page_title: Aftermath (Rolling Stones album)
section_title: Writing and recording
hierarchical_section_title: Aftermath (Rolling Stones album) / Writing and recording
caption_attribution_description: English: Jim Good Mountain Dulcimer made of Lacewood Sycamore, with walnut sound holes.
context_page_description: Aftermath is a studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. The group recorded the album at RCA Studios in California in December 1965 and March 1966, during breaks between their international tours. It was released in the United Kingdom on 15 April 1966 by Decca Records and in the United States on 2 July by London Records. It is the band's fourth British and sixth American studio album, and follows closely after a series of international hit singles that helped bring the Stones newfound wealth and popularity that rivalled their contemporaries, the Beatles.
  The album is considered by music scholars to be an artistic breakthrough for the Rolling Stones. It is their first to consist entirely of original compositions, all of which were credited to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Brian Jones emerged as a key contributor and experimented with instruments not usually associated with popular music, including the sitar, Appalachian dulcimer, Japanese koto and marimbas, as well as guitar and harmonica.
context_section_description: Aftermath is the first Stones LP to have all-original material by the group. All the songs were, at Oldham's instigation, written by and credited to the songwriting partnership of Jagger and Richards. The pair wrote much of the material during the October–December 1965 tour and recording began immediately after the tour ended. According to the band's bassist Bill Wyman in his book Rolling with the Stones, they originally conceived Aftermath as the soundtrack for a planned film, Back, Behind and in Front. The plan was abandoned after Jagger met the potential director, Nicholas Ray, and disliked him. The recording sessions took place at RCA Studios in Los Angeles on 6–10 December 1965 and, following promotion for their "19th Nervous Breakdown" single and an Australasian tour, on 3–12 March 1966. Charlie Watts, the group's drummer, told the press that they had completed 10 songs during the first block of sessions; according to Wyman's book, at least 20 were recorded in March. Among the songs were four tracks issued on singles by the Rolling Stones in the first half of 1966, the A-sides of which were "19th Nervous Breakdown" and "Paint It, Black".
  Referring to the atmosphere at RCA, Richards told Beat Instrumental magazine in February 1966: "Our previous sessions have always been rush jobs. This time we were able to relax a little, take our time." The main engineer for the album, Dave Hassinger, was pivotal in making the group feel comfortable during the sessions, as he let them experiment with instrumentals and team up with session musicians like Jack Nitzsche to variegate their sound. Wyman recalled that Nitzsche and Jones would pick up instruments that were in the studio and experiment with sounds for each song. According to Jagger, Richards was writing a lot of melodies and the group would perform them in different ways, which were mainly thought out in the studio. In the recollection of the engineer Denny Bruce, the songs often developed through Nitzsche organising the musical ideas on piano. Wyman was later critical of Oldham for nurturing Jagger and Richards as songwriters to the exclusion of the rest of the band. The bassist also complained that "Paint It, Black" should have been credited to the band's collective pseudonym, Nanker Phelge, rather than Jagger–Richards, since the song originated from a studio improvisation by himself, Jones and Watts, with Jones providing the melody line.
  Jones proved important in shaping the album's tone and arrangements, as he experimented with instruments that were unusual in popular music, such as the marimba, sitar and Appalachian dulcimer. Davis cites the "acid imagery and exotic influences" on Rubber Soul, particularly George Harrison's use of the Indian sitar on "Norwegian Wood", as the inspiration for Jones' experimentation with the instrument in January 1966: "One night George put the massive sitar in Brian's hands, and within an hour Brian was working out little melodies." According to Nitzsche, Jones deserved a co-writing credit for "Under My Thumb", which Nitzsche recalled as being an unoriginal-sounding three-chord sequence until Jones discovered a Mexican marimba left behind from a previous session, and transformed the piece by providing its central riff. Wyman agreed, saying, "Well, without the marimba part, it's not really a song, is it?"
  During the recording sessions, Richards and Oldham dismissed Jones' interest in exotic instrumentation as an affectation. According to the music journalist Barbara Charone, writing in 1979, everyone connected with the Stones credited Jones for "literally transforming certain records with some odd magical instrument". While Nitzsche was shocked at how cruelly they treated Jones, he later said that Jones was sometimes absent or incapacitated by drugs. Hassinger recalled seeing Jones often "laying on the floor, stoned or on some trip" and unable to play, but that his bandmates would wait for him to leave rather than entering into an argument as other bands would.
  Because of Jones' distractions, Richards ended up playing most of the guitar
caption: An Appalachian dulcimer, one of several instruments Jones introduced to the Stones' sound for the album
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