The Rolling Stones Album: “Flowers [Remaster]”

OK...To understand Flowers, you have to first realize the context in which it was released. Flowers was released as an American only album of material that was not issued on previous albums, material that was cut from the American versions of albums released in their full 14 track format in Britain, or singles that had not made it into an album yet. Also don't forget that the Stones weren't touring at the time, attempting to find the same refuge that the Beatles had in their studio to try some experimentation a la Sgt. Peppers which became Satanic Majesties. Now that the proper context has been established, this album finds the Rolling Stones at the peak of their mid-60's creative power. Group founder Brian Jones had not yet cashed out on his drug and alcohol binges and he was totally into what has retrospectively been dubbed "flavoring" the albums and tracks that the Stones were putting out. The album is strung together with singles: "Ruby Tuesday" b/w "Let's Spend the Night Together", "Have You Seen Your Mother?", "Mother's Little Helper", and "Lady Jane". This material coupled with the leftovers from the British releases of Aftermath and Between the Buttons helps make this album somewhat eclectic like the other two albums but no less entertaining. The psycho-Bo Diddley "Please Go Home" is great 60's style garage-psyche rock. Anytime the Stones go Bo Diddley is worth listening to, by the way. "Out of Time" is a great companion piece to "Under My Thumb" from Aftermath, as it features much of the same instrumentation, with Brian Jones anchoring the song on his marimbas once again. "Back Street Girl" and "Ride on Baby" both fall into the same vein, with the use of the classical instruments on the rock tracks for that mock-Baroque feel that many of the 60's bands like the Kinks and Yardbirds went for with their use of harpsichords, etc. "Sitting on a Fence" and "Take It or Leave It" are also like songs, with similar feels and good acoustic guitar work. "My Girl" to me is the one oddity on the album but somehow it works with the eclecticness of the finished product.

This album was one of the first albums that I ever bought when I got into the Rolling Stones. It was also the first Stones album that I bought my fiancee when we were 16. We both loved it and I have never regretted that choice. For me, the albums Aftermath and Between the Buttons represent height of the Stones in the 60's before they changed directions forever. This album, Flowers, bridges the two in the same way that Rubber Soul and Revolver were bridged by Yesterday and Today. These albums form critical trilogies of albums at points where two bands were reaching critical mass just as the dream of the 60's was ending for so many.

Now for the disclaimer: as some reviewers have pointed out, this album is not part of the canon of Rolling Stones albums. That may be true but when you compare this album to others such as Exile on Main Street and Sticky Fingers or Beggars Banquet and Let It Bleed, but you are essentially comparing different bands and different times when holding Flowers against these rockers. Flowers is a great album that is completely misunderstood and underestimated. This album came out in 1967 and when compared with other albums of that time and place it shines with the best of them.

One of the greatest of all Stones albums, "Flowers" is often hailed as an expression of psychedelia. I think this overlooks the sheer rock feeling on some of the songs and their diversity, as well as Jagger's great shading on his strongly accented voice: Never has he sounded so wonderfully British (with a nod to Chicago blues singers).

The album blasts you with one great single after another: "Ruby Tuesday," "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow" (foreshadowing their later involvement with big sounds and horns), the superb, defining "Let's Spend the Night Together" with its Beach Boys background vocals," Jagger's great wry tones and the harpsichord sounds on "Lady Jane," and another signature tune, "Out of Time." (Jagger is so expressive on the unusual "Lady Jane," you can almost picture him in ruffled sleeves, suavely exiting from his courtesans.) What's amazing is the band's uniformly superb musicianship. The songs are textured with flute, accordian, marimba, and other instruments, the bass and drums are tight and driving, and the guitars add nuance as well as bite. Then...then, there's "My Girl, " as bad as its reputation. The band actually gets much of a Motown feeling on the preceding "Out of Time." Maybe someone else knows why "My Girl" is so completely flat: Was the production rushed, were they over-awed by the original? I don't know, but the rest of the album more than makes up for this basically boring cover.

