Between the Buttons
The Rolling Stones' eclectic 1967 album, their last produced by Oldham.
Between the Buttons is the fifth studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released in January 1967. It reflects the band's brief foray into psychedelia and baroque pop balladry, and is among their most eclectic works. The album was the last produced by Andrew Loog Oldham, who had produced all of their previous albums.
Quick Facts
- Artist
- the Rolling Stones
- Released
- 20 January 1967
- Recorded
- 3 August – 13 December 1966
- Studio
- RCA (Hollywood)
- IBC
- Olympic and Pye (London)
- Genre
- Pop rock
- psychedelic rock
- baroque pop
- music hall
- Length
- 38:51
- Label
- Decca
- Producer
- Andrew Loog Oldham
Facts from the source article.
Track listing
Side one
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yesterday's Papers | 2:20 |
| 2 | My Obsession | 3:20 |
| 3 | Back Street Girl | 3:22 |
| 4 | Connection | 2:13 |
| 5 | She Smiled Sweetly | 2:42 |
| 6 | Cool, Calm & Collected | 4:15 |
| Total length | 18:12 | |
Side two
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | All Sold Out | 2:15 |
| 2 | Please Go Home | 3:14 |
| 3 | Who's Been Sleeping Here? | 3:51 |
| 4 | Complicated | 3:18 |
| 5 | Miss Amanda Jones | 2:48 |
| 6 | Something Happened to Me Yesterday | 4:58 |
| Total length | 20:24 | |
Side one
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Let's Spend the Night Together | 3:29 |
| 2 | Yesterday's Papers | 2:20 |
| 3 | Ruby Tuesday | 3:12 |
| 4 | Connection | 2:13 |
| 5 | She Smiled Sweetly | 2:42 |
| 6 | Cool, Calm & Collected | 4:15 |
| Total length | 18:11 | |
Track listing from the source article.
Recording and background
Brian Jones kept up the habit he'd started on the previous album, bringing in a wide variety of instruments for these sessions. He only played electric guitar on one song for the US version and one for the UK version. Bill Wyman handled bass on all but three tracks, where Keith Richards took over bass duties, while Charlie Watts and Mick Jagger played on every song. The piano parts were handled by Ian Stewart, Jack Nitzsche, and Nicky Hopkins. The first round of recording took place in early August 1966 at RCA Studios in Los Angeles, with David Hassinger engineering. During that time, the band laid down backing tracks for six album songs, plus "Let's Spend the Night Together" and the B-side "Who's Driving Your Plane?"—the latter had come out in late September as the flip side of "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?" Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys stopped by RCA while they were working on "My Obsession," a track he loved for the rest of his life. The Stones then went back to London and recorded at IBC Studios from late August into early September. They finished "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?" and released it on 23 September, then kicked off their seventh British tour, which ran into early October and turned out to be their last UK tour until 1971. The main sessions for Between the Buttons started on 8 November at Olympic Sound Studios in Barnes, with work shifting between Olympic and Pye Studios until 26 November. Most of the album came together then, including vocals, overdubs, and mixing, and "Ruby Tuesday" was completed as well. Around the same time, manager Andrew Loog Oldham was putting together the US-only live album Got Live If You Want It! to satisfy a contract with London Records. After that record came out on 10 December, the band did one final overdub session for Between the Buttons at Olympic on 13 December 1966, and Oldham took the tapes to RCA in Hollywood for the last mixing and editing.
Artwork
The photoshoot for the album cover took place in November 1966 on Primrose Hill in North London, photographed by Gered Mankowitz, who also shot the band photos for the cover of Out of Our Heads. The shoot occurred at 5:30 in the morning following an all-night recording session at Olympic Studios. Using a homemade camera filter constructed of black card, glass and Vaseline, Mankowitz created the effect of the Stones dissolving into their surroundings, aiming to capture the ethereal, druggy feel of the time. The cover photo was shot at the Primrose Hill viewpoint in the misty early-morning sunlight, looking west. Brian Jones' dishevelled and gaunt appearance disturbed many fans; critic David Dalton wrote that he looked "like a doomed albino raccoon." Mankowitz later commented that Jones was "lurking in his collar" and that the way he appeared to not give a shit was exactly what the band was about. Outtakes from this photo session were later used for the cover and inner sleeves of the 1972 ABKCO compilation More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies). The back cover is dominated by a six-panel cartoon accompanied by a rhythmic poem drawn by Watts. The album title, "between the buttons," was a name Jagger came up with after noticing the shiny buttons on Watts' shirt. On the cover, the band name and album title appear on the buttons on Watts' overcoat, often difficult to see; this text was included blown up on a hype sticker affixed to original US pressings and added to the bottom corners of artwork for several reissues.
Marketing and sales
The UK version of Between the Buttons came out on Decca Records on 20 January 1967, at the same time as the single "Let's Spend the Night Together" backed with "Ruby Tuesday." In line with British industry practice then, that single was kept off the album. The record hit number three in the UK. Three days later, on 23 January 1967, London Records issued the US edition. For the American market, "Let's Spend the Night Together" and "Ruby Tuesday" were added to the track list, while "Back Street Girl" and "Please Go Home" were cut (those songs later appeared on the June 1967 US compilation Flowers). Thanks to "Ruby Tuesday" reaching number one, the album climbed to number two in the US and earned a gold certification. In August 2002, ABKCO Records put out remastered CD and SACD digipak versions of both editions. Nearly every reissue after 1968 has been in stereo; the mono mix was finally released on CD, vinyl, and as a digital download in 2016 as part of The Rolling Stones in Mono. Most reprints have stuck with the US track list to capitalize on the two hit singles, but in 2003 ABKCO also issued the UK version on 180-gram vinyl in the United States.
Critical reception and legacy
Robert Christgau called Between the Buttons "among the greatest rock albums" and included it in his "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings. He wrote of the album for Rolling Stone magazine's "40 Essential Albums of 1967" that it is distinguished by complex rhymes, complex sexual stereotyping, and the non-blues pianos of Ian Stewart, Jack Nitzsche, Nicky Hopkins, and Brian Jones. AllMusic's Richie Unterberger hailed it as one of the Rolling Stones' strongest, most eclectic LPs. David Browne called it "a cheeky set of sardonic Swinging London vaudeville rock," while Christopher Walsh wrote that it brims with overlooked gems. Tom Moon wrote that the album was "lighter and thinner" than Aftermath and that Jagger and Richards were suddenly overdosing on pop melody. Music scholars observed baroque pop and music hall on the album. Jim DeRogatis included Between the Buttons in his 2003 list of essential psychedelic rock albums. In 2003, the American version was ranked number 355 on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, and re-ranked number 357 in 2012.
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