All my records have been cleaned and visually graded as accurately as possible.  If you’re not completely satisfied with your purchase, please contact me for a refund.  Will combine shipping on multiple purchases. Thanks for looking! Sticky Fingers by Released23 April 1971Recorded2–4 December 1969, , ; 17 February, March – May, 17–31 October 1970, , , London, UK; except "", 22–31 March 1969Length46:25 chronology
(1969)Sticky Fingers
(1971)
(1972)Spanish issue from Sticky Fingers "" / ""
Released: 16 April 1971 "" / ""
Released: 12 June 1971

Sticky Fingers is the ninth British and 11th American  by the English  band , released in April 1971. It is the band's first album of the 1970s and its first release on the band's newly formed label, , after having been contracted since 1963 with  in the UK and  in the US. It is also 's first full-length appearance on a Rolling Stones album, the first Rolling Stones album not to feature any contributions from guitarist and founder  and the first one on which singer  is credited with playing guitar.

Sticky Fingers is widely regarded as one of the Rolling Stones' best albums. It achieved triple platinum certification in the US and contains songs such as the chart-topping "", the country ballad "", "", "", and the sweeping ballad .

History

With the end of their Decca/London association at hand, The Rolling Stones were finally free to release their albums (cover art and all) as they pleased. However, their departing manager  dealt the group a major blow when they discovered that they had inadvertently signed over their entire 1960s copyrights to Klein and his company , which is how all of their material from 1963's "" to  has since been released solely by ABKCO Records. The band would remain incensed with Klein for decades for that act.

When Decca informed The Rolling Stones that they were owed one more single, they cheekily submitted a track called "Cocksucker Blues", which was guaranteed to be refused. Instead, Decca released the two-year-old  track "" while Klein retained dual copyright ownership in conjunction with The Rolling Stones of "" and "".

Recording

Although sessions for Sticky Fingers began in earnest in March 1970, The Rolling Stones had been recording at  in  in December 1969. "", cut during 's sessions earlier in March of that year, had been held over from this release. Much of the recording for Sticky Fingers was made with  in  during the summer and autumn of 1970. Early versions of songs that would eventually appear on  were also rehearsed during these sessions.

Artwork Standard version The Rolling Stones posing in an ad with covers of Sticky Fingers, with the original artwork, in 1971, from left to right: Charlie Watts, Mick Taylor, Bill Wyman, Keith Richards, and Mick Jagger

The album's artwork emphasises the  of the Sticky Fingers title, showing a  of a jeans-clad male  with the visible outline of a large ; the cover of the original (vinyl ) release featured a working  and perforations around the  that opened to reveal a sub-cover image of cotton briefs. The vinyl release displayed the band's name and album title along the image of the belt; behind the zipper the white briefs were seemingly rubber stamped in gold with the stylized name of American  , below which read "THIS PHOTOGRAPH MAY NOT BE—ETC." While the artwork was conceived by Warhol, photography was by  and design was by Craig Braun. Braun and his team had other ideas, such as wrapping the album in  - a concept later used by  in  - but Jagger was enthused by Warhol's cover with a zipper. Execution was then handled as Warhol sent Braun  pictures of a model in tight jeans.

The cover photo of a male model's crotch clad in tight blue jeans was assumed by many fans to be an image of Mick Jagger, but the people actually involved at the time of the photo shoot claim that Warhol had several different men photographed (Jagger was not among them) and never revealed which shots he used. Among the candidates, , Warhol's lover at the time, denied it was his likeness, although his twin brother Jay is a possibility. Those closest to the shoot, and subsequent design, name Factory artist and designer Corey Tippin as the likeliest candidate. Warhol "superstar"  claims to have been the model.

After retailers complained that the zipper was causing damage to the vinyl (from stacked shipments of the record), the zipper was "unzipped" slightly to the middle of the record, where damage would be minimised.

The Rolling Stones' logo, designed by  and modified by Craig Braun, was introduced in 1971.

The album features the first usage of the "tongue & lips" logo of Rolling Stones Records, originally designed by  in 1970. Jagger suggested to Pasche that he copy the outstuck tongue of the  goddess , and while Pasche first felt it would date the image back to the Indian culture craze of the 1960s, seeing Kali made him change his mind. Before the end of that year his basic version was faxed to Craig Braun by . The black & white copy was then modified by Braun and his team, resulting in today's most popular red version, the slim one with the two white stripes on the tongue. Critic Sean Egan has said of the logo, "Without using the Stones' name, it instantly conjures them, or at least Jagger, as well as a certain lasciviousness that is the Stones' own ... It quickly and deservedly became the most famous logo in the history of popular music." The tongue and lips design was part of a package that, in 2003,  named the "No. 1 Greatest Album Cover" of all time.

