First released on 15 April 1966, Aftermath was the fourth UK and sixth US studio album by The Rolling Stones. The album proved to be a major artistic breakthrough for The Rolling Stones, being the first full-length release by the band to consist exclusively of Mick Jagger/Keith Richards compositions. Aftermath was also the first Rolling Stones album to be recorded entirely in the United States, at the legendary RCA Studios in Hollywood, California at 6363 Sunset Boulevard, and the first album the band released in stereo. The original UK version of Aftermath was issued in April 1966 as a fourteen-track LP, and this is generally considered to be the definitive version. Issued between the non-LP single releases of "19th Nervous Breakdown" and "Paint It Black", Aftermath was a major hit in the UK, spending eight weeks at #1 on the UK album chart. The US version, released in June, featured different cover art and an alternate (and shorter) running order that eliminated "Out of Time", "Take It Or Leave It", "What To Do", and "Mother's Little Helper". All four tracks were later issued in the US on other compilations, and "Mother's Little Helper" was also issued as a single, in 1966, peaking at #8 on the Billboard charts. In their place, the album substituted their current # 1 hit "Paint It Black". Although it compromised producer Andrew Loog Oldham's and The Rolling Stones' intentions for the album, the revamped Aftermath still reached #2 in the US, eventually going platinum. Here’s the original (and currently out of print) UK version, plus singles. Enjoy.
01- Mother’s Little Helper 02- Stupid Girl 03- Lady Jane 04- Under My Thumb 05- Doncha Bother Me 06- Goin’ Home 07- Flight 505 08- High and Dry 09- Out of Time 10- It’s Not Easy 11- I Am Waiting 12- Take It Or Leave It 13- Think 14- What To Do
Singles:
15- 19th Nervous Breakdown 16- As Tears Go By 17- Sad Day 18- Paint It Black 19- Long Long While 20- Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow? 21- Who’s Driving Your Plane 22- I’ve Been Loving You (Too Long)
Here is the third the Stones’ UK LP, released on 24 September, 1965. It was initially issued in July 1965 in America, and it was a mish-mash of studio recordings over a six month period. With the benefit of new songs being recorded that September plus a different album cover, the British version of Out of Our Heads dropped the live track (I’m Alright) and recent hit singles (singles were rarely featured on albums in the UK in those times), and added exclusive songs that would surface later in 1965 in the US on December's Children (And Everybody's) in addition to songs that hadn't been released in the UK thus far. Issued later that September, Out of Our Heads reached #2 in the UK charts behind The Beatles' Help!. It would also be The Rolling Stones' last UK album to predominantly feature R&B covers, with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards becoming far more prolific writers before 1965 was out. Again singles and the recorded-live EP Got Live if You Want It are included.
01- She Said Yeah 02- Mercy, Mercy 03- Hitch Hike 04- That’s How Strong My Love Is 05- Good Times 06- Gotta Get Away 07- Talkin’ Bout You 08- Cry To Me 09- Oh Baby (We Got A Good Thing Going) 10- Heart of Stone 11- The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man 12- I’m Free
Singles:
13- The Last Time 14- Play With Fire 15- (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction 16- The Spider and The Fly 17- One More Try 18- Get Off My Cloud 19- The Singer, Not the Song 20- Look What You’ve Done 21- Blue Turns to Grey
EP:
22- We Want The Stones 23- Everybody Needs Somebody to Love 24- Pain in My Heart 25- Route 66 25- I’m Moving On 27- I’m Alright
The Rolling Stones No. 2 is the second UK album by The Rolling Stones released in January 15, 1965, following the massive success of 1964's debut The Rolling Stones. Not surprisingly, The Rolling Stones No. 2 followed its predecessor's tendency to largely feature R&B covers. However, it does contain three compositions from the still-developing Jagger/Richards (Richard by then) songwriting team. Using the cover shot for 12 X 5, the second US released album in October 1964, The Rolling Stones No. 2's tracklisting would largely be emulated on the upcoming US release of The Rolling Stones, Now!. While Eric Easton was co-credited as producer alongside Andrew Loog Oldham on The Rolling Stones' debut album, Oldham takes full production duties for The Rolling Stones No. 2, which was recorded sporadically in the UK and US during 1964. A huge hit in the United Kingdom upon release, The Rolling Stones No. 2 spent 10 weeks at #1 in early 1965, becoming one of the year's biggest sellers in the United Kingdom. Again is accompanied by contemporary singles plus the wonderful EP Five by Five.
