The Beatles were the first and were quite easy, thanks to the priceless Beatles Sessions by Mark Lewisohn.
The Stones on the other hand have been a bear. They were gypsies who traveled from recording studio to recording studio across two continents. The sessions were very poorly documented. Their releases were slapdash and very poorly thought out. Neither the UK nor US versions of their albums were definitive.
But I feel like I've made some headway with Aftermath. By combining all of their late 1965 recordings and their early 1966 sessions, there is a truly magnificent CD there.
The running order is crucial as the long song "Goin' Home" and the large number of draggy ballads can really kill the album's momentum if they're all strung together. One of the keys is using the 3 minute version of "Out of Time" from the Flowers album rather than the 5 minute version from the UK version of After-math.
Another key is including the excellent "Ride On Baby" and "Sitting on a Fence" from the Flowers album. For a long time I had mistakenly assumed they were recorded during the Between the Buttons sessions, but more research in Bill Wyman's book and It's Only Rock n' Roll by Karnbach and Bernson confirmed that they were recorded during the first Aftermath sessions in December of 1965.
So here's my current running order, it largely follows that of the UK version of Aftermath -- the Mother's Little Helper/Stupid Girl/Lady Jane/Under My Thumb sequence is such a strong start that it's largely responsible for the album's reputation. I decided to start with 19th Nervous Breakdown as most listeners heard that incredible bit of freakbeat before hearing the album. I decided to end "side 1" with some cuts from the 2nd side of the UK album -- "Think" and "Take it or Leave It" and then close out with "Paint It, Black". That single makes a nice intro for "Flight 505" and I stick with the US album order for several songs before popping in the Flowers version of "Out of Time", the b-side "Sad Day" and the pair of classics from Flowers: "Sitting on a Fence" and "Ride on Baby". "Long Long While" follows as a nice palette cleanser after the climatic "Ride on Baby" and then the epic-length "Goin' Home" followed by "What to Do" as an epilogue.
The album is a pinnacle of mid-60's rock. Not only are all the songs Jagger-Richards originals, but the arrangements are a real triumph of small combo arrangements. Using only the main five members and two spot keyboardists in Ian Stewart and Jack Nitzsche, the band creates an amazingly varied number of instrumental combinations. Brian Jones is largely responsible for this as he plays an astounding number of instruments -- electric and acoustic guitars (both lead and rhythm parts), slide guitar, blues harmonica, marimbas, harpsichord, organ, dulcimer, sitar, fuzz guitar, spanish guitar, bells and a Japanese stringed instrument called the Koto.
Been listening to this sequence all weekend and my wife agrees it's a great mix:
1. 19th Nervous Breakdown
One of the key singles from the Stones mid-sixties peak, 19th features Keith Richards making great use of fuzztones and Brian Jones playing a Bo Diddley style lead. Bill Wyman's dive boming bass runs are also memorable.
2. Mother's Little Helper
A stomping acoustic arrangement flavored with what is either a sitar part played by Brian or a 12 string part played by Keith.
3. Stupid Girl
Stu's organ playing drives this song which has a great groove from the band, some embarrassingly bad lyrics from Mick, and a tasty solo from Keith.
4. Lady Jane
Keith's finger-picked acoustic guitar, Brian's dulcimer and Jack Nitzche's harpsichord combine for a lovely interlude on the bridge. One of the things about the Stones' music that fascinates me the most is the way Keith and Brian play the same verse parts through the whole song and the bridge is created just by virtue of Mick dropping out and the harpsichord coming in. The masters of subtlety and interplay at work.
5. Under My Thumb
Brian Jones' marimba part is the key riff the whole song is built around, freeing up Keith to play some really tasty lead guitar parts. The live version just bludgeons the main riff with all the guitars, but on the recorded version they do much more varied parts. The kind of song you'd never see released today with the out of tune guitars and massive tempo drag toward the end, but the feel and the groove are beyond flawless.
6. Doncha Bother Me
The first R&B style track on the album features Brian Jones on a brutally simplistic but effective slide guitar part.
