#36 The Rolling Stones- The Rolling Stones

If looks could kill…shame about the tunes on the Stones' patchy debut…

(Decca)

Released: 17^th April 1964

Produced by: Andrew Loog Oldham and Eric Easton

Topped the chart:

26^th April 1964 (for 12 weeks)

Twelve weeks total

‘Thin’ would be the word to describe The Rolling Stones in April 1964. Not just in terms of their skinny frames barely fitting into their tatty suits, but also in their song selections and production on their self-titled debut album.

For as effective as Andrew Loog Oldham and Eric Easton were as talent spotters and managers, stirring up any number of controversies in order to get attention, they were not effective record producers at the start of 1964. The Beatles’ debut was ramshackle, but they had the steady hand of George Martin—no such luck here and, as a result, very little of the drive or personality that the Stones would discover as the 60s wore on is present on their debut. The band was marketed almost like dangerous gangsters to their audience (just look at the album cover- the third time a band have appeared in moody shadow—but where The Shadows look like they’ve invited you into a power cut part and The Beatles look a bit fed up on With the Beatles, The Stones look like they’re about to glass the audience all at once. No band name, either) with the glamour akin to the Kray Twins, but there is very little here that feels musically hard or edgy—thought for many listeners, this would be the first time they would have heard a number of songs already considered R&B classics by those in the know.

Of course, most British records in the early 60s sound a bit flat these days due to the lack of bass, but the majority of the tracks here sound reedy, badly recorded and lacking any life. There’s only one Jagger-Richards original, backed with two full-band compositions (written under the pseudonym Nanker Phelge, to cover the fact that the songs were cribbing for 50s blues standards) and hastily chosen R&B numbers.

The lack of confidence in recording seems to hit Mick Jagger particularly hard—even on some of the more energised tracks like Route 66 and Carol, Jagger sounds reticent and unsure in front of the instrumentalists, who are admittedly cooking on this track. We do get to see the beginnings of preening Mick on I’m a King Bee, sounding like he is particularly enjoying getting those lips around the words “come inside.” The other covers are a mixed bag, veering between slavishly sticking to the original arrangement (Carol, Can I Get a Witness) and stripping the marrow of what makes the originals work out of the record’s bones (how you take the Etta James version of I Just Want to Make Love to You and make it this unsexy and plodding is hard to know).

With the originals, meanwhile, there is very little here to get the heart thumping, but just enough of a sense of promise in things to come. Awkwardly titled instrumental Now I've Got a Witness (Like Uncle Phil and Uncle Gene) is a go-nowhere studio jam that sounds like it invents The Animals thanks to the organ of secret sixth member Ian Stewart. Tell Me, meanwhile, is a sloppy attempt at a Dusty Springfield-alike soul well, but does at least lean towards the the moody, minor-chord darkness that crowds in from the edges would be revisited to stunning effect in 1966 on the Aftermath album.

In spite of these misgivings, The Rolling Stones never becomes a slog, and there is fun to be had here and there. I’m a King Bee not only features Mick at his finest, but there’s a sterling guitar-bass partnership between Keith Richards and Bill Wyman that powers the song, all squelchy, bouncy slide rhythm. Mona (I Need You Baby) relocates the Bo Diddley beat from the band’s excellent cover of Buddy Holly’s Not Fade Away and marries it to a distorted, phasing guitar line. Brian Jones’ harmonica is a nice texture throughout too, improving the likes of lumpen original Little by Little and Honest I Do. His lines feel more authentic to old fashioned blues compared to Merseybeat’s hookier use of the instrument.

In these reviews, I try and avoid future context and showing my knowledge of what will come next. But in the case of the Stones, their debut album and the knowledge of the band they would become makes that truly impossible. As evidence of a young band finding their feet in the studio, it’s an interesting monument to the way R&B moves would combine with pop music to create the template for rock going forward. There isn’t much to recommend it beyond this—though the fact that it sold by the bucketload suggests that British teenagers were ready to take this brand of raggedly blues to their hearts.

Score: 5/10

Track listing:

SIDE A

1.      Route 66

2.      I Just Want to Make Love to You

3.      Honest I Do

4.      Mona (I Need You Baby)

5.      Now I've Got a Witness (Like Uncle Phil and Uncle Gene)

6.      Little by Little

SIDE B

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