*Review* December’s Children (And Everybody’s)

December’s Children (And Everybody’s)

Released
December 4, 1965

Before we start this one, I’m going to complain about the usage of the album art. It’s the same as the previous UK album Out of Our Heads. I have tons more complaints for this album, but let’s deal with them when they arise.

She Said “Yeah”

(Sonny Bono and Roddy Jackson)

Listen, I have no problem with using the UK tracks, but it’s really annoying that they had to do this in the first place. If everyone got the same album, we wouldn’t need to be reviewing the same songs without it being either a new single or a compilation album. A nice rocking sound from the UK Out of Our Heads.

9/10

Talkin’ About You

(Chuck Berry)

Didn’t like this cover in Out of Our Heads, still don’t really like it. It’s alright.

6/10

You Better Move On

(Arthur Alexander)

Jesus, are we actually reusing UK songs from 1964, technically recording in 1963? For an album almost reaching 1966? Who are we here? You know Stones, you are really lucky I really like this song. Really lucky. Like really, if you’re going to split up the albums to have different songs, why give the other country the songs later on? You’re ruining valuable song space.

9/10 (It used to be 10/10, and it still is, but because it’s on this album that’s what you get)

Look What You’ve Done

(McKinley Morganfield)

The Stones return to their blues rock, and it’s not bad. At this point Jagger is really confident in his voice, either that or new recording equipment makes this sound better than it should. But still, nothing special, and it’s very weird to have this sandwiched into the Stones’ rock age.

7.5/10

The Singer, Not The Song

(Jagger / Richards)

I’m alright with the re-using of this song, since it’s fresh and only a b-side in the UK. Plus, this song works even better as part of an album. So it’s a good song, but nothing great, unfortunately. Maybe it’ll grow on me. I don’t know.

7/10

Route 66

What’s up with them and using already-released live songs on official albums? I don’t like it. Especially when you can hardly hear anything anyway, I mean they had to know that the sound quality isn’t the best, and so when you throw it on a studio album it’s just weird. The performance isn’t as good as it should be, either. Not bad, but not great.

7/10

Get Off of My Cloud

(Jagger / Richards)

(Copied from the song’s single review) While not at the same fame as Satisfaction, it’s still very much up there. It was also written has a follow-up to the song. All lot of the follow-ups fail to live up to their predecessors, but I think this song does a fantastic job. Even under pressure, they managed to write a great song and perform it brilliantly as well.

9.5/10

I’m Free

(Jagger / Richards)

I feel like we’re blessed to have both Get off My Cloud and I’m Free in the same album.

(Copied from the Get Off My Cloud single) Really good song that really works well as the album’s closer. It has a nice feeling to it, and that is probably because it’s not a cover. I can’t really pick anything out of this per se, but the instruments seem to flow well together. The guitar solo isn’t anything to note, but it doesn’t have to be, I feel like a complicated solo would ruin this song.

9/10

As Tears Go By

(Jagger, Richards and Andrew Loog Oldham)

Oh my, this is beautiful. Listen to that orchestra. Listen to that sweet, soft guitar. McCartney’s got some explaining to do.

10/10

Gotta Get Away

(Jagger / RichardS)

Nothing especially complex, but it does get the job done. Instruments slide in nicely together.

8/10

Blue Turns to Grey

(Jagger / Richards)

I don’t know what to say about this song. I appreciate the use of a 12-string guitar on both rhythm and lead parts. It’s a nice song, with very good parts about it, but it feels too generic.

6/10

I’m Moving On

(Hank Snow)

There used two live songs on this. No, stop it. And it’s my least favorite performance from the Got Live If You Want It! EP. Gah.

4/10

92/120

Pretty disappointing album. I think people really enjoy this album, but there’s just nothing really to it for me. The B-side was very dominant here, with some of The Stones excellent work for the time like Get Off My Cloud and As Tears Go By. But, I guess, for an American album who didn’t get most of the songs because of UK exclusives, it’s better than nothing. It's almost impossible today to put in perspective that the Americans did not have the leisure of just going out and buying UK albums, so my opinions on songs I've already heard before might be skewed. Just stop using badly mixed live songs for official studio albums please.

