12 x 5, Rolling Stones, 1964, :32
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Yeah, yeah, this is the Rolling Stones, the Greatest Rock ’n’ Roll Band in the World, yet I’m just not sure that this album adds anything to their accomplishments. White British lads covering Berry’s “Around and Around” without adding their own spin on it is pretty much the extent of this album’s raison d’être. Showing that the Stones were still working toward their bad-boy sound, the version of “Time Is On My Side” (also a cover; I never knew) here is more languid than the later, justly more well-known version, and features an organ solo rather than guitar. Their one-and-a-half minute version of "Susie Q" doesn't need to exist. The three originals here are decent enough, but are early shuffle blues, nothing special. Favorite tracks: “Under the Boardwalk” is utterly inessential and slavishly faithful to the original, but it’s a good song. And I guess the same goes for "It's All Over Now."
