISC TWO: | 1969 – 1970 | ||
| 2-1 | MC5– | Kick Out The Jams | 2:59 |
| 2-2 | Santana– | Everybody’s Everything | 3:29 |
| 2-3 | The Steve Miller Band*– | My Dark Hour | 3:08 |
| 2-4 | Neil Young– | The Loner | 3:53 |
| 2-5 | Bob Dylan– | Lay Lady Lay | 3:19 |
| 2-6 | Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young– | Ohio | 3:00 |
| 2-7 | Boz Scaggs– | Loan Me A Dime | 12:33 |
| 2-8 | The Jackson 5– | I Want You Back | 2:57 |
| 2-9 | Sly And The Family Stone*– | Thank You (Falettin Me Be Mice Elf Agin) | 4:53 |
| 2-10 | John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band*– | Working Class Hero | 3:51 |
| 2-11 | Creedence Clearwater Revival– | Fortunate Son | 2:21 |
| 2-12 | Eric Clapton– | Blues Power | 3:09 |
| 2-13 | The Grateful Dead– | Casey Jones | 4:27 |
| 2-14 | The Allman Brothers Band– | Dreams | 7:18 |
| 2-15 | Led Zeppelin– | Friends | 3:54 |
| DISC THREE: | 1971 – 1973 | ||
| 3-1 | Rod Stewart– | Maggie May | 5:14 |
| 3-2 | The Who– | Won’t Get Fooled Again | 8:31 |
| 3-3 | Stevie Wonder– | Superstition | 4:26 |
| 3-4 | Marvin Gaye– | What’s Going On | 3:48 |
| 3-5 | Joni Mitchell– | California | 3:49 |
| 3-6 | Paul Simon– | Mother And Child Reunion | 3:06 |
| 3-7 | Randy Newman– | Sail Away | 2:52 |
| 3-8 | The Eagles*– | Take It Easy | 3:31 |
| 3-9 | Bonnie Raitt– | Give It Up (Or Let Me Go) | 4:30 |
| 3-10 | Little Feat– | Dixie Chicken | 3:51 |
| 3-11 | The Allman Brothers Band– | Ramblin’ Man | 4:44 |
| 3-12 | Derek And The Dominos*– | Bell Bottom Blues | 5:02 |
| 3-13 | Mott The Hoople– | All The Young Dudes | 3:31 |
| 3-14 | Lou Reed– | Walk On The Wild Side | 4:12 |
| 3-15 | Bob Dylan– | Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door | 2:30 |
| DISC FOUR: | 1973 – 1977 | ||
| 4-1 | David Bowie– | Rebel Rebel | 4:31 |
| 4-2 | Ry Cooder– | It’s All Over Now | 4:53 |
| 4-3 | Bob Marley And The Wailers*– | No Woman No Cry | 3:42 |
| 4-4 | Elton John– | Daniel | 3:55 |
| 4-5 | James Taylor (2)– | Mexico | 2:59 |
| 4-6 | Bob Dylan– | Simple Twist Of Fate | 4:19 |
| 4-7 | Neil Young– | Tonight’s The Night | 4:44 |
| 4-8 | Led Zeppelin– | Trampled Under Foot | 5:36 |
| 4-9 | Bruce Springsteen– | Born To Run | 4:32 |
| 4-10 | Graham Parker– | Heat Treatment | 3:07 |
| 4-11 | Ramones– | Blitzkrieg Bop | 2:14 |
| 4-12 | Fleetwood Mac– | Go Your Own Way | 3:39 |
| 4-13 | Bonnie Raitt– | Runaway | 3:23 |
| 4-14 | Jackson Browne– | The Pretender | 5:51 |
| 4-15 | The Eagles*– | Hotel California | 6:27 |
| 4-16 | Wings (2)– | Maybe I’m Amazed | 5:18 |
| DISC FIVE: | 1977 – 1982 | ||
| 5-1 | The Sex Pistols*– | God Save The Queen | 3:21 |
| 5-2 | Television– | See No Evil | 3:54 |
| 5-3 | Elvis Costello– | Watching The Detectives | 3:44 |
| 5-4 | The Patti Smith Group*– | We Three | 4:18 |
| 5-5 | Ian Dury And The Blockheads– | Sex & Drugs & Rock ‘n’ Roll | 3:05 |
| 5-6 | Warren Zevon– | Werewolves Of London | 3:27 |
| 5-7 | Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers– | Refugee | 3:22 |