Alternative version and covers

In Spain, the original cover was censored by the  and replaced with a "Can of fingers" cover, designed by John Pasche and Phil Jude, and "Sister Morphine" was replaced by a live version of Chuck Berry's "". This version was released on the compilation album  in 2005.

In 1992, the LP release of the album in Russia featured a similar treatment as the original cover; but with  lettering for the band name and album name, a colourised photograph of blue jeans with a zipper, and a  uniform belt buckle that shows a  inscribed in a star. The model appears to be female.

Release and reception Professional ratingsRetrospective reviewsReview scoresSourceRatingA4.5/59/1010/10

Sticky Fingers hit the number one spot on the British charts in May 1971, remaining there for four weeks before returning at number one for a further week in mid June. In the US, the album hit number one within days of release, and stayed there for four weeks. In Germany it was one of only two non-German albums to reach number one in 1971.

In a contemporary review for the , music critic  said that although Sticky Fingers is one of the best rock albums of the year, it is only "modest" by the Rolling Stones' standards and succeeds on the strength of songs such as "Bitch" and "Dead Flowers", which recall the band's previously uninhibited, furious style. , writing in , felt that it lacks the spirit and spontaneity of the Rolling Stones' previous two albums and, apart from "Moonlight Mile", is full of "forced attempts at style and control" in which the band sounds disinterested, particularly on formally correct songs such as "Brown Sugar". In a positive review, Lynn Van Matre of the  viewed the album as the band "at their raunchy best" and wrote that, although it is "hardly innovative", it is consistent enough to be one of the year's best albums.

Sticky Fingers was voted the second best album of the year in 's annual  critics poll for 1971.  voted it number one in the poll and said that it was his most played album of the year. , the poll's creator, ranked the album 17th on his own year-end list. In a 1975 article for The Village Voice, Christgau suggested that the release was "triffling with decadence", but might be the Rolling Stones' best album, approached only by (1972). In his 1980 review of the album, he wrote that it reflected how unapologetic the band was after the  and that, despite the concession to sincerity with "Wild Horses", songs such as "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" and "I Got the Blues" are as "soulful" as "", and their cover of "You Gotta Move" is on-par with their previous covers of "Prodigal Son" and "".

In 1994, Sticky Fingers was ranked number ten in 's . He stated, "Dirty rock like this has still to be bettered, and there is still no rival in sight." In a retrospective review, magazine said that the album was "the Stones at their assured, showboating peak ... A magic formula of heavy soul, junkie blues and macho rock".  wrote that it "captures the Stones bluesy swagger" in a "dark-land where few dare to tread".  magazine said that it showcases Jagger and Richards as they "delve even further back to the primitive blues that first inspired them and step up their investigations into another great American form, country." In his review for  magazine,  wrote that the album still is superior to "most of The Rolling Stones’ catalog". In 2003, Sticky Fingers was listed as No. 63 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of .

In 1994, Sticky Fingers was remastered and reissued by . This remaster was initially released in a Collector's Edition CD, which replicated in miniature many elements of the original vinyl album packaging, including the zipper. Sticky Fingers was remastered again in 2009 by  and in 2011 by  in a Japanese-only SHM- version.

In June 2015, the Rolling Stones reissued Sticky Fingers (in its 2009 remastering) in a variety of formats to coincide with a new concert tour, the . The Deluxe and Super Deluxe versions of the reissue featured previously unreleased bonus material (depending on the format): alternative takes of some songs, live tracks recorded on 14 March 1971 at the Roundhouse, London, and the complete 13 March 1971 show at  . It re-entered the UK Albums chart at #7, extending their UK Top 10 album chart span beyond 51 years and 2 months since their self-titled debuted at #7 on April 23, 1964. It also re-entered the US Albums chart at #5, extending their US Top 10 album chart span beyond 50 years and 6 months since 12 x 5 on December 14, 1964.

Track listing

All songs written by , except where noted.

Side oneNo.TitleLength1.""  3:482.""  3:503.""  5:424.""  7:145."" (/)2:32Side twoNo.TitleLength6.""  3:387.""  3:548."" (Jagger/Richards/)5:319.""  4:0310.""  5:56