Customer Reviews

Aftermath (UK Version)

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the original April 15, 1966 UK release, which is different from the mess the record execs made of the later July 2, 1966 American release (which has been perpetuated by the CD releases using the American track list). The original American version replaced Mothers Little Helper with what was at that time a recent hit - Paint It, Black, while cutting Out Of Time, Take It Or Leave It, and What To Do. This SACD release of the original UK version restores the album to its original form as intended by the Stones. In addition, this release includes what is known as version 1 or the long version of Out Of Time, which was never released in the U.S.

Nearly everyone knows this music and now you can enjoy it the way it was meant to be heard. For the music itself, it's hard to improve on the review done by Brian Christie on Aug 29, 2002, but here is some information he did not provide to help you understand the significance of this release.

ABCKO acquired the Stones' catalog when Allen Klein became their manager in the 70s. The resulting legal battles produced releases that the Stones opposed (they took out full page adds asking fans not to buy them), including the controversial Metamorphosis releases (which are now available on CD for the 1st time ever). But the sad fact is that the Stones lost control of their great early material. With these remastered SACD releases, we at last have some idea of what they really sounded like in the studio. I guess if we had these 40 years ago they would have ended up Greatest Rock And Roll Band in the Universe instead of just our tiny little World.

All the tracks were recorded during 2 sessions at RCA Studios in Hollywood.

Dec 3-8, 1965 at RCA Studios in Hollywood
.....Mother's Little Helper
.....Doncha Bother Me (originally titled Don't You Follow Me for the unreleased album Could You Walk On The Water)
.....Goin' Home
.....Take It Or Leave It
.....Think
Mar 6-9, 1966 at RCA Studios in Hollywood
.....Stupid Girl
.....Lady Jane
.....Under My Thumb
.....Flight 505
.....High And Dry
.....Out Of Time (version 1, the long version)
.....It's Not Easy
.....I Am Waiting
.....What To Do

The tracks recorded during these sessions that were not released on the UK version were Sittin' On A Fence, Sad Day, 19th Nervous Breakdown, Ride On Baby, Paint It, Black, Long Long While, and version 2 - the short version - of Out Of Time. In addition there were 3 tracks that have still never been released: Looking Tired, Aftermath, and Tracks Of My Tears.

This information comes from "It's Only Rock And Roll: The Ultimate Guide To The Rolling Stones" by Karnbach and Bernson and from my own collection.

On April 15, 1966, Decca Records in England issued The Rolling Stones' fourth UK album - AFTERMATH. Featuring 14 tracks - for the first time all composed by Mick Jagger & Keith Richard, it was a # 1 smash and showed that The Stones were up to the challenge of The Beatles and RUBBER SOUL. What ultimately made it out in America that June was a very different version of this OFFICIAL and AUTHORITATIVE album. "Paint It Black" - just a single in the UK, was shoved on in the place of "Mother's Little Helper" and then the US album was whittled down to a mere 11 tracks. DO NOT buy the US version - the music is great, of course, but it is not how The Rolling Stones and producer Andrew Loog Oldham intended it to be. THIS, finally, is the real article. For the time (1966), at 53 minutes, AFTERMATH was a very long album. The first half of it is like a greatest hits album ("Mother's Little Helper", "Stupid Girl", "Lady Jane", "Under My Thumb" and the outstanding 11-minute blues work-out "Goin' Home". Brian Jones, picking up on George Harrison's use of the sitar, began exploring exotic instruments and AFTERMATH benefited enormously from them. Sitars, marimbas and dulcimers abound here and Mick & Keith made a real breakthrough songwriting-wise. "Out Of Time" (in the second half) is also a compositional highlight, though it is a bit long. However the last half does have its somewhat average moments with mediocre tracks like "Take It Or Leave It", though they are still pleasant songs. But the majority of the winners are to be found in the first half of AFTERMATH and those tracks are the ones which has secured the album's enduring legacy. Even with the odd moment of weakness, the overall effect of the album is so strong that a 5 star rating is justified. Not THE best Rolling Stones album, but a classic and their best THUS far. As songwriters, Mick & Keith never looked back after AFTERMATH.

Aftermath represents the first time Jagger/Richards wrote a whole album worth of songs on their own, and the result is a classic. Their inexperience still shows on a few of the lesser tracks, but those results are still interesting. And where they hit their stride the results are phenomenal.

Unfortunately, in the original US release 2 classic tracks on the British version of Aftermath (Mother's Little Helper & Out of Time), plus 2 lesser tracks (What To Do & Take It Or Leave It) were left off. Instead, one classic track (Paint It Black) was added. As great a song as Paint It Black is, it cannot make up for the losses. For years, the only version of Aftermath avaiable on CD was this butchered US version. But now - finally - the UK version is avaiable as well.

So what do we have? Under My Thumb, Out of Time and Stupid Girl show the Stones at their misogynistic best. Lady Jane and I Am Waiting are excellent examples of the Stones' softer side. Mother's Little Helper well deserves its classic status. Flight 505, Dotcha Bother Me and What To Do are solid, as is Goin' Home before it starts goin' on for about 5 minutes too long.