To cite "Backstreet Girl" as an example of the Stones' enlightened treatment of women (as one reviewer did here) is ridiculous; although Jagger's has an unusually tender vocal, he clearly relegates the song's subject to his hidden life. "Please Come Home" has a great surf-like bass/drum riff and some mini-pychedelia in the guitars and echo-y back-up vocals. Not memorable, but fun. The sardonic opening guitars, clever lyrics, and a great hook ("Doctor please, some more of these...") highlight the melodically weak "Mother's Little Helper." Finally, I enjoy the moody, petulant vocal on "Take It or Leave It" (Gee, don't ya feel sorry for him!), backed by textured percussion and jangly guitar. The album closes on the very strong "Ride On Baby," ("you make look pretty but I can`t say the same for your mind."), and the reflective cynical mood of "I'm Just Sitting on a Fence" ("but there is one thing I could never understand, some of the sick things that a girl does to a man...").

This album shows the group at or near its peak, before the 70's brought such overproduced songs as "Brown Sugar" and Tumbling Dice" (I know, some people love these) and the guitar riffs were often clichéd. Their blues roots are intact (with a nice dose of pop/rock), the songs are spare yet subtly textured, and the band seems fresh and eager to experiment. Very highly recommended!!!

NOTE: The "enhanced" version of the CD does not play on my computer's (Dell Optiplex) CD drive, but sounds great on other CD players. Also, like others, I wish the original liner notes had been included.

Great piece of their early work.

In slower songs like "Back Street Girl" and others in this CD you hear a young and romantic more innocent Mick.

It's very charming, very different from their more "established" tough sound.

Highly recommended!

An excellent compilation of rarities and previously released singles. You have classic hits like the bouncy Lets Spend The Night Together, the amusing Mother's Little Helper, or the pretty ballad Ruby Tuesday. Some people dislike the version of My Girl but truthfully the band plays it close to the original as they can. Mick Jagger does not have the same style as the Temptations but he certainly gives a nice tender rendition.

Rarities such as Backstreet Girl and Ride On Baby feature nice instrumental support. I really like the accordian touches on the former piece and the energy is quite infectious on the later song. However, Out of Time is the real gem on this collection. Great lead and harmony vocals and a hook that is oh so super catchy. Now where else can you find this tune?

I liked this record when I first purchased it many years ago. Today I still find it very enjoyable as it neatly sums up many of the best songs from the Rolling Stones mid sixties period. Very useful for those seeking a quick fix compilation.

Crippled by drug busts and court appearances, the summer of '67 Stones had little time to come up with new material, much less an answer to the revolutionary pop of the Beatles' just-released Sgt. Pepper. Therefore Decca records was forced to put out this compilation of hits and outtakes dating back as far as Dec. '65 ( those being "My Girl," "Out of Time," "Mother's Little Helper," "Backstreet Girl" and "Sittin' On A Fence"). But that's hardly a raw deal, as the album is in essence a mini-greatest hits of the Stones at the peak of their mid-sixties creativity:

the shimmering Jan '67 single of "Ruby Tuesday"/ "Let's Spend The Night Together" (the latter of which makes its contemporary "Strawberry Fields" sound like a druggy chore by comparison), The anarchic energy of Aug '66's "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby," the glorious chorus in "Out of Time" from the Aftermath album, and so on. But the true forgotten gems here are "Backstreet Girl," a decadent acoustic waltz with the late multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones on accordian (the fact that his flower on the album cover had no leaves was a band in-joke), with Mick's lyrics pointing the finger at the philandering of his fellow pop stars as much as himself, and "Sittin' On A Fence," Keith and Brian doing some lovely acoustic dueling as Mick ponders his old classmates and the life he could have led. An album released in summer, it's actually perfect for a cold winter's night, talented young men conjuring all kinds of visions for one's own darkness.