If it feels as if
Honk
treads familiar ground, it's because it does. Arriving seven years after the career-spanning
Grrr!
-- a compilation available in a variety of iterations, all spanning from the earliest years to the 2010s --
focuses squarely on the music
the Rolling Stones
made after leaving
London
/
Decca
, a catalog that now resides with
Abkco
. In other words, its ground zero is "Brown Sugar," a staple that arrives just after "Start Me Up" kicks off the double-disc set. Such sequencing indicates how
bounces through the years, letting the '70s sit next to the '80s, finding space for latter-day songs that only showed up on previous greatest-hits albums (there have been five since 1984), and shining the spotlight on such excellent latter-day cuts as "Rough Justice." The enticement for fans is the live disc that concludes the triple-disc edition, a collection of ten concert cuts from the 2010s, some featuring such stars as
Dave Grohl
,
Ed Sheeran
Florence Welch
, and
Brad Paisley
. Throughout it all,
the Stones
sound both sinewy and nimble -- it's fun to hear them spend time with the psych-pop of "She's a Rainbow" and get into the murk with "Dancing with Mr. D" -- but it's not quite enough to justify a purchase for fans who already have these hits elsewhere. But for those who somehow don't have this music or are looking for a basic overview of
' reign on album rock, MTV and beyond, this does the job. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine