For years I have tried to enjoy this album. I would like to hear people's views on why they like this album -- what am I missing?

[orangecow.org]

It's not a very good album. You're not missing anything.

A great Album for me---I like more the UK-Version. Didnt need LSTNT and RT on this-one..I like "Yesterdays Papers---She smiled sweetly--Connection---backstreet girl-Miss amanda Jones-- Pure Rock and ballads

--Dont need sol--and RJ on the album. Thats the new single!!
You got it?

If you weren't a Stones fan when it was released it might be harder to appreciate it. It was a 'dark' turbulent period for The Stones in their personal affairs, things were a mess in other words. It's amazing they even remained a band. I don't think most bands would have made it through such times. It was also a period of transformation for Keith and Mick as song writers. They were writing 'pop' songs at this point, not the usual draw on R&B roots, so, the album has a different feel. Given all that, you just have to appreciate the work for what it is, I love it. It was the first Stones album I ever purchased with my own money, maybe that's why!

I ain't stupid, I'm just guitarded.

Yes, there are nice songs but it doesn't work as an coherent album.

I love every note of this album. Transition time as someone noted above. The UK version is much better than the US version, IMO. Here's where the Stones were really polishing their craft as songwriters. Mick noted years later that they hadn't yet really found the niche as album "producers" per se, though, and he thought much of this album sounded date in that sense. But the songs themselves are gems, one and all.

To me this is a special album. You know like most here, you got your first Stones album. When your cherry got popped. Si it reminds me of the first Stonesmusic ever.
I can't agree with Bars that it's not coherent. IMO it really holds together very well. Very british. It's like the least bluesy labum ever by them. Brian plays little guitar but makes up for it on many other instyruments. The psychedlia had set in a little but was not as overloaded as Satanic. When they talk abouit bands paying tribute to their roots, you see the Americna bands go back to Country and Bluegrass, or Chicago Blues. The Stones are from UK and it comes out in a very honest heartfelt way on tunes like Back Street Girl, She Smiled Sweetle, Cool Calm, Something Happend to me, Miss Amanda Jones.
The lyrics are drawing more on their personal life's experiences.
Still they don't forget about the Blues. My Obsession features this avalanche of white R&B slang that only the Stones know how to pull off. I love it when they create this wall with ride cymbal, rolling piano, fuzzbass,harmonica. Please go Home has a psych version of the Bo Diddley beat. Who's been sleeping here...here one is supposed to say that Jagger shows his Dylan influence in the lyrics. I have never understood what the hell that is supposed to mean. But it's greeat song. was my fave as a kid. They come up with a good production of these musical swells with accoustic guitar, but mainly a piano and harp.
To this day I think Complicated would sound good with the current band and the horns.
The cover rocks; London park on a Sunday.
I don't know man...this is a killer album. But it is quite a long haul to the Stones and gloss of "Start me Up" or Voodoo.

Finally a post about the Stones rich history (rather than another redundant thread on their curent hit and upcoming tour)! Between the Buttons was a good album, but not great. Aftermath was superior to it in every way, but BTB has its moments. Backstreet Girl may be my favorite Stones track from the 60's. Few songs from that era (or any other one) match its sophisticated arrangements, lyrics, and overall charm. Miss Amanda Jones and Connection are great rockers. Please Go Home is a decent attempt at meshing Bo Diddley and psychedelia together, with Brian playing some nice slide. Complicated is a splendid track. But there are some fillers on BTB (I can't stand My Obsession-in my opinion, one of the Stones dullest songs ever!). The production wasn't so good as well, as Andrew Loog Oldham would subsequently pay a hefty price a few months later with his firing (Mick to this day hates BTB because of the poor production and sound quality thanks to ALO). Nonethless, the album still stands as one of the Stones better efforts . . .

I think it's the most unique album in the band's catalog, thus making it always an interesting listen. It's really the last album they did with a "pop" sound. This was a short period for them, really a bridge between the blues/soul period and the roots-rock that followed. I don't think the Stones get enough credit for some of the great psychedelic pop they wrote. It is a very British album, as somebody said, and in fact sometimes reminds me of classic 60s Kinks. Not a great album, but a pleasant change.