| 5-8 | Ry Cooder– | Little Sister | 3:46 |
| 5-9 | The Kinks– | A Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy | 5:01 |
| 5-10 | Dire Straits– | Sultans Of Swing | 5:47 |
| 5-11 | The Cars– | Just What I Needed | 3:45 |
| 5-12 | The Clash– | Train In Vain (Stand By Me) | 3:09 |
| 5-13 | The Pretenders– | Brass In Pocket | 3:04 |
| 5-14 | U2– | I Will Follow | 3:37 |
| 5-15 | Prince– | When U Were Mine | 3:44 |
| 5-16 | Richard And Linda Thompson*– | Wall Of Death | 3:44 |
| 5-17 | Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five*– | The Message | 7:10 |
| DISC SIX: | 1982 – 1986 | ||
| 6-1 | Eurythmics– | Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) | 4:52 |
| 6-2 | The J. Geils Band– | Freeze Frame | 3:58 |
| 6-3 | Prince– | Little Red Corvette | 5:05 |
| 6-4 | Talking Heads– | Life During Wartime | 5:53 |
| 6-5 | Sting– | If You Love Somebody Set Them Free | 4:15 |
| 6-6 | Don Henley– | The Boys Of Summer | 4:50 |
| 6-7 | Prince– | When Doves Cry | 5:55 |
| 6-8 | Bruce Springsteen– | Born In The U.S.A. | 4:38 |
| 6-9 | U2– | Pride (In The Name Of Love) | 3:48 |
| 6-10 | Madonna– | Borderline | 3:58 |
| 6-11 | Cyndi Lauper– | She Bop | 3:49 |
| 6-12 | Paul Simon– | Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes | 5:49 |
| 6-13 | John Mellencamp*– | Rain On The Scarecrow | 3:45 |
| 6-14 | Jackson Browne– | Lives In The Balance | 4:12 |
| 6-15 | Foreigner– | I Want To Know What Love Is | 4:59 |
| DISC SEVEN: | 1986 – 1992 | ||
| 7-1 | Bangles– | Manic Monday | 3:06 |
| 7-2 | Run-D.M.C.*– | Walk This Way | 5:13 |
| 7-3 | The Robert Cray Band– | Smoking Gun | 4:07 |
| 7-4 | Living Colour– | Cult Of Personality | 4:56 |
| 7-5 | The B-52’s– | Love Shack | 5:24 |
| 7-6 | The Grateful Dead– | Touch Of Grey | 5:48 |
| 7-7 | Don Henley– | The End Of The Innocence | 5:15 |
| 7-8 | Tracy Chapman– | Talkin’ Bout A Revolution | 2:40 |
| 7-9 | Public Enemy– | Fight The Power | 4:46 |
| 7-10 | Vaughan Brothers*– | White Boots | 3:48 |
| 7-11 | Bonnie Raitt– | Thing Called Love | 3:53 |
| 7-12 | The Black Crowes– | Hard To Handle | 3:11 |
| 7-13 | R.E.M.– | Losing My Religion | 4:29 |
| 7-14 | Robbie Robertson– | Shake This Town | 5:21 |
| 7-15 | Spin Doctors– | Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong | 3:53 |
Great collection. I may have picked different songs by some of the artists (the Kinks, Steve Miller for 2 examples) but no one that doesn’t belong here except Foreigner. A few admissions probably for rights reasons-Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Animals, Van Morrison, the Stooges, the Go Gos and Love). Probably the best collection you have posted. Of course they couldm’t include everyone but this is a pretty good selection. A-
Steve, I’ve enjoyed listening to THE ROLLING STONE COLLECTION: 25 YEARS OF ESSENTIAL ROCK. Plenty of great songs although like you I would have made different choices if I was assembling this collection.
