Flowers (Rolling Stones album)

Flowers is the second compilation album by the Rolling Stones, released in June 1967.[1] The group recorded the songs at various studios dating back to 1965. Three of the songs 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 "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", and the other two of which were recorded in December 1965 during the first lot of Aftermath sessions. The rest of the album tracks either appeared as singles or had been omitted from the American versions of Aftermath and Between the Buttons.

Flowers
Compilation album by
the Rolling Stones
Released26 June 1967 (1967-06-26)
Recorded3 December 1965 – 13 December 1966
Genre
Length38:04
LabelLondon
ProducerAndrew Loog Oldham
The Rolling Stones US chronology
Between the Buttons
(1967)		 Flowers
(1967)		 Their Satanic Majesties Request
(1967)

The title refers to the album's cover, with flower stems underneath the portrait of each of the band members. 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 number three in the US during the late summer of 1967 and was certified gold. In August 2002 it was remastered and reissued on CD and SACD digipak by ABKCO Records.

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Retrospective reviews
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[3]
Tom HullA−[4]

Because of its assorted compilation, Flowers was originally disregarded by some music critics as a promotional ploy aimed at American listeners.[5] Critic Robert Christgau, on the other hand, suggested that managers Andrew Loog Oldham and Lou Adler released the album as a "potshot at Sergeant Pepper itself, as if to say, 'Come off this bullshit, boys. You're only in it for the money."[6] 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 [...] 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.[6]

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."[5] 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."[3]

Many American fans consider "Flowers" to be a proper studio album as all but three of the tracks had never been released on an album in the USA before. The issue of different tracks on UK vs USA album versions was common in the 60's and plagued many bands including The Beatles. The Rolling Stones' next studio album "Their Satanic Majesties Request" and all subsequent studio albums have the same tracks on them regardless of where it was released.

Track listing

All songs by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, except "My Girl" by Smokey Robinson and Ronald White.

Side one
No.TitleOriginal releaseLength
1."Ruby Tuesday"January 1967 single, also on Between the Buttons (US)3:17
2."Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?"September 1966 single2:34
3."Let's Spend the Night Together"January 1967 single, also on Between the Buttons (US)3:36
4."Lady Jane"Aftermath (1966)3:08
5."Out of Time"Abridged alternate mix of Aftermath (UK, 1966) version3:41
6."My Girl"Recorded May 1965, with strings added in autumn 19662:38
Total length:19:54
Side two
No.TitleOriginal releaseLength
1."Back Street Girl"Between the Buttons (UK)3:26
2."Please Go Home"Between the Buttons (UK)3:17
3."Mother's Little Helper"Aftermath (UK); US single July 19662:46
4."Take It or Leave It"Aftermath (UK)2:46
5."Ride On, Baby"Recorded during the 1965 sessions for Aftermath2:52
6."Sittin' on a Fence"Recorded during the 1965 sessions for Aftermath3:03
Total length:18:10

Personnel
  • Mick Jagger – lead vocals, backing vocals, percussion
  • Keith Richards – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals; double bass on "Ruby Tuesday"; bass guitar on "Let's Spend the Night Together"
  • Brian Jones – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, 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

Charts
Chart performance for Flowers
Chart (1967) Peak
position
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[7] 5
Finland (The Official Finnish Charts)[8] 5
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[9] 7
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[10] 3
US Billboard 200[11] 3

Certifications
Certifications for Flowers
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[12] Gold 500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. "Show 46 – Sergeant Pepper at the Summit: The very best of a very good year. [Part 2] – All TracksDigital Library". Archived from the original on 10 July 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  2. Unterberger, Richie. Flowers at AllMusic. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
  3. Moon, Tom (2004). "The Rolling Stones". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. London: Fireside. pp. 695–699. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  4. Hull, Tom (n.d.). "Grade List: The Rolling Stones". tomhull.com. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  5. Unterberger, Richie. "Flowers - The Rolling Stones". AllMusic. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  6. Christgau, Robert (1970). "Album of the Year". The Village Voice. No. 8 January. New York. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  7. "Top RPM Albums: Issue 10091a". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  8. Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  9. "Offiziellecharts.de – The Rolling Stones – Flowers" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  10. "Norwegiancharts.com – The Rolling Stones – Flowers". Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  11. "The Rolling Stones Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  12. "American album certifications – The Rolling Stones – Flowers". Recording Industry Association of America.

Further reading
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