The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

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8 + 4 = 12 Licks (Volume 1)

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On June 7, 1963, the NME reviewed the first single from a new band: »A song and a performance aimed straight at the current market for groups. Good chance of selling well.« It was »Come On« from The Rolling Stones. Melody Maker wasn’t quite convinced – at the time of the first album they wrote: »The singer favours the hit-and-miss method when aiming for a note. And the drumming is the antithesis of swing. The Stones can keep on rolling – straight past my grammophone!«

Well well well – let’s see what we’ve got here actually. And to keep some sense of order we start with the bonus tracks.

That debut single was released in June 1963. 1. Come On (recorded Olympic Studios, London, May 10, 1963) With its bumbling bass and choppy rhythm, this has an almost Bluebeat feel and it skanks along nicely. Wayling harmonica, but there’s not a lot to remind one of those »dangerous« Stones. 2. I Want To Be Loved (recorded Olympic Studios, London, May 10, 1963) This has more of the Chicago sound that these young guys talked about in interviews a lot. Great drum sound, and a real harmonica solo over chugging beats.

A second » Continue Reading.

Have The Rolling Stones Released Anything Any Good In The Last 35 Years?

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The Rolling Stones became a mega corporation in 1971. Their last decent album was Some Girls in 1978 and their last great tracks were on Tattoo You in 1981, Start Me Up and Waiting For A Friend. Have they released anything worth a candle since (and I don’t mean live recordings)?

Aftermath Is Half A Century Old

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Fifty years ago today, The Rolling Stones released Aftermath in the UK. It is lauded as a landmark LP in the annals of Rock. Consisting of only Jagger-Richards compositions and a broader palette of instrumental flourishes, it is the point at which The Stones mature and become more than a singles band with attitude. It is regularly regarded as a masterpiece.

Naturally, when I first listened to it properly in the seventies, I was unimpressed. The main problem I had was, ironically, the songs. The first side starts very strongly but the quality falls off a cliff for the last couple and side two struggles to recover. The UK version is too long at 53 minutes, of which 11 is the long jam, Goin’ Home, a simple idea stretched way beyond its effectiveness. Then, there are the lyrics. Andrew Loog Oldham had carefully constructed The Stones bad boy image as the anti-Beatles, but that conceit spilt into nastiness on Aftermath, especially with regard to women. This was unremarked upon in 1966, but, by the early seventies, Stupid Girl swiftly followed by Under My Thumb just tasted foul.

Aftermath was recorded in two chunks, 6-8th December 1965 and 6-9th March » Continue Reading.

Aftermath Hasn’t Aged Well, Has It?

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I’ve been listening to early Stones and discovered that Aftermath is something of a disappointment. The UK version starts with Mother’s Little Helper, their worst single since It’s All Over Now. It’s a bit of a droning whine. The ‘nasty’ songs are simply unpleasant. There is a real menace to heart Of Stone, The Last Time, Satisfaction, Play With Fire and Get Off My Cloud, all released the year before, but Stupid Girl, Under My Thumb & Out Of Time are merely personal and abusive, lacking any kind of depth. Many of the tracks sound ill-thought out, as though they couldn’t be bothered finishing them. Going Home is remarkable only for it’s length, clocking in at over 11 minutes. Brian makes an effort to liven things up with a few fancy instruments but to little avail. In 1965, the rhythm section purred like a finely tuned Ferrari, but Aftermath,Wyman & Watts sound bored. At 50 minutes long, the whole album is a case of ‘never mind the quality, feel the width.’

The Americans had the right idea. They made it shorter, cutting out three tracks. Best of all they replaced Mother’s Little Helper with the far superior Paint It Black.

» Continue Reading.