January 2026
The first time I heard of Steven Wilson was when I received a copy of Porcupine Tree’s seventh album, In Absentia, for review in 2003. Wilson was the group’s leader, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He also produced the band’s albums and has served in that role for other musicians as well.
When I researched Wilson for my review, I found out that he had begun learning to make his own recordings at age 12, when his dad bought him a multitrack tape machine. His talents as a studio wiz made me think of musician/producer/engineer Todd Rundgren, so when Wilson’s name began turning up as a remix engineer for reissues of classic albums, it came as no surprise.
Porcupine Tree was, broadly speaking, a prog band, and many of Wilson’s remixes were in that genre. He initially specialized in 5.1 surround mixes but has recently moved into Dolby Atmos, too. He usually does stereo remixes for those same releases. He has worked his magic on albums by King Crimson, Yes, Rush, Caravan, and Gentle Giant. I have quite a few of them, and they’re all improvements on the originals.
His reach has extended well beyond prog, to albums by Chic, Chicago, Van Morrison, and Phil Collins. If I hadn’t seen how varied his projects have been, I might have been surprised to discover that he remixed Universal Music’s new reissue of the Rolling Stones’ Black and Blue.
The reissue anticipates the album’s 50th anniversary in April 2026. There are several versions available. Here’s a breakdown of the formats and content:
- Five-LP Super Deluxe Box Set
- Four-CD Super Deluxe Box Set
- Limited Edition Five-LP Marbled Vinyl Super Deluxe Box Set
- Double LP (Steven Wilson Mix + Outtakes & Jams)
- Two-CD Set (Steven Wilson Mix + Outtakes & Jams)
- LP (Steven Wilson Mix)
- CD (Steven Wilson Mix)
- LP Zoetrope Vinyl
The five-LP and four-CD sets include Wilson’s stereo mix of the album, outtakes from the original sessions, and live recordings from around the time of the album’s release. Both also include a Blu‑ray disc consisting of Wilson’s surround and Atmos mixes and live video footage of the band. (Universal’s website does not specify that the Blu‑ray included with the four-disc set contains the surround and Atmos mixes, but descriptions on retail sites do.)
The Stones started recording Black and Blue in December 1974, soon after guitarist Mick Taylor left the band. Over the next ten months, the Stones went into studios in Munich, Rotterdam, and Montreux to record. They brought in outside guitarists, both to help with the tracks and to audition as a replacement for Taylor.
I wasn’t interested in the surround mix, but I wanted to hear Wilson’s stereo mix on vinyl. I’ve been impressed with his work on other vinyl reissues. His mixes tended to be cleaner, more detailed, and more spacious than earlier pressings I owned, but they didn’t tinker with the overall feel of the records.
I ordered the two-LP set, which includes a second LP of outtakes and jams. It cost me about US$10 more than the single-LP release. If you decide to go with the single LP, pay attention when you order. The 2020 half-speed master is still available, and it’s the same price.
Matt Colton at Metropolis Studios cut the lacquer for the vinyl re-releases of Black and Blue. I only know this fact because “Matt @ Metropolis” is etched into the leadout groove. The packaging for the two-LP set is light on credits—it only shows what was listed on the original release. Steven Wilson’s credit for the remix is on the sticker affixed to the shrink-wrap but is otherwise not mentioned.
When I dropped the needle on my original pressing of Black and Blue, I was reminded that it’s very well recorded. Keith Richards’s guitar strikes in the right channel on the opening track sound meaty, and Charlie Watts’s snare drum slams hard. Billy Preston’s piano rings out clearly. Harvey Mandel’s riffing in the left channel has a sharp edge.
Wilson’s mix pulls some of the compression of the original and layers the instruments in a deeper soundstage. At first I missed the more forward forcefulness of Watts’s drums on the earlier LP, but on this new release I heard more reverb on the drums, and the kick drum in particular was more defined. Preston’s piano sounded deeper and fuller, but it was positioned slightly back, which gave more space to the other instruments.