01- Everybody Needs Somebody To Love 02- Down Home Girl 03- You Can’t Catch Me 04- Time Is On My Side I 05- What a Shame 06- Grown Up Wrong 07- Down the Road Apiece 08- Under The Boardwalk 09- I Can’t Be Satisfied 10- Pain In My Heart 11- Off the Hook 12- Suzie-Q
Singles:
13- It’s All Over Now 14- Good Times, Bad Times 15- Time is On My Side II 16- Congratulations 17- Little Red Rooster 18- Surprise, Surprise
EP:
19- If You Need Me 20- Empty Heart 21- 2120 South Michigan Avenue 22- Confessin’ the Blues 23- Around and Around
This is the first Stones’ LP as it was released in the UK back on April 17, 1964. As you can see, the cover of the original UK edition has no title or identifying information other than the photo and the Decca logo - an "unheard of" design concept back then originated by manager Andrew Oldham. Upon its release, The Rolling Stones became one of 1964's biggest sellers in the UK, staying at #1 for 12 weeks, while its USA version (England's Newest Hitmakers, released by the London label) reached #11 in the US charts, going gold in the process. In August 2002, England's Newest Hitmakers was reissued as a new remastered CD and SACD digipak by ABKCO, while this original version, its British counterpart, has remained out of print since 1987. Added are contemporary singles plus their first EP as bonus tracks. Enjoy it!
01- [Get Your Kicks On] Route 66 02- I Just Want to Make Love to You 03- Honest I Do 04- Mona [I Need You Baby] 05- Now I've Got a Witness [Like Uncle Phil and Uncle Gene] 06- Little by Little 07- I'm a King Bee 08- Carol 09- Tell Me [You're Coming Back] 10- Can I Get a Witness 11- You Can Make It If You Try 12- Walking the Dog
Singles:
13- Come On 14- I Want to Be Loved 15- I Wanna Be Your Man 16- Stoned 17- Poison Ivy I 18- Fortune Teller 19- Not Fade Away
EP:
20- Bye Bye Johnnie 21- Money [That’s What I Want] 22- You Better Move On 23- Poison Ivy II
This collection is comprised of demos from 1963-1966, most of which are of compositions not released on any of the group's studio output. The whole collection is great, although I have to admit that the opening tracks (IBC demos from March 1963) are my personal favourites.
01- You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover - Oct 1962 02- Baby What’s Wrong? - March 1963 03- Bright Lights Big City 04- Road Runner 05- Diddley Daddy 06- I Want To Be Loved 07- The Girl Belongs To Yesterday - Nov 1963 08- Leave Me Alone 09- It Should Be You 10- There Are But Five Rolling Stones - Jan 1964 11- Not Fade Away - Feb 1964 12- And Mr Spector & Mr Pitney Came Too 13- Andrew’s Blues 14- Snap Crackle Pop (Kellog’s Rice Krispies Jingle) 15- As Time Goes By - Mar 1964 16- Reelin’ And Rockin’ - June 1964 17- Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind - July 1964 18- Try A Little Harder 19- Heart Of Stone 20- Da Roo Ron Ron - Sept 1964 21- When Blue Turns To Grey 22- Each And Every Day Of The Year 23- [Walkin’ Thru’ The] Sleepy City 24- We're Wastin' Time 25- We Were Falling In Love 26- Everybody Needs Somebody - Nov 1964 27- Goodby Girl 28- I'd Much Rather Be With The Boys - Feb 1965 29- Looking Tired - Sept 1965 30- If You Let Me - March 1966 31- Out Of Time - April 1966 32- Get Yourself Together
When Chess Records was founded (as Aristocrat in 1947), the company did not have a recording studio, and over the following decade it recorded most of its artists at Universal Recording Studio (at various locales in Chicago). Finally, the company established a first-rate in-house studio – called Chess Studios – in 1957, when it relocated to 2120 South Michigan Avenue. The studio featured a set of matched echo chambers. In 1958, Chess hired Malcolm Chisholm, who had been the engineer for a considerable number of recordings for Chess when the company was recording at Universal, as sound engineer. When he left, he was replaced in 1960 by Ron Malo, who stayed with the studio until its demise in 1975. Malo upgraded the studio and ran the sound into dual echo chambers in the basement. That’s the reason why almost all the Chess artists were recorded with echo, sometimes to excess. Among the legendary blues and rock ’n’ roll artists recorded in this studio were Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Howlin’ Wolf, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. The company also built an impressive jazz series, and recorded such artists as the Ramsey Lewis Trio, Ahmad Jamal and Sonny Stitt. Malo supervised the engineering at recording sessions for most of the company’s artists, which by the 1960s meant primarily soul artists: Etta James, the Dells and Billy Stewart, for example. Malo was also the engineer for many sessions with outside artists. In June 1964 the Rolling Stones, seeking to emulate the sound of their legendary blues heroes, came to Chicago to record at the Chess studio; the studio produced half of the tracks on their USA album 12x5, and even one of the songs on that album was titled in tribute ‘2120 South Michigan Avenue.’ The Rolling Stones subsequently recorded about 20 more tracks at Chess during 1964-65. So here are, most of them directly transferred from the original stereo master tapes for the first time, those songs from the three Rolling Stones’ recording sessions at Chess Studios including such gems as “Goodbye Girl” (the first song written by Bill Wyman which was recorded on November 1964 but never released); the never released blues standard “Key To The Highway”; or the unreleased 1964 version of “Mercy, Mercy”; as well as the rare original stereo mix of “Satisfaction”.
