Rolling Stones Single-By-Single Thread

Talking about the pre-Honky Tonk Woman singles...

Many think Dandelion/We Love You was the most problematic. Dandelion was not my favorite, but We Love You was great, imo. No the one I tend to not dislike so much as find difficult to like more is

Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby.

I wonder how many agree. It has many elements that are truly great, as Charlie excels on it. I love the backup vocals, too. And I love the guitar feedback on the beginning and end.

But... it's kind of hard to hear Charlie, and the mix is pretty muddled. And the lyrics? Shadows, mothers, brothers, what have you seen? - all rather vague, isn't it?

And then the horns. Well, there's plenty of Stones songs later that the horns work on. Here? For me, not so well.

Does anyone give this song an A+?

 

Was Abkco mentioned on early US copies of Bleed and Ya Ya's or are we only talking singles?
Abkco was founded in 1968.

 

HYSYM is a bit of a dud for me, and very irritating... it just sounds too forced and like they are trying too hard. Understandable given the times it's from and the speed of which everything was done.

 

Exactly.
Brian played closely sticking to the vocal melody in the verses at least and not because of his perceived limited facility on the sitar.
No the band preferred it played this was and the results speak for themselves.
Paint It Black's sitar lines are rhythmically melodic with a percussive feel which may be simplistic but at the same time is majorly effective for the song plus chart success!

 

The Who recorded the single to:

A) Show solidarity with the Stones

B) For Who publicity

C) As an excuse to be a "walk on" Rolling Stone because he was a self proclaimed bottom licking fan

D) All of the above

I personally favour the D) response!

 

Absolutely on the money.
The Stax influence often seems to be overlooked on Exile when people round up the influences

 

Well....i liked, what you said.

 

I find it really odd that everyone picks on Mick's country exaggeration on this track but not his blues voices on so many records, which is often as exaggerated.

 

With boxed Decca logo's.
I saw a NM UK set auctioned with a blurb that the owner had mail ordered them in 1974.

 

Kink!

 

Mick said as much later himself by saying something like; "How much further could we have gone, I came to a full stop after that!"

 

You mean some (male) forum members might go for him?

 

Footage dressing up, laughing, strolling, posing outside etc all draggy!

 

In 66' Mick took a break which the press i believe called politely nervous strain, not sure if he was an in patient?
I have heard it said that a white line fever ran through 1966 so how fitting that the Stones final single sounded as crazed and cacophonous as it did!
So many apt comments on this thread about this 45' but it must also be said that the title was as loud and as unrestrained as it's music!
Have you seen your mother, baby, standing in the shadow's title was disdainful of and a challenge to the music industry, the charts and ultimately the buyer and listener.
Less than 2 years earlier Andrew or Decca would have made them change or shorten the title purely for commercial reasons!

 

Aside from ep's Britain did not issue picture sleeve singles at this time. Some countries used circa 64-65 pictures on 45 covers right through the sixties (and beyond) whilst some used current band photos with more consistently.

 

Kenin & lightbulb mention the lyric part that begins; "Tell me a stor-y, about how you ad-ore me"
I love that bit too but also (very much) as it builds from there as Jagger strains to fit in all the following (approximate) cascading lines eg: "See in the shadow, tear at the shadow, love in your shadowy life" whilst the music & guitars threaten to prise his grip on the lyric's syllables and bodily hurl him quickly into the next part of a song!
This song contains visuals for me, and the escalation of the Stones very real murky veil of darkness - so Paint it black aside, this is my 2nd favourite Stones 45 of 1966 despite the better writing of 19th nervous breakdown with the attendant debutant girlfriend/s of 1965.

 

Dy-yang Ta meet ch'a

 

Townshend's bass work was not great either, Entwistle (The "Dirty" Engine Driver) was abroad on his honeymoon so Pete played "a quick one while he was away!"

 

The Grrrilla is Garbage and probably the worst Stones UK/US cover art ever!
And..... (whispers) i heard the guy that deseigned it got an f'n award.....how about the sack instead!

 

Make no mistake this is a timeless double A side with LSTNT & Ruby T.

Knowing the Linda Keith story from several angles i appreciate Ruby Tuesday even more as the lyrics are spot on. A good example to regular males that even these rich, feted & privileged rock stars could not get or keep the girls they fancied. This one had a mind of her own (like in Memory Motel) so Keith channeled his hurt raw feelings into disciplined work and struck gold. Brian quite possibly should have gotten a writing credit for his stunning recorder melody, Jagger should not have! The song is very special to me in part as my young children adore me singing it to and with them and it is close to being in my top 10.

Night' is classic pop rock and technically the real intended A side.
Keith says he wrote it on the piano and i now get what he meant when he stated that Mother Baby? was a variation on the same excersize.
Likely and lustily Marianne inspired for me it is a companion piece lyrically & thematically to My Obsession!
These days it must astound young fans that it was so risque and controversial in it's day. There are so many different versions of Oldham the cops and their truncheons that we may never get the exact truth.
Also the Wiki entry stating the band all dressed in Nazi outfits before being ordered to change on Ed Sullivan sounds absurd to me!

 

the Sitar all agree mimics the vocal melody line. And may well have been preferred by the band. neither of which mean that limited facility had nothing to do with it.

In that connection I doubt anyone truly believes that at that point Jones had great facility with the sitar.

 

Jagger is obviously making fun of country using that voice. However well one feels he does on blues tunes (I happen to be a fan), even his worst critics would not contend he is making fun of the blues. Huge difference.

 

The melody is partially nicked from The Supremes anyway.

The melody itself is the way it is due to limited abilities... Mick had to be able to sing it.

 

That's a possibility.

In the 1950s, RCA Victor in the U.S. pressed some records, especially EPs, without the famous Nipper logo. It was long assumed that these were pressed in error, but there are too many different titles without the dog for me to believe that any more. It's far more likely that these were meant for export to countries where EMI owned the trademark to the "His Master's Voice" painting, thus RCA's use would be considered as infringement.