7. Think
The acoustic guitars have some nice interplay and Brian overdubs an effective but very strange fuzz guitar part.
8. Take It or Leave It
One of the weaker songs to come out of the sessions, was given to the Searchers for a (flop) single. Tucked it here so it doesn't drag things down like it would if surrounded by weaker company. With good lead in and incredible follow up though its virtues -- primarily some snide Jagger lyrics with strong imagry -- are able to shine through. Jones' Koto flourishes are a bit much but enjoyable in this context.
9. Paint It, Black
Another very odd grove -- some kind of gypsy rhythm Bill Wyman improvised as a joke. Jones' sitar part is legendary as it is simplistic. Jagger's lyrics on this one are morbid and powerful as is the chorus which kicks into a rock tempo very effectively.
10. Flight 505
Ian Stewart's boogie woogie piano makes this track. Jagger spins an effective death fantasy and the band choogles along in peak form.
11. High and Dry
A strange faux country blues number. Brian's harmonica part is very odd and rewards a close listen.
12. It's Not Easy
The most straight-forward R&B number on the album. There's a very undermixed lead guitar part from Jones that adds a lot to the song, like a spidery run through some standard blues leads but he invests it with an odd, haunting quality.
13. I Am Waiting
A really great album track. Jones on dulcimer in the verses, Keith's finger picking shines on the choruses.
14. Out of Time
Another soul track with Jones' marimbas driving the grove and an outstanding Mick performance in which he dumps Chrissie Shrimpton for what seems like the fifth time on the album. The three minute version from Flowers is critical here as the five minute version from the UK Aftermath album really drags the proceedings as they don't do anything with the extra two minutes. Was a hit for Chris Farlowe in the UK I believe.
15. Sad Day
The b-side to "19th Nervous Breakdown" has some nice guitar interplay and a very strange but effective organ part by Jones.
16. Sitting on a Fence
One of my favorite tracks on the set. Jones and Richards play a great guitar duet with Keith fingerpicking and Brian playing a hypnotic lead pattern on a spanish-stringed guitar. Mick spins a tale of indecision, indifference and alienation. Held off the original Aftermath album so it could be shopped as a single, I think it flopped for Chris Farlowe.
17. Ride On Baby
Another great number rescued from the Flowers album, was also held off the original album for Farlowe. What a waste. Jones outdoes himself on this one, playing harpsichord, Koto, and tamboura. The song itself is a well constructed rocker with strong lyrics kissing off a jilted lover. Some think the arrangement is overkill, like burying a cake in too much frosting, but I dig it.
18. Long Long While
Kind of a weak track, relegated to the b-side of a single, I tucked it in as a follow-up to a very strong sequence.
19. Goin' Home
This is a controversial one. Loved at the time because they loved pointless stretching out in the 60's. But stretching out wasn't the Stones' strong suit as a band and Mick does most of the improvising. But the first two minutes are a very strong song with some nice echoey guitar (by Brian?) Most accounts have Keith playing all the guitars at the live session which was well attended by many Hollywood rock n roll types and is well documented but the demos have Keith playing the biting lead part that is the 2nd guitar to appear on the track and the spidery part has Brian's finger prints. But Keith was an effective mimic and certainly copped many of Brian's licks. My best guess it that it's Keith playing both parts BUT it certainly feels like the two guitar parts are interacting live early on in the song. The reason I think its Keith on the first guitar part is that's the guitar that carries through out the jam section of the song. It's likely that Brian overdubbed the harmonica part later. It's too bad he didn't do more with this one. Some of the feedback experimentation he was reportedly doing around this time would have enhanced the tune.
20. What to Do
A pretty weak track, although the Meat Puppets would cover it in the 1980's. Imitating the Beach Boys wasn't a good idea for the Stones. Nothing interesting in the arrangements, perhaps explained by Stones manager/producer Andrew Loog Oldhams' account of Brian Jones' collapsing in the studio after a weekend of excess and contributing nothing to the track. Still acts as a nice little send off to the album in this sequence.
