The Rolling Stones, in collaboration with Starbucks Inc.'s Hear Music, unearth a collection of hard-to-find b-sides, alternate takes, and live tracks for RARITIES, 1971--2003. This grab bag of Rolling Stones gems features B-sides, live recordings, and remixes. Pulling from the somewhat arbitrary time span of 1971 to 2003, the sequencing and selection of the disc don't follow any particular logic, as a ferocious live version of "Live With Me" shares space with a club-ready dance mix of "Harlem Shuffle." Of course, logic has never been a factor in liking the Stones; it's all about the music, the attitude, and the energy, and there is plenty of that here. The band revisits their roots with covers of old blues and R&B classics like "I Just Wanna Make Love To You" and Muddy Waters's "Mannish Boy," keeping things lean and punchy with a 12-bar, back-to-basics approach. B-sides from the '70s, '80s, and '90s are interspersed with 12-inch remixes ("Miss You [Dance Version]" is a particular highlight), as well as plenty of live versions of Stones classics, including "Tumbling Dice" and "Beast of Burden." Although there are numerous Stones compilations out there, RARITIES is a unique enough jumble of music to please any fan. Though countless Rolling Stones zealots contend that the band's most compelling work bubbled to the top prior to 1973, the music department at Starbucks has unearthed a sundry collection of B-sides, live takes and unreleased studio recordings culled mostly from the three decades that followed. Cherry-picking from a selection many times larger than the 14 tracks presented here, the compilation's producers reach as far back as a 1971 live cover of Chuck Berry's "Let It Rock" and navigate through the Stones' forays into blues (Muddy Waters' "Mannish Boy" from 1977; "Fancy Man Blues" from 1989), rhythm & blues (1986's "Harlem Shuffle" and a 1998 live take of Let It Bleed's "Live With Me") and disco (the seven-minute dance mix of the 1978 hit "Miss You"), as well as stripped-down 1995 versions of Glimmer Twins gems "Wild Horses" and "Tumbling Dice." The accompanying compendium of liner notes and band member comments testify that the Rolling Stones still believe that rock and roll will never die. And even those zealots must concur that the music here is timeless, as the band remains as vital as ever.

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