The Rolling Stones "Aftermath"

Aftermath, released in April 1966 by Decca Records, is the fourth British studio album by the Rolling Stones. It was issued in the United States in June 1966 by London Records as the group's sixth American album. The album is considered an artistic breakthrough for the band: it is the first to consist entirely of Mick Jagger–Keith Richards compositions, while Brian Jones played a variety of instruments not usually associated with their music, including sitar, Appalachian dulcimer, marimbas and Japanese koto, as well as guitar, harmonica and keyboards, though much of the music is still rooted in Chicago electric blues. It was the first Rolling Stones album to be recorded entirely in the US, at the RCA Studios in California, and their first album released in true stereo. It is also one of the earliest rock albums to eclipse the 50-minute mark, and contains one of the earliest rock songs to eclipse the 10-minute mark ("Goin' Home").

In August 2002 both editions of Aftermath were reissued in a new remastered CD and SACD digipak by ABKCO Records, with the UK version containing an otherwise unavailable stereo mix of "Mother's Little Helper". In the same year the US edition of Aftermath was ranked No. 109 on the List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The album was included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

According to Bill Wyman in Rolling With The Stones, the album was originally conceived as the soundtrack for the never filmed feature Back, Behind And In Front. The whole deal fell off, though, when Jagger met with the potential director, Nicholas Ray, but didn't like him. These recording sessions were also very busy for the group, as they recorded 20 Jagger–Richards compositions while in Los Angeles. They were also much more comfortable during that album's sessions, as they had room and time for experimenting and polishing the arrangements, something they weren't able to do on earlier albums due to the "rushed" way these sessions were done.

The main engineer for the album was also pivotal in making the group feel comfortable during the sessions as he, according to Wyman, let them experiment with instrumentals and teaming up with session musicians like Jack Nitzsche to variegate their sound. Wyman also stated that he and Brian Jones would pick up instruments that were in the studio and experiment with various sounds for each song. This album is also notable for being the first LP to feature completely original material for the group, as Jagger and Richards were growing not only as songwriters, but as arrangers as well. In 2003, Jagger recalled that Richards was writing a lot of melodies and the group would perform them in a number of different ways which were mainly thought out in the studio, as opposed to the strict arranging and recording planning of other groups of the epoch.


Brian Jones was very important in shaping the album's tone and arrangements, as he experimented with a vast array of ethnic instruments such as the marimba, sitar, Appalachian dulcimer and organ, which contrasted with the folk, pop, country, blues and rock compositions, thus resulting in a diverse mix of musical styles. Aftermath was also the first record on which the majority of the guitar playing was left to Richards due to Jones' multi-instrumentalism, a habit that served as an intense training period for Richards' craftmanship which culminated in his playing almost all of the guitars on Let It Bleed.