"I’m assuming most of you Stones fanatics will already have a copy of this. So why another version? This is a glorious-sounding mono release (from Flora, in 2002), at a nice 320 rip. (They used a rare Belgian version of the ‘Flowers’ cover artwork for this one, I’d never seen it before.) Included as bonus tracks are a few unmixed backing tracks, ‘Let’s Spend The Night Together’ and ‘Ruby Tuesday’ are the highlights." - Enjoy, ksn
Flowers was one of the weaker secondary Rolling Stones compilations, put out in the American market for little more reason than because there were enough tracks -- counting the four chart hits, "Ruby Tuesday," "Let's Spend the Night Together," "Have You Seen Your Mother Baby, Standing in the Shadow?," and "Mother's Little Helper" -- to allow the producers to get away with it; also, at the time, the band had taken a break from touring and recording, and this was a chance to get something out as a stopgap measure, even if there was very little cohesiveness or coherency to the album, as its material was drawn from at least a half-dozen different recording sessions scheduled many months or years apart. Still, for most American fans from the 1960s and beyond, it was the last successful "old style" Rolling Stones album, focusing on fun within the context of a three-minute song (what followed was the busted psychedelic experiment Their Satanic Majesties Request, and then the much more self-consciously serious Beggars Banquet, after which there was no turning back). What's more, some of those songs have worn well, especially "Ride On, Baby," "Sitting' on a Fence," and "Take It or Leave It." This is the mono version of the album, which completists will want to have but otherwise, in and of itself, offers no overly compelling surprises, just a hard, punchy sound on the material and a very clean transfer, rivalling that of the legitimate release. This was the last Stones album to be released in any serious quantity in mono in America (mono copies of Their Satanic Majesties Request were a lot harder to find), so there are people who will actually have heard these mixes -- "Out of Time" is pretty satisfying in this configuration, the centered voices, guitars, and percussion making for a pretty powerful combination, and the bass is about as forward as it's ever been on this song. The Bo Diddley-influenced "Please Go Home" also benefits from this treatment, and even "My Girl" -- perhaps the most ill-advised cover version of a song that the Rolling Stones ever recorded -- at least has a good beat to carry it, and the massed rhythm guitars and upfront bass sound are an improvement over the stereo version. The bonus tracks are a mixed bag, one B-side ("Sad Day") that should have been on the album, and a bunch of unmixed and partially mixed backing tracks of cuts from late 1966, and an odd rehearsal version of "Yesterday's Papers." - All Music Guide (Bruce Eder)
trax:
1. "Ruby Tuesday" – 3:17 January 1967 single release also featured on the US edition of Between the Buttons
2. "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?" – 2:34 A September 1966 single release
3. "Let's Spend the Night Together" – 3:36 A January 1967 single release also featured on the US edition of Between the Buttons
4. "Lady Jane" – 3:08 Originally released on Aftermath in 1966
5. "Out of Time" – 3:41 An abridged edit of the version originally released on the UK edition of Aftermath in 1966
6. "My Girl" (Smokey Robinson/Ronald White) – 2:38 Previously unreleased. Recorded in 1965
7. "Back Street Girl" – 3:26 Originally released on the UK edition of Between the Buttons
8. "Please Go Home" – 3:17 Originally released on the UK edition of Between the Buttons
9. "Mother's Little Helper" – 2:46 Originally released on the UK edition of Aftermath
10. "Take It or Leave It" – 2:46 Originally released on the UK edition of Aftermath
11. "Ride On, Baby" – 2:52 Previously unreleased. Recorded in 1965
12. "Sittin' On A Fence" – 3:03 Previously unreleased. Recorded in 1965
13. Sad Day – US B-Side for '19th nervous Breakdown'
14. Out Of Time – Backing Track
15. Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow ? – Backing Track
16. I Can See It – Backing Track
17. Something Happy, Something Blue – Early ‘Dandelion’ Rehearsal
18. Yesterday's Papers – Early Rehearsal
19. Let's Spend The Night Together – Backing Track
20. Ruby Tuesday – Backing Track
21. Complicated – Backing Track
22. All Sold Out – Backing Track
...served by ksn...
... Evidently, Boozoo's contract with Floyd Soileau wasn't exactly ironclad or exclusive during this time frame because a live CD (at Richard's) came along in 1987--Boozoo Chavis With Nathan & Zydeco Cha-Cha's--a shared album. Released on Rounder (RD-2069), it was supervised by Scott Billington. "It actually turned out all right considering the fact that I had borrowed [blues guitarist]John Mooney's van and set up a Sony F-1 digital recorder in the rear," said Scott. Still in print, it remains a steady seller but what was important about the venture was that Boozoo was able to make the first contact with the internationally distributed Rounder of Cambridge, MA, which would serve him in good stead in the 90s... - Larry Benicewicz, B.B.S.
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