Flowers (Rolling Stones album) explained

Flowers
Type:compilation
Artist:the Rolling Stones
Cover:FlowersLP.jpg
Recorded:3 December 1965 – 13 December 1966
Length:38:04
Label:London
Producer:Andrew Loog Oldham
Chronology:The Rolling Stones US
Prev Title:Between the Buttons
Prev Year:1967
Next Title:Their Satanic Majesties Request
Next Year:1967

Flowers is the second compilation album by the Rolling Stones, released in June 1967.[1] The group recorded the songs at various studios dating back to 1965. Three of the songs had never been released: "My Girl", "Ride On, Baby" and "Sittin' on a Fence", the first of which was recorded in May 1965 during the sessions for "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", and the other two of which were recorded in December 1965 during the first lot of Aftermath sessions. The rest of the album tracks either appeared as singles or had been omitted from the American versions of Aftermath and Between the Buttons.

The title refers to the album's cover, with flower stems underneath the portrait of each of the band members. Bassist Bill Wyman claims that Mick Jagger and Keith Richards deliberately arranged the stem of Brian Jones's flower so that it had no leaves, as a prank. The portraits are from the British version of Aftermath. Flowers reached number three in the US during the late summer of 1967 and was certified gold. In August 2002 it was remastered and reissued on CD and SACD digipak by ABKCO Records.

Critical reception

Because of its assorted compilation, Flowers was originally disregarded by some music critics as a promotional ploy aimed at American listeners. Critic Robert Christgau, on the other hand, suggested that managers Andrew Loog Oldham and Lou Adler released the album as a "potshot at Sergeant Pepper itself, as if to say, 'Come off this bullshit, boys. You're only in it for the money."[2] He wrote in 1970 in The Village Voice:

In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Richie Unterberger gave Flowers four-and-a-half out of five stars and said that the music it compiles is exceptional enough not to be dismissed as a marketing "rip-off": "There's some outstanding material you can't get anywhere else, and the album as a whole plays very well from end to end."[3] Tom Moon gave it five stars in The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004) and wrote that "it holds together as one of the Stones' best records, a concept album about the social scene that gathers around five rich young men with an appetite for sex, drugs, and gossip."

Many American fans do not consider "Flowers" to be a proper studio album as all but three of the tracks had never been released on an album in the USA before. The issue of different tracks on UK vs USA album versions was common in the 60's and plagued many bands including The Beatles. The Rolling Stones' next studio album "Their Satanic Majesties Request" and all subsequent studio albums have the same tracks on them regardless of where it was released.

Track listing

All songs by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, except "My Girl" by Smokey Robinson and Ronald White.

Personnel

Charts

Chart (1967–68)! scope="col"
Peak
position
Finland (The Official Finnish Charts)[4] 5

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Show 46 – Sergeant Pepper at the Summit: The very best of a very good year. [Part 2] – All TracksDigital Library . 2017-10-30 . 2017-07-10 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170710134738/https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19813/m1/ . dead .
  2. News: Christgau. Robert. Robert Christgau. 8 January. 1970. Album of the Year. The Village Voice. New York. 17 October 2014.
  3. Web site: Unterberger. Richie. Richie Unterberger. Flowers - The Rolling Stones. AllMusic. 17 October 2014.
  4. Book: Pennanen, Timo. Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972. 1st. Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. Helsinki. 2006. 978-951-1-21053-5. fi.