SHM-SACD (Super High Material SACD) is the ultimate Super Audio CD that utilizes the materials and technologies that were developed for the SHM-CD to further enhance the audio-resolution. These discs are made with polycarbonate developed for the screen of the liquid crystal display. As it has a higher transparency, players can read the signal more faithfully. Also, it excels in fluidity, which enables you to cast a more accurate pit. What works wonders for a low resolution format such as CD should offer even greater sonic improvements in a real high resolution format such as SACD.
This 1974 release by the Stones would be the final album with the group for guitarist Mick Taylor. The album reached #1 in the US and #2 in the UK.
Material for Its Only Rock 'n' Roll was recorded hot off the Rolling Stones' 1973 European tour when they were "ready to play some new material" according to guitarist Keith Richards.
"It's Only Rock 'n Roll is a decadent album because it invites us to dance in the face of its own despair... For me, It's Only Rock 'n Roll is Mick Jagger's show. It seems like any time anyone writes about him it is either to analyze his appeal as a showman or to gossip about his private life. His role as the man who has done the most to define rock-band singing often (and amazingly) goes undiscussed.... Jagger possessed style, control and originality from the beginning... It's Only Rock 'n Roll's consistency comes as a real surprise... Jagger justifies the loud mixing of his voice by singing almost everything to perfection and reaches a pinnacle on the title track and If You Really Want to Be My Friend.... The album has its playful moments but its most characteristic instant is Charlie Watts's (sic) first drumbeat on It's Only Rock 'n Roll. It resonates like the sound of a shotgun. That violence - (t)ransmitted through the singing, words and music - makes It's Only Rock 'n Roll one of the most intriguing and mysterious, as well as the darkest, of all Rolling Stones records. Time has become just one more reality to face and to deal with." - Jon Landau, Rolling Stone, December 1974