England’s Newest Hit Makers

Okay, here’s the thing - I anticipated that there were going to be a few Rolling Stones albums on this list. With this debut album, each member is technically efficient in their respective right from the get-go, and on some level as a Stones fan it was cool to hear the humble beginnings of this group.

But that leads us to an undeniable truth - that this is a debut album consisting mostly of cover songs of the blues artists they were influenced by early on in their career, broken up by two original songs that admittedly aren’t well remembered. Technically good and flattering, but not something worth listening to before you die given what the Stones have accomplished in the latter half of the 60s onward.

I’d say this album is definitely for the diehard Stones fans - the ones who know what this band are capable of and want to further explore their roots. I know we got some true classics from them coming up on this journey, and this debut unfortunately doesn’t hold a candle to them.

Dear god. The Rolling Stones break their streak of 2-stars by simply not writing their own songs.

It may not be the most inventive album, but I do think they approach these covers with a fun energy, and I can see how they became "England's Newest Hitmakers". Still don't know how they became so highly regarded after that though.

Standouts: Honest I Do • I'm A King Bee • Carol • Tell Me • Walking The Dog

a bunch of covers with one original

I can't help but see the rip-off in these early works. I get that these guys all love the blues and R&B and they're doing a fine job of mimicry. I just feel like I can easily get the genuine article from a better source when we're talking about this era of Stones.

Kind of nothingness the whole time, it just was standard 50s/60s rock

Another rock and roll album with covers? This rolling stones boys will be over before they put out anything worth listening to.

A bad covers album

Whatever man. Obviously stones are stones. They sucked here though.

6 stones albums. Gummon man.

Я люблю ролінг стоунз, але їхні альбоми з 80х. І знов-таки як я вже неодноразово тут писав, я не люблю музику 60х. Втім ролінгам я навіть поставлю 3 за цей альбом, бо щось в ньому є, можливо якісь маленькі ознаки того, в що цей гурт виросте далі.

It's a good album, but it is mostly covers. I find it strange that this is included in the list (especially if we take into account that the first album by the Beatles, with songs such as "Please, Please Me", "I Saw Her Standing There", "Misery", "Love Me Do"...) was not included.

Back to the Stones, I think the selection is impeccable (I particularly enjoyed "Mona", "I'm a King Bee", "Walking The Dog", or "Not Fade Away" (only in the US version)).

The original material is also pretty good. Actually, "Tell Me" (which is clearly a departure from the rest of the album) is very good (probably my favourite track).

I also found interesting that "Tell Me" (the only composition by Jagger-Richards) is the longest track.

In any case, when taking into account the lack of original material, I think this is in the range of 3 stars.

Quitando la primera canción "Route 66" no me he guardado ninguna más. Tiene el interés de ser su primer disco de estudio y por lo tanto algo a escuchar.

Better than Coldplay

LOVE This stuff. Just a bunch of British kids playing American Blues out of pure love for the sound.

We started off with 8 million Beatles albums (approx), but lately we're having 8 million Rolling Stones albums. No wonder my ratings have plummeted! This is a pretty good album cover. I have no idea which one is Mick Jacket. [Update: I looked it up, he's the front guy (imagine). If you're wondering, the other guys are Paul, George, Ringo wearing a funny mask, and Cillian Murphy.]

This is their debut album. Somehow it led them to stardom, even though it sounds pretty generic to me! Lots of covers, but not of songs I like. The sound quality is also "old", but I guess that's not really their fault.

Hooked on Phonics: They say "Barstow" with an [aʊ], which made me worry I say it wrong, but no (I looked it up); it's an [oʊ]!

If only this were a Magnetic Fields album: 'Can I Get a Witness' is composed by Holland-Dozier-Holland, who are mentioned in 'The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure' (not necessarily positively).

Is that British, or...?: The internet kept referencing 'Walking the Dog' having a sexual double meaning, but they didn't specify what it is, and it wasn't in my beloved wiktionary. A tortured yo-yo trick metaphor?? Finally, metaphordogs.org told me what I wanted to know (="it's unclear"); here is their fine lexicographing if you don't take my word for it:

<<walk the dog. (sex) 1. Have sex. 2. Masturbate. 3. “Well, you drive to the park late at night. You open your car doors and you just lay there. And whoever walks up to the car, it’s on.”

In his hit record of the same name Rufus Thomas promises us that “If you don't know how to do it, I can show you how to walk the dog.” His 1965 performance on American Band Stand is punctuated by whistles and yips. For all the innuendo, this enduring classic (covered by The Who, Aerosmith, and The Rolling Stones among others) provides no specifics.

After a reminder that “the [human] male sexual organ [is] one of the many slang meanings of the word ‘dog,’” Marjorie Garber confidently informs us that walking the dog is “a slang term for sex.” It seems a believable definition, given the sexual overtones of dog references in 60s music (The Dog was said to be a lascivious dance that would prompt immoral thoughts and behaviors) and the use of “doggie style” to describe a position for sexual intercourse. However, examples are elusive. The host of the Baltimore radio show “The Love Zone” on 92Q, LaDawn Black, provided definition number three above, which sounds a lot like dogging or being a dogger. That is to say, it is more specific than Garber's description, which I infer references heterosexual intercourse in general. The Dictionary of Sexual Terms and Expressions’ definition—“jocular coinage for male masturbation”—seems to fit with the reference to dog as penis. However, I find it hard to imagine that Rufus Thomas was singing about how he was willing to demonstrate how to spank the monkey, to mix the animal metaphors.

Maybe it's just all tied up with the sexual connotations of dogs and, as Freud reminds us, “that [a dog] is not ashamed of its sexual functions.”>>

this was fine but not as good as their other albums

This somehow sounds even older than it actually is

Nothing bad on here, other than maybe king bee, but nothing that makes me want to register either, pretty mid

2.5

It had a hit and was overall a decent listen

It adds nothing to the list. The RS’s original work is one thing; this album is another—nothing more than covers that, as someone noted in the reviews, are “covers of songs by Black musicians who did them better.”

I like the stones. This was a decent album, but on my two listens nothing really stuck.

Slightly sped up RnB covers with the vocals pushed just into the red and more charisma than anyone in 1964 Britain could legally be exposed to.