The Rolling Stones - Honk {iTunes Deluxe Edition} (2019)

When The Rolling Stones’ former manager Allen Klein assembled one of the band’s earliest compilation series in 1971 and 1972 (Hot Rocks 1964-1971 and More Hot Rocks), he was surveying an entirely different group than the one we know today. Four and a half decades later, there’s a whole lot more catalogue to consider than what that original, unassailable run of ’60s albums offered at the time. Honk essentially picks up where Hot Rocks left off, plucking 36 tunes from a range of LPs starting with 1971’s Sticky Fingers and ending with 2016’s Blue & Lonesome. But while that timeframe is broad, the focus is stylistically tight. Aside from a few classic ballads (“Wild Horses”, “Angie”), Honk serves as a reminder of what the band built their name on: strutting rockers and barroom stompers.


And they run the gamut here, from beautifully swampy and chaotic (Exile on Main St.’s brassy opener “Rocks Off”, Keith Richards’ vocal turn on that album's “Happy”) to slinky and soulful (“Miss You” and “Beast of Burden” from 1978’s Some Girls; 1994’s “Love Is Strong”) to straight down the middle (1981’s “Start Me Up”, 1989’s “Rock and a Hard Place”) to straight-up covering blues artists of the ’40s and ’50s (2016’s "Just Your Fool” and "Ride ’Em On Down”). And in case you didn't get the memo that the Stones remain one of the strongest live acts of all time, they've included 10 tracks recorded from the road between 2013 and 2018, some of which feature guest appearances by Brad Paisley, Florence Welch, Ed Sheeran and Dave Grohl.