Between the Buttons (UK Version)

Brand new sealed reissue of this classic album.

A1		Yesterday's Papers	2:06
A2		My Obsession	3:19
A3		Back Street Girl	3:29
A4		Connection	2:10
A5		She Smiled Sweetly	2:46
A6		Cool, Calm & Collected	4:19
B1		All Sold Out	2:19
B2		Please Go Home	3:19
B3		Who's Been Sleeping Here?	3:57
B4		Complicated	3:17
B5		Miss Amanda Jones	2:50
B6		Something Happened To Me Yesterday	4:57

 

Between the Buttons is the fifth British and seventh American studio album by The Rolling Stones, released on 20 January 1967 in the UK and 11 February in the US as the follow-up to Aftermath. It was the beginning of the Stones' brief foray into psychedelia. In 2012, the American version of Between the Buttons, which included "Ruby Tuesday" and "Let's Spend the Night Together", was ranked #357 on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.^[1]

Sessions for the album began on 3 August 1966 and lasted until the 11th at Los Angeles' RCA Studios during the Rolling Stones' 1966 American Tour. David Hassinger was the engineer for the album. Several songs were worked on; the backing tracks of six songs that would appear on the album were recorded, as were those of "Let's Spend the Night Together" and "Who's Driving Your Plane?", B-side of "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?", released as a single in late September. During this time, Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys was invited down to RCA Studios during the recording of "My Obsession", which remains one of his favourite Rolling Stones songs.

The band returned to London and sessions continued at IBC Studios from 31 August until 3 September. "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?" was completed to be released on 23 September before the Stones embarked on their seventh British tour which lasted into early October and was their last UK tour until 1971.

The second block of recording sessions for Between the Buttons began on 8 November at the newly opened Olympic Sound Studios in Barnes, London, alternating between Olympic and Pye Studios until 26 November. During this time the bulk of the album was completed including vocal and other overdubs on the previously recorded backing tracks and mixing. "Ruby Tuesday" was also completed.

Around the same time producer Andrew Loog Oldham was also preparing the US-only live album Got Live If You Want It!, a contractual requirement from London Records that contained live performances from their recent British tour as well as studio tracks overdubbed with audience noise. After that album's release on 10 December, a final overdubbing session for Buttons was held at Olympic Studio on 13 December 1966 before Oldham took the tapes back to RCA Studios in Hollywood for final mixing and editing.

The album was recorded using 4-track machines, with the initial sessions pre-mixed to make room on the remaining tracks for overdubs. Mick Jagger felt this process lost the clarity of the songs, commenting during an interview that, "we bounced it back to do overdubs so many times we lost the sound of it. [The songs] sounded so great, but later on I was really disappointed with it."^[2] He commented further; "I don't know, it just isn't any good. 'Back Street Girl' is about the only one I like."^[3] In an interview with New Musical Express, he even called the rest of the album "more or less rubbish."^[4]

Between the Buttons was the last album wholly produced by Oldham, with whom the Stones fell out in mid-1967 during the recording sessions for Their Satanic Majesties Request.