Rolling Stones (1st Album)
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| Label: |
Abkco |
| Rating: |
4.0 |
Description: The Stones got their groove on early, making one of the few originals here, the blues pastiche "Little by Little," a standout in terms of cool-eyed intensity. While taking on Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Buddy Holly and Marvin Gaye on a debut album would rightfully have daunted many a young band, this bunch just rocks it all. Outside the general toughness of sound and the front-cover glares, there's little of the badass 'tude-mongering that would begin to define them with the next album; here, Jagger, Richards, Jones, Wyman and Watts are mainly about the music, which they essay with a respectful insolence.
--Rickey Wright
Tracklist of Rolling Stones (1st Album)
Reviews:
Debut of mostly covers
The title claims to present new hitmakers, but there are only a couple of "new" songs on the album. The majority are covers of the Stones R&B influences. There is a good variety here in these 12 short songs, and it shows you the origin of the Stones. This gives you a good idea of where they came from musically before Mick and Keith started writing the hits that would eventually earn them the title of "Worlds Greatest Rock and Roll Band." They hadn't fully developed their own sound yet on this debut, but it still sounds like the Stones we all know, if that makes sense.
More for the early early Stones blues-cover-era fans
The Rolling Stones produced a heap of albums, and this is the first. Like most of their first few albums, it has mostly blues and rock'n'roll cover songs, such as Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away" and Chuck Berry's "Carol". These songs are done very well in early-stones style, but for those new to the stones and looking for another album packed with hits, I wouldn't look here. If you're looking for a more popular early-stones album, I suggest Out of our Heads, December's Children, and 12x5. If you decide you like those, then by all means buy this album. It's a solid blues/rock cover extravaganza...
Start Me Up
Most of the reviews of this album (which was originally released in the UK without any title....the Band wanted people to ask for "the Rolling Stones album") sound like the reviewer is hearing the Stones for the 1st time. Come On! (which is the one song that should have been included on the album), this one features no less than *5* signature songs! The best version of Carol done until the Stones themselves topped it with the live versions in the 80s, the classic Route 66 (which they still do), Mick's 1st signature song in Buddy Holly's Not Fade Away, Willie Dixon's I Just Want To Make Love To You (years before Mick would make headlines mouthing the much less controversial Let's Spend The Night Together on the Ed Sullivan Show), and the 1st Jagger/Richards composition Tell Me (which is still hard to get out of your head). And this doesn't even get into the 2 Motown groove pieces Can I Get A Witness and Walking the Dog. Now, try to think of another band that came anywhere near this on their 1st release....not many....perhaps the Beatles, but jeesh, at least the Stones didn't do any Broadway hits!