Strongly agree that the UK version is superior!

Karl

'Don’t forget, if you’re on your bike, wear white'

Thanks Karl, I meant to add that at the end of my post. All I was saying pertains to the UK release. IMO the US release is almost a diffrent album.
Neptune, for the longest time I also found My Obsession kind of dull and repetitive. But just alone those instrumental breaks IMO are priceless. They are part of this secret recipe that is the Stones sound. When other acts try to emulate the archetypical Stones sound they always come up with things like "Saturday Night is Allright" (EJ), or "Hotlegs" (RS). A bunch of forced sus4 crunch chords and a whack snare. Lyrics that mention "switchblade" and "I'm just a workin man" a lot. But it's powerhouses like Keith's "Happy" made up with a couple of ploinky guitars, Bariton Sax and the producer on drums, or these bluesy runaway trains like My Obsession, Who's driving your plane, Cook Cook Blues, or the genius of the sparse instrumentation of Sympathy for the Devil that are the true Stones soup. It's the way the record the tracks, the natural overdrive that I think are very cool and exciting. I mean the intro of "Gimme Shelter" is positively symphonic. But there is no big distortion box, or flashy fret shredding. Its a pretty mundane chord progression with a little tremolo. And the stacking and innerweaving just sort of rain all over you.
I know you know all this. I'm not trying to preach to you. Am more trying to explain what all of the sudden mnade me appreciate "My Obsession".

i am deeply fond of Between the Buttons, and as someone already wrote, for me it's real bound up with the context it came out in. smile: 11/12 years old, takin in the Sullivan appearances that just preceded the album - you KNOW something is happening, but you don't know what it is ... then the album appeared, and suddenly Keith and Mick and Brian had been busted - eek, how can that be?! - for drugs - what's that?! - and all these hints and signs and signals we'd been getting from the music suddenly came to life in this urgent countercultural wake-up call: look at what the grown-ups are doin, look at what a fvcked-up mess they've made!!

but context aside ... i love the explorations of sounds on the album (Satanic Majesties Junior); and it's full of tracks that blow me away: Backstreet Girl, Connection, Please Go Home, Complicated, Miss Amanda Jones; and last but not least, of course, Connection takes 1st place in the Art Anticipates Life category. "they're just dyin to add me to their collection": ah, the boy saw it coming, and got up on his hind legs and met it head on, just like - smile, i'll be darned: just like a Rolling Stone.



"What do you want - what?!"
- Keith

BTB is one of my favorite Stones discs for all of the reasons mentioned above. I play it frquently, espcially after someone on this board told me the British release was a must have.TO me they are sort of saying good bye to the whole London uppper class scene and as someone wrote...delving into really being counterculture vs just being bad boys hanging out in that group of people. It seems to be the last disc where they were putting down upper class "sophisticated" chicks.

Mick is being a wonderful snob on this one. Keith has taken a front position in his singing.

I listened to a few Wino's live discs over the weekend and thier version of Connection is great and it made me realize how wonderful the Stones vocal harmonies are on this song. Miss Amanda Jones has this quality as well.

I have always known that BTB was kind of Charlie's album, with the rest of the band

I am sorry for birthday boy Mickie, but I think BTB is a great album (UKversion).

Please Go Home features also Shirley Watts on backing vocals, making her the only Stones wife to sing on a Stones album. Great effort!!!

In the LP days the cover "made" 1/2 of the album. BtB has a superb cover, and not only the cover is great, it also matches exactly the mood of the music.

Of course the GB version is THE version.

I agree that we don't have a BB or a Sf or Exile here. Still it is full of great music. And quite original as well (funny it is usually described as a "pop" album). It's like women: most of the time you notice the t&a, but some times you can loose your mind for a simple smile.

Not only a coincidence that the "track of album" is She Smiled Sweetly ...

Yet the song that hooked me first on Btb is yesterday's papers. Who wants ... I don't know if I've wistled more times the intro riff of Miss You or sang Who wants yesterday's paper ... nobody etc.

The album is full of hypnotic riffs: papers, connection, my obsession, amanda jones. Great guitar work by KEith. Connection is maybe the first progression that makes you "kick" and "pose"!

