Rolling Stones, The Rolling Stones - 12 X 5
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Free Music Notes for 12 X 5
Free Music Review: Great Early Stones
Hit: 5 Stars
If you want to explore the Stones in their musical youth, then this album is a good place to start.This was their second album, predating the song Satisfaction which catapulted them into the stratosphere and moved them in an even more commercial direction than they were already going. The Stones blues roots are still very evident here on songs like Confessin' the Blues and Good Times, Bad Times. They also do a fantastic cover of Chuck Berrys' Around and Around, which opens the album.2120 S Michigan Ave is a spirited r&b instrumental written as an ode to Chess Records still located in Chicago in those days. Mick Jagger and Brian Jones show off their excellent harp playing on this tune and many others on the album. The Stones also cover The Drifters Under the Boardwalk and did an okay version but it doesn't surpass the original.Keith Richards employs an acoustic 12 string to Congratulations, a Jagger/Richard original and one of their earliest written songs together.The albums' big hit is Time Is On My Side but the song that really stands out is It's All Over Now. This song would've been a great addition to the live album the Stones released several years later Get Yer Ya Ya's Out. So if you're looking for a true representation of the fledgling Rolling Stones then buy this albumFree Music Review: Good Chicago blues, but weaker than debut - 2.5 stars
Hit: 2 Stars
As the Stones' second album, 12 x 5 is another collection of blues and soul covers with a few originals thrown in. This time, however, the album was recorded at the famed Chess Studios in Chicago, shrine of the electric blues where Muddy Waters and countless of the Stones' heroes recorded their "sides". The sound is more polished with a heavier bottom end, which was what the Stones wanted.The album kicks off with a strong cover of Chuck Berry's Around and Around then dovetails into the moody Confessin' The Blues, featuring some fine harp playing. The album then dips into Empty Heart, a one-liner that goes nowhere, and follows with the inferior version of Time Is On My Side (the organ version, not the guitar). Side one closes with their current single at the time, Good Times Bad Times & It's All Over Now -- the album's highlight even if the latter is a Womack cover.
Side 2 is a patchy affair with If You Need Me being the only strong tune. Susie Q is too short, too fast, while Under The Boardwalk must rank along with My Girl (Flowers album) as the worst cover by the Stones.
Again, ABKCO has issued the shorter US version of the longer UK album, yet is charging full price. No bonus tracks. While there are some fine moments on this album, it is a patchwork affair and suggests that the Stones were already running out of material for their albums and relying too heavily on borrowed tunes.
Free Music Review: Twelve songs by five lads
Hit: 5 Stars
This was the Rolling Stones second album. They wrote a bit more original material this time out, with five original songs (three by Jagger/Richards and two by "Nanker Phlege"). The originals are all good, even the "filler" instrumental "2120 South Michigan Avenue" rocks. The rest of the album consists of covers of rock, R&B and blues songs. This is great stuff, especially the obligatory Chuck Berry cover, "Around and Around". The album also features the group's first UK Number One hit, "It's All Over Now". It should be noted that "Time Is On My Side", which was the band's first US Top Ten hit, is not the hit single version. This is a different version of that song, which is most noticeable during the spoken word part, which Mick says more "calmly" than he does on the hit version. Still great, though. Another great album by the Stones, and highly recommended.Free Music Review: Brian Jones fan club
Hit: 5 Stars
Brian Jones. The difference between the Stones and all of the imitators since is the undercurrent of real blues that Brian provided; not rave-up crap, but solid 'Chess'-style backup. For all of the rebelliousness attributed to the band and the man, their long suit is tradition, no matter how much youthful energy is piled on top of it.Free Music Review: Not quite as good as their U.S. debut, although still great.
Hit: 4 Stars
This is the second U.S. album put out by the Rolling Stones, which in my opinion by far is the greatest rock'n'roll band of all time. As the review-title says, it is a slight step down compared to their first U.S. album (although they both receive four stars), but it is still a very good album. As a side note, you might have noticed that I insist on calling it their second U.S. album instead of just their second album, which is because up until late 1967 (with the release of "Their Satanic Majesties' Request") the Stones albums in the U.S. and the U.K. contained different songs, and even different names up until "Out of Our Heads", which was released in 1965. Anyway, on with the review.Just the same as the rest of the Stones' early albums, this is an all-blues album. And just the same as on the rest of the early Stones' albums, you can feel how important Brian Jones was to the band in the early days. He left the Stones in 1969 and unfortunately died about a month later (under strange circumstances), but then he had been a quite inactive band member for a couple of years or so. But back in the early days he was the front man of the band (Mick Jagger got a hold of that spot a couple years later), and it was really thanks to him that the Stones made it big. He was a really mean guitar and harmonica player, and had some fantastic guitar-weaving going on with Keith Richards back in the days.
However, I'm not putting down the rest of the band. Charlie Watts (drums) and Bill Wyman (bass) have their own unique rhythm section going on, which is part of what makes the Stones so great, Keith Richards (my favorite Stones-member, by the way) keeps improving his guitar playing more and more, not just together with Jones but individually too. And Mick Jagger proves that he is not only a fantastic blues singer, but also a great harmonica-player (back in these days he and Brian Jones played pretty much the equal amount of harmonica, and even though Brian was better in the beginning Mick proved later on he's the best at it).
This album contains a couple of classic songs, especially "It's All Over Now", with one of the first great Stones riffs (one of their trademark characteristics). The Stones also showed they are among the very few groups who actually reach the level of the artist they are covering on songs like "Around And Around" (originally written by bluesman Chuck Berry, who probably had the greatest influence on the Stones, especially Keith Richards).
The songs listed from best to worst:
It's All Over Now -- 10/10
Around And Around -- 10/10
Time Is On My Side -- 9/10
Confessin' The Blues -- 9/10
If You Need Me -- 9/10
Good Times, Bad Times -- 8/10
Empty Heart -- 8/10
Congratulations -- 8/10
2120 South Michigan Avenue -- 8/10
Susie Q -- 7/10
Under The Boardwalk -- 7/10
Grown Up Wrong -- 6/10
Rated on a song to song basis, this album receives an 8.3 out of 10 rating from me. As a whole, it receives a 8 out of 10 rating.