#159: The Rolling Stones - Aftermath (1966)

Zack: As much as I love Exile on Main St., Beggar’s Banquet, and Let it Bleed, Aftermath is my favorite Rolling Stones album. Besides for having my single favorite Stones song (Paint it Black, because I’m just so original), it’s just jam-packed with that vintage sound of blues harmonica, hard rock guitar, and sexually-charged lyrics. It is, quite frankly, rock ‘n’ roll. When you picture McCartney and Lennon or the Davies brothers or even Pete Townshend setting out to write songs, the image probably involves some paper and a pencil. Probably an acoustic guitar or something as well. And, depending on the era, maybe a little something extra to boost the creative process. Now picture Mick Jagger and Keith Richards during the songwriting process. If you’re anything like me, you immediately saw scantily-clad women, empty bottles everywhere, and some smashed windows or something. Essentially, you saw what they sing songs about personified into real life. How badass is that? With Aftermath, you get a Stones album so good it could only have followed one hell of a bender. It’s no frills, stripped-to-the-bone music, but damn is it good.

Favorite Tracks: Paint it Black; Under My Thumb; Going Home  

Emily: The Rolling Stones just aren’t a band I’ve explored much on my own, but I’m glad to be able to experience them through the list. After listening to Aftermath, there’s no doubt in my mind as to why the band is legendary. They infuse 60s rock with classic blues, with each track displaying different levels of each. Paint It Black, the best-known song of the album (which was surprisingly not included on the original release), leans more towards the rock end with its driving guitar (and sitar) riff. Most of the other tracks, however, are more straightforward blues with a bit of psychedelia. The balance between rock and blues was most apparent to me in the 11-minute-long closing track, Goin’ Home. Usually songs that break the 6-minute mark tend to drag on forever, either repeating the same notes over and over or venturing into crazy jam territory. Goin’ Home does neither of those, which I think is why I enjoyed it so much. The blues influence is clear, but it’s classic rock through and through. Without being repetitive or venturing too far from the core sound and story of the song, Goin’ Home is just 11 minutes of great music – a fitting conclusion to a great album.

Favorite Tracks: Paint It, Black; Goin’ Home; Think

Matt Brune: This album sums up the early Stones quite nicely. This is the first album to be made entirely of songs written by the Jagger/Richards partnership. This song was also the first to be recorded completely in the States. It featured the late and ever so brilliant Brian Jones on a variety of instruments, including marimbas and sitar. There are different UK and US versions of the album, which was common practice for British bands in the 1960s. The UK version had Mother’s Little Helper on it, which is by far one of my favorite Stones songs. The US version had Paint It, Black, another amazing classic. Songs of merit on both versions include Stupid Girl, Under My Thumb, and It’s Not Easy.

Favorite Tracks: Mother’s Little Helper; Paint it Black; Under My Thumb

#158: The Beatles - Revolver (1966)

Zack: The Beatles have obtained a level of cultural significance that permeates into any and all segments of society. Don’t believe me? Look to Kanye’s MBDTF, when he asks, “What’s a black Beatle anyway? A fuckin’ roach?” Or when LeBron compared the way the Miami Heat were selling out stadiums to the Beatles, prompting the great Heatles nickname (which I still endorse, by the way). Or when Jay-Z comments that, legacy-wise, he is “on the Beatles’ ass.” There are a few points from this. First and foremost is that I know a lot about hip-hop and basketball and will look for any opportunity to bring those topics up. But the main one is that the Beatles are so widely known that every member of our society is at least familiar enough with them to make some passing reference to their legacy. Who else can claim that? Off the top of my head I would say Elvis, Frank Sinatra, and Michael Jackson. You could make a case for Bob Dylan or the Rolling Stones, but I don’t think it’s as persuasive. And if you questioned these same people, who are all at least moderately familiar with the Beatles, do you know how often Revolver would be mentioned? Seriously, do you? My guess is not nearly as often as it should. Revolver routinely trades spots with Sgt. Pepper’s as the greatest album of all time on most critic publications, but doesn’t have anywhere near the same level of name recognition. I think. Once again, and I cannot stress this enough, I have done exactly zero research on this because I’m too lazy. Which is crazy to me, since I think Revolver is the Beatles best album. It’s just a better representation of what the Beatles were all about. It takes their traditional pop-rock sound but also blends in their obsession with innovation, this time in the form of Indian instrumentation. Plus, it has Eleanor Rigby, which is a huge advantage. Basically, Revolver is the Beatles at their absolute best, a lofty peak that few others can compare to.

Favorite Tracks: Eleanor Rigby; Glad tot Get You Into My Life; And Your Bird Can Sing

Emily: What an apropos time to be returning to this album! Just a few weeks ago, Mad Men (one of Zack’s and my favorite shows) used Tomorrow Never Knows as the ending coda of an episode. Don plays this last track from Revolver after his young wife tells him to open his mind to the equally young Beatles, but cuts it off halfway through. Now that I’ve listened to the track (and all of Revolver) fully, I see the genius in Matt Weiner’s choice of the song for this season of Mad Men. You see, both Revolver and this season Mad Men depict their subjects in a state of transition – not surprising in 1966. Don, Roger, Pete, Peggy, and the other members of SCDP are facing numerous personal and professional challenges to their status quo. The Beatles, on the other hand, challenged their own status quo on Revolver. There are hints of their earlier pop/rock and roll sound, but it also foreshadows the radical reimagining of sound and image that came next with Sgt. Pepper. Love You To highlights George Harrison’s growing interest in India, Eleanor Rigby uses shimmery strings (unusual for any pop or rock song, let alone in 1966), Got to Get You into My Life has some R&B and soul going on…I could do this for every track; they all sound unique, looking both back and forward in the Beatles’ history. As the closing track, Tomorrow Never Knows gives a great hint to the future with its psychedelic, somewhat experimental arrangement. Transitionary albums aren’t often a band’s best work; they’re trying to work out the kinks of a new sound that can still sound rough or confused. However, much like the current transitionary season of Mad Men, Revolver is one of the Beatles’ finest, most eclectic efforts.

