Poll: U.S. or U.K. version of Aftermath

Which version do the forum members prefer?

U.K. Track listing:

Side one
1."Mother's Little Helper" 2:45
2."Stupid Girl" 2:56
3."Lady Jane" 3:08
4."Under My Thumb" 3:41
5."Doncha Bother Me" 2:41
6."Goin' Home" 11:13

Side two

7."Flight 505" 3:27
8."High and Dry" 3:08
9."Out of Time" 5:37
10."It's Not Easy" 2:56
11."I Am Waiting" 3:11
12."Take It or Leave It" 2:47
13."Think" 3:09
14."What to Do" 2:32

U.S. Version

1."Paint It Black" 3:22
2."Stupid Girl" 2:56
3."Lady Jane" 3:08
4."Under My Thumb" 3:41
5."Doncha Bother Me" 2:41
6."Think" 3:09

Side two

7."Flight 505 [4]" 3:27
8."High and Dry" 3:08
9."It's Not Easy" 2:56
10."I Am Waiting" 3:11
11."Goin' Home" 11:13

The U.K version has 3 extra songs including Mother's Little Helper.

The U.S. version has Paint It Black.

 

I prefer the UK MONO Version.

 

By design or happy accident, the US version is sequenced brilliantly, with one of the band's greatest, most ominous singles leading off and "Goin' Home" as a perfect closer.

And the US lineup excises the two weakest and poppiest tracks on the UK version, making the album a more cohesive statement. It even features better album art!

 

I actually burned myself a copy that contains all of the songs from both + the single a & b-sides and other songs from the sessions that were on Flowers.

I added these songs from the sessions to the combined U.S.\U.K. track listing.

19th Nervous Breakdown
Ride On Baby
Sittin' On A Fence
Sad Day
Long, Long While

 

I agree Goin' Home makes a better lp closing track.

 

US one, no question about it! I find the UK version too long and including a couple of filler tracks.

The US one is etched in my brains since childhood (I am 56); scared me a little bit when I was a kid and stared at the weird front cover photo while listening... A set that is brooding, dark and "to the point"!

 

I prefer the UK version, in stereo.

I used to love Paint It Black back then - I had it on a 45 - but for me it hasn't stood the test of time.

 

U.K. mono period - the way the LP was designed by the group. I can't hear it any other way at this point.

 

UK (in mono).

Switching out "Mother's Little Helper" for "Paint it Black" is a lateral move, and the edit on "Out of Time" really bugs me.

Sure, the US has a better cover and wisely puts "Goin' Home" last where it belongs, but really has no edge over the UK.

 

Good point. The "Out Of Time" edit bugs me as well.

 

I just remembered, the edited version is on Flowers, not the US Aftermath. Oops!

 

Replacing Mother's Little Helper with Paint It Black to open, ending with Goin Home, and excising Out of Time were all good moves. Plus I grew up with the US version being one of my favorite Stones albums.

 

...And I really like OoT, a great "60s pop" one! But it goes on literally forever... What were they thinking?...

 

Flowers was my first exposure to "Out of Time", so I was used to the abbreviated version. I always liked it, but when I finally heard the full thing, the excised bits felt repetitive and unnecessary to me. I guess it depends on what you're used to.

I prefer the UK mono version at this point, overstuffed though it may be. I do agree that "Goin' Home" would have made a better closing statement than "What To Do" for an opus like this. Aftermath is one of their finest efforts, right up there with "the Big Four".

 

I prefer Mother's Little Helper as an opener, but the UK version runs a bit long. I agree with others that Goin' Home makes a better closer. The UK version just kind of peters out. By a slim margin, the US issue for me.

 

The US version on AFTERMATH features the more extreme 0:00 edit!

 

US version for me. "Paint It Black" makes a better album opener than "Mother's Little Helper", "Goin' Home" makes a better album closer, and I think overall the US has a better flow than the UK version. I don't miss those extra songs - in fact I prefer "Out of Time" edited (first I heard the unedited version was on Rolled Gold) and "What To Do" sounds like a throwaway.

That said, the UK mono was a revelation when I heard it for the first time just a couple years ago. The US mono is a fold.

 

bump

 

UK UK UK

Leaving off "Out of Time" is a tragic decision. And good as "Paint It Black" is, there's no exchanging this series of tracks as one of the perfect album opening sequences ever:

1."Mother's Little Helper" 2:45
2."Stupid Girl" 2:56
3."Lady Jane" 3:08
4."Under My Thumb" 3:41

 

This covers all the points I was going to make in favour of the US version - better sequencing, better selection of tracks, more cohesive, better cover. How often was the US version of an album the go-to copy in those days?

 

Tough one. Solely based on the presence Paint It Black I chose US but given more thought it could easily be the UK. It's interesting with the early Beatles I was familiar with those albums and so grew up and prefer the US. With The Rolling Stones I didn't get into albums for them until Let It Bleed, Beggar's, Sticky, Exile etc so I didn't have the same affinity towards the earlier US vs UK as I did The Beatles.

 

U.S. , easy choice.
My Aftermath begins with Paint It Black and ends with Goin Home.

 

look up "literally."

 

UK of course not another US hatchet job

 

UK tracklisting, US sleeve