Rolling Stones Announce ‘Let It Bleed’ 50th-Anniversary Edition
The Rolling Stones will celebrate the golden anniversary of one of their best albums with a Let It Bleed (50th Anniversary Edition) box.
The limited-edition set features two LPs and two HybridSuper Audio CDs, newly remastered in stereo and mono by Bob Ludwig. It also includes a replica 7" single of "Honky Tonk Women" / "You Can’t Always Get What You Want," which was released months before the album, in its original picture sleeve.
The box is rounded out with three 12” x 12” hand-numbered replica-signed lithographs; a 23” x 23” poster featuring art from the original 1969 record; and an 80-page hardcover book that includes previously unpublished photos by the Stones' tour photographer, Ethan Russell.
The remastered stereo version of Let It Bleed will also be released on CD, as a vinyl LP and digitally. You can watch an unboxing of the set, available on Nov. 1, below.
Let It Bleed was released in late November 1969, as the '60s were winding down. It was the second album in the Rolling Stones' career-best run that stretched into the early '70s and also included Beggars Banquet (1968), Sticky Fingers (1971) and Exile on Main St. (1972). In a way, the album represented the end of the long, hard decade, as themes of disillusionment and a looming apocalypse prevail.
The band's free concert at Altamont Speedway in Tracy, Calif., on Dec. 6 – in which an audience member was stabbed to death by a Hells Angel, the biker group hired as security for the event – pretty much tied Let It Bleed's dark tone to the end of the brutal '60s.
It remains a highlight of the Stones' career, a milestone work that carried the band from one glorious decade into another and includes the classic tracks "Gimme Shelter," "You Can't Always Get What You Want," "Midnight Rambler," "Let It Bleed," "Love in Vain," "Monkey Man" and "You Got the Silver." You can see the track listing for the 50th Anniversary Limited Deluxe Edition below.
“When we did the first Let It Bleed remaster in 2002, our intention was to pay homage to the original work,” said Ludwig, who also had a hand in remastering other classic Stones albums over the years. “When we did this new version, the purpose was to make it as great as it could possibly sound. If you listen on a good set of speakers or good headphones, you’ll hear subtle things in the background that are now much more clear that were somewhat hidden before.”
You can watch a new lyric video for the remastered version of "Monkey Man" below.
The Rolling Stones, 'Let It Bleed (50th Anniversary Limited Deluxe Edition)' Track Listing
LP 1 - Stereo
Side 1
1. "Gimme Shelter"
2. "Love In Vain"
3. "Country Honk"
4. "Live With Me"
5. "Let It Bleed"
Side 2
1. "Midnight Rambler"
2. "You Got the Silver"
3. "Monkey Man"
4. "You Can’t Always Get What You Want"
LP 2 - Mono
Hybrid Super Audio CD 1 - Stereo
Hybrid Super Audio CD 2 - Mono
7” vinyl single - (Mono)
Side A – "Honky Tonk Women"
Side B – "You Can’t Always Get What You Want"