The Rolling Stones - Flowers + 10 Bonus (Reissue, Remastered) (1967/2002)

Flowers was dismissed as a rip-off of sorts by some critics, since it took the patchwork bastardization of British releases for the American audience to extremes, gathering stray tracks from the U.K. versions of Aftermath and Between the Buttons, 1966-1967 singles (some of which had already been used on the U.S. editions of Aftermath and Between the Buttons), and a few outtakes. Judged solely by the music, though, it's rather great. "Lady Jane," "Ruby Tuesday," and "Let's Spend the Night Together" are all classics (although they had all been on an LP before); the 1966 single "Mother's Little Helper," a Top Ten hit, is also terrific; and "Have You Seen Your Mother Baby, Standing in the Shadow?," making its first album appearance, is the early Stones at their most surrealistic and angst-ridden. A lot of the rest of the cuts rate among their most outstanding 1966-1967 work. "Out of Time" is hit-worthy in its own right (and in fact topped the British charts in an inferior cover by Chris Farlowe); "Backstreet Girl," with its European waltz flavor, is one of the great underrated Stones songs. The same goes for the psychedelic Bo Diddley of "Please Go Home," and the acoustic, pensively sardonic "Sittin' on a Fence," with its strong Appalachian flavor. Almost every track is strong, so if you're serious about your Stones, don't pass this by just because a bunch of people slag it as an exploitative marketing trick (which it is). There's some outstanding material you can't get anywhere else, and the album as a whole plays very well from end to end.
Tracklist
01. Ruby Tuesday
02. Have You Seen Your Mother Baby, Standing In The Shadow
03. Let’s Spend The Night Together
04. Lady Jane
05. Out Of Time
06. My Girl
07. Back Street Girl
08. Please Go Home
09. Mother’s Little Helper
10. Take It Or Leave It
11. Ride On Baby
12. Sitting On A Fence

Bonus Tracks
13. Sad Day (US B-side to 19th Nervous Breakdown)
14. Out Of Time (Backing Track)
15. Have You Seen Your Mother Baby, Standing In The Shadow (Backing Track)
16. I Can See It (Backing Track)
17. Sometimes Happy, Sometimes Blue (Early Rehearsal For “dandelion”)
18. Yesterday’s Papers (Early Rehearsal)
19. Let’s Spend The Night Together (Backing Track)
20. Ruby Tuesday (Backing Track)
21. Complicated (Backing Track)
22. All Sold Out (Backing Track)