December's Children (And Everybody's) [Original recording remastered, Original recording reissued]

The Rolling Stones | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 3, 2002)
• Original Release Date: 1965
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered, Original recording reissued
• Label: Abkco
• ASIN: B00006AW2R
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,899 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #71 in Music > Classic Rock > Supergroups
  • #95 in Music > Classic Rock > British Invasion

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Dig how even a tossed-together cash-in by the Stones' U.S. label--the group's third American album of 1965--ends up smoking like all but their very best. They invent thrash with the opener, "She Said Yeah" (a Specialty Records obscurity penned, under a pseudonym, by Sonny Bono!) before laying down a leering "Talkin' 'Bout You," a frenetic "I'm Movin' On" and their most consistent, varied list of originals yet. Dig, too, how even "As Tears Go By" sounds like a sneer in the midst of "Get Off of My Cloud," "Gotta Get Away," "I'm Free" and the dourly off-key "Blue Turns to Grey." --Rickey Wright

Product Description

DECEMBER'S CHILDREN marked a crucial point in the Stones' development. The band was beginning to move away from its blues/R&B roots toward something more uniquely its own. Certainly those roots were far from absent in the songs composed for this album, and the Stones still cover their share of the masters here (Chuck Berry, Arthur Alexander, Hank Snow), but something new was afoot.

The aching ballad "As Tears Go By," complete with baroque orchestration, heralded a new direction in the Stones' songwriting. Similarly, the folk-rockish strains of "The Singer Not The Song" hint at previously uncharted directions. Perhaps the most crucial track here is "Get Off My Cloud, which, while it incorporates the band's rootsy influences, is possessed of a decidedly modern power that the Stones were only beginning to learn to harness. This was the beginning of a style more specific than pop, blues, or rock & roll. DECEMBER'S CHILDREN may be seen as the beginning of what can only be defined as Rolling Stones music.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

94 of 104 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Clearing Up The UK-US Release Confusion September 6, 2002

By Richard R. Carlton

Format:Audio CD

With the release of the remastered super audio CDs (SACD) of the Stones ABCKO catalog (which includes all the early Decca/London material), there is now mass confusion about the Out Of Our Heads releases, which includes the December's Children release. Allow me to clarify for you:

There are 3 Out Of Our Heads Releases (all were released with lower case titles):
July 30, 1965 - U.S. London Records vinyl out of our heads
(the heads cover with Keith at center)
September 24, 1965 - U.K. Decca Records vinyl out of our heads
(the hallway cover with Brain at front)
December 3, 1965 - U.S. London Records vinyl december's children (and everybody's)
(the hallway cover with Brain at front)

This new remastered SACD is the December 3, 1965 U.S. London Records vinyl december's children (and everybody's) release.

Note: 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.

You must buy all 3 releases to get all the tracks, although if you bought the 2 U.S. releases + the earlier U.S. release The Rolling Stones, Now! you would get everything that is included on the U.K. Out Of Our Heads release.

Here is a listing of which tracks are on which release:
U.S. Out Of Our Heads tracks
.....The Last Time
.....I'm All Right
.....Satisfaction
.....Play With Fire
.....The Spider And The Fly
.....One More Try
U.S. Out Of Our Heads & U.K. Out Of Our Heads tracks
.....Mercy Mercy
.....Hitch Hike
.....That's How Strong My Love Is
.....Good Times
.....Cry To Me
.....The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man
U.K. Out Of Our Heads tracks
.....Oh, Baby (we got a good thing going)
.....Heart Of Stone
U.K. Out Of Our Heads & U.S. December's Children tracks
.....She Said Yeah
.....Gotta Get Away
.....Talkin' `Bout You
U.S. December's Children tracks
.....I'm Free
.....You Better Move On
.....Look What You've Done
.....The Singer Not The Song
.....Route 66
.....Get Off Of My Cloud
.....As Tears Go By
.....Blue Turns To Grey
.....I'm Moving On

U.S. London Records vinyl December's Children (And Everybody's) (the hallway cover with Brain at front) was released December 3, 1965. It used the U.K. Out Of Our Heads cover. This is an odd one for the Stones, released only in the U.S. on Dec 3, 1965 (their 3rd album release that year). It was a compilation of 2 hit singles (Get Off Of My Cloud released 7-24-65 and As Tears Go By released 12-17-65) along with other tracks that had not been released in
the States.

This was the last album where the record execs had total control. After this one, the Stones got into the studio enough and produced new tracks so that they were able to exert at least some influence on their releases from here on out. Keith has been quoted in several sources as saying
their fans in the UK would not have accepted an album like this. He was later proven right when the UK market failed to pick up on the many greatest hits releases by Klein and Decca after the Stones formed their own label in the 1970s.

The album does mark the advent of Jagger and Richards as ballad writers with I'm Free, As Tears Go By, Blue Turns To Grey, and The Singer Not The Song. They also did Gotta Get Away and Get Off Of My Cloud. The rest of the album includes the premature rocker She Said Yeah,
Chuck Berry's Talkin' 'Bout You, and Look What You've Done from the Chess Studio sessions in Chicago when Muddy himself was present. I'm Movin' On is a live track from their live UK EP and You Better Move On and Route 66 were from the earlier UK EP "The Rolling Stones."

Now a bit about the hits: Get Off Of My Cloud was the follow up to Satisfaction and was their 2nd #1 single in the States. As Tears Go By was first done as a demo on March 11 or 12, 1964 but was finally finished on Oct 26, 1965 and was also released by Mick's girlfriend at the time,
Marianne Faithful.