01- It's All Over Now 02- I Can't Be Satisfied 03- Stewed And Keefed 04- Around And Around 05- Confessin' The Blues 06- Down In The Bottom 07- Empty Heart 08- High Heeled Sneakers 09. Down The Road Apiece 10- If You Need Me 11- Look What You've Done 12- Tell Me Baby 13- Time Is On My Side (version 1) 14- Reelin' And Rockin' 15- Don't You Lie To Me 16- 2120 South Michigan Avenue
November 8, 1964:
17- What A Shame 18- Fanny Mae 19- Little Red Rooster 20- Time Is On My Side (version 2) 21- Goodbye Girl (unreleased) 22- Key To The Highway (unreleased) 23- Mercy, Mercy (version 1 - unreleased)
May 10, 1965:
24- Mercy, Mercy (version 2) 25- That's How Strong My Love Is 26- The Under-Assistant West Coast Promotion Man 27- [I Can't Get No] Satisfaction (rejected first version, as performed –mimed to playback- on US TV show Shindig! on 20 May 1965)
Bonus tracks:
28- Good Times, Bad Times 29- 2120 South Michigan Avenue (edited short version) 30- [I Can't Get No] Satisfaction (stereo)
"Flowers" is a U.S. only compilation album by The Rolling Stones, released in 1967. The album is a mishmash of previously recorded tracks. The songs either appeared as singles, had been omitted from the American versions of Aftermath and Between the Buttons, were collected from studio sessions dating back to 1965, or are reissues of songs recently released on other albums. Three tracks had never been released. "My Girl" from the Out of Our Heads sessions (1965), and "Ride On, Baby" and "Sittin' On A Fence" from the Aftermath sessions (1966). The title refers to the album's cover, with flower stems underneath the portrait of each band member. Bassist Bill Wyman claims that Mick Jagger and Keith Richards deliberately arranged the stem of Brian Jones's flower so that it had no leaves, as a prank. He later stated that "I didn't get the joke". The portraits are from the UK version of Aftermath. "Flowers" reached #3 in the US during the late summer of 1967 and went gold. In August 2002 it was remastered and reissued on CD and SACD digipak by ABKCO Records. Here's featured with two bonus tracks.
01- Ruby Tuesday 02- Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow? 03- Let's Spend The Night Together 04- Lady Jane 05- Out Of Time 06- My Girl 07- Back Street Girl 08- Please Go Home 09- Mother's Little Helper 10- Take It Or Leave It 11- Ride On Baby 12- Sittin' On A Fence
“Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass)” is an adequate assimilation of some of the Stones' greatest tunes before their music entered a very dark, antisocial phase during the peak of the Vietnam War. At the start, you have their trademark song “(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction”, in between are the pensive “As Tears Go By” and the reflective blues number “Good Times, Bad Times”. Also present are the favorites “19th Nervous Breakdown” and what many consider to be the Stones' proclamation of supreme status as the greatest rock band ever in “Get Off of My Cloud”. At the very end is the soft yet ominous “Play with Fire”, which, with its unique arrangement of harpsichord, acoustic guitar and tambourine, commanded that the Stones, whether in hard rock or soft rock mode, could show attitude and get a message across. It is a very strong compilation. The only objection one might have is the organ intro version of “Time Is On My Side”, which seems to gel with the other tunes quite well, as opposed to the guitar one that is in the other well known version included on the Vol. 1 of the compilation I posted before. “Big Hits (High Tide & Green Grass)” was released on Apr 1, 1966 in the US. The American record company execs had tampered with the original UK design of most of the Stones albums up to this time, often releasing inferior American versions. On this one they reversed the trend and the UK design, which was released Nov 4, 1966, did not include “Paint It, Black”. The UK version substituted “Mother's Little Helper” and added 3 additional tracks (“Take It Or Leave It”, “Out Of Time”, and “What To Do”). There is an interesting story about the cover art. The photo was originally done for an album to be called “Could You Walk On The Water?”, but the concept was so controversial at that time that the photo of the Band walking on the water of a California reservoir was dropped and the photo of them standing on the bank was used. The album was renamed “Aftermath” (although the American version dropped the hyphen) and that originally intended artwork was then used for this greatest hits album.
01- (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction 02- Last Time 03- As Tears Go By 04- Time Is on My Side 05- It's All Over Now 06- Tell Me 07- 19th Nervous Breakdow 08- Heart of Stone 09- Get Off of My Cloud 10- Not Fade Away 11- Good Times, Bad Times 12- Play with Fire
The Rolling Stones time capsule to young inspired musicians working hard to "break" in the wake of The Beatles play with heart and soul on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The best opportunity to study the music and musicianship in their early days in the most pristine of environments minus unbalanced instruments and screaming fans through these sensational live performances at the BBC studios and their affiliates. Here we will start with CD 1 of "Beat Beat Beat at the Beeb", CD release matched against the least common denominator set of previously available recordings, "Get Satisfaction ... If You Want".