Favorite Tracks: Eleanor Rigby; Tomorrow Never Knows; Got to Get You into My Life

Matt Brune: A band that revolutionized music and culture in the United Kingdom, the United States, and so many other countries. They hardly need an introduction, as remnants of Beatlemania still exist today, nearly 40 years after they disbanded. Here is Revolver, the Beatle’s 7th album, released in 1966. The album shows a change for the Beatles, a movement away from the rest of the British Invasion and into the psychedelic sounds of the 60s. Two of the Beatles’ most famous songs, Eleanor Rigby and Yellow Submarine, are both on this album. Personal favorites from this album include Eleanor Rigby, I’m Only Sleeping, as well as And Your Bird Can Sing. If you are looking for a Beatles record that is not Abbey Road, The White Album, or Sgt Pepper’s, than this is your album, post-Mod Beatles.

Favorite Tracks: Eleanor Rigby; And Your Bird Can Sing; For No One

#157: The Kinks - Something Else by the Kinks (1967)

We would like to start by apologizing for the long pause since that intro post. Unfortunately, one of our guest bloggers has run into some technical difficulties in getting us his posts. This has caused a bit of a logjam effect, so we've decided to post what we have now and retroactively go back and add his once we have them. So, without further ado, The Kinks!

Emily: I’ll admit, I was a bit skeptical when Zack wanted to include The Kinks on this pantheon of classic rock. It’s not a name you hear very often compared with the epic likes of the Beatles, Stones, and Who, and I had very minimal exposure to the band beyond You Really Got Me and the other album we listened to by them. However, I trusted his musical judgment and agreed to add Something Else into this experiment of classic rock classification. Though I still don’t think the Kinks are quite as on par with the other three bands, I can see (rather, hear) the important influence they had. Some songs on the album have an ethereal, lilting, dreamy quality to them that doesn’t sound very rock but definitely sounds very ‘60s. Most of the second half of the album, however, is essentially proto-garage rock. It was a unique, almost revolutionary sound for the time and influenced one of the most large and important sub-genres of rock music. Now, that accomplishment is worthy of this musical pantheon.

Favorite Tracks: Afternoon Tea; Love Me Till the Sun Shines; Two Sisters

Matt Brune: The Kinks are the quintessential mod band of 1960s London. Though The Kinks would have limited success after the mid-60s, they would remain a fulltime band until 1996, longer than The Who, The Rolling Stones, and The Beatles. But, back to 1966: This album has some precious gems amongst it. No Kinks fan could possibly overlook that beauty that is Waterloo Sunset. It is hard for me to pick favorites, as there are no bad songs on this album. It had a brilliant balance of songs that were reminiscent of the initial phases of the British Invasion, as well as the psychedelic tunes that were brewing and would eventually run out the mods. Two Sisters, Situation Vacant, and Waterloo Sunset were, in my opinion, the best tracks, but that is subject to change next I listen to this album.

Favorite Tracks: Waterloo Sunset; Two Sisters; Situation Vacant


Zack: From discussing my Mount Rushmore theory with other human beings, I have concluded that the most controversial of the four is easily the Kinks. It’s certainly understandable. As influential as the Kinks were/are, they’re being compared to the freaking Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Who. Obviously, part of the reason I included them is my previously discussed bias. If you’re too lazy to click the link, then I’ll just say that my dad is a HUGE Kinks/Ray Davies fan and I’ve been listening via osmosis for years. But even I have to admit that the Kinks sort of lack that clearly-identifiable trait that makes them stick out. The Beatles are pop-rock. The Stones are blues-rock. The Who are practically protopunk. The Kinks are…the most likely to write a song called Afternoon Tea? The most difficult to pigeonhole? All four of these bands change their sound to some degree as they progressed, but the Kinks make one of the bigger jumps. It’s easy to forget that they first burst onto the scene with the hard rock classic “You Really Got Me.” Years later, they were writing silly acoustic ditties about trannies. They, of course, had a psychedelic phase as well. If you had to give them a sub-sub-genre, I guess it would be pop-rock, but that seems to only cover about half their repertoire. After much thought, I’ve decided that their claim to fame is that they are the most conceptually sound. Not an easy task when you consider that they’re up against the band that made Tommy and the overall brilliance of the Beatles. But it’s definitely true. The Kinks simply do not make albums as songs; they make them as storybooks. While they definitely got better at it as time progressed, it’s just as true for Something Else, one of their earlier works. Maybe the subject material isn’t as united as you’d expect, but the tone of each song works to reflect a certain mood on the listener. Furthermore, they use the album as a palette to express their unique blend of hard rock, psychedelic, and pop brand. The execution on this technique is near flawless, making it a great example of the Kinks sound, both to someone whose dad has been pumping it into his brain from the time he was young and someone who has never checked them out before.
Favorite Tracks: Waterloo Sunset; Death of a Clown; Afternoon Tea