Aftermath [US] (Remastered)

1	Paint It Black 4:30
2	Stupid Girl 4:19
3	Lady Jane 3:07
4	Under My Thumb 3:33
5	Doncha Bother Me 5:27
6	Think 6:52
7	Flight 505 2:50
8	High and Dry 4:11
9	It's Not Easy 7:28
10	I Am Waiting 3:10
11	Going Home 11:35

Barnes & Noble

Aftermath -- usually (and correctly) viewed as the Stones' response to the newfound maturity of the Beatles' Rubber Soul -- is notable for a number of reasons, not the least being that it was the group's first album in stereo (courtesy of legendary American engineer Dave Hassinger). It was also the Stones' first completely self-penned LP, with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards rising to the occasion with a series of brilliantly commercial -- and occasionally nasty -- songs, ranging from the delicately Elizabethan "Lady Jane" to the Dylanesque "Mother's Little Helper." Aftermath is also the album that revealed Brian Jones as the band's secret weapon; apparently he was able to play just about any exotic instrument he got his hands on, and his touches are all over the album, particularly in the ironic lilt his marimba lines add to the otherwise malevolent "Under My Thumb." Finally, the concluding blues jam, "Goin' Home," was at the time the longest rock track ever recorded, and though not completely successful as such, there's no doubt that then embryonic San Francisco psychedelic bands like the Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead took it as a template for much of their own work. Steve Simels

All Music Guide

The Rolling Stones finally delivered a set of all-original material with this LP, which also did much to define the group as the bad boys of rock & roll with their sneering attitude toward the world in general and the female sex in particular. The borderline misogyny could get a bit juvenile in tunes like "Stupid Girl." But on the other hand the group began incorporating the influences of psychedelia and Dylan into their material with classics like "Paint It Black," an eerily insistent number one hit graced by some of the best use of sitar (played by Brian Jones) on a rock record. Other classics included the jazzy "Under My Thumb," where Jones added exotic accents with his vibes, and the delicate Elizabethan ballad "Lady Jane," where dulcimer can be heard. Some of the material is fairly ho-hum, to be honest, as Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were still prone to inconsistent songwriting; "Goin' Home," an 11-minute blues jam, was remarkable more for its barrier-crashing length than its content. Look out for an obscure gem, however, in the brooding, meditative "I Am Waiting." Richie Unterberger