BUT it is not a guitar album. What instantly strikes me is the drum sound, very deep, as if "Moe" Tucker was behind the kit, and by contrast Ian's wild piano (and jack's and ... keith's). And Brian. Alone the brasses on something happened!!!

C

Between the Buttons and TSMR are two Masterpieces that the "core" fans usually forget, and they should not.

It is one of my real favorites. Just play it from start to end. Again and again. I am used to the UK version, which is very different from the US version. So for me Ruby Tuesday does not belong here. But I love that track too.

Just start by playing thee two songs:

- Yesterday's Papers
- She Smiled Sweetly

Give them time. Listen to them. How can you not like these songs? Then play the rest of the album.

Bjornulf

liddas Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> >
> In the LP days the cover "made" 1/2 of the album.
> BtB has a superb cover, and not only the cover is
> great, it also matches exactly the mood of the
> music.
>


I meant to mention the cover also! Probably my favorite album cover. Mick with the devilish snarl, Brian looking completly bombed, and Charlie (!) looking like Christopher Lee in one of his vampire roles. The early morning light and the vaseline smeared around the camera lens make the whole thing look like a bunch of dandies going home after a long night of drugs and drink. EVIL!!!

Here's a link to a few other pictures from Gererd Mankowitz, including some outtakes from the BTB cover shoot:

[www.mankowitz.com]

Karl

I once heard someone describe Between the Buttons as
"the Charlie Watts solo album".

It's a funny comment and maybe a bit over the top but
I like the album too.. Charlie wails ....

Marv


Marv Peck

Y'all remember that rubber legged boy

Yes. the album cover. Primrose Hill. Add it to your "must see" places in London. Take a walk through Regents Park, including the inner circle, the nicest park in London. Walk up to Primrose Hill. You virtually see Between the Buttons there. And the rest of London. Perfect view and great historic place Stones wise.

Bjornulf

from Gered Mankowitz's The Stones 65 - 67, about the cover shoot on Primrose Hill in London, late in 1966:

"Between the Buttons was in a way my first attempt at conceptualising an image, and for various reasons we did the session early in the morning, but primarily because [the Stones] looked fantastic at that time. There was a look to them at dawn, after working through the night, that had a special quality. And there was something really special about being on the streets at 5:30 in the morning, when it was completely deserted.

"But it was cold and I knew I wouldn't have their cooperation for long, and Brian was becoming increasingly difficult. At one point I got quite upset because I felt he was ruining the pictures, but Andrew just said, 'Don't worry about Brian. We are at the point now where Brian can do whatever he likes. He can't fvck the Stones up. He can only contribute to the Stones' image, whatever he does.' And he was right.

"... I wanted these strange compositions, as if the band could disappear into the atmosphere, so it was a bit ghostly and a bit acid-y and always trying to get away from the smiling, clean-looking thing."

Andrew Oldham, in the introduction to the same book:

"Mick, Keith, Charlie and Bill, with a minimum of moaning and 'come on, Gered, it's bleedin cold, get a @#$%& move on, dear!' were on for the shot and up for the occasion ... The time came when the four Stones knew, from experience and instinct, that Gered was close to the series of moments that counted, and they gave him that extra zap, pulled themselves up and delivered the spark that separates the men from the toys. ... The Stones were suddenly there, Gered was there, the picture was there, taken. Our time was up, the light had changed, the day had moved on and belonged to others ... [This shoot] had been very close to the wind, stealing time that in minutes would be gone, on Her Majesty's property without a permit. ... It would be, and is, my favourite album cover."


- 1966, by Gered Mankowitz (ideageneration.com)

Yeah Buttons always a great listen...UK version wins hands down, worth it just to hear that Bo Diddley rattler Pleeeeease Go Home ome ome ome.

Yesterdays Papers..also search out earlier punky demo version and the cool instrumental backing track that clocks in at around some 40 seconds longer.

ROCKMAN

I agree that Buttons is a good sixties album.

On SHTMY you can hear Mick's vocal of course, and Keith, but is Brian the third vocal, or Bill??