I thought it was a Rolling Stones collection at first! I wondered why they were singing so many cover versions! Now I see my error! Yes, there are a ton of good songs here, but I find the Time-Life collections to be of low quality! All the cassette tapes I bought from them years ago degraded to the point I had to throw them out!
Bob, in general, I had problems with many of the cassette tapes I bought from that era. I switched to CDs exclusively in the early 1980s. And, sometimes, I get a flakey music CD!
I have this collection and really enjoy it. I don’t love everything on it, but the percentage of good stuff is very high. I keep it stored in the living room, not the basement.
Time-Life could do good work or crap work. You can often tell by the length of the discs. These good ones run an hour or so. Lesser sets have ten tracks, very skimpy. I got these through a direct mail campaign, and was sent one a month or so. They sent me mailers about sets all the time, but I think I only bought two: this and a Beethoven collection. Both still get played.
Jeff, somehow I missed THE ROLLING STONE COLLECTION: 25 YEARS OF ESSENTIAL ROCK commercials in the 1990s. I’ve never seen this set in a record store (remember them?) new or used. I totally agree with your assessment that the percentage of Good Stuff is high!
Decent enough, with odd choices cheek by jowl with fine ones (the Bangles did few songs more slight than “Manic Monday”, and most of those on their third CBS album, when they were being “managed” ineptly). Almost all the hits in this era by the Kinks are better. And so on. (Clapton recording something called “Blues Power” in 1970 a couple of years after Albert King’s hit “Blues Power” is a tribute to narcissism.)
Todd, as you and Steve point out (and I concur) the choices on these 7 discs are sometimes befuddling. Love your “odd choices cheek to jowl with fine ones”! So true!
So many fantastic songs! And of course really good performers.
I may have written about this before:
Just a few weeks before they found him dead in his hotel room in Switzerland I saw an ad for a performance of Johnny Winter in a club in my hometown – and I got tickets!
So after the opening band two strong people brought in a chair on which Johnny was seated, he just couldn’t stand or walk!
But his playing and singing was still marvelous.
And when he started Highway 61 I almost broke into tears of joy.
We were standing less than 5 meters away and could watch every trick on his guitar …
Fond memories!
Besides Dylan Traffic is one of my favourites here – but there are so many …
Wolf, your listening tastes Back in the Day paralleled my own. Dylan was at the top of my list in the Sixties followed by The Rolling Stones. Loved the British Invasion: Traffic, The Zombie, The Who, The Kinks, etc.
Pretty good for a compilation—although, as Steve notes, some of the choices for a particular artist/act seem odd (possibly because of rights issues). I like a lot of the songs here—so, on the whole, definitely a cut or two above the usual compilation CD mish-mash.
Deb, somehow I missed this box set on its first go-round in the 1990s. By chance, I discovered it online recently, ordered it, played it, and enjoyed it!
From 1972 on, I was a) in a coma, b) held prisoner in a secret CIA camp, or c) too busy doing other things. I honestly don’t remember many of the songs from that time on. I’m old and probably senile. **sigh**
Jerry, I forgot some of these songs, too. It’s been decades since I’ve heard some of them. Our local Oldies station mostly play songs from the 1990s.
Oldies from the Nineties? Geez, I am old…unless you mistyped and meant the 1890s.
What Jerry said. I was too busy listening to the music of Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers and The Electric Company.
Patti, I’m always amused when SESAME STREET invited Rock & Roll stars to perform on one of their programs. My favorite is Feist’s appearance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ9WiuJPnNA
And what about Naomi?
A collection good enough that I can’t even bring myself to be picky about it, although I already own most of the stuff here that I really love. They even included my favorite relatively obscure 70s NY band, Television.
