Flowers (The Rolling Stones album)



Flowers is an American compilation album by The Rolling Stones, released in the summer of 1967. The songs either appeared as singles, had been omitted from the American versions of Aftermath and Between the Buttons, were collected from studio sessions dating back to 1965, or are reissues of songs recently released on other albums.

Three tracks had never been released. "My Girl", "Ride On, Baby" and "Sittin' on a Fence", the first of which was recorded in May 1965 during the sessions for "Satisfaction," and the other two of which were recorded in December 1965 during the first lot of Aftermath sessions. The title refers to the album's cover, with flower stems underneath the portrait of each band member. Bassist Bill Wyman claims that Mick Jagger and Keith Richards deliberately arranged the stem of Brian Jones's flower so that it had no leaves, as a prank.The portraits are from the British version of Aftermath.

Flowers reached #3 in the US during the late summer of 1967 and went gold. In August 2002 it was remastered and reissued on CD and SACD digipak by ABKCO Records.

Critical reception
Because of its assorted compilation, Flowers was originally disregarded by some music critics as a promotional ploy aimed at American listeners. Robert Christgau, on the other hand, argued that music managers Andrew Loog Oldham and Lou Adler produced a concept album out of Flowers by "rendering their product invisible" when they released it soon after the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. He wrote in 1970 in The Village Voice:

"With its dumb cover art (as bad as the Mainstream Big Brother jacket, only bad on purpose), its cheap song selection (half repeated from previous albums), and its incongruous use of the already meaningless 'flower music' idea (although it did sound at first as if nasty Mick had given up 'hard rock,' now didn't it?) the tendency was to half-dismiss it as another London Records exploitation. Only later did we realize how strong and unflowery the new songs were, and only now do we suspect that perhaps Flowers can be construed as a potshot at Sergeant Pepper itself, as if to say, 'Come off this bullshit, boys. You're only in it for the money.'"

In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Richie Unterberger gave Flowers four-and-a-half out of five stars and said that the music it compiles is exceptional enough not to be dismissed as a marketing "rip-off": "There's some outstanding material you can't get anywhere else, and the album as a whole plays very well from end to end." Tom Moon gave it five stars in The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004) and wrote that "it holds together as one of the Stones' best records, a concept album about the social scene that gathers around five rich young men with an appetite for sex, drugs, and gossip."

Track listing
All songs by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, except where noted.

Side one
 * 1) "Ruby Tuesday" – 3:17
 * 2) * A January 1967 single release also featured on the American edition of Between the Buttons
 * 3) "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?" – 2:34
 * 4) * A September 1966 single release
 * 5) "Let's Spend the Night Together" – 3:36
 * 6) * A January 1967 single release also featured on the American edition of Between the Buttons
 * 7) "Lady Jane" – 3:08
 * 8) * Also featured on Aftermath in 1966, as well as the b-side of the U.S.-only "Mother's Little Helper" single in July 1966
 * 9) "Out of Time" – 3:41
 * 10) * An abridged alternate mix of the version originally released on the British edition of Aftermath in 1966
 * 11) "My Girl" (Smokey Robinson/Ronald White) – 2:38
 * 12) * Previously unreleased; recorded in May 1965, with strings added in autumn 1966

Side two
 * 1) "Backstreet Girl" – 3:26
 * 2) * Originally released on the British edition of Between the Buttons
 * 3) "Please Go Home" – 3:17
 * 4) * Originally released on the British edition of Between the Buttons
 * 5) "Mother's Little Helper" – 2:46
 * 6) * Originally released on the British edition of Aftermath; first released in the U.S. as a single in July 1966
 * 7) "Take It or Leave It" – 2:46
 * 8) * Originally released on the British edition of Aftermath
 * 9) "Ride On, Baby" – 2:52
 * 10) * Previously unreleased; recorded during the 1965 sessions for Aftermath
 * 11) "Sittin' on a Fence" – 3:03
 * 12) * Previously unreleased; recorded during the 1965 sessions for Aftermath

Personnel

 * Mick Jagger – vocals, percussion
 * Keith Richards – guitars, backing vocals; double bass on "Ruby Tuesday" ; bass guitar on "Let's Spend the Night Together"
 * Brian Jones – guitars, keyboards, bass guitar; koto on "Take It or Leave It" and "Ride On, Baby" ; dulcimer on "Lady Jane" ; recorder on "Ruby Tuesday"
 * Bill Wyman – bass guitar, backing vocals, organ, percussion; double bass on "Ruby Tuesday"
 * Charlie Watts – drums, percussion