Aftermath (UK) - The Rolling Stones (1966)


Aftermath saw the Rolling Stones hitting the peak of their Brian Jones era. I don't know a whole lot about the Rollng Stones'. history, I just really like their albums up to and including Exile On Main St. and to some extent even up to Tattoo You. (After that, who cares?)

But I do know that  Aftermath was the first album that the Stones did that featured an all original Jagger/Richards track list and the duo were at the top of their game, songwriting-wise. For the most part they'd stay at the top of their game for another five or six years.  

Of mild interest is the fact that the original working title of Aftermath was Walking On The Water, the record company rejected that, thinking that it would prove to controversial for the Americans, which was probably right -- a few months after Aftermath's release, the American South would go apeshit over John Lennon's aside that The Beatles "bigger than Jesus". 

Anyway, the songs are pretty much uniformly excellent in an of themselves, and Brian Jones contributions on various different and exotic instruments really gives these tunes sparkle and a certain psychedelic shine -- I just adore what he brought to the Stones musically. 

There's a kind of running theme of mysogynism running through this album -- and it's not exactly subtle! It would certainly probably  be as controversial today as it may have been then, but there's an intelligence and wit to the lyrics (not to mention the fact that they are couched great melodies) that makes it come over as interesting. I'm left thinking, well, are MIck and Keith really that mysogynistic, or is it some kind of put on, a deliberate attempt to provoke? Probably the latter, but then you think, that Mick is the kind of narcissistic rock star who probably did quite naturally develop a bit of a disdain for girls at the time, given the overall tenor of the times. Anyway, it's an ugly truth but sometimes mysogyny is part of the complex sphere of human relationships, and I don't see any point in denying it, and I believe a work of art can almost explore anything it wants, as long as the artist doesn't whine too much when it offends. Therés also the vague feeling that underneath the mysogynistic front is an actual tender and vulnerable, wounded heart...or is there? The question lies at the heart of Mick Jagger's charisma I supppose. 

And it would be wrong not to pint out that not every song on this is about bad, evil pathetic women. "I Am Waiting", with it's delicate harpsichord and hushed melody  is one of the great nearly-forgotten slices of psychedelicized baroque pop of the sixties.

Thematic quibbles aside, I don't think there is a single bad song on this album and in fact, I think they are all excellent -- with one exception. "I'm Goin' Home" is a pretty good blues rocker, with some very nice harmonica work...but then it just kind of...goes on...and on...and on....A three minute edit would have significantly improved the album (which would not have hurt the length: at 54 minutes long it was actually the longest rock and roll album ever released at that point -- though Blonde On Blonde would come out just a few months later. ) I generally kind of fade this song out and jump to the next song when I'm listening to it, which is kind of annoying. 

The American version of the album  (which I don't have) might be better, to be honest,  since most of the missing songs turned up later on Flowers (which I do have)-- anyway. The US version also  adds the mega classic "Paint It Black",  (in place of almost equally brilliant "Mother's Little Helper"), omits three other songs (also on Flowers) and moves "I'm Goin' Home" to the final track where the long, long pointless coda can be easily ignored or skipped, 

Be that as it may this is a great great album from an incredible year when the first wave of great sixties all hit an incredible peak. 

4.7/5

Spotify Link:

I have a European CD version from the 80s, mainly becasue I wanted the UK version -- I think, but am not sure , that the 2002 remaster might feature only the American version...the rest of my Stones albums are the 2002 remasters. 

However both the 80s versions and the 2002 remasters are really excellently done: different but both great.

Coming Up:

A.M. Wilco

A.T.O.M. - Carbon Silicon

ABBA - ABBA 

ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits

Abbey Road - The Beatles

Achtung, Baby! U2

Actually - Pet Shop Boys

Adult/Child- The Beach Boys

Aerosmith's Greatest Hits

After The Gold Rush - Neil Young

Afterglow - Crowded House

Aftermath (UK Version) - The Rolling Stones

Against The Odds: 1974-1982 Blondie (three disc version)

Aimee Mann Live at St. Ann's Warehouse

Aiming For Your Head - Betchadupa

The Album -- ABBA

The Album That Never Was - The Kinks

All Four One - The Motels

All Over the Place - The Bangles

All Summer Long -- The Beach Boys

All the Great Hits -- Diana Ross

All Things Must Pass -- George Harrison

All This Useless Beauty -- Elvis Costello & the Attractions

All-Time Greatest Hits - Neil Diamond

Alluvium -- Eddie Rayner

Almost Blue -- Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Almost Summer - Celebration

Alpha Mike Foxtrot -- Wilco

The Alphabetchadupa - Betchadupa

Altitude - ALT

American Idiot Green Day

American Prayer -- The Doors

Amnesiac Radiohead

And I Feel Fine...The Best of the IRS years (1982-1987) - R.E.M.

Animals - Pink Floyd

Anodyne - Uncle Tupelo

Another Life - Another Life

Another Music in Another Kitchen: The Buzzcocks

Another Side of Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan

Anthology: Diana Ross & The Supremes

Anthology: Smokey Robinson & The Beatles

Anthology 1: The Beatles

Anthology 2: The Beatles

Anthology 3 The Beatles

Anthology: North South, East West - Tim Finn

Apple Venus: Volume One -- XTC

Apollo 18 - They Might Be Giants

The ArchAndroid: Janelle Monae

Are Well-Respected Men - The Kinks

Armed Forces -Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Around the World in a Day - Prince

Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) - The Kinks

At My Piano - Brian Wilson

Autoamerican - Blondie

Automatic for the People - R.E.M.



 

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