46. The Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones (1964)

1. Route 66

2. I Just Want to Make Love to You

3. Honest I Do

4. Mona (I Need You Baby)

5. Now I've Got a Witness (Like Uncle Gene and Uncle Phil)

6. Little by Little

7. I'm a King Bee

8. Carol

9. Tell Me (You're Coming Back)

10. Can I Get a Witness

11. You Can Make It If You Try

12. Walking the Dog

B-

And so we come to the Rolling Stones, perhaps the most overrated act in rock history. Yes, they produced "Street Fighting Man" and "Gimme Shelter". They also foisted the godawful "Brown Sugar" on the world, and let's not forget "Dancing in the Streets".

Anyway, at the point of time of this album the Rolling Stones were just another rhythm and blues act, taking  American black music and fumbling through pretty solid interpretations of the original music. The rhythm section is aces and Keith Richards is a great guitarist. The problem is (and always will be) Mick Bloody Jagger. The guy is a fine enough singer, and on this album he does a decent job. But honestly, he would go on to be one of the most self-indulgent singers in rock, with a sort of overblown drawl that only appealed to heroin addicts and fourteen year old girls. 

At this point, at least, he was just doing straight interpretations. As a result he can't fuck-up the dynamite musicianship of the band, and the result is some pretty enjoyable music. There's nothing particularly remarkable about this album, and honestly if it wasn't the Rolling Stones'  debut it probably wouldn't be on this list, but it's an enjoyable R&B record. I particularly like the Bo Diddley nod "Mona", which introduces interesting rhythms and a distorted guitar to an otherwise straight R&B record. 

So, yeah. The Stones were always a good band and they do a good job here. Just be prepared in the future for several albums of a skinny white dude screaming about drug abuse in the voice of a black preacher.