|
Flowers
|
List Price: $13.98
Our Price: $12.99
Your Save: $ 0.99 ( 7% )
Recent Price Activity
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
 *Eligible orders over $25 ship free
Manufacturer: Abkco
|
Average Customer Rating:  
|
|
Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0018771950929
Format: Original recording reissued
Label: Abkco
Manufacturer: Abkco
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Abkco
Release Date: 2002-08-27
Studio: Abkco
|
|
|
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
This album represents a turning point for the Stones. Though they had not yet fully integrated the baroque aspirations of pop into their music, the flower-power influence had nonetheless begun to take root. While all the earlier elements of their sound are still firmly in place, in the folky "Backstreet Girl" and the relentlessly rocking "Let's Spend The Night Together," new sounds also crop up. Cuts like the woodwind-sweetened ballad "Ruby Tuesday" and the Middle Eastern-tinged "Mother's Little Helper" set the stage for the full-blown head-trip that would unveil itself later that year on THEIR SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST.
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: Bloody bloomin' flowers
Comment: It used to be that 45's were the mainstay of immediate satisfaction. LPs were for hits and leftovers.
Rolling Stones, like most bands of the time, wanted to put out their newest within a few weeks of recording it. That is what made the '60's so great; popular culture as soon as you turned the radio dial to your favorite station.
"Flowers" is a complilation of 45's from 1966 to 1967, most not on any LP. Baroque songs like "Lady Jane" "Ruby Tuesday" "Ride on Baby", Motown sweet first attempts "My Girl", hard rockin' nasty "Let's Spend The Night Together", folk/country Dylan "Back Street Girl" "Sittin' on A Fence", trad blues of "Please Go Home", contempory rock like "Mother's Little Helper".
This is an example of Rolling Stones as they found their way competing with Beatles and other jacks to kings. This is mid-way Stones, eager and figuring it out. Mid 1967 came the 45 "We Love You" and later the 3D LP. "Their Satanic Majesties Request".
"Flowers" is like a summer romance. Seems better with age.
The sound is basic '60's stereo with left/right separation and the mono is pristine (some will perfer).
Customer Rating:
Summary: A nice trip through the most "un-Stonesy" years
Comment: Totally blown opportunity, but thankfully it's a blown opportunity filled with good music. The intention of this album was to round up some stray tracks that didn't make the US versions of Aftermath and Between the Buttons, along with a few other songs that happened to be lying around. But for some weird reason, they also decided to include "Let's Spend the Night Together" and "Ruby Tuesday," which were both on the US version of Between the Buttons, and "Lady Jane," which was on everyone's version of Aftermath. Meanwhile, the classic a-side "19th Nervous Breakdown" somehow missed this album, even though it didn't come out on an LP in either the U.S. or the U.K.! That is both impractical and stupid.
However, there is still many a fine song here. The best of them is probably "Mother's Little Helper," which I already talked up in my Aftermath review. But do you know how cool I think that song is? They got the twelve-string guitar to sound like a sitar! That, I think, is pretty sweet. The song's lyrics must also be mentioned. Like "19th Nervous Breakdown," it's got a lot of drug references in them (here it's about a housewife who pops pills to get through the day), but they're cleverly hidden - the cool people would get them, but they would go over the censors' heads. "Out of Time" is a gem of a pop song as well, boasting a fantastic arrangement. Love the marimbas! And the harmonies! "Have You Seen Your Mother Baby, Standing in the Shadows?" is a great stab at psychedelia. That song is, like, ADD or something. Horns, guitars, vocals, pianos, and all that stuff fly in and out of the mix. Me likey! You probably already know "Ruby Tuesday" and "Let's Spend the Night Together," and if you've got Aftermath you've heard "Lady Jane." They're still classic songs, of course... but come on, enough is enough.
A lot of the other, less famous songs win, too! "Backstreet Girl" is easily the best song of what's left, an acoustic waltz with subtle shades of accordion and innuendo alike. Those who like that softer side of the Stones will also be quite pleased with "Ride On, Baby" and "Sittin' on a Fence," which are both lilting acoustic tunes. Meanwhile, fans of "Have You Seen Your Mother..." will probably also get a kick out of the acid Bo Diddley "Please Go Home," which works despite itself.
Not every song is great or even good, though. I've never been a "Take it or Leave It" aficionado (if such a thing even exists (which I doubt, because no one ever talks about it)), and their version of "My Girl" is an insult to the classic original. Everything that could go wrong with that song does. The strings sound terrible! It's oversung! Whee! Just kidding. Oh, and I guess it's annoying how "What to Do" missed this album even though it's on the UK version of Aftermath but not the U.S. one.
Still, some good songs here, and only one bad one. '66-'67 was an interesting era for the Stones, and this is a good representation of it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A good collection of songs in the age before albums were albums
Comment: I am the Stones Authority. This is a good collection of songs. The Stones were and always will be this band - a product of the Sixties. And this is the age before albums were albums, but merely a bunch songs stuck on vinyl as they fit. But come one - you've got "Ruby Tuesday" and "Lady Jane", haunting and wonderful songs. There is "Out Of Time" and "Let's Spend The Night Together". Even "Sitting On A Fence" and "Mother's Little Helper". They are fresh and alive, immature and sometimes awkward. But great and fun songs. This is the Rolling Stones. How can you not love this period in their career? Some of the serious fans don't want to listen to anything before Beggars Banquet, and others won't listen to anything after Between The Buttons, but I say you got to love and appreciate the entire arc of the flight - for there is not one without the other. Do we not look at the man and wonder what sort of child he was? Do we look at a favorite son and not wonder of tomorrow's promise for him? This was a great band right from the start. And you should really know about these songs and this time in the band's life.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Review from the Anti-Stones Fan
Comment: I never was a big Stones fan. I never was a big fan of "Ruby Tuesday", "Mother's Little Helper", and "Have You Seen Your Mother". But I must honestly say this album blows me away. I always thought I really liked "Let's Spend The Night Together", but after hearing everything that this album has to offer I barely listen to that song at all.
I bought this album, because I wanted "Out Of Time". I got so much more than that. "Ride On Baby", "Take It Or Leave It", "Back Street Girl", and "Lady Jane" along with "Out Of Time" are some of the best songs I've ever heard by any artist anywhere anytime.
The fact that these songs were written and performed by the same group that brought us "Satisfaction" and "Time Is On My Side" amazes me. Die-hard Stones fans will dislike me for dissing certain favorites, but to me these five songs that I mentioned are so much better than most of the most-beloved Stones songs. I always thought the Rolling Stones had a few really good songs in a huge catalog of decent songs, but these songs are incredible.
Customer Rating:
Summary: One of the Rolling Stones essentials
Comment: I finally got around to replacing my old casette version of "Flowers" with the CD. Although I prefer the earlier Rolling Stones' rough-around-the-edges sound to slick studio records like this one with the mandolins and harpsichords on some of the tracks, "Flowers" is still a great album. "Ruby Tuesday" is one of the Rolling Stones very best songs. Several of the other tracks carry interesting and sarcastic overtones of British class and social consciousness: "Lady Jane", "Back Street Girl", "Have you seen your Mother, Baby...", "Mother's Little Helper". The song "Let's Spend the Night Together" was so racy in it's day that the rolling Stones had to agree to change the Lyrics to "Let's Spend Some Time Together" to appear live on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1967. Taken as a whole, "Flowers" shows an introspective side of the Rolling Stones and has a lot of good tunes as well. This CD is well worth having in one's Rolling Stones collection.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
