January 1967 - May 1967: This Was a Whole Different Ball Game

Pictured above: The Rolling Stones' Between the Buttons, 1967.

Between the Buttons was released by The Rolling Stones on January 20th, 1967, in both the US and the UK (with the same tracklisting and cover in both regions). It was the last time Andrew Oldham would reprise his role as the band's producer, with Allen Klein becoming their manager as early as 1965. It reached #2 in the US and #3 in the UK.

Despite in album's success, in early 1967 Stones members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Brian Jones began to be hounded by local authorities due to their recreational drug use, thanks to a three-part feature by tabloid News of the World titled "Pop Stars and Drugs: Facts That Will Shock You". The tabloid described alleged parties hosted by the band The Moody Blues attended by top stars such as The Who's Pete Townshend and Cream's Ginger Baker.

The second installment in particular targeted The Rolling Stones, in particular the aforementioned Jagger, Richards and Jones. A reporter who contributed to the story spent an evening at the exclusive London club Blaise's, where a member of the Rolling Stones allegedly took several Benzedrine tablets, displayed a piece of hashish and invited his companions back to his flat for a "smoke". The article claimed this was Mick Jagger, but it happened to be a mistake, with it in fact being Brian Jones.

About a week later, Sussex police, tipped off by the paper, raided a party at Keith Richards' home, Redlands. Despite no arrests being made at the time, Jagger and Richards were charged with drug possession.

"When we got busted at Redlands, it suddenly made us realize that this was a whole different ball game and that was when the fun stopped. Up until then it had been as though London existed in a beautiful space where you could do anything you wanted."

- Keith Richards, 2003

While Jagger, Richards and Jones were waiting for their trials and sentences, The Rolling Stones were occupied with recording their sixth British and eighth American album, called at the time Cosmic Christmas. It was meant to be even more psychedelic and experimental than their previous output, however these sessions would prove to be troublesome.

"The Cosmic Christmas sessions have to be one of, if not, the worst recording sessions I ever had the displeasure to participate in."

- Mick Jagger, 1980

"Every day at the studio it was a lottery as to who would turn up and what – if any – positive contribution they would make when they did. Keith would arrive with anywhere up to ten people, Brian with another half-a-dozen and it was the same for Mick. They were assorted girlfriends and friends. I hated it! Then again, so did Andrew (Oldham) and just gave up on it. There were times when I wish I could have done, too."

- Bill Wyman, 2002

Another factor for the troubled recordings for Cosmic Christmas was Brian Jones' own erratic behavior partially due to his excessive drug use. This culminated during a particularly bad recording session of the song Sing This All Together, in which Brian Jones would constantly interrupt the recording of vocals and blaming Mick Jagger for "singing it wrong". The two men soon got into a fight with Brian Jones walking out, going into a bathroom in the studio and proceeding to wreck it, damaging his hands after punching a mirror.

Pictured above: Cover of the She's a Rainbow single.

After this incident, Andrew Loog Oldman, the band's former manager and producer would finally quit, already fed up with lack of focus and drug busts. With this the band just gave up on working on Cosmic Christmas, deciding to assemble whatever they could and release a single. This single ended up being She's a Rainbow (with B-side 2000 Man). The single was heavily criticized for sounding too much like The Beatles' single Penny Lane (with B-Side Strawberry Fields Forever). After this The Rolling Stones would take some time off doing anything, only regrouping in March of 1968 to record Beggars' Banquet.

Pictured above: The Beatles in studio, 1967

With Merseyside Summers nearing completion on April 12th, 1967, Paul McCartney decided to pay The Beach Boys, who were recording SMiLE in Studio One of EMI Studios a visit.

"So I visited Brian and the guys at Studio One, and Brian showed me this song he was working on, called 'Do You Like Worms?', and it just blew my mind. It was so experimental yet so unique and impressive, I just had to double down on him. We ended up re-recording Penny Lane to give it more of an experimental edge... I was never that satisfied with how Penny Lane turned out in the single version."

- Paul McCartney, 2000

In the end, recording of Merseyside Summers concluded on April 23rd, 1967, released a little over a month later on May 26nd, 1967 to nearly universal critical acclaim.

Merseyside Summers

Side A

- 01. Good Morning Good Morning (3:23) [1]

- 02. Penny Lane (3:12) [2]

- 03. Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite! (2:37) [3]

- 04. Getting Better (2:47) [3]

- 05. Fixing a Hole (2:39) [3]

- 06. Lovely Rita (2:45) [3]

- 07. When I'm Sixty-Four (2:40) [3]

- 08. Strawberry Fields Forever (4:04) [4]

Side B

- 09. She's Leaving Home (3:25) [3]

- 10. Lucy in The Sky With Diamonds (3:36) [3]

- 11. Blue Jay Way (3:56) [4]

- 12. Within You Without You (5:09) [3]

- 13. With a Little Help From My Friends (2:45) [5]

- 14. A Day in The Life (5:36) [6]

Released: May 26th, 1967

Track sources:

[1] - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967 - preceeded by A Beginning from Anthology, Vol 3, 1996

[2] - Anthology, Vol. 2

[3] - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967

[4] - Magical Mystery Tour, 1967

[5] - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967 - with instrumental intro from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition, 2017

[6] - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967 - with intro from LOVE, 2006

Author's comments:

The version of Between the Buttons released internationally is the OTL equivalent of the US version.