Mandel’s guitar lines in the left channel would occasionally recede in the original pressing, but I could follow them more easily in the remix; the tone and phase shifting of his solos was also presented more clearly. Bill Wyman’s bass lines flowed more easily and were more rhythmically solid. Background percussion was moved back slightly, but it was easier to follow, whereas it tended to fade in and out on the original.
Wayne Perkins is the guest guitarist on “Hand of Fate,” a great Stones potboiler built around a typically memorable Keith Richards guitar line. Again, Wilson’s mix gave more space to the music. Richards’s guitar still had plenty of bark, but Perkins’s fills and rhythm-guitar parts in the left channel were cleaner sounding, and his solo had more sonic and harmonic depth. Jagger’s voice was sharper, and Richards’s harmony vocals were easier to hear. As I compared the two pressings, however, I found that I missed the sense of rock’n’roll anarchy the original mix embodied.
Three keyboards—acoustic piano, electric piano, and synthesizer—open “Memory Motel,” and I could hear each of them better in Wilson’s mix. Jagger’s voice was farther out in front of the instruments, and that allowed me to hear the subtle shadings in his vocals. The piano and organ on “Melody” were more open sounding and resonant in the new mix, and Jagger’s and Billy Preston’s harmony vocals were more sharply set off from each other. The horn arrangement sounded warmer and more nuanced, and Richards’s guitar lines cut through more brightly.
Nicky Hopkins handled the piano and string synthesizer on “Fool to Cry,” with Jagger on electric piano. As with “Melody” and “Memory Motel,” I could follow each keyboard line more easily on the new mix, and Richards’s guitar fills sparkled more. Jagger and Richards play the guitars on “Crazy Mama,” and they were more squarely placed in the left and right channels, with the guitar chords more fleshed out.
On a purely sonic, audiophile level, Wilson’s mix has plenty to recommend it. It sounds cleaner and less compressed. Instruments and vocals are imaged more precisely. I enjoyed listening to it on its own terms. Comparing it to my original pressing, however, I felt like some things were missing on the new version.
Charlie Watts’s drums are pulled back, and his kick drum—the lifeblood of the band—while more focused, is less grand and massive in its impact than on the earlier pressing. His snare has presence but doesn’t have the same whiplash snap. Those things alone gave me pause. Without Watts laying down a substantial groove, “Hey Negrita” has no purpose. “Crazy Mama” and “Hand of Fate” don’t rock with as much conviction.
Wyman’s bass has more attack in Wilson’s mix, but more impressive size and more push on the original LP. Wilson has revealed more subtlety in Jagger’s voice, but it has a more threatening snarl on the earlier release. As I said, I like this remix, but I miss some aspects of the 1976 pressing. I anticipate dividing my time between them in the future, depending on my mood.
I was prepared to dismiss the bonus material on the second LP of Black and Blue, but it contains two solid tracks. “I Love Ladies” is a very likeable, sweet soul song. A cover of “Shame, Shame, Shame,” a 1974 hit for Shirley & Company, is fun, harder-edged than the original, and appealingly tongue-in-cheek. The latter leans further into disco than a lot of Stones fans might have liked in 1976, but the band should have made room on the album for “I Love Ladies.”
The other four tracks are jams. Three feature Jeff Beck, and it’s always a pleasure to hear him play. The same goes for Harvey Mandel, who is on the fourth jam. Guitar heads will love these songs, but they meander, as such things invariably do. They also make it clear that the Stones made the right decision when they chose Ronnie Wood. He was a better fit for them, as the last 50 years have proved. The jams are nice to have, but they add nothing to the band’s legacy.
Matt Colton mastered the bonus LP. I checked the credits listed on Discogs for the various releases of Black and Blue, and Wilson only mixed the original LP.
