Aftermath (Rolling Stones album): Difference between revisions

| released = {{Startstart date|df=yes|1966|04|15}}

| length = {{Durationduration|m=52|s=23}}

'''''Aftermath''''' is a [[studio album]] by the English [[rockRock music|rock]] band [[the Rolling Stones]]. The group recorded the album at RCA Studios in California in December 1965 and March 1966, during breaks between their international tours. It was released in the United Kingdom on 15 April 1966 by [[Decca Records]] and in the United States on 2 July by [[London Records]]. It is the band's fourth British and sixth American studio album, and closely follows a series of international hit singles that helped bring the Stones newfound wealth and popularity thatrivalling rivalledthose of their contemporaries [[the Beatles]].

''Aftermath'' is considered by music scholars to be an artistic breakthrough for the Rolling Stones. It is their first album to consist entirely of original compositions, all of which were credited to [[Mick Jagger]] and [[Keith Richards]]. [[Brian Jones]] emerged as a key contributor and experimented with instruments not usually associated with [[popular music]], including the [[sitar]], [[Appalachian dulcimer]], Japanese [[Koto (instrument)|koto]] and [[marimba]]s, as well as guitar and harmonica. Along with Jones' instrumental textures, the Stones incorporated a wider range of [[chordChord (music)|chord]]s and stylistic elements beyond their [[Chicago blues]] and [[R&B]] influences, such as [[popPop music|pop]], [[folkFolk music|folk]], [[countryCountry music|country]], [[Psychedelic music|psychedelia]], [[Baroque music|Baroque]] and [[Middle Eastern music]]. Influenced by intense love affairs and a demanding touring itinerary, Jagger and Richards wrote the album around [[psychodramatic]] themes of love, sex, desire, [[Expressions of dominance|power and dominance]], hate, obsession, modern society and [[popPop icon|rock stardom]]. Women feature as prominent characters in their often dark, sarcastic, casually offensive lyrics.

The album's release was briefly delayed by controversy over the proposed packaging and title – ''Could You Walk on the Water?'' – that had been proposed by the Stones' manager/producer [[Andrew Loog Oldham]]. Decca and London rejected his idea, fearing the allusion to [[Jesus walking on water]] would provoke a negative reaction from [[Christianity in the United States|Christians in the US]]. In response to the lack of [[creative control]], and without another idea for the title, the Stones bitterly settled on ''Aftermath'', and two different photos of the band were used for the cover to each edition of the album. The UK release featured a run-time of more than 52 minutes, the longest for a popular music [[LP record|LP]] up to that point. The American edition was issued with a shorter track listing, substituting the [[singleSingle (music)|single]] "[[Paint It, Black]]" in place of four of the British version's songs, in keeping with the industry preference for shorter LPs in the US market at the time.

By this time, the Rolling Stones had begun to respond to the increasingly sophisticated music of [[the Beatles]], in comparison to whom they had long been promoted by Oldham as a rougher alternative.<ref>{{harvnb|Erlewine|n.d.}}; {{harvnb|Simonelli|2013|pp=44–45}}; {{harvnb|Philo|2015|p=71}}.</ref> With the success of the Jagger-Richards-penned singles "[[(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction]]" (1965), "[[Get Off of My Cloud]]" (1965) and "[[19th Nervous Breakdown]]" (1966), the band increasingly rivalled the Beatles' musical and cultural influence.{{sfn|Williams|2002}} The Stones' outspoken, surly attitude on songs like "Satisfaction" alienated [[the Establishment]] detractors of [[rock music]], which, as the music historian Colin King explains, "only made the group more appealing to those sons and daughters who found themselves estranged from the hypocrisies of the adult world – an element that would solidify into an increasingly militant and disenchanted [[countercultureCounterculture of the 1960s|counterculture]] as the decade wore on."{{sfn|King|2004|p=68}} Like other contemporary British and American rock acts, with ''Aftermath'' the Stones sought to create an album as an artistic statement, inspired by the Beatles' achievements with their December 1965 release ''[[Rubber Soul]]'' – an [[LP record|LP]] that Oldham later described as having "changed the musical world we lived in then to the one we still live in today".<ref>{{harvnb|Simonelli|2013|p=96}}; {{harvnb|Kubernik|2015}}.</ref>

