With the eleven A sides and fourteen B sides collected on Singles 1965-1967, the Rolling Stones outgrew their blues roots to become genius pop craftsmen who ran neck and neck with the Beatles. (That's despite the occasional dud: See Bill Wyman's homely, harpsichord-laced "In Another Land.") The era is a tour de force for Keith Richards' fuzzed-up Chuck Berry-a-go-go guitar, consecrated on "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," a song that started out as a garage-rock throwaway and ended up a masterpiece. Mick Jagger's petulance and wicked humor are everywhere: His condescension is corrosive as he mocks the "seer-suckah suit" of the "The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man," the boredom turning spiteful as he hisses, "What a drag it is getting old" on "Mother's Little Helper." Brian Jones is the secret weapon here, bringing exotic flair to "Paint It, Black" and "Lady Jane" with sitar and dulcimer; he was responsible for the anything-goes playfulness that led to the radiant psychedelia of "She's a Rainbow."

Like the previous collection of singles released by Abkco this year, 1965-1967 justifies its seventy-dollar price tag with meticulous packaging that re-creates the original single sleeves, which makes it for hard-core fans only. Unlike the first box, 1965-1967 captures the Stones at a crucial point: just before they assumed their role as rock's darkest hedonists — a time when the Stones actually sounded like they were having fun.

“Everyday People”

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.