*Review* Aftermath (UK)

Aftermath (UK)

Released
April 15, 1966

Mother's Little Helper

(Mick Jagger / Keith Richards)

Let me start this album by saying Jesus. This is a big departure from normal Stones, and of course that means we have arrived at popular Stones. Properties of popular Stones include an amazing guitar, and vocals that can fit (hopefully). And this song, the song to start off this album, the song that gives you the first impression of what’s to come, is mighty fine.

10/10

Stupid Girl

(Mick Jagger / Keith Richards)

This song made me chuckle at first for how it sounded, and then I chuckled for how the lyrics are written. And then I chuckled again about the lyrics themselves. It’s a harsh song, but the lyrics are written so silly, and then sung with the amount of passion not associated with harsh, and it’s funny. At the same time, there’s probably some emotion Jagger put into this. Some truth that we should probably know with all that touring with crazy fans.

8.75 / 10

Lady Jane

(Mick Jagger / Keith Richards)

All this feels very baroque rock to me. Maybe it’s the harpsichord that Brian Jones so carefully inserts into this, and the other out-of-the-ordinary instrument he played, the Dulcimer. If you need a unique sound, pick up a unique instrument. I feel like I should like this more than I do, but all I can really do right now is appreciate it. Maybe it’ll grow on me later.

8 / 10

Under My Thumb

(Mick Jagger / Keith Richards)

I honestly did not like this song before, because all I heard it from was live. And each live version didn’t do this justice by far. One of the reasons I like it is that Jagger could’ve pushed this song to be harder and faster if he wanted to, like a rock and roll song, but he didn’t. The slight marimba keeps this song at a beautiful light tone. I really want to give this a perfect ten, but I just don’t feel like Jagger’s voice deserves it, and for that, I truly am sorry. I just think someone else could do it better, perhaps. I don’t know actually, my brain is just so split on what to do on this song.

Also, this is a good time to say this, but what is up with Jagger and women?

9.65 / 10

Doncha Bother Me

(Mick Jagger / Keith Richards)

The one thing I learned, if I had to pick, is that despite how awkward Charlie Watts looks in a lot of Stones material, he is very underrated. The drums on this sound so fun. This is Jagger’s homage to his roots of blues rock, which he loves. And, unlike his cover of blues rock songs, his own blues rock songs are pretty good. Unfortunately, this is another song that if I sit down and really focus in, I can’t seem to decide if I really like his voicework, or if I don’t particularly care for it. There’s enough rock here to pretty much cancel that out though.

8.75 / 10

Goin' Home

(Mick Jagger / Keith Richards)

Jesus Christ, this is eleven minutes of blues. Jam blues. If you want some background, this is the first song from a rock and roll group to extend past Bob Dylan’s record of six minutes a song, and then apparently, although not properly cited on Wikipedia, was an inspiration for The Doors to extend The End to abnormal lengths. Except The End was more fun to listen to. Because I listen to too much Beatles, I’m going to relate this to Beatles: It’s like the difference between Dig It on the Let It Be album and the full jam version. Do you really want to listen to that much? I don’t. Bill Wymen and his bass was pretty enjoyable in this song, and Jagger was pretty nice. Other than that, it’s just eleven minutes of blues and Jagger improvising lines and random noises every once in a while. I do appreciate that they stayed on track throughout the whole song, and it starts to really pick about two minutes before the end. And Jagger’s talking to little girls telling them to touch him.

7.30 / 10

Flight 505

(Mick Jagger / Keith Richards)

Oh I want to like this. I want to like that beautiful fuzz bass. But I really don’t care for Jagger’s part in this. And they really need to bring that piano up a bit in the mix, because I want to hear piano in my rock-and-roll. And once again, Charlie Watts drumming is excellent.

7.25 / 10

High and Dry

(Mick Jagger / Keith Richards)

I want to give some more praise to Watts here, but he’s really only doing one thing here.  I also cannot think of anything to say here, except I imagine The Stones bouncing up and down to this song like an old cartoon.

7.25 / 10

Out of Time

(Mick Jagger / Keith Richards)

Brian Jones really loves his marimba. There’s a limit of how many times you can use that instrument, and you really are pushing it. It’s a nice song, but I think it went on a bit too long. It could’ve worked as a three and a half minute song, and maybe even four if you needed it to be longer. I also like Jagger’s voice work (maybe I should explain something: I’m targeting Jagger’s voice a lot because it was the main reason I didn’t care about The Stones. It’s a distinct voice that many people love, but not really me. I don’t love it, but it can work in places.)

8.25 / 10

It's Not Easy

(Mick Jagger / Keith Richards)

This song tricks you to think it’s going to be a slow song with that beginning, but nope. I hear that organ, don’t try to hide it, because it sounds nice. In fact, everything sounds nice here and it does well within perfectly acceptable times UNLIKE OUT OF TIME.

8.75 / 10

I Am Waiting

(Mick Jagger / Keith Richards)

I think this song surprised me continuously, because until the song was over I just had “I” written down. Either that or I was memorized listening to it. This song’s quite lovely, and I have no complaints.

9.25 / 10

Take It or Leave It

(Mick Jagger / Keith Richards)

Why do they insist on pushing the organ down to be the quietest instrument? That disappoints me. There’s quite a unique range of instruments on this. And that’s all I have to say about that.

8.5 / 10

Think

(Mick Jagger / Keith Richards)

I’m running out of things to say about these later songs, and I’ll give my opinion why during the summary. I really have nothing to pick out of this song, good or bad.

6 / 10

What To Do

(Mick Jagger / Keith Richards)

A fun song with some nice harmonizing here and there, and some fun surf-rock like “bow bow bow” things. I don’t particularly agree with this being the last song on the album, it just seemed to blend in with everything else on the B-side.

7.5 / 10

115.2 / 140

Quick summary: excellent album, fantastic album, everyone should at least listen to the front side of this.

Long summary: Sit down, we’re going to have quite a lengthy talk. There was a lot going for this album. The beginning was full of great songs. Even Goin’ Home, while I didn’t completely 100% agree with it, was nice to some extent, and it paved the way for future bands. The B-side, however, felt like filler. It felt like so much filler to me, and it’s a shame. The A-side completely dominated. But let’s not hate on this album anymore, let’s go to the good things in life. This album was completely made by Jagger / Richards, and oh boy does it show. That’s a great thing, because when they make songs they can do it better than when they cover, especially when it comes to blues rock. The B-side, while not as good as the A-side, was still enjoyable at times and should not be overlooked by any means. Does this album deserve the reputation it has? Eh, maybe it’s a tiny bit overrated in the Stones catalogue, but it’s still a fine album nerveless. Would I recommend this album? Yes. To anybody, really, although I won’t be mad at all if they don’t like it.