Of course, an ideal solution to the US/UK version issues would have been to merge the two - release the UK version with Paint It Black (which after all was recorded in the same sessions) as a bonus track. A similar solution would have been ideal for the same situation regarding Between the Buttons. But, still, this a long overdue release, a great album, and the Stones' best before Beggar's Banquet.

The UK version of "Aftermath" runs more than ten minutes longer than its American counterpart, despite not having "Paint It Black" on it (singles were usually kept separate from LPs in England in those days).
And it has four songs which aren't on the US version:
"Mother's Little Helper, "Out Of Time" in its full-length 5½ minute version, "Take It Or Leave It" (which eventually turned up on "Flowers" in the US), and the excellent, catchy "What To Do".

"Aftermath" is the first album of 100% original material, and that's interesting, but not necessarily a good thing.
Many of these songs are great, including "Mother's Little Helper", "Under My Thumb", "What To Do", and "Out Of Time", but there are a number of lesser tunes here as well, and a few good soul or R&B covers could have replaced a couple of the "filler" songs and made this an even stronger album.

But this is still a more than worthy addition to anyone's Stones collection. Most of the lesser-known originals on "Aftermath", such as "Flight 505", "High And Dry", "Think", and "Going Home" (before it evolves into a long, tedious, psychedelic jam) are very enjoyable, even if they aren't as instantly memorable as "Satisfaction" or "Honky Tonk Women".
A fine record.

By late 1965/early early 1966,The Rolling Stones had either been on the road,or in a recording studio almost non-stop for three years..holed up in hotel rooms, groupies coming at you from all corners. The amazing result of this is the classic album AFTERMATH,the uncut UK version available for the first time legally in the US; and in the brilliant sounding SACD hybrid format,with the equally revolutionary DSD encoding technique. For the first time Mick Jagger and Keith Richards produced an entire albums worth of original material, ranging the gamut from the baroque sounding [Lady Jane, I Am Waiting]., to hard rock [Its Not Easy].A lot of the songs are 'on the road' classics, or have some relation to dealing with being a star: meeting REALLY dumb ladies/groupies. The nice thing about the new version is: NOW you can hear the sarcasm in Mick's voice on Mother's Little Helper..NOW you can FEEL the nasty growl in Bill Wyman's bass on a dozen different tracks...Brian Jones' artistry on a dozen different instruments..The bite in Keith Richards fuzz box..and the subtle yet powerful way Charlie Watts drives this band. All in all, this UK version is an amazing 54 minutes [!!] of music, and is an absolutely EISSENTIAL part of anyone's library. [ANYone who wants bonus tracks on a 54 minute album is looking for overkill..even if it WAS possible legally! Also,Ive always been of the opinion that 90% of the 'bonus tracks' that are included on most CDs are garbage anyway!Who WANTS to hear the 5th take/re-mix of some of these songs?? Obviously not the group!]

In 1966 sandwiched in between the two Beatles releases Rubber Soul and Revolver the Rolling Stones put out Aftermath. This was there first album of entirely original material and their strongest record to date. The first four songs are stones classics that anyone who cares is familiar with. In these remastered versions the clarity is superb. Under My thumb and Lady Jane are especially nice on earphones where the clarity is stunning. Beyond The first four songs there are others on this record that could have been classics in another context. There are two fine rockers, Flight 505 and It's Not Easy. The softer tunes I Am Waiting and Take It or Leave It. Out Of Time could have been a hit on it's own. The version of Out of Time on this disc, With all the Stones in place is much better than the one recorded by Jagger alone (as a demo for Chris Farlow) with the heavy orchestration. 1966 was a time of experimenting with exotic instruments in rock and Brian Jones rose to the occasion bringing in sitar, dulcimer and marimbas.
The only bad points to this disc is that the song Going home does plod on a little long and Paint it black wasn't included as a bonus track so one could resequence the order of the songs on your CD player to simulate the American version. But then Alan Klein doesn't think like a fan but a sticky fingered moneygrubber.
On the front cover is the UK version designed by Andrew Oldham that Brian Jones hated on the inside flap is the photo used on the American release but unfortunately it has been distorted from its original form.
Much has been made of the misogyny of the Stones lyrics. And they are in full form on many of these tracks. At the time of this recording Jagger was in the midst of his on again, off again tumultuous relationship with model Chrissie Shrimpton, a relationship that supplied a lot of fodder for his songs as, heard on this disc. Of Mick's relationships with women Shrimpton said, "He would never let the woman be the one to call things off." And of his misogyny, "Mick doesn't really respect women...Mick doesn't like women. He never has." Mick was able to fire back in song. But then in Going Home he laments "Maybe you think I've seen the world, but I'd rather see my girl." The poor mixed up lad.
This disc is a keeper, a true slice of swinging London in 1966.

