The Rolling Stones
(England's Newest Hit Makers)(1964)
1.Not Fade Away
2.Route 66
3.I Just Want To Make Love To You
4.Honest I Do
5.Now I've Got A Witness
6.Little By Little
7.I'm a King Bee
8.Carol
9.Tell Me
10.Can I Get a Witness
11.You Can Make it if You Try
12.Walking the Dog
 
The history of the "World's Greatest
Rock and Roll Band" began pretty much as you might expect it to have
started, being that their first release came out way back in 1964. The
music here features nothing that would make this band famous, as record
companies played it safe by having these English groups record mostly
(if not all) covers of other people's material.
What made the Rolling Stones so unique is that they didn't play "safe
pop" songs. What we have here is mostly covers of earlier R&B/Blues
tunes that the band added their own style and textures to, that made
the sound their own. This group was pretty radical - a bunch of young
white British kids singing "black music" was still a bit frightening to
a lot of conservative parents who never really embraced the whole rock
and roll thing. Even though they are all dressed up in
nice jackets and ties, these boys were - even then - the bad boys of
rock and roll.
The record is pretty much flawless. All the material here is
wonderfully done, and sounds just as fresh today as when it was first
recorded. The album features plenty of familiar tunes such as Chuck
Berry's Carol, Buddy Holly's Not Fade Away and Bobby
Troup's Route 66 which still manages to be recorded and
re-recorded even today. They also feature a lot of more obscure blues
tunes that fit right in with the rest of the album nicely including
Willie Dixon's I Just Want to Make Love To You and Slim Harpo's
I'm a King Bee. Also featured is a great rocking instrumental
Now I've Got a Witness which was written by Phil Spector
exclusively for The Stones. The nicest surprise on the album is the
original Jagger/Richards composition Tell Me. What's nice is
how well it fits with everything else here. Upon listening, you can't
tell it's by a pair of amateurs who probably felt that they weren't
ready to compete for the big time yet - at least that's probably what
the record label was thinking. It's actually a pretty long song as well,
at least by early sixties standards - slightly over four minutes
long.
In looking at a retrospective of this band's history, there isn't
anything here that is an essential addition because of the earliness of
the recording. It's well worth the listen though, and it never once
disappoints.
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