Michael, I confess I’m not familiar with Television, but I’ll investigate further. As you say, this box set contains a lot of good songs!
Television is slightly more obscure than Hancock’s “Rockit”, but not by much…one of the most influential bands in NYC in the mid ’70s on what became “New Wave” music because it was often a bit less abrasive and more right-angles melodic than punk. Blondie were their exact contemporaries, for example, as other pioneers who were punk-adjacent, but not punk. (Thus also the Police, the B-52s as they rolled in a bit later, the very arty Devo as they got some attention, all from other city-scenes…Pere Ubu might be the closest approximation to Television in terms of essentially No Hits, Huge Influence, not even Retrospective hits such as the Velvet Underground kinda sorta had, and then Lou Reed having some genuine ones.
Like a Rolling Stone came out in June of 1965, not 1967.
But other than that, I agree. Compared with the usual ’90s crap CDs offered here, this is a cut way above. We have some good Time-Life collections too, like the Folk Music set you featured a while ago. Of course cassettes don’t hold up. It’s 40 years! I never heard of it before either, but if I had it I would play it.
Jeff, Jeff Smith of course has this set and has been enjoying it for years. The first time I learned about THE ROLLING STONE COLLECTION: 25 YEARS OF ESSENTIAL ROCK was a few weeks ago when I discovered it on Discogs while I was looking for something else. I ordered it immediately and the 7-CD box set arrived a week later. I started listening to the CDs and enjoyed all that music from my youth! This is a great set!
This is a great collection, though I’d also pick many different songs (for my taste which is different from theirs). I don’t know enough about when each song I’d want would have fit in by the year, so that might be a reason for the difference. I was surprised at the number I recognized from the last disc, more than I expected.
I can’t remember all the ones I’d pick but think I’d want Brown Sugar or Spend the night together by the Stones. Instead of Moby Grape I would have put in Canned Heat going up the country. Would have included Redbone Come & get your love, which is in an adorable Christmas commercial for a French phone company. The title of the Airplane one is foreign to me, but would have picked Miracles (unless they were starship by then). Where is Turtles Happy Together?
Still a great collection I’ll have to add
Maggie, I suspect the “Name” groups and performers cost too much to be included in this box set. But, there are plenty of wonderful songs to listen to. I highly recommend this box set to anyone who loves Rock & Roll from this era. Things went south in the 1990s for contemporary music.
I’d disagree that the ’90s were bad for contemporary music…top 40 probably, but that was always at best three sedatives and a pile of overproduction for every genuinely good song. Even in the ’60s.
Todd, I think the 1990s became marginalized because the use of synthesizers, drum machines, and computer manipulation of music changed the sound of songs. Once, musicians played instruments. Now they apply programming to produce a hit song.
Well, again, George, that was at least as true of the ’80s and every decade since. But the ’70s and ’60s were full of disposable pop and rock that had no synthesizers involved. And some which used synthesizers cleverly (“Rockit” comes to mind!).
Again, Top 40 is not the usual resting place of the better music of any era. When it does happen, rejoice.
Todd, I agree. The popular tastes reflected in the Top 40 usually don’t last long. New musical fads come along and the type of sound changes…sometimes not for the best.
3/5 of a mile is one of Jefferson Airplane’s biggest hits, along with White Rabbit.
“Miracles” was one of Starship’s more successful singles.
I have never seen a Beatles or Rolling Stones track on a compilation. I think whoever has the rights to them figure if you want them, you can buy one of the records.
Steve, I agree with you. The cost of top tier groups and performers make their inclusion on one of these compilation discs prohibitively expensive.
Well. There are no lack of “top tier” groups here…then there are those that are consistent sellers. The Beatles and to a lesser extent the Stones fall into that category. The Who to some extent. Pink Floyd might still.
Good collection, I like almost every song.
Rick, I’m with you on the quality of this box set! I’ve had fun listening to these 7 CDs!