ABKCO Records reissued the US version of the seminal 1966 album Aftermath by The Rolling Stones on vinyl at the very end of March, kicking off the label’s enormous undertaking of getting 16 titles from the legendary rock band’s back catalog back in print in their original format.

Throughout the remainder of the year and into early 2024, US and UK versions of albums recorded between 1963 and 1970, largely by the original Jagger/Richards/Jones/Watts/Wyman lineup, will find their way onto 180-gram vinyl.

Some of these titles, including their debut live album Got Live If You Want It!, Between The Buttons (US) and the aforementioned Aftermath (US), have been out-of-print as stand-alone vinyl records for the past 37 years.

During the 1960s, it was customary for album release versions to differ depending on the territory in which they were released and this was the case with The Rolling Stones in that era, their UK label, Decca Records, and US label, London Records, had separate schedules, often utilizing different cover art and different tune stacks for a given title.

In the case of Aftermath, the first Stones album containing only original Jagger/Richards compositions, Americans were treated to the groundbreaking hit “Paint It, Black” kicking off side 1, taking the place of “Mother’s Little Helper” (and sleeve art featuring David Bailey’s haunting color photograph of the band members with faces blurred) on the UK version.

April 28th, 2023 saw the reissue of their 1967 opus Between The Buttons (US) which, despite utilizing near-identical cover art as its British counterpart, has the distinction of containing the number one hit “Ruby Tuesday” and the controversial “Let’s Spend the Night Together.”

After this, a flurry of collections will be reissued, including the UK and US versions of The Rolling Stones first hits compilation Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass) on June 9th and June 16th respectively.

This is followed on June 16th by the US-only release Flowers (1967), the band’s first official rarities collection Metamorphosis will get its own vinyl reissue on July 14th, and then come September 15th, both the US and UK versions of Out Of Our Heads (1965) will be reissued.

December 1st will then see the reissue of the aptly titled sophomore UK album The Rolling Stones No. 2 (1965), as well as December’s Children (and Everybody’s) (1965), along with Got Live If You Want It! (1966) once again seeing the light of day.

Both originally released in 1964, ABKCO plans on vinyl reissues for the debut US album (England’s Newest Hit Makers) on October 6th and the debut UK album (The Rolling Stones) in early 2024. Their third US album The Rolling Stones, Now! from 1965 will also be reissued in 2024.

The latter contains their number one UK hit “Little Red Rooster (a cover of the Howlin’ Wolf song written by Willie Dixon) as well as the Jagger/Richards ballad “Heart Of Stone.”

But, as we were oh-so kindly sent the three (3) boldly highlighted albums above for review, those shall indeed now be journalistically attended to here today.

Aftermath (180gram)

1. Paint It. Black
2. Stupid Girl
3. Lady Jane
4. Under My Thumb
5. Doncha Bother Me
6. Think

Side B:
7. Flight 505
8. High and Dry
9. It’s Not Easy
10. I Am Waiting
11. Going Home

Most widely known as the first album the band did of all original compositions, it is also important because it is also the band’s first great album. To my mind, it is as fearsome as their singles, perhaps more so, as the band is allowed to be the more vile then they have ever been on songs such as Stupid Girl (“look at that stupid girl, the way she powders her nose, she’s the worst thing in this world”), Under My Thumb (“under my thumb, a squirming dog who just had her day”), and It’s Not Easy (“gotcha running like a cat in a thunderstorm”), all about Mick Jagger’s ex-girlfriends!

These kind of songs have their roots in the R&B of the early sixties, but also point towards something new with the way the band lays down the melodies. The band also really thinks out of the box instrumentally, with Brian Jones adding a variety of background sound effect to Paint It. Black with sitar and Indian influence, marimba to Under My Thumb, slide guitar to Don’t Cha Bother Me, and so forth.

The most important thing that Aftermath finally gets right about the group is that they can balance these hard rocking tunes with moments of pure beauty such as the dulcimer driven Lady Jane, the somewhat generic, but still entertaining Think, and the hidden pop gem I Am Waiting, which is one of the most underrated songs from the band’s entire catalogue.

Only Flight 505 and High and Dry ring false notes and are, in my humble opinion, skipworthy. Last but not least, the album ends with an eleven-minute blues ditty called Going Home which is a durable tune despite its extended length.

Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass): [UK/US]

The first hits compilation of the Rolling Stones is still one of the most potent collections of singles that one can find. Listening to it in 1966 or today, one can understand how, almost prematurely for the 1960s — as most of the material here dates from 1964 or 1965 — the Stones set themselves up as the decade’s most visible rock & roll rebels.

The defiant, in-your-face fuzztone riff and sexually frustrated lyrics of (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction and the frenetic pounding punk anthem Get Off Of My Cloud are highlights of a 14-song UK set (as noted, the US set only featured 12 tracks, and yet also featured both Good Times, Bad Times and Play With Fire, neither of which appeared on the UK release) that has no weak points, only peaks.

For me, it’s the louder-than-life rhythm guitars on It’s All Over Now and The Last Time that instantly grab me, the wailing R&B of Time Is On My Side, the balladry, folk, and soul style of As Tears Go By and even the languishing Tell Me, and yet still all of the others make for a body of work that’s still bloody amazing to hear decades after the fact.

Appearing as it did in the late winter of 1966, this collection completely missed the group’s drift into psychedelia, and it has since been supplanted by Hot Rocks and More Hot Rocks, but Big Hits is still the most concentrated dose of the early Stones at their most accessible that is to be had - short of simply playing their first five albums. The artwork and photography were pretty cool too, and if you were not aware, the original LP had one of rock’s early classic gatefold album designs too.

Side A: UK
1. Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?
2. Paint It, Black
3. It’s All Over Now
4. The Last Time
5. Heart of Stone
6. Not Fade Away
7. Come On

Side B: UK
1. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
2. Get Off Of My Cloud
3. As Tears Go By
4. 19th Nervous Breakdown
5. Lady Jane
6. Time Is On My Side
7. Little Red Rooster

US Side A: US
1. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
2. The Last Time
3. As Tears Go By
4. Time Is On My Side
5. It’s All Over Now
6. Tell Me

Side B: US
1. 19th Nervous Breakdown
2. Heart Of Stone
3. Get Off Of My Cloud
4. Not Fade Away
5. Good Times, Bad Times
6. Play With Fire

These 16 180-gram vinyl reissues will join The Rolling Stones back catalog that ABKCO has long kept in print, including 12 x 5 (1964), Aftermath (UK version, 1966), Between The Buttons (UK version, 1967), Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967), Beggars Banquet(1968), Let It Bleed (1969), the live album Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! The Rolling Stones In Concert (1970), and the collections Hot Rocks 1964-1971 (1971) and More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies) from 1972.

www.ABCKO.com