*Review* (Single) Get Off of My Cloud / I'm Free

*This is part of my ongoing, personal project of listening to every Rolling Stones material released, posted onto this blog for everyone to read and for opinions to flourish. The rating doesn't mean much, because I hate ratings, but might as well.*

Get Off of My Cloud / I’m Free

Get Off Of My Cloud

(Jagger / Richards)

While not at the same fame as Satisfaction, it’s still very much up there. It was also written has a follow-up to the song. All lot of the follow-ups fail to live up to their predecessors, but I think this song does a fantastic job. Even under pressure, they managed to write a great song and perform it brilliantly as well.

9.5/10

I’m Free

(Jagger / Richards)

This song would work well as an a-side, but putting it on the B-side is still great. As I said previously about this song, the instruments really flow well together.

9/10

18.5/20

This might be their best single so far. The a-side is exactly what I like to come out of The Stones, and the B-side is a nice song that doesn’t try to impress anyone.

*Partial Review* Out of Our Heads (UK)

Out of Our Heads (UK)

Released
September 24, 1965

I’m going to rate the songs that are different on the album, and then rate the album as a whole, but I’m not going to go over any of the songs on the previously released Out of Our Heads (US).

Additions:

She Said “Yeah”

Whoa, where did this intense track come from? It sounds nice (the ending sounds a bit weird when it just suddenly ends), but we’ll have to see if it can hold up to the track it replaced.

9/10

Gotta Get Away

(Jagger / Richards)

A nice little song, simple yet effective.

8/10

Talkin’ Bout You

(Chuck Berry)

It doesn’t sound as rocking as it should and I’m disappointed.

6/10

Oh, Baby (We Got a Good Thing Going)

(Barbara Lynn Ozen)

This sound sounds more rocking than the Chuck Berry cover, and it works better here than it did on The Rolling Stones, Now!. I don’t like using the word filler, but hey, this might be it. Not as much as Talkin’ Bout You, but still.

7.5/10

Heart of Stone

(Jagger / Richards)

This is a good song with solos that are good as well, as I’ve said back in the 1964 single with B-side What a Shame. I also want to give it something higher than 8.5, but I feel like 8.5 fits this.

8.5/10

I’m Free

(Jagger / Richards)

Really good song that really works well as the album’s closer. It has a nice feeling to it, and that is probably because it’s not a cover. I can’t really pick anything out of this per se, but the instruments seem to flow well together. The guitar solo isn’t anything to note, but it doesn’t have to be, I feel like a complicated solo would ruin this song.

9/10

Subtractions

The Last Time

Unfortunately this song didn’t make the cut. It’s a shame, because I actually like this song a bit.

I’m Alright

Good, this song didn’t belong. It’s alright (pun not intended), but I definitely won’t miss it.

(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction

Removing this song from the lineup quite possibly put a dent into the record itself. I feel like when the kids in UK caught word that the American’s got this song on their record, and they didn’t, they were angry. This was, and still is, a pretty popular song among radio and everything else.

Play With Fire

Another good song that was replaced. While not my favorite, it’s still a beautiful song.

The Spider and the Fly

I don’t necessarily care where this one goes. I’m very split about if I like this or not, but my feeling point to “I kinda don’t like it, but not enough to actually say I don’t like it.” But still, people do like this song, so removing this song didn’t help.

One More Try

I like I’m Free better for a couple reasons, one for the style of the song and another for how it doesn’t fade out.

95 / 120

Amazing. That really is just simply amazing. My score for the UK version is the same as the US version. To producer Andrew Loog Oldham (who produced both versions), bravo, you’ve managed to take out the important singles and still manage a 95. You deserve a lot of credit. Anyway, I personally thought the album was a tiny bit weaker than the US version if just for the exclusion of the popular singles. The reason for this is the UK music industry didn’t like to use popular singles on their albums, which is reasonable but at the same time could hurt an album if you don’t fit the album with right replacements. All in all, Mr. Oldham is fantastic and we should all appreciate him.