The tracks were recorded from 1963-5 as follows:
Nov 14, 1963 at De Lane Lea Studios in Kingsway, London
.....You Better Move On (originally released on the UK EP The Rolling Stones)
June 10-11, 1964 at Chess Studios in Chicago
.....Look What You've Done
Live in the UK on March 5 (Regal Theatre in Edmonton), March 6 (Empire in Liverpool), 7 (Palace in Manchester), or 16 (Granada in Greenford)
.....I'm Moving On
.....Route 66
Sep 6-7, 1965 at RCA Studios in Hollywood
.....I'm Free
.....Get Off Of My Cloud
.....The Singer Not The Song
.....She Said Yeah
.....Gotta Get Away
.....Blue Turns To Grey
Oct 26, 1965 at IBC Portland Place Studios, London
.....As Tears Go By

Also of interest, the UK Out Of Our Heads used the same artwork as the US release of December's Children.

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.

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Stones '65: Crazy & Essential March 10, 2006

By J P Ryan VINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

From the screaming hysteria of the live tracks to the occasionally off key vocal 'harmonies' to the Byrds' California 'folk-rock' influence, "December's Children's" is as haywire and vital as the Stones' lives and experiences must have felt in the fall of 1965. This is the Stones' fifth (U.S.) and last 'early' album, and it kicks off with one of the group's fastest, wildest rockers ever, the minute-and-a-half 'She Said Yeah,' whose metallic grunge sets the tone of things to come and whose spirit would be reigned in a bit and harnessed for '19th Nervous Breakdown' in early '66. The loping, bottom-heavy take on Chuck Berry's classic 'Talkin' About You' is up next, with its slashing Keith Richards guitar, followed by a true stereo recording of Muddy Waters' 'Look What You Done,' from the great 1964 Chess sessions, and it is definitive early Stones Chicago blues (special credit goes out to Ian Stewart's piano). 'The Singer Not The Song' is the first of six Jagger/Richards originals, and with Byrdsian guitars, utterly unsentimental warmth and lyricism, and statement of purpose, it marks a true step forward and yet another highlight of what at first feels like an awfully bedraggled album but with time and familiarity proves to contain many defining and superlative moments. Such as the rush and roar of what follows: the live 'Route 66,' closing out side one on the old London label vinyl. As "December's Children" was patched together, a mix of new material and earlier tracks, we are also treated to a soulful and affecting take on Arthur Alexander's 'You Better Move On', which dates back to 1963 making it the earliest recording to be included...The second half of the set opens with Charlie Watts' unforgettable intro to 'Get Off Of My Cloud,' a terrific followup to 'Satisfaction,' from Jagger's similarly-themed if more surreal lyric to Keith and Brian's dual guitar attack (one of their last, for Brian would soon lose interest in the instrument, coloring next year's "Aftermath" with a whole array of imaginative sonic effects). "I'm Free" is another classic original, as loose as most of the tracks herein but with some understated organ(and J.W. Alexander, of Sam Cooke fame, adding percussion); it would be revisited on the 1969 comeback tour as well as 1995's superb "Stripped". 'As Tears Go By' is the fine ballad originally written for Marianne Faithfull, though I'm not sure Mike Leander's strings really fit in the context of this otherwise noirish soundscape, perfectly captured in the title 'Blue Turns To Grey,' one of J/R's most subtle lyrics to date. Add another solid-if-minor original ('Gotta Get Away,' which was likely as rushed as its title) and we come to the apocalyptic closer, Hank Snow's 'I'm Moving On,' undoubtedly one of the Stones' most driving and powerful live recordings - Wyman's bass is thunderous, Brian adds characteristically ghostly slide guitar, Mick's bluesy, train-like harmonica, and Keith's vocal refrain ("yes I'm movin...") near the end cap a brilliant performance that sort-of presages "Aftermath's" eleven-minute 'Going Home.' This is likely the earliest example of the Stones' immersion in country, though the performance itself is molten lava.
The brevity and slapdashness of "December's Children" can't hide its vitality, right down to a fractured sense of dislocation (the Stones had been touring constantly for close to three years) - if you're looking for audiophile sound or perfect pitch forget it, but anybody else should get to know the frustration and isolation, the blues, greys, and proto-garage rock energy of "December's Children." And as with the rest of the band's 1963-70 catalog, Abkco's remaster will be revelatory even if, like me, you've known the album for decades.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Yeah! October 23, 2004

By Johnny Heering

Format:Audio CD

This is, more or less, just a collection of Rolling Stones songs that hadn't been on an album before. As such, it doesn't have the cohesiveness of some of their other albums. But regardless of that, there is a lot of great material here. The album starts off with great cover versions of songs by Larry Williams, Chuck Berry, Arthur Alexander and Muddy Waters. The album also includes six oustanding Jagger/Richards originals, most of which had been released as singles (both a-sides and b-sides). The only thing that keeps me from giving this album 5 stars are the poorly recorded live versions of "Route 66" and "I'm Moving On". While the performances themselves are fine, it's hard to hear them about all the audience screaming, and they don't really belong here among the studio recordings. But there is still a lot of great material here, which will make the album a "must have" for Stones fans. Oh, I should also mention that, although the CD is labeled as "stereo", "Look What You've Done" is the only song here that is actually in stereo. The rest of the CD is in mono.