Thursday, December 29, 2016

Rolling Stones Aftermath sessions


Brian Jones on sitar

The first British Rolling Stones  album   that   the songwriting team of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards wrote every single track for was the April 1966 album, Aftermath.  

This  album came at time when other artists such the Beatles, Bob Dylan and the Beach Boys were making landmark albums such as Blonde on Blonde, Revolver and Pet Sounds. 


 Aftermath was a album that could compete on that level-it featured musical eclecticism,  the usual trademark Keith Richard guitar riffs and Mick Jagger's  increasingly misogynistic dark lyrics.   The musical variety on the tracks recorded for this album is amazing for such a short recording period. This was largely due to Brian Jones,  and his remarkable ability to play a large variety of  colorful instruments.  Jones played Koto on "Take it or Leave It" and "Ride On Baby," Dulcimer on "Lady Jane", Sitar on "Paint it, Black" and "Mother's Little Helper" , Marimbas on "Under My Thumb", and "Out of Time" harmonica on "High and Dry", and harpsicord and bells on "Take It Or Leave It " as well as some  as second guitarist.   Truly a epic performance from Brian.  The Aftermath sessions  is the Stones best body of work outside their classic period of 1968-1972.






To make this album the Stones recorded 21 tracks  at two marathon sessions at RCA studios  in Hollywood in December 1965 and March 1966. Jagger and Richards   had somehow managed to write 21  songs for album despite the fact that sessions for this album came only a few months after the last  sessions for their previous  album.   Their prior albums  had always featured a large a number of  covers of songs  written by other writers.   They had grown quickly as songwriters.  The original title for the album was to be Walk On Water If You Will, a reference to Jesus Christ  that even the Rolling Stones could not get away with in early 1966.  This projected album would have used material from the December 1965 session.   More about aborted project can found here ... http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-rolling-stones-could-you-walk-on.html

The British version of  Aftermath was 53 minutes long, making it their lengthiest single album to date.   The American album was shorter and had a different track listing. To be frank, the US version  was  a butchered- version , a common practice at the time-but it  remained a good album partly because the US  featured the strongest Stones track from the sessions, "Paint It, Black" whereas that song was left off the British version.   Probably the best thing to have done artistically would  to make one double album with all or most of the songs-but this had never been done before. The first major  double album in the rock genre was Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde which was released only a month after the British version of Aftermath. Another alternative would have been to just pick the best 14 songs instead of saving them for singles.  Neither happened and thus album did not make  quite make the same impact as this album could of. 


Why did the Stones record two albums worth of songs for one album?  British groups of the mid-1960's   typically released many of their singles as non-album tracks. British acts of the time also sometimes released albums with no singles material on them, so that record buyers wouldn't have duplicate copies of the same song.  Usually  British albums had more tracks than the average American album- thus British groups like the Stones and the Beatles would often record 16 or more songs to be considered for a album .  American albums would often include singles that were not released on albums in Great Britain thus totally messing with the original British track listing.

 American labels took advantage of this productivity  by using those extra tracks to create more albums.  So thus the Beatles American label, Capitol was able to create 12  Beatles albums  from 1964-to 1966 out of the same body of work that created only 7 British albums. The tally for the Rolling Stones for the same period was 8 American albums drawn from  5 British albums. 

Songs recorded  during the Aftermath sessions and what albums they first appeared on.

1.  19th Nervous Breakdown (US UK single A-SIDE) (US UK Big Hits -High Tide and Green Grass)
2.  Sad Day (Single B-SIDE)  Compiled much later
3.  Mother's Little Helper  (UK Aftermath) (US Single A-Side) (Flowers)
4.  Doncha Bother Me (UK Aftermath) (US Aftermath)
5.  Goin' Home  (UK Aftermath) (US Aftermath)
6. Long Long While (single B-SIDE) (US UK More Hot Rocks)
7.  Take It Or Leave It (UK Aftermath) (US Flowers)
8.  Think  (UK Aftermath) (US Aftermath)
9.  Ride On Baby (US FLOWERS) (US UK More Hot Rocks)
10. Sittin' On A Fence (US FLOWERS) (US UK More Hot Rocks)
11. Paint It Black  (US Aftermath) (US UK Single A-Side)
12. Lady Jane  (UK Aftermath) (US Aftermath) ( US Flowers) 
13.  Stupid Girl  (UK Aftermath) (US Aftermath)
14.  Flight 505 (UK Aftermath) (US Aftermath)
15.  High And Dry  (UK Aftermath) (US Aftermath)
16.  I Am Waiting  (UK Aftermath) (US Aftermath)
17.  If You Let Me  (US UK METMORPHOSIS)
18. It's Not Easy (UK Aftermath) (US Aftermath)
19. Out Of Time  (UK Aftermath) (US Flowers)
20. Under My Thumb (UK Aftermath) (US Aftermath)
21. What To Do (UK Aftermath) (US, UK More Hot Rocks

22. Looking Tired  (unreleased)

 - Tracks of My Tears-this Miracles cover is only rumored to have occurred.



Recordings sessions list (sourced from The Complete Works of the Rolling Stones 1962-2019) by Nico Zentgraf http://www.nzentgraf.de/books/tcw/works1.htm
List includes additional musicians who played  on each track.
 


December 3rd - 10th, Los Angeles, RCA Studios, Hollywood. Producer:
 Andrew Oldham. Sound engineer: Dave Hassinger.

