Some Girls

Digitally remastered deluxe two CD edition of the Rolling Stones' 1978 masterpiece including a bonus disc of previously unreleased recordings taped during the Some Girls sessions. A fresh, uncompromising attempt to incorporate then-modern pop techniques into the band's familiar sound, Some Girls opens with the Disco sass of "Miss You" and closes with the self-destructive punk of "Shattered." In between, you have an album that solidified their reputation as the world's greatest Rock 'n' Roll band. Some may cite Exile On Main Street as their finest '70s moment, but Some Girls is it's equal, if not a smidgen more exciting.

A fresh, uncompromising attempt to incorporate 1978 pop techniques into the band's familiar sound, Some Girls opens with the disco sass of "Miss You" and closes with the self-destructive punk of "Shattered." (Both songs, especially "Miss You," with its distinctive Mel Collins sax solo, remain live showstoppers.) So the Stones declared credibility in the dance circuit without sacrificing their hard-rock reputation. Though the anti-love "Beast of Burden" and the stylishly slow "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)" continue to rack up the most airplay, the obscurities stand up surprisingly well. Worth replaying: Keith Richards's rickety rocker "Before They Make Me Run." --Steve Knopper

Few rock stars have played in the intersection of real life, image, and fans' imaginations as smartly (and comically) as Mick Jagger does on Some Girls. With the Stones again running at top pace, Jagger aims his gimlet eye at his and the boys' gossip-column lives (the Chuck Berryish "Respectable," the archly blues-wailing title track), his collapsing marriage (where was Bianca when Mick's pals were trying to hook him up with the "Puerto Rican girls who're just dyin' to meetchoo?) and the mores and modes of New York society in the Studio 54 era (practically everything here). Slot in Keith's lament "Before They Make Me Run," and this is one of the greatest Stones albums. --Rickey Wright