Paint it great?
Tom Benton | North Springfield, VT USA | 01/26/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I haven't heard the original U.K. cut, but the U.S. version of "Aftermath" was a real triumph for the Rolling Stones. It was the first record composed solely of material written by Jagger and Richards, and it's great stuff--twangy, bluesy, oily, sharp, and crisp as hell. Richards' guitar sounds like a carriage ride into the underworld. And even if "Paint It, Black" sounds like a one-way ticket to that place--which means it sounds pretty darn great--the cat-eyed "Under My Thumb" is the highlight of the record. They hadn't quite figured out how to channel their, for lack of a better term, bitchyness yet, so this cut of the album sounds a little too even. Still, it was the first gem the Stones cut. And for those who point to "Thumb" and "Stupid Girl" as misogynism, Jagger himself said it best: "Any bright girl would understand that if I were gay I'd say the same thing about guys.""