Rolling Stones Aftermath CD

This is a Hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both Super Audio and regular CD players.

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.

Remastered reissue of 1966 album, suitable for standard & 'Super Audio' CD players. Digipak.



Includes liner notes by Dave Hassinger.

Recorded at RCA Studios, Hollywood, California. Includes liner notes by Dave Hassinger.

Recorded at RCA Studios, Hollywood, California.

The Rolling Stones: Keith Richards (guitar); Bill Wyman (bass guitar); Mick Jagger (percussion); Brian Jones , Charlie Watts (bells).

Audio Remasterers: Jon Astley; Bob Ludwig; Steve Rosenthal; Teri Landi; Paschal Byrne.

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: Ian Stewart , Jack Nitzsche (harpsichord).

Additional personnel: Jack Nitzsche, Ian Stewart (piano, organ, harpsichord).

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..."