Doncha Bother Me  -Ian Stewart on piano; Aftermath-version
Goin' Home I  -Ian Stewart on piano; version II with chatter and
                        re-start
Goin' Home II  -Ian Stewart on piano; Aftermath version
Mother's Little Helper I  -backing track
Mother's Little Helper II  -with guide vocals (KR singing the intro)
Mother's Little Helper III  -Aftermath-version

Looking Tired- unreleased track  with Ian Stewart on piano
19th Nervous Breakdown I  -with early vocals and and more guitar
19th Nervous Breakdown II  -same backing track as version III, still
                        with early vocals
19th Nervous Breakdown III  -7“-version
Ride On Baby  -Ian Stewart on piano, Jack Nitzsche on piano; Flowers-version
Sad Day  -Ian Stewart on organ, Jack Nitzsche on piano, 7“-version
Sittin’ On A Fence  -Flowers-version
Take It Or Leave It  -Jack Nitzsche on organ; Aftermath-version
Think I  -Necrophilia-version; with  additional overdubs in the
                         last third of the song
Think II  -Aftermath-version


6th - 9th March 1966 Los Angeles, RCA Studios, Hollywood. Producer: Andrew
Oldham. Sound engineer: Dave Hassinger.

Flight 505  -Ian Stewart on piano; Aftermath-version
High And Dry  -Aftermath-version
I Am Waiting  -Aftermath-version
If You Let Me  -Metamorphosis-version
It’s Not Easy  -Ian Stewart on organ; Aftermath version
Lady Jane I  -Jack Nitzsche on harpsichord; instrumental (a fake?)
Lady Jane II  -Jack Nitzsche on harpsichord; Aftermath-version
Long Long While  -Ian Stewart on organ, Jack Nitzsche on piano and
                         tambourine; 7“ version
Out Of Time I  -Ian Stewart on organ, Jack Nitzsche on piano; instrumental
Out Of Time II  -Ian Stewart on organ, Jack Nitzsche on piano; Aftermath-version
Paint It Black I  -Jack Nitzsche on piano; edited instrumental backing
                         track of version III
Paint It Black II  -Jack Nitzsche on piano; slightly longer version with
                          definite ending of III; Guitar Hero-version
Paint It Black III  -Jack Nitzsche on piano; 7“-version
Paint It Black IV  -Jack Nitzsche on piano; edit
Stupid Girl  -Ian Stewart on organ, Jack Nitzsche on harpsichord;
                         Aftermath-version
Tracks Of My Tears (Smokey Robinson) -unverified
Under My Thumb  -Aftermath-version
What To Do  -Ian Stewart on piano; Aftermath-version 


ALBUM RELEASES




AFTERMATH (UK VERSION) Released April 15, 1966 The British version of Aftermath  used  fourteen of the  twenty one tracks . 
 Side one .
1.     "Mother's Little Helper"   2:45
2.     "Stupid Girl"       2:56
3.     "Lady Jane"       3:08
4.     "Under My Thumb"       3:41
5.     "Doncha Bother Me"       2:41
6.     "Goin' Home"       11:13
Side two
7.     "Flight 505"       3:27
8.     "High and Dry"   3:08
9.     "Out of Time"   5:37
10.     "It's Not Easy"   2:56
11.     "I Am Waiting"   3:11
12.     "Take It or Leave It"   2:47
13.     "Think"       3:09
14.     "What to Do"       2:32

Aftermath (US VERSION)  released June 20, 1966
The American version had only  eleven of the tracks. It featured ten of the songs found on the British version of Aftermath as well as "Paint It (Black), the Rolling Stones current single which had not been included on the British album.  Thus 15 songs of the original 21 appeared on one of two Aftermath albums-leaving six remaining tracks.
Side One
1.     "Paint It Black"  3:22
2.     "Stupid Girl"   2:56
3.     "Lady Jane"       3:08
4.     "Under My Thumb"   3:41
5.     "Doncha Bother Me" 2:41
6.     "Think"       3:09
Side two
7.     "Flight 505[1]"  3:27
8.     "High and Dry"   3:08
9.     "It's Not Easy" 2:56
10.     "I Am Waiting"  3:11

11.     "Goin' Home"       11:13

The seven remaining tracks were dispersed in the following manner:   "19th Nervous Breakdown' was released first as single but  was also found in both the US and UK on the Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass album . Two songs  "Sad Day", and "Long Long While)'  appeared originally in Britain as B-sides on  singles,  and only showed up   later  on compilations . Two  songs ("Ride on Baby" and 'Sitting on the Fence") were relegated to the 1967  compilation album, Flowers (released in the US)and in the 1972 compilation, More Hot Rocks (released in both UK and the US, and one song "If You Let Me"was left in the vault till it's appearance on the  1975  rarities compilation Metamorphosis
"Looking Tired" was never released .It is really very confusing.


It is surprising to me that nobody has ever tried to compile all 22 songs onto one album collection.  The Rolling Stones do not own  their material from this era.

This article by J.C.Bernhardt was originally published 12/29/2016 Revised February 2019

5 comments:

  1. I have been told that a session guitarist, Vincent Bell, actually played an electric sitar on "Paint It Black" and Brian Jones merely mimicked playing the sitar. Is this true?

    ReplyDelete
  2. It seems unlikely. Vincent Bell has never been credited publicly with playing on the record, and Brian Jones was certainly capable of playing what he did in record. I did, however see some sources claim that the same electric sitar that Bell popularized was used in Paint It, Black but I am not sure if that is true.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks, Robert. I will add it.

    ReplyDelete