While the Stones had already released several albums, including “England’s Newest Hitmakers,” “12 x 5,” “The Rollings Stones, Now,” “Out Of Our Heads,” and “December’s Children,” it was 1966’s “Aftermath” that established the Rolling Stones as the legendary band that, even today, legions of fans hope will still release one more album, or at least embark on one final tour. It was with “Aftermath” that the band’s manager, Andrew Oldham, successfully carved the bad boy image he felt would make his boys distinctive in swagger from the clean image (in 1966, anyway) cut by the already globally successful Beatles.
While their previous albums had a few Jagger/Richards penned singles, and some very good ones (“Get Off Of My Cloud,” “Satisfaction”) those earlier albums were laden with R&B covers of U.S. artists. Not so with “Aftermath,” in which every song was written by Mick and Keith, and featured the freshly minted, darker image with such hits as “Paint It Black” and “Under My Thumb.”
U.S. and U.K. versions of the album were released, with the U.K version substituting “Paint It Black” with “Mother’s Little Helper.” The U.K. album cover showed all five band members, not in the stiff poses in vogue at the time, but with the boys assembled casually in front of the camera. Mick Jagger glares icily at the viewer, as if to convey that he, not Brian Jones, would be leading the band from here forward. On the U.S. cover, obviously taken from the same shoot (the band wears the same outfits as the U.K. cover), the band has assembled in different casual poses. Here, all the members look into the camera with the exception of Keith Richards, who looks away and in his turn seems to relate that he too will take the band down a more confrontational path.
This album deserves a fresh listen, as the sound of the Rolling Stones coalesces the grit and spark that would soon unleash a decade of classic hits. Each version of “Aftermath” carries songs not released on the other, so I recommend that you do what I did – get both, and have fun.
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