Aftermath [UK] [Remaster]

Performer: The Rolling Stones
Engineer: Gus Skinas; Dave Hassinger; Gus Skinas
Producer: Andrew Loog Oldham; Jody H. Klein (Compilation)
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: The Rolling Stones: Mick Jagger (vocals, percussion); Keith Richards (vocals, guitar); Brian Jones (guitar, dulcimer, sitar, marimba, bells); Bill Wyman (marimba, bass, bells); Charlie Watts (marimba, drums, percussion). Additional personnel: Jack Nitzsche, Ian Stewart (piano, organ, harpsichord). Recorded at RCA Studios, Hollywood, California. Includes liner notes by Dave Hassinger. This is a Hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both Super Audio and regular CD players. The Rolling Stones: Mick Jagger (vocals, percussion); Keith Richards (vocals, guitar); Brian Jones (guitar, dulcimer, sitar, marimba, bells); Bill Wyman (marimba, bass, bells); Charlie Watts (marimba, drums, percussion). Additional personnel: Jack Nitzsche, Ian Stewart (piano, organ, harpsichord). Recorded at RCA Studios, Hollywood, California. Includes liner notes by Dave Hassinger. The Rolling Stones: Ian Stewart (harpsichord); Bill Wyman (bass guitar); Jack Nitzsche, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Brian Jones , Charlie Watts . Personnel: Keith Richards (vocals, guitar); Mick Jagger (vocals, percussion); Brian Jones (guitar, dulcimer, sitar, piano, harpsichord, organ, marimba, bells); Bill Wyman (piano, harpsichord, organ, marimba, bells); Jack Nitzsche (piano, harpsichord, organ, percussion); Charlie Watts (marimba, drums, percussion, bells). Liner Note Authors: David Hassinger ; Mike M. Koshitani. Recording information: RCA Studios Hollywood; RCA Studios, Hollywood, CA. Photographers: Guy Webster; Jerry Schatzberg. Arranger: The Rolling Stones. The Rolling Stones' first set of all-original material--a full two years after the Beatles had passed that milestone with A HARD DAY'S NIGHT--1966's AFTERMATH is arguably the Stones' first truly great album, as opposed to a selection of killer singles padded out with some forgettable filler. Not that the singles aren't killers; "Paint It Black" and "Under My Thumb" are two of the Stones' most inventive chart successes, their sitar and marimba touches showing that at least through 1966, the Stones were just as likely as the Beatles, Kinks or Who to release a single that sounded like nothing else on the radio. Of the album tracks, "Lady Jane" and "Stupid Girl" are standouts, the former another of the boys' Elizabethan oddities and the latter a stomping, snotty garage rocker. Even better, though, are formal experiments like "I Am Waiting," a spooky acoustic tune that sounds like the boys had been listening to George Harrison's Indian excursions. Several of the more blues-based tracks press the five-minute barrier, culminating in the nearly 12-minute blues-rock rave-up "Goin' Home," one of the few extended jams that's actually worth the extra minutes. It's difficult for American listeners to remember this, but like the recordings of the Beatles and nearly all other British groups of the '60s, the Rolling Stones' first several albums did not make it across the Atlantic in one piece. Prior to ABKCO's comprehensive 2002 reissue program, the US versions of the Stones' early albums were the de facto standards on CD, but particularly in the case of 1966's AFTERMATH, the UK album was very different. The track lineup is shuffled and expanded to create a much different mood. "Paint It Black" is gone, replaced as the opening track by the snotty social commentary of "Mother's Little Helper," which--when followed by "Stupid Girl," "Lady Jane," "Under My Thumb," and "Dontcha Bother Me"--is like a pentathlon of punky misogyny capped by the grinding blues jam "Goin' Home." Side Two is more emotionally varied but just as musically far-reaching, adding the poppy "Take It Or Leave It" and "What To Do" to an already strong set of tunes centered on the stunning full-length version of "Out of Time" that for some reason had never been released in the United States before this belated reissue. The British version of Aftermath was released earlier than its American counterpart and had several differences beyond its cover design: it runs more than ten minutes longer, despite not having "Paint It Black" on it (singles were usually kept separate from LPs in England in those days), and it has four additional songs -- "Mother's Little Helper," which was left off the U.S. album for release as a single; "Out of Time" in its full-length five-minute-36-second version, two minutes longer than the version of the song issued in America; "Take It or Leave It," which eventually turned up on Flowers in the U.S.; and "What to Do," which didn't surface in America until the release of More Hot Rocks more than six years later. Additionally, the song lineup is different, "Goin' Home" closing side one instead of side two. And the mixes used are different from the tracks that the two versions of the album do have in common -- the U.K. album and CD used a much cleaner, quieter master that had a more discreet stereo sound, with wide separation in the two channels and the bass not centered as it in the U.S. version. Thus, one gets a more vivid impression of the instruments. It's also louder yet curiously, because of the cleaner sound, slightly less visceral in its overall impact, though the details in the playing revealed in the mixes may fascinate even casual listeners. It's still a great album, though the difference in song lineup makes it a different record; "Mother's Little Helper" is one of the more in-your-face drug songs of the period, as well as being a potent statement about middle-class hypocrisy and political inconsistency, and "Out of Time," "Take It Leave It" (which had been a hit for the Searchers), and "What to Do," if anything, add to the misogyny already on display in "Stupid Girl" and "Think," and "Out of Time" adds to the florid sound of the album's psychedelic component (and there's no good reason except for a plain oversight by the powers that be for the complete version of "Out of Time" never having been released in America). The British version of Aftermath (which was also released in mono on vinyl) has been available intermittently on CD since the late '80s as an import, and is worth tracking down. [The Rolling Stones' London/ABKCO catalog was reissued in August of 2002, packaged in digipacks with restored album artwork, remastered, and released as hybrid discs that contain both CD and Super Audio CD layers. The remastering -- performed with Direct Stream Digital (DSD) encoding -- is a drastic improvement, leaping out of the speaker yet still sounding like the original albums. This is noticeable on the standard CD layer but is considerably more pronounced on the SACD layer, which is shockingly realistic in its detail and presence yet is still faithful to the original mixes; Keith Richards' revved-up acoustic guitar on "Street Fighting Man" still sends the machine into overdrive, for instance. It just sounds like he's in the room with you. Even if you've never considered yourself an audiophile, have never heard the differences between standard and gold-plated CDs, you will hear the difference with SACD, even on a cheap stereo system without a high-end amplifier or speakers. And you won't just hear the difference, you'll be an instant convert and wish, hope, and pray that other artists whose catalog hasn't been reissued since the early days of CD -- Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, especially the Beatles -- are given the same treatment in the very near future. SACD and DSD are that good.] ~ Bruce Eder

