Out of Our Heads (1965)


 

  1.Mercy, Mercy
  2.Hitch Hike
  3.The Last Time
  4.That's How Strong My Love Is
  5.Good Times
  6.I'm All Right
  7.(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
  8.Cry To Man
  9.The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man
 10.Playing with Fire
 11.The Spider and the Fly
 12.One More Try

 

Out of Our Heads really isn’t much of a departure from what the group had already been doing up to this point. The formula was familiar—release a new record every few months, include a dozen songs, throw in a few original numbers, and round things out with some reliable early rock and blues covers. It worked then, and it still holds up surprisingly well today. The Stones were just that good. Even at this relatively early stage, there was very little they couldn't pull off convincingly in the studio.

What’s most notable here is the band’s evolution as songwriters. For the first time, the originals manage to outshine some of the covers—which is saying a lot when you’re competing with tracks like That's How Strong My Love Is, Sam Cooke’s Good Times, and the quirky The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man. Jagger and Richards were beginning to sharpen their skills as composers, and half the album bears their names. Of course, the obvious standout is (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, easily the band’s most iconic tune, and arguably the song that turned them from a good band into a legendary one.

There are plenty of lesser-known gems here too. The Spider and the Fly is a sly, bluesy shuffle that plays to the band’s strengths, while The Last Time and Play with Fire lean into a slightly more psychedelic, brooding territory that hinted at future directions. Even the live take of I'm All Right holds up nicely, thanks to a scorching Keith Richards riff and the raw energy of the performance. It was 1965, after all, and no one was really expecting pristine live audio.

Stylistically, the group was clearly pivoting away from its blues roots and edging toward a rock and roll identity that would eventually define them. Still, for all its solid tracks and growing ambition, Out of Our Heads doesn’t quite break away from the mold of the earlier albums. It’s another strong, likable entry in their early catalog—but the real innovations were still to come.


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