The Rolling Stones "Between the Buttons": US or UK? [Poll]

I first heard the UK Decca stereo mix when some university student played it on the uni FM station in my town in, I think, 1974. It was an amazing experience to hear it -- like a lost Rolling Stones album. I certainly had never heard them sound like that anywhere else. I loved it instantly. Still do, but prefer the UK Decca mono on that one. So, of course, I had to go with the UK on this poll.

 

The bootleggers already did it (there is an entire series of these mono CD releases):

 

probably my favourite Stones album , and I definitely prefer the UK version , Let's spend the night together doesn't really go with the rest and without Backstreet girl it's just not the same album

 

I have a real soft spot for Flowers...the only knock is the early fade-out version of Out Of Time.
One of the best cut and paste comps ever.

 

You are 100% correct. Almost swayed me. BUT since I live in the USA, and the US version was the only version available to me in my local record store when it originally came out. The US is my favorite version..

 

UK - artist's intent
US - some suit's in an office somewhere intent
Tough choice.

 

Flowers could have been a lot better and more useful to U.S. fans if they deleted the tracks that people already had on albums and replaced them with tracks like Sad Day, Long, Long While, Who's Driving Your Plane, What To Do etc..

 

Actually that is incorrect. In the Stones case, Andrew Oldham and the Stones compiled the U.S. versions with the U.S. fans in mind.

They knew the U.S. fans preferred to have the singles included on the albums so they compiled them accordingly.

 

And that's what Abcko should give us! Not that Abcko would ever give us anything.

 

Is it something fairly common - a boot to have a barcode? Some of those 'bonus' tracks, I've never heard before but have heard #19:

 

UK version without a doubt. It flows better, I loathe Ruby Tuesday, and Let's Spend the Night Together doesn't fit with the rest of the tracks IMO.

 

You are looking at Flowers 50 years later..I am looking at it from a teenager's (mine) point of view in 1978 or so. Getting all those Stones records was expensive for me (allowance money); your alternate selections are valid and would make a great expanded Flowers cd if that were possible.

Will the Stones ever get the Abkco stuff back under their control? Sad situation.

 

I love the U.S. version. I bought the original mono red London label when the album was released. It sounds great in mono and is still in near mint condition. I just think it's one of the best collection of songs the Stones ever did. I love all the Vox guitars and amps on this album. Very cool!

 

I believe it's all under Universal now but the Stones still have to clear the Abkco stuff if I understand it correctly.

 

Did the Stones have a say in Flowers too?

 

I assume they did but I don't know for sure. I read in an interview with Andrew Loog Oldham that he said the Stones U.S. albums were not a hodgepodge like the Beatles U.S. lps. He said that he and the band actually took the time to compile the U.S. versions to include the singles with the U.S. fans in mind.

 

Let's just say that there were no barcode readers being used at the market stall I bought my copies from!!

Maybe if the price is right?

I guess it will all depend on what future Jody and Robyn Klein see for the company, and whether they think their heirs will want to continue it (ABKCO is essentially a dead label, so all its earnings come from re-issues and licensing). Plus there is the issue of things becoming public domain to consider!

 

UK...in mono.

 

UK, duh. Why would anyone choose the US version? It's missing two tracks!

 

In this case, the US. My dad sent me this album while we were on two different continents. This and an Association LP. I still have the Stones.

 

YES!

I would kill for mono editions of Buttons, Aftermath and SMR on SACD.
The (recorded on 3-track) Aftermath album just doesn't cut it in stereo,
unless you like a rhythm track on one speaker, overdubs on the other, and Jagger's voice in the center.
Buttons sounds great in mono, nice and punchy, plus a extended version of Yesterday's Papers too boot.

 

UK -- Backstreet Girl is one of my favorite Stones tracks, and easily the great "hidden gem" in their catalog. It's also an unusually sympathetic portrait of a young woman from Jagger -- in fact, the cad at the heart of the song could be Mick himself!

But it's really Brian Jones' contribution that makes this song otherworldly, taking it into another dimension. An overlooked '60s treasure.

 

UK. Prefer the sequencing.
Also' beautiful laminated cover.

 

I think the fact that many people have suggestions for a different song line up says a lot about that album. It's not a strong set of songs. The only real interesting moment is "Miss Amanda Jones", which shows a first glimpse of their later "Exile" sound. It took a while for them to find out how to do really great albums. And this is no accusation, it's the nature of the game. Sadly today's music business does no longer offer artists that possibility to really develope their art.

 

They did, indeed. Compiled by Mick 'n Keef + Oldham during spring 1967.