Sixteen titles from 1960s catalog will be available over the next year
ABKCO Records reissued the US version of the seminal 1966 album Aftermath by The Rolling Stones on vinyl at the end of March, kicking off the label’s enormous undertaking of getting 16 titles from the legendary rock band’s back catalog back in print in their original format. Throughout the remainder of the year and into early 2024, US and UK versions of albums recorded between 1963 and 1970, largely by the original Jagger/Richards/Jones/Watts/Wyman lineup, will find their way onto 180-gram vinyl. Some of these titles, including their debut live album Got Live If You Want It!, Between The Buttons (US) and the aforementioned Aftermath (US), have been out-of-print as stand-alone vinyl records for the past 37 years.
During the 1960s, it was customary for album release versions to differ depending on the territory in which they were released and this was the case with The Rolling Stones in that era, their UK label, Decca Records, and US label, London Records, had separate schedules, often utilizing different cover art and different tune stacks for a given title. In the case of Aftermath, the first Stones album containing only original Jagger/Richards compositions, Americans were treated to the groundbreaking hit “Paint It, Black” kicking off side one, taking the place of “Mother’s Little Helper” — and sleeve art featuring David Bailey’s haunting color photograph of the band members with faces blurred — on the UK version.
April 28th saw the reissue of their 1967 opus Between The Buttons (US) which, despite utilizing near-identical cover art as its British counterpart, has the distinction of containing the No. 1 hit “Ruby Tuesday” and the controversial “Let’s Spend the Night Together.” After this, a flurry of collections will be reissued, including the UK and US versions of The Rolling Stones first hits compilation Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass) on June 9th and June 16th, respectively. This is followed on June 16th by the US-only release Flowers (1967), which partially served to give the American market songs that were omitted from the London Records-issued Aftermath and Between The Buttons, but also contained three previously unreleased tracks (“My Girl,” “Ride On, Baby,” “Sittin’ On A Fence”). The band’s first official rarities collection Metamorphosis will get its own vinyl reissue on July 14th. Originally released in 1975 by ABKCO, and consisting of outtakes and Jagger/Richards demos written for other artists recorded between 1964 and 1970, many tracks utilize guest musicians such as Jimmy Page (“Heart Of Stone”) and John McLaughlin (“I’d Much Rather Be With The Boys”).
On September 15th, both the US and UK versions of Out Of Our Heads (1965) will be reissued. This title marked a milestone in The Rolling Stones’ career – it was their first No. 1 US album, containing their first chart topping US single “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” It was also their last album of this era to primarily consist of covers (Don Covay’s “Mercy, Mercy,” Marvin Gaye’s “Hitch Hike” and Solomon Burke’s Bert Berns-penned “Cry To Me,” among many others). The UK version contains two underrated pop gems – “I’m Free” and the sublimely cynical “The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man.”
The Rolling Stones’ second hits collection Through The Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2) (1969), notable for its octagonal sleeve and epitaph for the then recently departed Brian Jones, will receive its vinyl reissue on October 20th (UK version) and November 10th (US version). The former contains “You Better Move On,” “Sittin’ On A Fence” and “We Love You,” while the latter contains “Paint It, Black” and “Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?” Virtually every track on the stop sign-shaped package is ubiquitous, from “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” to “She’s a Rainbow.”
December 1st will see the reissue of the aptly titled sophomore UK album The Rolling Stones No. 2 (1965), as well as December’s Children (and Everybody’s) (1965), an American release gathering some of the material from Decca’s Out Of Our Heads as well as the hit single “Get Off Of My Cloud” and “As Tears Go By.” On December 1st, Got Live If You Want It! (1966) will again see the light of day. Only released in the US, this live album contains performances from three concerts in England recorded earlier in the year, including a barn-burning version of “I’m Alright.” The album is fleshed out with two earlier studio recordings: “Fortune Teller” from 1963 and “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” from 1965, with added crowd ambiance.
Both originally released in 1964, ABKCO plans on vinyl reissues for the debut US album, England’s Newest Hit Makers, on October 6th and the debut UK album, The Rolling Stones, in early 2024. Their third US album The Rolling Stones, Now! from 1965 will also be reissued in 2024. The latter contains their No. 1 UK hit “Little Red Rooster,” a cover of the Howlin’ Wolf song written by Willie Dixon, as well as the Jagger/Richards ballad “Heart Of Stone.”
These 16 180-gram vinyl reissues will join The Rolling Stones back catalog that ABKCO has long kept in print, including 12 x 5 (1964), Aftermath (UK version, 1966), Between The Buttons (UK version, 1967), Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967), Beggars Banquet (1968), Let It Bleed (1969), the live album Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! The Rolling Stones In Concert (1970), and the collections Hot Rocks 1964-1971 (1971) and More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies) from 1972.
