For Week Ending:
25 January 2025

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![The Rolling Stones [Mono]](../../images-covers/(COVER IMAGE) 1964-04-16 The Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones [Mono].jpg)
The Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones [Mono] (1964)
[Classic Rock]


The debate of The Beatles vs The Stones has ranged for over half a century, and will no doubt continued unresolved for many years yet. Comparisons are rife, but to be fair - remove the relativity of timing and location, and there really isn't much you can compare. The Beatles debut was full of Rock 'n' Roll with a little bit of R&B, and The Rolling Stones introduced themselves to the world with a little bit of R&B and a whole lot of blues. Most album (and career) openers burst out the speakers untamed, but The Stones instead introduce their debut album with the restrained 'Route 66'. A cover of the King Cole Trio, it is the sound of vintage America wrapped in the comfy blanket of London's swinging 60s. In case you are question the authenticity of white boys playing the blues, next up is the Muddy Waters classic 'I Just Want To Make Love To You' nailed in a wonderful, fast paced rock 'n' roll style that is totally The Stones. Jimmy Reed's 'Honestly I Do' finally puts to bed the comparison's with the Fab Four. Whereas The Beatles would perform a song like this with charm that would cause the teenage girls to faint, the sleaze of The Stones starts to creep in untamed. Mick Jagger isn't singing to school girls, he is singing to women. Bo Diddly's 'Mona' is a pretty faithful rendition, as you can't really perform a Diddly song without that distinctive rhythm. Most of these songs are covers, and the three tracks written by the band quickly reveal why. 'Now I Got A Witness' is a flat instrumental that has no real purpose, and 'Tell Me (You're Coming Back)' manages to redeem itself with a sniff of sixty's charm. 'Little By Little' is the only song of the three that hints at the future potential as a band of songwriters, and although it is credited to the whole band it reeks of that Mick Jagger / Keith Richards style that would become so prominent later. Song after song the album drips with atmosphere that makes it hard to deny. Recorded in and mixed only in true mono, it has a flatness to the sound that gives it an air of authenticity of its purpose, showcasing the great blues of the U.S.A. Slim Harpo's 'I'm A King Bee' is just perfect in its execution, with some great lead work by Brian Jones, and it sets up side 2 to rival the first. Chuck Berry's 'Carol' is played in a very Berry style, and is perhaps a little too. 'sterile' to rival the original. Many of the early Stones recordings suffer from poor sound quality due to the band's insistence of working outside the Decca studios, but this album is pristine in its sonics. It all ends nicely with a fairly basic and almost quaint version of Rufus Thomas' 'Walking The Dog', leaving you with just enough energy to go back to track 1 and start it all over again. Popularity at the time aside (the album topped the U.K. charts for 12 weeks) in hindsight it can be said it is a slow and steady start to a career that would certainly ramp up in the future. There are hints of potential throughout, but you won't find any of that signature Stones swagger that came to be such a identifying trait later. Regardless, it is a wonderful time capsule back to a time when music was simpler, but no less essential.
Arist Information The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active across seven decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pioneered the gritty, rhythmically driven sound that came to define hard rock. Their estimated record sales of 200 million make them one of the best-selling music artists of all time. They have won three Grammy Awards and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. They were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1989 and the U..K Music Hall of Fame in 2004. Billboard and Rolling Stone have ranked them as one of the greatest artists of all time.
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