I Want Mah Rolling Stones NOW!

Overall Album Score: 7.8 out of 10

It's the ROLLING STONEEEEEEEEEEEEES NOWWWWWWW!

Now, hear me out. But THE ROLLING STONES ARE COOL! And they're NOW! Yes, folks! It's nineteen-sixty-five! Hooray! I'm twenty and I haven't been drafted yet! Cool! And I like to wear TIGHT PANTS. *Teiiiiiiiiite*

Okay. It's really 2003 right now. I was born a good 10 years after the Vietnam War. I was born seventeen years before this album. Yet, I remember when it first came out. That was the same week that my neighbor's daughter, Mary Lou, let me touch her left ankle. That was the day this little boy from Wakena Falls, Ohio became a man. HUAHHH!

This is the third effort by The Rolling Stones, and they are still in their early, R&B covers period. However, the original Jagger/Richards compositions are improving and the early R&B covers are ... disproving? WHAHAHH-eck!

Sorry.

Anyway, the Jagger/Richards songwriting team is finally gaining a little bit of confidence, even though the uninitiated probably wouldn't be able to tell the originals from the covers, because the originals are so derivative! But that's okay. Everyone does that. The Stones'll get over it.

Also, for some odd reason, this album failed to get any 10-scoring tracks. A few tracks got close, though. However, on the up-side of this, every track scores in the 7-9 range, whereas the track scores were more spotty on the previous albums.

This is a pretty good album, and I *do* like it quite a bit better than their previous two efforts. Obviously ... they were out to get better in time! So I'm happy. However, we aren't quite in that utterly CLASSIC period where they would start churning out masterpiece after masterpiece. Perhaps their primal period would begin with their next album, Out of Our Heads, because the American release of it includes none other than "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" which would send the Stones up a manic spiral until the early 70's or so.

But the Rolling Stones now are pretty good. In 1965.

Overall Album Score: 8.1 out of 10 (This is the first *really* consistent Stones album in their catalogue! If that isn't a cause for celebration, then I don't know what is!

Average Song Score: 8.3 (This is a solid collection of R&B stuff! I like all of the songs, even though I didn't like any single song enough to give it a 10.)

Album Tilt: 8.0 (I don't particularly feel the need to revisit this album *too* often, but as I said, the material is consistent and stuff.)

Artist Tilt: 8.0 (Still performed well ... improving songwriting ... Not a great artistic creation, but who cares? This is the mid-60s! Nobody cared about a silly thing as artisticness.)

Track Reviews

Everybody Needs Somebody to Love 8/10

This album starts on a high note. This is a nice, bluesy cover. It was performed well, and it's pretty catchy.

Down Home Girl 9.5/10

This cover is slightly better. It has a nice, moody aura that just draws me in as if my face were a cartoon box! (Oh man, I need to stop it with the bad analogies.) Yes. I do enjoy it.

You Can't Catch Me 8.5/10

This is a pretty good Chuck Berry cover! It's fast-paced and it makes wiggle my tuckus like there were no tomorrow. Immaculately performed as usual, but it's nice and dirty, too! YEAH, MAN!

Heart of Stone 9/10

This original sounds like a cover! But that's okay. The simple fact that it pretty much equals the quality of many of the other songs on here is evident enough of the fine songwriting qualities that Jagger and Richards possess!

What a Shame 7.5/10

Again, I'm sure if you looked not-so-hard, you could find an old 50's song that sounds almost exactly like this. (I'm not going to, though!) This original is still pretty good, though. It's a muddy R&B number. Not bad 'tall.

Mona (I Need You Baby) 7.5/10

I like the shaky guitars! Although, I'm wondering if they had a method to it, other than just wanting to be weird. I don't know! This cover is pretty good, too. Nicely performed and everything.

Down the Road Apiece 8/10

Down the road APIECE??? ... Okay, that's weird. This is a cover that sounds a lot like "Johnny B. Good," but it's not. Bwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Down the road apiece?????? Yup. Right.

Off the Hook 8.5/10

Another original that sounds like a cover! Where have I heard this song before???? Oh yeah! I remember! These original songs are all carbon-copied from somebody else! Well ... they'd might as well. They are about as good as these covers were, anyway. As if I really care. HMHPHMHPHPHPMHPPHHPPHPHPHPH.

Pain in My Heart 7/10

I've got a PAIN IN MY ... neck. This song is much less crisp than everything here. It's also a fairly slow song, but I can't really complain that much. They performed it better than a lot of other guys would.

Oh Baby (We Got a Good Thing Goin') 7.5/10

This is one of the album's below-average covers to be sure. But it's still pretty good. Jagger does a pretty convincing job singing this one. (Not that he didn't do a convincing job on the other tracks. I've just run out of things to talk about.)

Little Red Rooster 8.5/10

Yeah. This cover isn't too revolutionarily different from anything else on this album, but it at least seems more solid. It's slower and more engaging.

Surprise Surprise 9.5/10

Am I being Mister Deviant? I don't know! This is my favorite song off the album. This is the least-derivative cover here (it's still derivative, though). But at least it doesn't have me saying: "You know! I've heard this song even though I haven't heard this song before." It's a fast-paced rocker that has a nice tune and everything. I enjoy it.

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