"It finally laid to rest the ghost of having to do these very nice and interesting, no doubt, but still, cover versions of old R&B songs – which we didn't really feel we were doing justice, to be perfectly honest" - Mick Jagger
Released in early 1966, and recorded, for the first time, in the USA, Aftermath was something of a turning point in The Rolling Stones’ career. After several albums that featured quite a few r’n’b the and blues covers, this was the first album to feature only Jagger and Richards songs.
Granted, there were a few throwaway songs, a little bit of “filler”, included among the album’s fourteen songs. But, make no mistake, this was seen as a “serious” album. The album is clocked in at fifty minutes in length, another notable thing. Most contemporary albums were around thirty minutes in length. The album also saw Brian Jones’ skill as a multi-instrumentalist feature heavily. He played, among other things, marimba, sitar and organ.
Time to get that Siamese cat of a girl under our thumbs....
Mother's Little Helper, sung in Jagger’s extremely affected “mockney” voice - was patronising, lyrically, to say the least. "What a drag it is getting old" - Jagger sings, taking an unnecessary swipe at stressed-out housewives. No matter, really, though, I guess. They were still comparatively young. That said, the song is unnecessarily sneering and, at times cruel and insensitive. Listening to this, I just don't feel Jagger had the right to tear these poor women apart. Leave 'em alone eh, Mick? They ain't hardly botherin' you none.
Although the songwriting of Jagger and Richards was developing at quite a pace, however, some puerility still existed in their schoolboyishly sexist lyrics at times, notably on the organ-driven grind of Stupid Girl. Jagger had written a fair few songs in this period moaning about ex-girlfriend Chrissie Shrimpton. He really didn't let up for a while. It makes you wonder what he saw in her in the first place! The song was robustly covered by Ellen Foley on her 1979 Night Out album, she turned it into a bitchy gripe against another woman.
A unique, Elizabethan-influenced number was found here, with Brian Jones on medieval dulcimer. Lady Jane displays The Stones' more sensitive, cultured side, something that was often overlooked, particularly at the time. Most (certainly the older generation, or indeed anyone "respectable") viewed them as an oikish rabble.
Like Stupid Girl, though, Under My Thumb was another one that featured pompous, sexist put-downs. Jagger demeans his girl throughout the song. It's got a great sound to it, though, with killer vocal hooks and musical riffs. It's a really good song but I don't go for its sentiments too much, preferring to put my woman on a pedestal rather than keeping her under my thumb.
Dontcha Bother Me has a great slide blues guitar riff, but it is a bit “blues by numbers”. Enjoyable enough though. Sounds great in mono. The album also included this surprising and unique eleven minute blues jam, Goin' Home, a highly unusual thing among popular music albums of the day. It has some great instrumental hooks in it, but it is probably three or four minutes too long. It sounds great at the beginning actually but Jagger - sounding so much like Them-era Van Morrison - carries on just for those unnecessary few minutes at the end, as if it were an ad hoc live cut.
Flight 505 was another one with great riffs and hooks. The piano coda reproduced the Satisfaction riff at the beginning and the song questioned the suitability of many of the contemporary aeroplanes the group were being flown around the world on, nervously.
High And Dry was a thumping, bassy, folky blues that is an upbeat, appealing number with hints of skiffle about it. It had that rural US country sound to it that The Stones seemed to like a lot. It is most catchy but considerably different to much of the group's output at the time, having an almost jugband-like, pubby thump to it. They would mine the whole country seam much deeper over subsequent years.
Included here in its excellent, full-length version, Out Of Time showed that The Stones could do a soulful pop song. Chris Farlowe had a huge number one hit with it, of course, and in the mid-seventies Nazareth singer Dan McCafferty did a really good version of it. I love all three versions. The Stones were the ones who gave it a marimba backing, though. It's just such a damn good song.
It's Not Easy was a serving of lively blues rock, nothing more, nothing less. Catchy and lively, it's a good rocker from the period. Check out Bill Wyman's fuzzy bass sound here as well. I Am Waiting has a gentle, acoustic instrumental vibe before it bursts in to a slightly overloud, booming, bassy chorus. The track reminds me of something else but I can’t put my finger on what. Something by The Kinks or Cream, maybe. Very sixties in its floaty airiness.
Take It Or Leave It was a melodic, emotive and catchy ballad with a sad, mournful chorus. A nice song. It has a very sixties r 'n' b/pop feel to it, more the sound of 1964 than 1966, maybe. It is one of the most typical Stones slowies from the period, with a sad-sounding vocal from Jagger. Think has some interesting instrumentation, with some fuzzy, treated guitar that sounds like a cross between a guitar and a saxophone, but is unremarkable otherwise. Standard mid-60s pop. There's not too much to say about a lot of these numbers. You know, I say that, but as I'm listening to it again, I'm really enjoying it, so there you go. Sounding a bit like The Beatles' country rock outings, What To Do has some poor Beach Boys “mba-ba-ba” backing vocals, which were totally unnecessary.
To think that within two and a half years, The Stones would be releasing Beggars' Banquet is quite remarkable, really. Such a huge change. The same happened to The Beatles in the same period, of course.
There was no doubt that this was the album which saw The Rolling Stones begin to change, albeit slowly. The big change would not come until 1968.
Non-album material from this album's period included the hit single 19th Nervous Breakdown, which mined the same seam as Mother's Little Helper and contained Bill Wyman's epic rubbery bass line run near the end.
Its 'b' side in the USA, but not the UK, was the bluesy ballad Sad Day, which also featured a bit of that Elizabethan-style keyboards too.
Also from the same late 1965 sessions was the underrated Ride On Baby, which was covered, admittedly better, by Chris Farlowe and the jaunty, surprisingly lightweight Sittin' On A Fence.
Then there was the excellent single of Paint It, Black, of course, and its solid blues-influenced 'b' side, Long Long While.
The US version of the album included Paint It, Black and omitted Take It Or Leave It, What To Do and Out Of Time.
Paint It, Black
Much more impressive, however, than much of the UK album's material was the song that preceded "Have You Seen Your Mother Baby, Standing In The Shadow?" as a single - a Stones classic in Paint It, Black. Why the comma in the title though? Utilising Brian Jones's Eastern instrumentation obsession to the max, featuring him playing the sitar on the song's now iconic coda and getting right in on the hippy thing, the song is at the same time a hippy freakout and a solid upbeat rocker. It is packed full of energy, hooks, instrumental bits you can sing along with as well as a killer vocal.
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