Perhaps they weren’t exposed to enough blues in their youth?
Here in Houston, Lightnin’ Hopkins ruled. Occasionally, Mance Lipscomb would bring down the older traditions from Navasota. Clifton Chenier invented modern zydeco by mixing rural Louisiana music with big city R&B–while living in Big Houston. And his Red Hot Lousiana Band would snap hippies out of their (our) fog & make them hit the dance floor.
And quite a few younger folks caught the blues…
Where’s the love for Some Girls, you fools? Should be right up there with Beggars Banquet.
Now, now - play nice. I describe Some Girls as “brilliant” and include it in my recommended playlist. So many songs worth mentioning - Respectible, When the Whip Comes Down, Shattered, Beast of Burden, etc. - but nothing beats hearing Mick talking in his faux-country Brit voice about driving through - what is it? 27? - stoplights on an early morning to thank the Lord - “thank you Jesus…thank you Lord” in Girl with the Far-Away Eyes…
Don’t forget “Miss You.”
I too came in to echo the “Big 4” plus a greatest hits package notion mentioned before. But I would also like to chime in a bit about the first 5 Rolling Stones albums: “The Rolling Stones (England’s Newest Hitmakers)” , “12x5”, “Rolling Stones, Now!”, “Out of Our Heads”, and "December’s Children (And Everybody’s).
Most review sites have all of these albums rated at 4 or 5 stars, and amazingly they were produced in about an 18 month period. Now I don’t claim that any of these are as strong as say “Exile on Main Street.” They are all a bit spotty, and consist mostly of a few hit singles amongst a whole bunch of blues and R&B covers. But much like Elvis’ “Sun Sessions” or the first few Beatles albums (which also have their fair share of covers), some of the value here comes from getting to hear what all of the excitement was about. Sure there were plenty of bands doing the same thing back then - The Yardbirds for example - but none of them evolved into the “Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World.”
“But WreckingCrew,” you say. “I don’t want to hear the Rolling Stones playing Muddy Waters covers.” Well, you should. You don’t have to own them, but they are all worth a listen - if only for archival value.
The mostly self penned hits from this period can be found on the “High Times and Green Grass” disc. A lot of the better covers can be found either on the first disc of the “Singles” collection, or scattered on disc two of “More Hot Rocks”
There might be someone on this board interested in writing the defense of the Rolling Stones’ post-“Tattoo You” output, but it ain’t going to be me. There there be dragons.
Oh, ABKCO just happens to be the company that owns the rights to the Rolling Stones albums made from 1964 to 1970, among a lot of other stuff. A lot of these albums just showed up on Amazon download too, so it looks like ABKCO has opened the digital vaults.
Aftermath, the first all Jagger/Richards album and includes* Paint It Black*, Stupid Girl, Under My Thumb, Lady Jane and several little know quality tracks. A perfect transition from blues rip off band to what they became.
Between the Buttons a terrific collection of songs that most people younger than me wont know. A terrific very distinctive pastiche of late 60s music. The US version substitutes Let’s Spend the Night Together for Backstreet Girl rather than for a weaker track.
Flowers was a ripoff with bits and pieces of the UK and US versions of the previous 2 but would be a good substitute now I guess.
Beggar’s Banquet - back to simplicity. I can still remember putting it on the record player and hearing Sympathy for the Devil for the first time. I thought I was going to wear the album out.
Let It Bleed - 4 great tracks and a bit of filler but nice feel.
Sticky Fingers - the ultimate rough and ready rock stars full of drugs/booze album with a host of good songs.
I never bought another Stones album. Someone gave me Some Girls and I kept it for Beast of Burden.
12 X 5 - Good
Aftermath - Great
Aftermath UK - Equally great but annoying that the us release doesn’t have all the same songs
Beggars Banquet - Essential
Between the Buttons - Great
Between the Buttons UK - See aftermath UK, but it’s a better album
Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass) - meh
December’s Children (And Everybody’s) - Essential
England’s Newest Hitmakers - Good (12x5 is better)
Flowers - meh
Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! - meh
Got Live If You Want It! - don’t know it
Hot Rocks (1964-1971) essential if you don’t want to buy a whole bunch of albums
Let It Bleed - Maybe the greatest album ever recorded
Metamorphosis - meh
More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies) - less essential than the first one
Out Of Our Heads - good
Out Of Our Heads UK - see aftermath and between the buttons, but less good than either
Singles 1963-1965 - Great
Singles 1965-1967 - Great
Singles 1968-1971 - Less great
Sympathy For The Devil - Remix - meh
The Rolling Stones Singles Collection: the London Years - good but how many of these do you need. Hot Rocks is better than any of these
The Rolling Stones, Now! - meh
Their Satanic Majesties Request - not as good as you want it to be
Through The Past Darkly (Big Hits Vol.2) - meh
You Can’t Always Get What You Want (Soulwax Remix) - good, but skip for now
I say you left off 3 essential albums
Exile on Main Street - tied with Let it Bleed for possibly the best album ever made ever
Stickey Fingers - Essential, and almost as good as Let it Bleed and Exile, but not quite
Some Girls - The only thing you need to own after Mick Taylor left the band.
I would say get one version of Aftermath and one version of Between the Buttons.
Get Hot Rocks v1
Get Beggar’s Banquet, Let it Bleed, Exile on Mainstreet, and Sticky Fingers
Maybe pick up 12x5 or Englands Newest Hitmakers if you are feeling spendy.
That should be a good start. Explore from there.
Go for the singles collections. IMHO, the Stones have always been a singles band, not an album band (kind of the opposite of Pink Floyd).
Of course my three favorite Stones songs are “Wild Horses,” “Angie,” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” so what do I know.
He left off those 3 albums because they’re not available on emusic yet.
Personally, I find everything post-Let It Bleed inessential, and I’m one of the few who thinks Exile on Main Street is a pile of shit. In fact, it actually sounds like a pile of shit, if there were some Platonic ideal aural equivalent. But I digress.
I’d go with Aftermath, definitely, and then maybe December’s Children and possibly Let It Bleed (“Gimme Shelter” alone is worth the price of admission).
Bridget, thanks for the info (and the links). 
I find that to be jaw dropping and disappointing. Get them anyway, maybe not some girls. But you need Exile at the very least.
I disagree, but hey different strokes and all that. It took me a while to get into the sound of Exile, but once I got there it became the epitome of the Stones sound to me. Everything else they did was a lead up to or an attempt to recapture that sound.
Also, Mick Taylor is the best, most consistantly under rated lead guitar player in rock history. I love Brian and what he brought to the band (what with forming it and all) but Mick was the best guitar player they ever had.
I agree, those and Hot Rocks should do you (now that I know your options are so limited).