Description

AftermathReleased in April 1966 by Decca Records,Aftermathwas the Rolling Stones’ fourth British studio album. It was issued by London Records in the US in June 1966. Recorded at the RCA Studios in California, it was their first album released in true stereo.It is also one of the first ‘popular’ albums to eclipse the 50minute mark, and contains one of the earliest rock songs to exceed 10 minutes the blues jamGoin’ Home. The album’s release was briefly delayed by controversy over the original packaging idea and title -Could You Walk on the Water- due to London Reocord’s fear of offending Christians in the US.The album was considered an artistic breakthrough for the band, being the first to consist entirely of Jagger-Richards compositions, after their maverick young manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, had shut them in the kitchen of their flat until they had written some more original songs.It also featured strongly the immaculate guitar work of Brian Jones and the remarkably wry, observant songwriting of Jagger-RichardsJones played a variety of instruments not usually associated with their music, including sitar, dulcimer, marimbas and Japanese koto, as well as guitar, harmonica and keyboards, though much of the music is still rooted in Chicago electric blues. The burgeoning influences of psychedelia, Bob Dylan and the tensions around the world, are evident in classics likePaint It Black, an eerily insistent number one hit, available on the US version of the LP.Other classics included the jazzyUnder My Thumb, where Jones added exotic accents with vibes, and the delicate Elizabethan balladLady Jane, with distinctive dulcimer, the wry observationalMother’s Little Helperwith its unashamed lyrical drug references, and the overlooked gem – the brooding, meditativeI Am Waiting.The American edition was issued with a shorter track listing, substituting the singlePaint It Blackin place of four of the British version’s songs, in keeping with the industry preference for shorter LPs in the US market at the time.Between The ButtonsReleased in the UK in January 1967 by Decca Records and February by London Records in the US -Between The Buttonswas the Stones’ fifth British and seventh US studio album. Released as the followup to Aftermath, this album marked a high point in the band’s career, continuing their ventures into psychedelia and baroque pop balladry, it is among the band’s most musically eclectic works. Brian Jones sidelined his guitar on much of the album, instead playing a wide variety of other instruments including organ, marimba, vibraphone, and kazoo.Piano contributions came from two session players former Rolling Stones member Ian Stewart and frequent contributor and studio legend Jack Nitzsche. It was the last album produced by Andrew Loog Oldham, the band’s manager and producer of all of their albums to this point.The album has one of the most striking sleeves of the period, featuring a classic Gered Mankowitz image on the cover. The photo shoot took place at 530 in the morning following an allnight recording session at Olympic Studios. Using a homemade camera filter constructed of black card, glass and Vaseline, Mankowitz created the effect of the Stones dissolving into their surroundings – according to Mankowitzhellip ‘to capture the ethereal, druggy feel of the time that feeling at the end of the night when dawn was breaking and they’d been up all night making music, stoned.’ The songs continued Aftermath’s lyrics of acute social observation and savage insight, their earlier raw, rootsy power enhanced by other influences of the period – notably The Beatles, The Kinks, and again Dylan. It is one of their strongest, most varied LPs, with many great songs that remain unknown to all but Stones devotees.The inventive arrangements and innovative instrumentation on brooding nearclassics likeAll Sold Out,My ObsessionandYesterday’s Papersbrought a New dimension to the music.She Smiled Sweetlyshows their hidden romantic side at its best,Connectionis one of the record’s few pieces of more conventional driving rock and album closerSomething Happened To Me Yesterdayincludes Keith’s first solo vocal.The US version includes contemporaneous hits – the two songs that gave the group a doublesided number one in early 1967 the shameless and controversialLet’s Spend The Night Togetherand the beautiful, melancholyRuby Tuesday. The Rolling Stones is available for home delivery from Vinyl Records London, only £58 +P&P