The Rolling Stones, Now!

Released in mid-February of 1965 this disc contains four original tunes: Heart of Stone, What a Shame, Off the Hook, and Surprise, Surprise. A cover from this album: Little Red Rooster originally composed by Willie Dixon made it to number one on the UK’s Top 50 singles chart after it was released there. From a man that intimately understands the ticking hearts of basement-dwelling party animals, I can tell you, that Heart of Stone and Surprise, Surprise are the two tracks from this album that will bring you back to life in the early hours of a some desolate Sunday morning. Overall I didn’t find this record entirely outstanding but it ranks 181 on Rolling Stone Magazine's top 500 albums of all time.

A few months prior The Beach Boys released their album: All Summer Long which had a few tunes that ranked pretty well in the United States and Europe. Songs like: I Get Around and All Summer Long would have been getting a fair amount of air time.

12 x 5

12 x 5 is the second album in The Stones discography. It was released in October of 1964. In the past ten days I have had enough time to let this music really soak in. On the weekends I make a point to take trips to visit friends. Through this practice I spend a lot of hard time racing down the 401 at dangerous speeds and I’ve come to know and understand what makes a good car album. This album is not what I’d call a good car album, but I’ll tell you, when I was bumper-to-bumper in hot-frustration the soothing melodies: Under the Board Walk and Congratulations from this disc really cooled me down.

When The Stones were touring in this period one of their most popular tunes from this album was a Bobby Womack cover: It’s over now –which is a pretty rocking tune that ranked third on the UK’s top forty. Overall I’d like to think that this album is alright. I’m starting to understand the unkeptness about The Stones which I think is most prominent in Jaggars voice. He’s got a sound of untameness –something that’s rugged, most notable in harmonies, I think, and it comes across as very deep and bluesy. Richard’s swanky guitar riffs range from a thick honky-tonk to a jazzy sound that compliments Jaggar nicely.

A few months prior to this release was The Beatle’s A Hard Days Night album which I know had a handful of songs ranking pretty high on the top 50 charts in the UK as well as the US.

Rolling Stones - England's Newest Hit Makers

If nothing more, this self-titled album supplies evidence that many of the band members possess talent and skill. Mick Jagger’s vocals accompanied by Keith Richard’s guitar highlight nearly every track but also notable in conspiring to the attitude of the record are the piano, harmonica, and clapping. The album is composed of twelve tracks of which only one is an original single: Tell Me. Tell Me is one of the slower songs on the album and has a real Beatles-y sound and stance to it.