1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: 42. The Rolling Stones – The Rolling Stones (1964)

 

Supposedly there was a musical rivalry in the Sixties that you were either a fan of The Beatles or the Stones, much like Blur/Oasis in the Nineties. This is the first Stones album, and much like the previous Beatles album is mainly R&B, although where the Beatles were more R, the Stones are more B. The sound of the Stones is rougher compared to the Beatles with just Jagger’s distinctive voice rather than harmonies of the Beatles, and Keith Richards’ harsher guitar sound. There’s also a sense of more raw energy from the Stones, and this was evident with the onstage personae of both bands at this time; compare Jagger’s lanky frame cavorting about with the Fab Four stood rocking slightly behind their instruments. Nobody ever wrote a song called “Moves Like Lennon”.  

Most tracks on here are bluesy rock and roll, with the slow suggestive King Bee perhaps the most purely bluesy and Oh Carol the most purely rock and roll. The well-known tracks from this album include Route 66 and I Just Want To Make Love To You, with Not Fade Away on the US release. Notably nearly all of the songs are covers except for Tell Me, which the most sophisticated track on the album, to my mind. There’s an instrumental called I’ve Got a Witness (mirroring Can I Get A Witness elsewhere on the album). This is credited to “Nanker Phelge”, which is a pseudonym for the group writing as a whole. Important historically, but not the Stones’ best album by a mile. 

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