Forty Licks Explained

Forty Licks
Type:greatest
Artist:the Rolling Stones
Cover:Rollingstonesfortylicks.jpg
Border:yes
Released:30 September 2002
Recorded:10 January 1964 – 7 June 2002
Genre:Rock
Length:155:52
Prev Title:No Security
Prev Year:1998
Next Title:Singles 1963–1965
Next Year:2004

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 (on disc one), 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 (on mostly disc two). 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.

Background

In 1970, the Rolling Stones had an acrimonious break-up with their former manager, Allen Klein, and their former record label, Decca Records (who licensed their recordings to London Records for release in the US). Because of the terms of their former contract, all of their pre-1970 recordings were under Klein's control, up to and including Let It Bleed, some tracks that made it on Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street, as well as outtakes, unreleased recordings, and live recordings. The Stones would immediately form Rolling Stones Records as a result, that gave them control over all of their subsequent recordings. As a result, any career retrospectives tended to be divided into two eras: prior to the split, and after the split. Klein's ABKCO Records and Decca Records would continue to release unauthorized greatest-hits records, outtakes and rarities records, and other compilations throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Any compilations or retrospectives released by the Rolling Stones after 1970, by any of their distributors or partners (such as Atlantic Records or Virgin Records) were always restricted to material recorded and released from 1971 onward. Because of various business deals and mergers of various record companies over time, the barriers to creating a unified retrospective compilation album had been resolved by the early 2000s.

Critical reception

Forty Licks has received mostly positive reviews from music critics. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine felt that Forty Licks was similar to ELV1S: 30 #1 Hits because both were influenced by The Beatles' 1, but that Forty Licks had a better concept than ELV1S. Although Rob Brunner's review of the album for Entertainment Weekly was favorable, he felt that the album was not needed because most of the band's fans already own all of the notable songs on the album. Darryl Sterdan of Jam! CANOE also felt that most fans already owned most of the songs on the album and that "Losing My Touch" was the only good previously unreleased song on the collection.[1] Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone felt that there were several songs missing from the album, but that the compilation was exciting and the four new songs were much better than their other recent work. Stylus magazine's Colin McElligatt felt that the band needed an "all-inclusive" collection, but the collection will not please everyone.

Personnel

The Rolling Stones

Additional musicians

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2002–2003)! scope="col"
Peak
position
French Compilations Albums[2] 1
Greek Albums (IFPI)[3] 1
Polish Albums (OLiS)[4] 16

Year-end charts

Chart (2002)! scope="col"
Position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[5] 38
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[6] 25
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[7] 11
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[8] 32
Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)[9] 15
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[10] 28
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[11] 20
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[12] 40
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[13] 31
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[14] 20
UK Albums (OCC)[15] 19
US Billboard 200[16] 79
Worldwide Albums (IFPI)[17] 13
Chart (2003)! scope="col"
Position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[18] 69
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[19] 20
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[20] 88
UK Albums (OCC)[21] 101
US Billboard 200[22] 56
Chart (2006)! scope="col"
Position
UK Albums (OCC)[23] 106

Singles

Single!scope="col"
Chart (2002)Peak position
align=left rowspan=2"Don't Stop"align=leftMainstream Rock Tracks21
align=leftUK Top 75 Singles[24] 36

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Album Review: Rolling Stones – Forty Licks . https://archive.today/20130101041922/http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/R/Rolling_Stones/AlbumReviews/2002/09/27/771765.html . usurped . 1 January 2013 . Darryl . Sterdan . 27 September 2002 . . Canadian Online Explorer.
  2. Web site: Les "Charts Runs" de chaque Album Classé . InfoDisc . fr . PHP . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080820092500/http://www.infodisc.fr/Albums_ChartRun.php . 20 August 2008. Find "The ROLLING STONES" under the drop-down menu to see statistics.
  3. Web site: Top 50 Ξένων Άλμπουμ: Εβδομάδα 24/01 - 30/01 . . el . https://web.archive.org/web/20030205090308/http://www.ifpi.gr/chart01.htm . 5 February 2003.
  4. Web site: Oficjalna Lista Sprzedaźy: 28 October 2002 . . pl . ASP . 25 July 2011.
  5. Web site: ARIA Top 100 Albums for 2002. Australian Recording Industry Association. 29 September 2021.
  6. Web site: Jahreshitparade Alben 2002. austriancharts.at. 29 September 2021.
  7. Web site: Jaaroverzichten 2002. Ultratop. 29 September 2021.
  8. Web site: Rapports Annuels 2002. Ultratop. 29 September 2021.
  9. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20040812030723/http://www.jamshowbiz.com/JamMusicCharts/200-1_2002.html. 12 August 2004. Top 200 Albums of 2002 (based on sales). Jam!. 24 March 2022.
  10. Web site: Jaaroverzichten – Album 2002. dutchcharts.nl. 29 September 2021.
  11. Web site: Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts. de. GfK Entertainment. offiziellecharts.de. 29 September 2021.
  12. Web site: Top Selling Albums of 2002. Recorded Music NZ. 26 January 2022.
  13. Web site: Årslista Album – År 2002. Sverigetopplistan. sv. 29 September 2021.
  14. Web site: Schweizer Jahreshitparade 2002. hitparade.ch. 29 September 2021.
  15. Web site: End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 2002. Official Charts Company. 29 September 2021.
  16. Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2002. Billboard. 29 September 2021.
  17. Web site: Top 50 Global Best Selling Albums for 2002. IFPI. https://web.archive.org/web/20081117003138/http://www.ifpi.org/content/library/top50-2002.pdf. November 17, 2008. February 1, 2023.
  18. Web site: ARIA Top 100 Albums for 2003. Australian Recording Industry Association. 29 September 2021.
  19. Web site: Jaaroverzichten – Album 2003. dutchcharts.nl. 29 September 2021.
  20. Web site: Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts. de. GfK Entertainment. offiziellecharts.de. 29 September 2021.
  21. Web site: The Official UK Albums Chart 2003. UKChartsPlus. 29 September 2021.
  22. Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2003. Billboard. 2 January 2013. 29 September 2021.
  23. Web site: 2006 UK Albums Chart. ChartsPlus. 17 November 2021.
  24. Web site: The Official Charts Company – The Rolling Stones – Don't Stop . . 26 July 2011 .

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