It's New to Me: Aftermath by the Rolling Stones

Illustration from Little Tot's Picture Book, 1898

I know that, as a casual fan, I'm not qualified to say anything about the Rolling Stones. However, because the big reissue of Exile on Main St. comes out today, I feel that I must say something - I really don't like Exile on Main St. much at all. They say that the first ten times you listen to the album, it's a muddy mess, but after that it's awesomeness will become apparent. Well, for me, it never stopped sounding like a muddy mess. But I do have something nice to say about the Rolling Stones today. As a promotion for the big reissue, I think, all the Rolling Stones CDs were on sale for nine bucks on Record Store Day, and I picked up a couple that I don't own, including Aftermath.

I think I was hesitant to get Aftermath based on the theory that, because the Stones' roots were in blues music, their early original work would be very bluesy. But I'm finding that this isn't really true - for some reason, the early Jagger/Richards originals have a surprisingly light pop sound. I should have known this, of course - I've heard "As Tears Go By" and "I'm Free" a zillion times. Aftermath, of course, is the band's Hard Day's Night - the first album where they wrote all their own material. For me, the tracklist breaks down like this: six pop songs, two decent blues-rock numbers, two not-so-good blues songs, and one interminable jam. The first side of the album may be my favorite sequence of Stones songs at this point, and the creepy sexual politics in these songs only makes it better - I even like "Stupid Girl", which I thought I'd have a negative knee-jerk reaction to.

I'm particularly liking some of the less-familiar songs on the record, like the fuzzy pop of "Think". The incomplete-sounding verse structure says, "Hi - this isn't a hit single!" but the arrangement and chorus hook are great. "I Am Waiting" is another nice one, and I'd even like the closing track, "Going Home", if it was trimmed from an 11-minute jam down to a three-minute pop song.

Basically, I'm trying to convince myself here that I don't need to go get the new Exile reissue. I already own the album, and I don't like it that much. But, on the other hand, the new version has outtakes! And the one I've heard, "Plunder My Soul" is actually really good and has a cool Nicky Hopkins piano part on it. What can I say? I'm a sucker for bonus tracks.

"Think" by the Rolling Stones