| Album Notes |
Decca UK LP
Released: 15 January 1965
UK: No.1 (10 weeks), charted 37 weeks
It’s another nameless album, with just the classic David Bailey photograph on the front cover in which he placed his friend Mick at the back to avoid the others thinking he was getting preferential treatment. It was unusual for a British band of the time for much of this album to have been recorded in America, some tracks at Chess Studios with Ron Malo, and others at RCA Studios in Hollywood, with engineer Dave Hassinger, who got such a great sound from the studio.
There’s not a British hit single to be heard on the LP, although there is ‘Off The Hook’, the b-side of UK No.1 ‘Little Red Rooster’ and ‘What A Shame’ the b-side of US hit ‘Heart of Stone’; both these b-sides are Mick and Keith compositions, of which there are three on the album. Ian Stewart can be heard playing his brilliant brand of boogie woogie piano on ‘Down the Road Apiece’ and Jack Nitzsche, the man who used his influence to get them into RCA Studios, plays piano on a couple of songs recorded in Hollywood.
“We didn’t find it difficult to write pop songs, but it was very difficult to write one for The Stones.” - Keith
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