Today we have the Rolling Stones' sixth studio album Aftermath. Released in 1966, it was their first album of all original material and is considered their first classic album. While the album was a wide commercial and critical success, it has drawn some criticism for many of the lyrics, which have been considered somewhat sexist. The album's track list differs slightly in the UK and US. We are discussing the US track list.
Not only do many of the originals sound better than the covers the Stones took so long to shed, but they've also liberated the Stones to expand their musical horizon by experimenting with different genres. "Paint It, Black" has fabulous sitar playing from Brian Jones, "High and Dry" and "I'm Waiting" are nice folk blues with the latter including a dulcimer, also played by Jones, and, at eleven and a half minutes,"Goin' Home" was the longest popular song up to that point and includes some of the first rock improvisation of the time. Jagger has honed his matter-of-fact vocal delivery to near perfection and Jones's exotic instruments with Richards's ever-inventive guitar supply wonderful rock'n'roll blues more focused and refined than ever before. As for claims the lyrics are sexist, they're pretty much fair, but never seriously troublesome and mostly relegated to side 1. A-
