How deep should first musical impressions cut? Is there more in a track that may have first caught my ear? Do I clutch too tightly to the romantic notion that no record should ever sound different than how I first heard it, or more accurately the collective power of the record’s first 100 spins? It’s not like I listen to my childhood vinyl on the same record player I had as a kid, but I run up against such questions any time I pick up a reissue of a beloved album that’s been remastered or released in its original mono form, a German true stereo mix, or what have you. Like my friend who can’t get past any digital remastering of “Satisfaction” in which you can hear the acoustic guitar and piano, which were buried in the rhythm section on the vinyl versions of the song we grew up with, I tend to get a little attached to how records sounded when I first heard them.

I recently downloaded a rare mono mix of The Rolling Stones’ Let It Bleed, my favorite post-Brian Jones Stones album and, from my years of spinning it on vinyl, the best-sounding Rolling Stones album. I’ve never been that much of a purist about mono vs stereo mixes; in fact, any purism I hold in this regard is centered around my personal experience. If I first heard an album in mono, then mono is the “correct” format, and vice versa. The mono mix of The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, which was included with stereo version on some CD reissue from a few years back, does not impress me. I continue to hold true to the magic of the flimsy, $2.99 Spanish vinyl pressing I fell in love with after bringing home from the Temple U. bookstore in the early 1980s.

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Not two, not four, not less, not more... Go!

It turns out that in the mid-'80s a true stereo version of "Satisfaction" appeared on Japanese and German editions of Hot Rocks 1964-67, which are long out of print.

The acoustic guitar is even MORE prominent on this version than on the remastered mono version. And it turns out that there's piano underneath the guitars too, played by Jack Nitzsche.

I know Mr. Mod is going to love this, but what about the rest of you?

Workin' their mojo.

I ran into an acquaintance from the Halls of Rock recently who had been following the recently completed Rock Town Hall World Cup of Rock 'n Roll. "You know the most striking thing I learned?" he confided, "The Beatles are heavier than The Rolling Stones."

"That's interesting," I replied, not surprised that he would come to that conclusion and, based on my own prejudices, almost immediately swayed by his conclusion.

He continued. "I love Charlie Watts - don't get me wrong - but he's a light," he said, sliding up a few notes as he reached the t in light, "drummer. And the Stones don't have McCartney on bass."

Then, before we parted ways, we discussed how much the Stones' heaviosity must be based on their image. Depending on how we define heavy in this context, this Townsman may have a point.

I haven't been able to shake these comments since that chance encounter.

They had to go and make it longer, didn't they? The Rolling Stones couldn't leave the legacy of the sprawling Exile on Main Street alone. In this newly remastered, expanded edition rock's most notorious tax exiles add 10 previously unreleased/unfinished tracks. Shotgun-worthy Don Was helped shepherd these outtakes into the 21st century, with Mick Jagger writing new lyrics and adding new vocal parts, in some cases. Considering that the Stones have been reviving leftover jams as new material for more than half their career (eg, "Start Me Up" had been sitting around for 6 years before being revised and released as the band's modern-day theme song), why didn’t they just release these tracks as a new Stones album and do the necessary work of trimming Exile on Main Street down from a flabby double album to killer EP it essentially is? Lord knows this collection of 10 revived tracks, kicking off with the funky "Pass the Wine (Sophia Loren)" and the pleading "Plundered My Soul," would have been the band's "best album since Exile."

OK, the newest "best Stones album since Exile" wouldn't have been that easy to concoct - some of these outtakes are early versions of eventual songs from the album. I especially dig "Good Time Woman," an early sketch of what would become the sublime "Tumbling Dice," a song I could bring to my lab and never cease to find fascinating in the way each part contains the code for the whole of the song. Surely there would be dozens of sketches left on the floor of Compass Point Studios for them to fill out side two. Then the Stones could have really shaken up the rock world by taking a washcloth to the abundance of blackface greasepaint smeared across the two LPs of the original release.

Considering how much slack I've cut lesser bands over the years, it may be unfair to find fault the Stones for dragging down what could have been the greatest EP in the history of rock with a bunch of overblown gospel-blues jams and fun rave-ups, but we really need to spend any more time stoned and nodding along to Bobby Keys' sax solo on "Casino Boogie?" Does making it through "Sweet Virginia" earn us a hole-punch on our Educated, White, Middle-Class Dude Who Really Digs American Traditional Music card? How many times does that card need to be punched before we're awarded an actual album of American traditional music?

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The premise is simple: Sum up any Rolling Stones lyric in Haiku form.

No contest. No judgment. Only pure poetry!

Here is my first:

Heartbreaker

Delicate flowers
Injustice for down and outs
Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo

I just want to say... I just want to let you know that... I just... I...

Oh, hell, just go here:

http://www.billwymandetector.com/

The Rolling Stones are set to reissue Exile on Main Street in expanded bonus-track - even unfinished-leftover-track-completed-years-later-by-surviving-members-a la-The Beatles' "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love" (but with neither Mick nor Keef having to die first) bonus track - format! This will surely be their best album since Exile...!

One name in particular stood out for me from this report:

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The wisdom of The Hall continues to amaze me. For as many knowledgeable individuals who dazzle with their rock knowledge, it is the collective wisdom of our participants that I find most dazzling.

It is in this spirit that I want to allow for further amazement---not only for the people but by the people. I was going to try to turn this into my own original post, maybe even do a few minutes of research on the Web, but then I thought better of it. Instead, I'd like to pose a question to the collective wisdom of The Orockle.

The question I'd like to pose - and one that I hope will inspire other questions we'd like to have asked when we had more time to find the answers ourselves - will follow a little bit of background. Read on, please.

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I'm sure you've heard this story by now: Keef has been sober for the last 4 months. Can you handle this, Stones fans and general fans of vicariously living through any "Bad Boy?"

I say, from all accounts the guy has partied enough for a few lifetimes. If he decides to stick with this, he's got nothing to lose. Imagine how much work it takes for him to get a buzz after all these years of saturation?

What really should be at issue is what this means for Keef's creativity. Can there be a Rolling Stones led by a sober Keith Richards? Do The X-Pensive Winos become Ex-Pensive? Will passing around a bottle of root beer suffice while gathered around a mic, doing backing vocals with Mick and a couple of backing singers? Will Keef remember that it takes two hands to play guitar?

Free your mind, Townspeople, and share with us your thoughts on a world with a sober Keef. Thanks.