This is a seminal Rolling Stones document for a number of reasons, the most important being that it is the first Stones record without any cover songs. Every single track is a Jagger and Richards composition (any other contribution from other band members was generally not credited). It is also the first record that finds the Stones moving away from the blues and embracing more pop and rock elements. It also features Brian Jones in his new role as multi-instrumentalist. Mick & Keith may have taken control of the band he started away from him, but Jones was still a mighty powerful musical force within the band and improved upon every song through the use of sitars, dulcimers and other exotic instruments.

There are a number of differences between the UK and US versions as well. The US version added the single "Paint It Black" and left a number of songs off (which made their way onto the throwaway LP Flowers). The UK version features 14 songs instead of 11 and was how the Stones originally intended it.

Highlights here include the misogynistic masterpiece "Under My Thumb", the equally misogynistic "Stupid Girl" (which is not to say that the anti-female tone is what makes these two tracks great), the Motown-ish "Out of Time", the romantic ballad "Lady Jane" (sandwiched between "Under My Thumb" and "Stupid Girl" no less!), the folky "I Am Waiting" (used to great effect in the film Rushmore) and the absolutely brilliant "Mother's Little Helper". Some of the other tracks are not the Stones strongest cuts, then again, they aren't the Stones at their weakest either. At least they were attempting new things. 1966 was a year where popular music took great chances. The Stones would not be the icons they are today if they had rested on their laurels and continued to regurgitate sounds they'd already mastered two years prior. Of all the Stones pre-Beggars Banquet output, this is probably the best (though some would argue for Between the Buttons). I highly recommend it to those of you who wish to delve a bit deeper into the Stones discography

This album is not the hybrid SACD version as listed on the website. Just the DSD remastered CD. Customer Service could not ensure the product was correct before it was shipped. The Customer Service centers are not in the same location as the fulfillment centers.
For these reasons, they are unable to check the physical details of an
item for you. They did however say they would accept a return no problem.

At last, the 14 song UK version of The Rolling Stones Aftermath. This is one of my favorite Rolling Stones albums. It was a landmark album for the band as it was the first Rolling Stones album to consist of all original Jagger/Richards material. The days of doing cover versions of other artist's songs were slowing down as the band was beginning to develop their own style and sound. With original hits over the last 15 months such as "Heart Of Stone," "The Last Time," "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," and "Get Off Of My Cloud," Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were developing into a very strong songwriting team. Besides Mick and Keith coming into their own as songwriters, Brian Jones was beginning to show his versatility as a musician as he played several differernt instruments: Indian Sitar on "Mothers Little Helper," marimbas (African xylophone) on "Under My Thumb," "Out Of Time," and mountain dulcimer on "Lady Jane," "I Am Waiting," as well as harmonica "High And Dry," "Goin' Home," and guitar and keyboards. The album also contains the 11-minute blues jam "Goin' Home". The album was immediately praised as one of their best albums and has remained a fan favorite from the Brian Jones era. The album has some great pop tunes on it. Don't just judge the Rolling Stones by their radio hits, some of their studio albums have a lot of hidden gems, and this album is one of them. The sound has been greatly improved for SACD as part of ABKCO Records "Rolling Stones Remastered Series". I highly recommend this album.

HISTORICAL REFERENCE
The album peaked at #1 in the UK. The Aftermath sessions also produced the hit singles "19th Nervous Breakdown," and "Paint It Black" in the UK. Many songs on this album were also covered by other British artists at the time like The Zombies, Chris Farlowe, The Searchers, and others. The 11-minute "Goin' Home" is what inspired The Doors to make their song "The End" over 11-minutes long. The album was recorded entirely at RCA Studios in Hollywood, the same studio where Elvis Presley had once recorded, during two separate sessions, one in December 1965 and the other in March 1966. It was also the first Rolling Stones album recorded entirely in the United States, and it was also the first album released in Stereo.

"Aftermath" proved the Stones could hold their own as album artists. It is a nearly flawless display of five musicians at the peak of their powers. This LP could be considered the first one after the band had achieved supergroup status on the strength of immortal singles such as "Last Time", "Satisfaction" and "Cloud". I believe the British LP is so much stronger than the US one and I'm glad that I was able to have both. For the uninformed, the US release which followed the UK one by two months, has "Paint It, Black" as its lead track while the Brit version opens with "Mother's Little Helper". Either one would suffice for me as both tunes are alltime classics and feature Brian Jones on the sitar. However the UK "Aftermath" features the full-length "Out of Time" one of my absolute favorites, plus "Take It or Leave It" and "What to Do", all left off of the US release. "Aftermath" was such a turning point for the band not only for the use of all Jagger-Richards penned tunes but for the exotic instrumentation. Dulcimer, marimba, harpsichord and the aforementoned sitar add flourish to such standout cuts as "Under My Thumb", "Lady Jane", "Mothers", "Time" etc. I absolutely love this record and cherish this era of the Stones almost as much as the 68-72 period. The UK version of "Aftermath" should be considered one the greatest albums in history and a major stepping stone for the five young Londoners future claim as "The Greatest Rock N' Roll Band in the World".