The Rolling Stones, Now! This album was recorded in 1964 and released in early 1965. I was born at the start of that year and our family moved into the home where I would grow up sometime in 1966. I believe some teenagers from the previous family left behind a couple of albums, this being one. As soon as I could pull the vinyl disc from the sleeve and place it on a turntable, well, I did. To my very young ears the sound of the band, The Rolling Stones, was disturbing. There was a menacing element there. Instead of sweet music, orderly musical salve, I heard darkness and near chaos. The guitars were sort of out of pitch and sometimes drenched in heavy reverb or tremolo. I did not know these descriptive words yet, of course. Keep in mind that I was a few years old, at most. But, I still recall what I heard. The singer’s voice was one of no polish. Instead of a fine vocalist he came across as something opposite of that. The intent was not to be a skilled singer, but, someone delivering an unstable message, setting up a weird vibe. I detected that, even at a few years of age. Especially, at a few years of age. It was kind of scary, yet, I was drawn to it! Make no mistake, this was the original Rolling Stones line-up. Brian Jones, now not even a household name to countless Stones concert-goers, was the leader. His fingerprints are all over this music. Jagger and Richards were writing a few songs for those early albums, but, most of the material came from covering Bo Diddley, Solomon Burke, Chuck Berry, and other American black artists. Their take on these covers was of English white musicians trying to forge their own identity from it all. And, they did. No, it was not American blues. But, it was something unique that SPRANG from it. Down Home Girl is the track I most remember giving me an uncomfortable feeling. It was like, as a child, being at a carnival well past bedtime, wandering over to a dark fringe of the midway. The sounds and flashing colors were mixing in with my thought process, and, I was nearly sleepwalking. I was vulnerable and knew it, but, trudged on in my tired legs, hoping the sound would be trusting. Like I said earlier, it was a menacing sound coming from the turntable and speakers, but, a sound that pulled me in to it. THAT was the first Rolling Stones experience for me. And, I hear it a bit from other times in the band’s career. Especially, in the first three or four albums. But, that particular record, The Rolling Stones, Now! (a US release title), is the one. THAT is Rolling Stones for me. It was more under Brian Jones’ influence at the time, and the totality of Jones, Richards, Watts, Wyman, and Jagger made up the group. To appreciate what came from that record try and imagine: no Bee Gees, no Van Halen, no Nights In White Satin from Moody Blues, no Hendrix, no Garth Brooks, no Thriller, no Dark Side Of The Moon, no Beyoncé. Even the Beatles, the larger than life act AT THAT PRECISE TIME, had not created Eleanor Rigby yet. THAT was the point in time when this dark, strange R&B/pop/rock and roll hybrid was released. What a bizarre sound it still is. And, as in my childhood, I am drawn to it.