Just in time to remind fans how old and decrepit the Stones are now, ABKCO has released 22 remastered albums from the '60s in the Super Audio CD format:

Patience is finally paying off for Rolling Stones fans who have been driven out of their heads over the years by the woeful state of the band's back catalog of 1960s albums.

Key works have long been unavailable on CD, while the albums that are available sounded awful: not surprising since the product on the shelves was transferred to CD back in 1986 when the technology was still in its infancy.

....These are no ordinary discs either: they are Super Audio CDs (SACD), which occupy a niche targeted at audiophiles. They can be played on both SACD players and regular CD players.

For the first time, fans will be able to hear the seminal 1968 release "Beggars Banquet" at the correct — faster — speed; 1969's "Let It Bleed" without gaps between the tracks, as (apparently) originally intended; and the 1975 oddities collection "Metamorphosis," which has never been issued on CD.

The series includes the U.S. and U.K. versions of most of the band's albums, which often had different track listings and art work. Thus, completists can listen to both versions of 1965's "Out of Our Heads," 1966's "Aftermath" and 1967's "Between the Buttons." (Generally, the original U.S. versions included songs released as singles, while the long-deleted British versions have additional tracks.)

Strangely, the series does not include the group's first two U.K. albums, 1964's "The Rolling Stones" and 1965's "The Rolling Stones No. 2." ABKCO senior vice president Jody Klein said, "It is certainly on the table of things to do."

Similarly, ABKCO is considering issuing some EPs on CD for the first time, though the tracks from those records are available on other releases, such as the 1972 compilation "More Hot Rocks," which is part of the new series.

ABKCO, which owns the rights to the band's recordings through 1971, also is partnering with the Stones' current label, Virgin Records, on a two-CD compilation "40 Licks" due out Oct. 1 in North America.

Additionally, it is finalizing content for a DVD version of the aborted 1968 TV special "The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus," possibly due next year.

But as for brand new albums featuring never-before-heard versions of previously released material, don't hold your breath.

"The recordings exist, there are alternate versions, various takes, but at the moment there are no planned releases," said Klein, whose father, Allen Klein, owns ABKCO and once managed the Stones.

For years, the Stones and ABKCO endured a frosty relationship, since ABKCO ended up with all their lucrative 1960s copyrights, but things have begun to thaw in the last decade. The band opened up its own archive of master tapes for the project, and Klein said the members were happy with the reissues. Still ABKCO is wary of stirring up any problems.

Asked whether the reissues make it easier to detect out-of-tune guitars or flat notes, Klein said it was "unfair" to talk about such things, "because we're super sensitive to it."

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