Customer Rating: 
Summary: The Stones Go a Little Psychedelic
Comment: You can tell right away by looking at photographer Gered Mankowitz's kind of blurry psychedelic photograph that this isn't going to be your ordinary Rolling Stones record. Well, I suppose there are no ordinary Stones' records, but this one is a bit different. The Beatles were doing "Revolver" around this time. Bob Dylan was doing "Blonde on Blonde," Donovan was going all Flower Power. Some of that stuff was rubbing off on Mick and the boys and it wasn't all bad, no sir, because "Between the Buttons" is sort of the result. This is just a bang up fun record to listen to "Ruby Tuesday," was a huge hit and is a wowza of a song. "Yesterday's Papers" is sort of a kiss off song, you know, a guy telling a girl she's yesterday's news. I remember reading somewhere that Mick was sort of telling a girl he was through with her by doing this song. I like every song on this record, both the US and the UK versions. The Stones really pour their heart out here. "Between the Buttons" is a must own record for any Stones fan, for any Rock and Roll aficionado as well.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Comment: The last of the "butchered" Stones titles is an odd collection of songs which Jagger once labeled, "...a complete wash but for one or two tracks...". The UK pressing did not contain either of the hit singles related to the recording sessions of this album, yet the two alternative selections were impressive. The US pressing omitted 2 great songs from the earlier UK issue (Please Go Home & Back Street Girl), replacing them with the double-hit, Let's Spend the Night Together/Ruby Tuesday. Upon release this title was not well received but has since been recognized as a Jones-era classic. Miss Amanda Jones provided a theme to the 1987 film Some Kind of Wonderful, and She Smiled Sweetly offered a touching moment from The Royal Tenenbaums. Still hard to listen to from start to finish, it is nonetheless valuable for at least a few reasons. Keith gets his first shot at lead vox, sharing the spotlight with Jagger on Something Happened To Me Yesterday. Back cover art by Mr. Charlie Watts.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: The Stones' answer to Rubber Soul
Comment: This was the Stones' "folk-rocky" album....the raw one with hummables a go go, lots of guitar and a definite folk-rock-country flavor. The one thing I think you will find with ALL of the Stones' earlier work, say, before "Satanic Majesties" is that there is an AWFUL lot of country influence that next to no critic has ever acknowledged! "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby", "19th Nervous Breakdown", "Satisfaction", "Mother's Little Helper" and "Sittin' On A Fence" are so country influenced, you half expect to see Conway Twitty in the band credits!But back to "Buttons"....This album was actually getting AWAY from that to some degree, while keeping a kind of raw, agrarian feel nonetheless. There is a lot more rock-ish guitar work in this, on cuts like "Miss Amanda Jones" or slapping bass on "Yesterday's Papers", a vicious song aimed at their old loves, with Richards doing his thing in creating riffs that you THINK you've heard before, but never have. There's also a LOT of keyboard and even xylophone on these cuts...the Stones were just starting to experiment! This, for all intents and purposes, was the Stones' first single-heavy album...they could have mined it forever for top-ten hits, well into the "Sticky Fingers" era. I'm trying to fathom, though, why they picked the least creative tune on the album, "Let's Spend The Night Together" for the B-side of "Ruby Tuesday", when they could have put something like "Cool, Calm, Collected" on it.
Mick STILL can't sing, but the venom he projects against the type of female hangers-on he and the Beatles encountered after their initial splash of fame is priceless to behold. He also exhibits admiration for some other ladies he encountered....I wonder if he was talking about Anita Pallenberg, Marianne Faithfull or some of the other legendary Stones' women in these songs!
Anyway, if I were to recommend ANY Stones album over all, it MIGHT be this one. I've bought this album maybe 3-4 times since it came out, for some odd reason, due to loss, damage, or whatever, and STILL can't figure out why.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Carlton and his wordy reviews
Comment: Carlton, how about actually reviewing an item instead of always quoating books we can get at the library?
Customer Rating:
Summary: Clearing Up Some Confusion
Comment: This is the un-remastered February 10, 1967 - U.S. London release. To further explain:With the release of the remastered super audio CDs (SACD) of the Stones ABCKO catalog (which includes all the early Decca/London material), there are now 2 different Between The Buttons releases available, the original UK version that was released on January 20, 1967 and the US version that was released on February 10, 1967. There are now 2 US versions, the original CD release (which is the same mix as the original vinyl release) and the remastered version, which has much better sound, although some reviewers are commenting that not all tracks have been mixed to the same quality level.
In addition, the UK and US versions include different tracks. The Stones designed the UK release, which did not include the just released single Let's Spend The Night Together and Ruby Tuesday. The American record execs removed Back Street Girl and Please Go Home to make room for the two single cuts. To clarify:
There are 3 Between The Buttons releases:
January 20, 1967 - U.K. Decca (remastered on SACD)
.....does not include Let's Spend The Night Together and Ruby Tuesday
February 10, 1967 - U.S. London (remastered on SACD)
.....does not include Back Street Girl and Please Go Home
February 10, 1967 - U.S. London (not remastered)
.....does not include Back Street Girl and Please Go Home
Back Street Girl and Please Go Home were released in the U.S. on the Flowers album on July 14, 1967. Let's Spend The Night Together and Ruby Tuesday were released on an album in the U.K. on Through The Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2) on September 12, 1969.
Note: ABCKO acquired the Stones' catalog when Allen Klein became their manager in the 70s. The resulting legal battles produced releases that the Stones opposed (they took out full page adds asking fans not to buy them), including the controversial Metamorphosis releases (which are now available on CD for the 1st time ever). But the sad fact is that the Stones lost control of their great early material. With the remastered SACD releases, we at last have some idea of what they really sounded like in the studio. I guess if we had these 40 years ago they would have ended up Greatest Rock And Roll Band in the Universe instead of just the Greatest Rock And Roll Band in the World.
The Between The Buttons tracks were recorded in 1966 as follows:
Aug 3-11, 1966 at RCA Studios in Hollywood
.....Who's Been Sleeping Here?
.....Miss Amanda Jones
.....Connection
.....Back Street Girl
.....All Sold Out
.....Please Go Home
.....Let's Spend The Night Together
.....Something Happened To Me Yesterday
.....Cool, Calm, Collected
.....Complicated
.....Yesterday's Papers
.....She Smiled Sweetly
.....My Obsession
Nov 9-26, 1966 at Olympic and Pye Studios in London
.....Ruby Tuesday
.....final mixes were done on all the Aug RCA Studio tracks as well
Tracks recorded at the Aug RCA sessions but not released on Between The Buttons were:
.....Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?
.....Who's Driving Your Plane (also released as Who's Driving My Plane)
Tracks recorded at the Aug RCA sessions but never released were:
.....Panama Powder Room
.....Godzi
.....Get Yourself Together
.....Something BB
Tracks recorded at the Nov Olympic/Pye sessions but not released on Between The Buttons were:
.....Dandelion
Tracks recorded at the Aug RCA sessions but never released were:
.....Trouble In Mind
.....English Summer
An interesting note is that English Summer was intended as a UK single release, but it was put on hold (and never released) when Brian, Mick, and Keith's arrests began in the summer of 67. We Love You was released instead. It was recorded with Nicky Hopkins, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney as a thank you for fan support during the trials.
This information comes from "It's Only Rock And Roll: The Ultimate Guide To The Rolling Stones" by Karnbach and Bernson and from my own collection.