Within the Stones, tensions were rife as [[Brian Jones]] continued to be viewed by fans and the press as the band's leader, a situation that Jagger and Oldham resented.<ref>{{harvnb|Salewicz|2002|p=98}}; {{harvnb|Trynka|2015|p=180}}.</ref> The group dynamics were also affected by some of the band members' romantic entanglements.{{sfn|Davis|2001|pp=155–56}} Jones' new relationship with the German model [[Anita Pallenberg]], which had taken on [[Sadomasochism|sadomasochistic]] aspects, helped renew his confidence and encourage him to experiment musically, while her intelligence and sophistication both intimidated and elicited envy from the other Stones.{{sfn|Davis|2001|pp=147, 155–56}} Jagger came to view his girlfriend, [[Chrissie Shrimpton]], as inadequate by comparison; while Jagger sought a more glamorous companion commensurate with his newfound wealth, the aura surrounding Jones and Pallenberg contributed to the end of his and Shrimpton's increasingly acrimonious relationship.<ref>{{harvnb|Salewicz|2002|p=98}}; {{harvnb|Norman|2001|pp=197, 201}}.</ref> Richards' relationship with [[Linda Keith]] also deteriorated as her drug use escalated to include [[Methaqualone|Mandrax]] and heroin.{{sfn|Salewicz|2002|p=99}} The band's biographer [[Stephen Davis (music journalist)|Stephen Davis]] describes these entanglements as a "revolution under way within the Stones", adding that "Anita Pallenberg restored the faltering Brian Jones to his place in the band and in the Rolling Stones mythos. Keith Richards fell in love with her too, and their romantic triad realigned the precarious political axis within the Stones."{{sfn|Davis|2001|pp=155, 156}}

During the recording, Oldham wanted to title the album ''Could You Walk on the Water?''<ref>{{harvnb|Davis|2001|p=155}}; {{harvnb|Margotin|Guesdon|2016|p=139}}.</ref> In mid-January 1966, the British press announced that a new Rolling Stones LP carrying that title would be released on 10 March.{{sfn|Bonanno|1990|p=50}} In ''Rolling with the Stones'', Wyman refers to the announcement as "audacity" on Oldham's part, although he attributessupposes that ''Could You Walk on the Water?'' aswas their manager's proposed title for the band's March compilation album ''[[Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass)]]'', rather than for ''Aftermath''.{{sfn|Wyman|2002|pp=217, 230}} At the time, Richards complained that Oldham was continually trying to "[get] in on the act" and "the Stones have practically become a projection of his own ego."{{sfn|Wyman|2002|p=222}} While aA Decca spokesman said theythe company would not issue an album with such a title "at any price",; theOldham's idea upset executives at the company's American distributor, [[London Records]], who feared the allusion to [[Jesus walking on water]] would provoke a negative response from [[Christianity in the United States|Christians]].<ref>{{harvnb|Wyman|2002|p=217}}; {{harvnb|Margotin|Guesdon|2016|p=139}}; {{harvnb|Norman|2012|p=203}}.</ref>

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|rev2score = {{Ratingrating|5|5}}{{sfn|Rosen|2006}}

|rev3score = UK:{{Ratingrating|4|5}} <br>US:{{Ratingrating|3|5}}{{sfn|Larkin|2011|p=2005}}

|rev7score = {{Ratingrating|5|5}}{{sfn|Franzon|n.d.}}

|rev9Score = {{Ratingrating|5|5}}{{sfn|Moon|2004|p=695}}

''Aftermath'' is often considered the Rolling Stones' first classic album.{{sfn|Marchese|2017}} According to Stephen Davis, its standing as the first wholly Jagger–Richards collection makes it, "for serious fans, the first real Rolling Stones album".{{sfn|Davis|2001|p=161}} Schaffner says it is "the most creative" and possibly the best of their albums "in the first five years", while Hyden cites it as their "first full-fledged masterpiece".<ref>{{harvnb|Schaffner|1982|p=68}}; {{harvnb|Hyden|2008}}.</ref> Writing for ''Uncut'', Ian MacDonald recognises it as an "early peak" in the Stones' career, and [[Jody Rosen]], in a "Back Catalogue" feature for ''[[Blender (magazine)|Blender]]'', includes it as the first of the group's "essential" albums.<ref>{{harvnb|MacDonald|2002}}; {{harvnb|Rosen|2006}}.</ref> ''[[The Guardian]]''{{'}}s [[Alexis Petridis]] names ''Aftermath'' the Stones' fifth -best record, while Graeme Ross of ''[[The Independent]]'' ranks it sixth and suggests it stands on a level with other benchmark LPs from 1966, including ''Blonde on Blonde'', ''Revolver'' and [[the Beach Boys]]' ''[[Pet Sounds]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Petridis|2018}}; {{harvnb|Ross|2018}}.</ref>

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