Forty Licks: the Definitive Rolling Stones Collection 1962-2002

If disc one covers the first eight years, then disc two covers the next 32--the stadium years. With an audience on a ludicrously grand scale, the Stones fell into a pattern of anthemic blues-rock, such as "Tumbling Dice", "Brown Sugar" and "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll". Next there were the odd experiments to keep up with the youngsters, such as the disco-influenced "Miss You", which, like Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy", was inspired, but thankfully a one off. And so onto the bleak period, after the stadium filler "Start Me Up", they fell on a rough patch that would last pretty much until Voodoo Lounge in the 1990s, a fantastic return to form, with several more songs that could have been worthy for this "best of" but were sadly not chosen in favour of "Love is Strong" and "You Got Me Rocking". Including four new songs produced by Don Was who did their last two albums, this really is the full story-so-far covering 40 years of the world's most famous rock & roll band. --David Trueman