The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones could never exist today. A band whose debut album is almost entirely cover songs would never be allowed to become one of the biggest and most influential bands. This is my first time listening to this album and it sounds like very standard rock n roll and rhythm and blues of the 50s and early 60s. It's done well, and it's not bad. I just can't help but think that the success of this album was mainly driven by people who just never bothered to listen to this music before because it was for *those* people.

I love the Stones, but I never thought much of this album. In many of the songs, they rush and drag tempos. It’s been suggested they did this purposefully, but I find it sloppy and distracting.

I almost gave this a 2, but its the stones so...

Probably listened to by the more die hard fan, but I liked the album overall. Nice 60's blues rock, if you're so inclined. Favourite tracks: Route 66, Little By Little, Carol, Walking The Dog

I like this Stones but I’m not their biggest fan and I don’t feel like they really got going as a band until the 70s. At this point they’re getting by largely covering blues and soul artists which was hardly pioneering. Must listen inly in terms of the Stones evolution. Its inclusion here feels revisionary.

yeah it's fine

Good

It's an interesting historical artifact in the history of the Rolling Stones and British rock, but it's not extraordinary. The fact that they became as big as they did after this debut album speaks to how much more patience record labels had then. In addition, it also shows how obsessed with American blues and R&B they were.

Just because they got good does not mean this is good. For historical purposes only.

I'm afraid this is another fairly dull Stones album. However, it does beat out Aftermath because it's mostly covers of older blues songs, versus Aftermath which really just showed off that the Stones mostly hadn't figured out how to write songs yet.

Giving this a 3 because while I don’t think it should be included in the 1001 due to basically all of the songs being covers, I did enjoy the music itself. So in a vacuum, it’s a 3.

6/10

I like the Rolling Stones. The Rolling Stones have released 28 studio albums. Why in the world is this one on the list?!

It’s solid and you can hear the band that they’re going to become, but it’s really an album full of covers that were done much better by the originals. Still something special you can hear but nothing exciting by today’s standards

A brilliant debut album.

Beautiful - swinging, driving, rocking and rolling. Some albums are important because of their importance at the time of release, which applies to this blast of rhythm and blues, but not all important albums still sound full of joy and vibrancy - this one does. An uplifting listen

Favourite Songs: Mona Can I Get A Witness

Ts is actually so tuff Just a couple questionable songs

This album sounds like a band that is established and has truly honed their sound

Thought it was some good covers by the Stones. Interesting that they only had one original song.

Ummmm this was boring & proves reason that debuts very rarley should be on list

These stones certainly do roll. If by roll, you mean play covers of American rock n' roll and essentially high-five on tape after amateurish guitar solos. I can't quite decide if this kind of record is essential or fodder. Did this need to happen in the sequence it did from the people who performed it, or if you blasted these guys off the face of the earth would this album have been released in due course anyway. When something shapes society as we know it, it's hard to even begin to imagine what life would sound like without it. Is this one of those? Or do it be one of those there thems? In my ear, in this post-rock n' roll world, this sounds like incredibly boring apery that comes a dime-a-dozen. I'm willing to believe that kneejerk reaction, OR that it changed life as we know it. I'm a King Bay. 2.5 HIGHLIGHTS: Par(snip) for the Course

All covers except one tack “Tell Me” which was Keith Richards and Mick Jagger’s very first compilation together.

5/10

Can't say that I ever listened to early Rolling Stones stuff. It was interesting to hear their stripped down bluesy pieces. Short and sweet, enjoyable songs, but nothing that I would probably revisit. Rating: 5/10 (Medicore/Average) Favorite Song: Can I Get A Witness

The gritty lads from London had little original material on their debut LP, but they set themselves apart from the other UK 60’s pop-sensations through the authenticity of their Rhythm and Blues sound.

It was fine. The Rolling Stones have a handful of great songs, but everything else is just fine.

Good album from a good band, like hearing the really old stuff lol

Eh

Basically a blues tribute band at this stage but the signs were good in self penned track Tell Me

Promising young band, I think they might have a chance of success.

It's okay but very tame for me

Early Rolling Stones is kinda boring I learned.

It's The Rolling Stones, and it's magnificent. Bluesy, energetic, so enjoyable and fun to listen to, and with some great songs. It may be nothing innovative, but in this album they really play their cards by making a pretty solid debut. I may judge it considering their later albums, but I also have to speak for the great time I had listening to this one. So, I cannot deny that they were really fresh even at the beginning. They are not inventing anything in this album, but, damn, ain't it so much fun?

You gotta TELL ME….

I’ve grown to like the Stones. I hadn’t listened to their early stuff and I’m not digging it much. Not sure if it’s all the covers or something else.

I don’t know why I wasn’t expecting much but this was really good

Just some basic blues, but basic blues is pretty great stuff

Pretty good.

Tempted to rate this a 4, but will stick with a 3. I ended up liking this a lot more than expected knowing that it was mostly covers. However, the Stones did a pretty awesome job with each of them. You can really hear the potential that they had in this debut album and would only be a matter of time until they blew up.

