The Rolling Stones – Between The Buttons

The Rolling Stones entered 1967 progressing into psychedelic sounds and having some success with “Paint It, Black” and “Have You Seen Your Mother”, among several other great singles and album tracks. ‘Between the Buttons’ has a lot of divided opinions among Stones fans. I would put it at least one giant step below ‘Aftermath’ in of my own personal preferences but some may beg to differ. One thing that became glaringly apparent was the musical genius of Brian Jones who ironically forsook the guitar (leaving Keith Richards to do the lion’s share of both lead and rhythm guitar tracks) and dabbled in almost any instrument thrown his way. Sitar, saxophone, harmonium, clarinet, trombone, marimbas, etc., etc. ‘Buttons’ also moved into music hall territory (almost like British vaudeville) with mixed results and would also be the last record released in different UK and US formats. The US version included huge hits “Let’s Spend the Night Together” and “Ruby Tuesday” while the Brits got “Backstreet Girl” (personal fav) and “Please Go Home”. The British bands would often not put chart singles on their LPs as they considered it as a ripping off their fans but London Records (the Stones’ US outlet) didn’t have those problems (and put out the ‘Flowers’ compilation with both “Night Together” and “Ruby Tuesday” on it!). Anyway as far the other tracks go, Mick and Keith sing “Connection” together (almost a harbinger for the drugs bust soon coming their way), “Yesterday’s Papers” was another diatribe against an ex-girlfriend (and the opening song for the British LP) and “Miss Amanda Jones” which was almost pro-punk in its aggressive guitar delivery. Previously mentioned “Backstreet Girls”, perhaps another exhibit in the case against Mick for his misogynistic lyrics, is definitely one of the better Stones from this period. But all was not piss and vinegar against bad women as Jagger was dating Marianne Faithful and the gentle and romantic side seemed to come out on tracks such as “Who’s Been Sleeping Here” and “My Obsession”. Even with a not so secret weapon as Brian Jones, the Stones would always be grasping at straws in attempts to beat the Beatles at their own game but ‘Between the Buttons’ is a decent example of British psychedelic rock but since it wasn’t what the Rolling Stones did best, it would never reach the dizzying heights of the masterpieces from that year (you know the ones). He don’t know if it’s right or wrong, maybe he should tell someone…

Although this is a good sounding pressing, a US ‘67 mono beats it. Comparing “Connection,” there is a strange clarity in the US pressing that just isn’t there on the UK, which is strange since you’d think the UK pressing would be better detailed. Also, Charlie’s kick drum never sounded better than it does on the US pressing. Different track listing, yes, but certainly an enjoyable listen. I do love this cover though, something about that blue Decca box that gives a better look than the blue London box

Reviewing the US release edition. With a title meaning “undecided”, no better words could describe the Rolling Stones position by the second half of 1966. The main question was if could have been convenient to follow the Beatles’ steps and by that partecipating in the invention of the modern popular rock song format or if could have been wiser developing the Stones’ own competence as specialists in blending the r’n’r and blues genres. A concrete step forward for the band’s identity growth had been the year before’s “Aftermath”, but maybe the times (first half of 1966) were not mature enough for its dark tones and that led to a switch in favour of a more pop oriented palette of songs. There are chart-wise up tempo hits (“Let’s spend the night together”, “Connection”). We have proto-psychedelic picks (“Yesterday’s papers”) and fine examples of baroque pop (“Ruby Tuesday”) that could have been an influence on the Bee Gees “1st” album, recorded two months after the release of “Between the buttons” in January of 1967. “She smiled sweetly” tries to reprocess the classic soul style. “Cool, calm & collected” is ‘the strange beast’ of the record with its kazoo driven vaudeville feel, in which we can hear a bit of Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde mercurial shine as in “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35”.
The thickest numbers are the rocker “All sold out” and the way more interesting “My obsession”, with its irresistible twist, drum breaks and very modern dissonant suspensions.
“Who’s been sleeping here” is the underrated gem considering its hunting chord progression. Not so good tracks are the final “Complicated” and “Something happened to me yesterday” which appear as sketchy ideas, affected by uninspired and poorly refined performances, with the notable exception of “Miss Amanda Jones” that truly is a great song, treated with a badly needed flashy r’n’r rawness like it has been conceived and performed by a spoiled blue-eyed Chuck Berry copycat rockstar. In the end, the eclectic diversity of this lp is a mark of interest, let alone that some very good and not by any means obvious or redundant stuff can be listened here, assuring a fresh enjoyment.

My mono copy LK 4852 has the UK sleeve, but blue Decca Labels with BIEM copyright company indication. The matrix mumbers are XARL 7644. (on labels and stamped). Export version for Belgium?

anyone knows why is mick continuously listed as "mike jagger" on the label stickers?