Bill Wyman’s German Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers test pressings, sold by him in the Juliens auction Bill Wyman and his Rolling Stones Archive (Lot 265).

The two single-sided discs, with blank labels, are in near mint condition, with Wyman’s handwritten notations on the original inner sleeves.

It’s notable that Wyman had no UK Sticky Fingers test pressings; though these were very likely cut in the UK. They are different to the released album, and almost certainly a rejected and unused cut.

The stamper numbers are A5/B5;A5 appears on none of the six German first pressing variants or 17 UK first pressing variants listed on Discogs. The highest used master numbers on these are A4/B4, save for the possibly mistaken citation of a single mention of a B5 stamper on one of the UK Discogs variants.

Like the UK pressings, these have stamped matrix numbers and a hand etched ‘Rolling Stones Records’ in the dead wax, but lack the hand etched ‘TML’ which appears on the UK and German first pressings.  They do have the stamped ‘Manufactured in Germany’.

On the first tracks on each disc, ‘Brown Sugar’ and ‘Bitch,’ the audio is quite different from the released versions. While both songs are identical takes to the released versions, on these songs only both channels sound as if the phasing is being continually reversed.  We’re not sure if this resulted from a problem with the master tape, or an issue with the mastering, but it seems virtually certain this was a rejected cut.

An extraordinary Rolling Stones collectible with highly desirable provenance, from what many consider their artistic peak.

With the original Juliens descriptive card and three hang tags from the auction, and Recordmecca’s written lifetime guarantee of authenticity.

[Wyman also sold a second set of German test pressings in the same auction, in lesser condition, labeled ‘German Cut,’ with A/B stampers and the ‘Manufactured in Germany’ stamp, but lacking the hand etched ‘Rolling Stones Records’ in the matrix. Lot 266.]