Sound Advice: CD Reviews - The Rolling Stones (England's Newest Hit Makers [USA])

CD Review:
England's Newest Hit Makers, the American version of the Stones debut LP in the UK has pretty much the same cover (except that it has the title on top) but does not include the same songs. This continues throughout the band's releases in the '60s. The last of this kind was Between the Buttons in '67 and starting with Their Satanic Majesties Request you get one edition of the album for both markets. The album Flowers, the sandwiched album between the two, is mostly a hodgepodge of British singles released to the American market. It had the British version of songs, of which some were already released in the US in American versions.

The American version of the band's debut LP was released almost 6 weeks after its British counterpart. Included on this version is a more R&B tinged cover of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away" a hit single by the band in the UK. Because, at the time, singles were released as individual "entities" in the UK, the British version of this album doesn't include it.

What is included on the British LP is the Stones version of Bo Didley's song "I Need You Baby." This song is finally put on an American release named Rolling Stones Now! issued in 1965 (the third American album put out by the band).

Another difference between the two albums is the different versions of the song "Tell Me." On the UK release, the song lasts much longer and is the better of the two. There are other little differences in the two albums, but they are too small to really mention.

The album itself, other than being the start of the greatest rock and roll band in music history and therefore a must have in any LP/CD library, is not their greatest. The band relies too much on covers to sustain the album and although it was a positive effect when first released it hinders it now.

Scott D. Brown