Aftermath – THE ROLLING STONES*****

Mothers Little Helper/Stupid Girl/Lady Jane/Under My Thumb/Doncha Bother Me/Goin’ Home/Flight 505/High & Dry/Out Of Time/Its Not Easy/I Am Waiting/Take It Or Leave It/Think/What To Do. US version includes Paint It Black & excludes Mothers Little Helper/Out Of Time/Take It Or Leave It/What To Do

Aftermath was the first Rolling Stones LP to be comprised entirely of their own self penned numbers and was thus a significant departure from their earlier blues cover releases. Paint It Black was a No. 1 hit single in both countries, and the clever Mother's Little Helper a US No. 8. A truly excellent album overall, let down slightly by the overlong Goin' Home. (US:2 UK:1)

"By the time 1966 and the great cultural revolution rolled on, even Brian Jones was getting tired of playing the black man's blues. And so along comes Aftermath - the greatest jump ever for the band. The hooks are exceedingly strong, their combination with the regular Stonesy grittiness makes the album outstanding."

"Probably the best record from the Brian Jones era. His contributions are noticed here whether its flute, sitar, mellotron, or a plain old guitar, everything works great. Goin' Home' drifts on a bit too long, otherwise this album is high quality stuff."

"This is where things start getting really good. Brian Jones shows that he can play the sitar as well as George Harrison, and Mick and Keith finally get enough confidence in their own writing abilities to dump covers altogether."

"This is clearly an important release for the Stones. And it's more than just a matter of having written every song or the instrumental experimentation. Song for song, it's just plain better than any of the albums that came before it."

"Aftermath represents the first time Jagger/Richards wrote a whole album worth of songs on their own, and the result is a classic. Their inexperience still shows on a few of the lesser tracks, but those results are still interesting. And where they hit their stride the results are phenomenal."

"Aftermath is the first album to feature entirely original songs. No blues or soul covers, but all Jagger-Richards compositions. In other words, the Stones find their voice - a voice ringing with cynicism, tenderness, anger, frustration and yes, misogyny, but a voice that is uniquely their own."