Probably their quirkiest album. Quintessentially English in a Kinks-like way & the least rootsy album. The transitional phase between r&b and psych and a direct parallel to the 'Emotions' album by the Pretty Things (sandwiched between their meaty r&b and psychedelic SF Sorrow). Both have a vaguely pop-art swinging London feel and are experimenting with different textures, instruments and styles trying to reach for something new but still grounded in the familiar. This sense of being pulled in two opposing directions is perhaps what gives the album a slightly confused identity. There is quaintness and charm on one hand (eg.She Smiled Sweetly) but snarling modernity on the other (Connection & Please Go Home). Jagger's misogyny reaches it's nadir lyrically in Backstreet Girl, though wrapped up in a deceptively pretty tune, leaving a sharp bittersweet taste in the mouth. Yesterday's Girl also sounds exquisite and sensitive but the words are often extraordinarily cruel.

IMO the album is let down by mediocre tracks like All Sold Out & Please Go Home rather than the braver experiments like My Obsession & Cool, Calm Collected. The latter remains for me the Stones most bizarre and atypical song. Where else do you find a kazoo rubbing shoulders
with a sitar? The verses are almost sung in a comic vaudeville delivery but the chorus is classic early psychedelia; dreamy and droney. Then there's the preposterous speeding up into a frenzy! I think it is because this song is so alien and unclassifiable that it tends to get ignored even by fans of the album. Flawed but certainly interesting. The other big break with Stones tradition is Something Happened To Me Yesterday which manages to fuse oblique Dylanesque lyrics with an English brass band sound! (and features Keith's first few solo singing lines if I'm not mistaken). The Dixon of Dock Green ending is a hilarious but affectionate parody of some old school entertainer who's name escapes me (but can be found in Loog's book). Beneath the easy charm and bonhomie lay social comment and drug observations.

The fact that I think it's their third weakest album of the sixties (after No. 2 & Out of Our Heads) doesn't mean I don't love it, it's just testament to how great all the others are.

The conditions of recording weren't that chaotic like Satanic Majesties as it was in the can by the end of '66 and the first busts weren't until '67.

I absolutely love Buttons. A very creative period for the band IMHO. Brians contributions and the arrangements are wonderful. Despite growing drug issues, the band was quite prolific and I play this album often and listen to it with great affection. The video of Ruby Tuesday from the Ed Sullivan show reveals the band in great form. Brian and Keith are having some major fun and they clearly liked this song by the way they were acting. I am not sure why anyone would not like this record?

Well Ruby Tuesday isn't actually on the 'proper' release (the UK one) so it wouldn't be a factor.

My point is that this song was recorded during this period and that even though Ruby Tuesday wasn't on the UK album it does represent a good example of the kind of music they were making at the time. I like the fact that we have UK/US releases. I grew up with the US releases as a young boy so these were all I knew for many years. To me it was all just great Stones music when it was released. An exciting time to be a fan. I love the "proper" UK versions. I have both versions of releases that differed between the US and UK. I still say the Buttons sessions produced some great music.

Great album.

>> The conditions of recording weren't that chaotic like Satanic Majesties as it was in the can by the end of '66 and the first busts weren't until '67. <<

true. and yet mid 1966 to early 1967 was a weird time for the band in a different way: it was the Stones' first real break from what ALO has called "the three-and-a-half-year marathon wonder-schedule that didn't so much stop as keel over". Buttons was the first album the Stones had more than about two weeks to make; and this was the first spell when they had to try to cope with being Outlandishly Famous Pop/Rock Stars at Home in Their Leisure Time without freakin out too totally.


"What do you want - what?!"
- Keith

"Buttons was the first album the Stones had more than about two weeks to make; and this was the first spell when they had to try to cope with being Outlandishly Famous Pop/Rock Stars at Home in Their Leisure Time without freakin out too totally."

That's good point. But I think it took till Beggars Banquest that they were capable to cope with the "spare time", and made it work for them (well, the busts of 67 didn't quite help them, either). I mean, the things they have done in their crazy Oldham rush years - just visiting the studio qwuickly between the gigs - were quite amazing: "Satisfaction", the whole Aftermath...

- Doxa