Rolling Stone (4/11/02, p.105) - Ranked #2 in Rolling Stone's "50 Coolest Records" - "...The sauciest Mick, the broodiest Keith, the prettiest Brian, the funkiest Bill and Charlie - now and forever Charlie..." Rolling Stone (4/11/02, p.105) - Ranked #2 in Rolling Stone's "50 Coolest Records" - "...The sauciest Mick, the broodiest Keith, the prettiest Brian, the funkiest Bill and Charlie - now and forever Charlie..." Entertainment Weekly (9/20/02, p.104) - "...[While] available in both US and UK versions, opt for the Brit take, which includes extras like the biting parental put-down 'Mother's Little Helper'..." - Rating: A- NME (Magazine) (7/8/95, p.46) - 7 (out of 10) - "...a pivotal Stones album, with Brian Jones continuing to progress as a musician. `Under My Thumb' is perhaps the group's most perfect pop song to date, `Stupid Girl' hints at the sleazy rockers ahead..." NME (Magazine) (7/8/95, p.46) - 7 (out of 10) - "...a pivotal Stones album, with Brian Jones continuing to progress as a musician. `Under My Thumb' is perhaps the group's most perfect pop song to date, `Stupid Girl' hints at the sleazy rockers ahead..."

Originally part of the early 1960s British blues/R&B scene, the Rolling Stones rapidly ascended the heights of fame with a perfect combination of hit singles and media-grabbing scandals. By the '70s, Keith Richards had become a bona fide guitar hero, and Mick Jagger an unlikely sex symbol. The world became the Stones' stage, and their music continued to walk the line between blues, rock, and whatever lay around the next corner, be it reggae, funk, or disco. Despite the ravages of changing fashion, solo albums, and plain old age, the Stones persevered through the decades to become a venerable institution, refusing to relinquish their title as "The World's Greatest Rock & Roll Band."

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