Even though I enjoyed many things about this remix, a question kept nagging at me: “Why?” Why a remix or, especially, a “Super Deluxe Edition” of Black and Blue? Go to the Stones’ website and you’ll see quite a few expanded sets of their recordings, and a couple of multidisc variations of films they’ve done. Some of the sets make sense. If you don’t have the band’s Decca / London Records–era releases in mono, the 14-LP The Rolling Stones in Mono is worthwhile but pricey at US$450.
The Rolling Stones Singles 1966–1971 is also worth owning. The live sets available are for hardcore fans, and they’re reasonably priced. Let It Bleed (50th Anniversary Deluxe) includes two LPs of the album, one in stereo, one in mono, as well as hybrid SACDs of the same music. A simple two-LP set might not have included the fancy packaging and accompanying 80-page hardbound book, but it would have given fans an affordable way to hear the album in mono.
The Let It Bleed box set is US$125, which, come to think of it, is less than a UHQR pressing. Perhaps it’s a matter of perspective. Other multidisc sets include editions of Goats Head Soup (originally released in 1973), Some Girls (1978), and Tattoo You (1981). All three are available on LP or disc (CD/Blu‑ray).
To return to my earlier question: why a “Super Deluxe Edition” of Black and Blue? For that matter, why Goats Head Soup? Neither album ranks high in any evaluations of the Stones’ recordings, although both have their moments and have held up surprisingly well. Some Girls and Tattoo You stand with the Stones’ best work, but these extravagant editions, even of great albums, are almost always bloated.
All the sets I’ve listed follow the same pattern: new mixes or masters of the original album, alternate takes and unreleased tracks, and contemporaneous live recordings. The newly mastered recordings are likely an improvement over the truly awful-sounding CD and digital versions that have been in circulation since the Stones moved to Universal Music in 2008. But I rarely find that the alternate takes or unreleased recordings are worth more than a play or two. The live recordings are of value to devoted fans, but they’re not essential.
These sets are a last-gasp money grab by record companies that have seen a steady decline in physical-media sales. And the phenomenon is not limited to the Stones. Universal has released several multidisc sets by the Who. The newest is a seven-CD version of Who Are You, not the band’s finest moment.
Several John Lennon collections are in circulation, but even stalwart fans might wonder if the massive nine-CD / three-Blu‑ray-disc edition of Power to the People is necessary. Documenting Lennon’s worst album, Some Time in New York City (1972), at length is a disservice to his legacy and to his fans’ pocketbooks.
The Beatles have released multidisc versions of several albums, beginning in 2017 with an anniversary edition of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. This year Apple Records and Universal Music released Anthology Collection, which is composed of the three sets of albums that appeared in 1995/96 in conjunction with the six-part TV documentary series, plus a new fourth volume.
Originally, Anthology 4 was going to be available exclusively with the box set, but negative reactions to that decision led Apple and Universal to release it as a standalone three-LP collection. Of the 36 tracks on the album, 13 are previously unreleased, while 26 were released on other sets. The list price: US$75.
Is a fourth Anthology necessary? Does it reveal anything about the Beatles that we didn’t already know? No—just as the nine-disc Power to the People won’t lead to a reappraisal of Some Time in New York City. I like some of the songs on Who Are You, but I doubt a seven-disc set will convince me that every track on the album is good or that it’s an essential Who album.
I’m sure some of these collections contain good moments. I own the three Anthology albums on CD and LP, and there are selections on them that give some insight into how the Beatles created great art in the studio. I rarely play them. I go to the finished products. The original albums by the Beatles, the Stones, and so many others weren’t just astonishing music; they helped change the culture. And they did that in their original forms.
I guess that makes me what my friend Jason Thorpe would call an “old man yelling at clouds.” Guilty as charged. These sets will continue to be released, despite my grousing. But you have alternatives. Pick up the single- or double-LP release of this mix of Black and Blue. Or buy a used original pressing on Discogs. Or, what the heck, buy the deluxe edition of any album you like.
I’ll bet you, though, that you won’t play the extras more than a few times.
. . . Joseph Taylor
josepht@soundstagenetwork.com