When people say that at their roots, the Rolling Stones are a blues band, this is what they’re talking about. I listened to the US version that opens with Not Fade Away because, frankly, I love that song and just about any version of it. The rest are of the covers are pretty solid overall. I’m pretty soft on the only original song but it’s easy to see why this sound was so exciting at the time.

Mostly covers which all sound good and suggest their fealty to blues rock. The one original is pretty good and is the longest song on the album hinting at the band's ambitions on an otherwise standard, alright pre-Rubber Soul changing the game album

A great debut from a great r&b / rock and roll / Blues / country rock/blues rock band. Mick Jagger has one of the finest r&b voices around and is probably in the top three greatest front men of all time. Up there with James Brown. Mick himself would tell you that James Brown is better but Mick is almost as good. Of course, Keith Richards is the master of great riffs and hooks. The rest of the band is as tight as you can get. And they would only go on to get better.

This was fine, they know how to rock but this one just felt like filler songs for all their other albums. It was cohesive and fit together weel but nothing stood out as amazing.

It’s interesting their debut album was mostly other people’s songs. I guess that’s what people did back then. They did a good job with them, and I enjoyed the couple originals on here too. A solid “dipping of their toes into the waters of what would become…”

I'm a fan of The Rolling Stones, but recordings from the 60s haven't aged very well. I much prefer their later albums but this one still has some good tracks.

More fun than some of the later stuff at least.

not my favorite by them… unsure how this album made the list

S'fine. Not my favorite Stones album.

Anything they touch is gold.

It's interesting to hear this in the bigger picture of the emerging Rolling Stones story of the mid-60s but there's always a ceiling with albums of other people's songs, as far as I'm concerned. To be fair, there's also always a floor with good, clean blues standards as they're so much fun. It's great to hear Jagger's voice already full of distinctive character and it's all decorated with solid guitar, bass and harmonica. The ingredients are all there, if a little raw. Give them another 5-10 years and they could be onto something really special.

Good fun rock and roll album - like a lot of early 60s stuff it’s full of blues covers and short sharp 2-3 minute tracks. Jagger’s voice instantly recognisable but other than that has little in common with later Stones stuff. I guess it’s on here to mark the debut from what became a hugely influential band, but this album in itself is pretty basic and definitely not innovative!

Dear god. The Rolling Stones break their streak of 2-stars by simply not writing their own songs. It may not be the most inventive album, but I do think they approach these covers with a fun energy, and I can see how they became "England's Newest Hitmakers". Still don't know how they became so highly regarded after that though. Standouts: Honest I Do • I'm A King Bee • Carol • Tell Me • Walking The Dog

Rather inoffensive album of covers that definitely doesn't belong on this list, but it was refreshing to not hear them degrade women (I then realized this is probably because they only wrote one song on here). Their version of Route 66 might also be my favorite.

Takie plain. Same covery xD

Dont dig ts

All sounds like rip offs, even if they are covers. Still sounds pretty good though.

Pretty good album. Surprised at how much blues is on this one.

classic rock 😭

please stop with the 60's pedo bands man

Eh. Early Stones doing some covers, get the historical importance but kinda a bore to listen to. 4/10

In the 60s you weren’t allowed to have a single original song on your debut album

Well its more stones. Just old stones. Lots of oldies energy here. Still some of the bluesy rock stuff they get known for but its less interesting than that. Just kinda run of the mill to be honest. I really didnt love anything here. Not mad at it but its just OK. Im not a huge fan of the band but im usually ok with it. This is more of the same but with a little differnt sound. Fine if your deep into the stones

Definitely sounds like a young band, but its fun to hear where they started.

Just an album full of stock standard Blues covers. Really underwhelming listen

Sadly it has to be a 2. The songs just sound like worse versions of other songs of the time. I'd rather listen to what the Beatles were doing at the time or what the blues legends of the time

I really like late ‘60s and ‘70s Stones. But this debut is mostly covers. It’s perfectly fine, but there are far, far more worthy selections from their storied discography.

I won't unleash my "The Rolling Stones are the most overrated band in history" diatribe on a cover album. Just gonna sweep this under the rug and move on.

Well, I'll be darned. A Rolling Stones album that isn't blatantly misogynistic, is very good from front to back, and that I mostly appreciated in full!

This is one of the more mystifying choices on this list. There is no shortage of Rolling Stones albums that are great, and plenty of them appear on this list, surely. This is a cover album. Most of the covers are fine but they don't improve the original (see Mona).

I don’t get why this is on here, but it’s a great start by the Stones. The songs are way simpler than they made a bit later, of course, but the band sounds terrific.

2/5 - We could have skipped this, and nobody would have noticed.

Note got the stones classics that I love

I like the Rolling Stones well enough, but not really in this early period. Heck, until "Satanic Majesties" I don't think they are worth much in 2026 beyond their singles. The primitive attempts at escaping conventional Rock & Roll don't hit as hard when you've heard what's come after. I don't think it's horrible, but it's really just a starting point for a band that too a while to become great.

I understand the purist view that this is a set of covers. And that there may be better versions of all of them. But, y’know, they’re pretty fucking good covers. Not too much in the way of sloppy ballads, no gratuitous use of strings, and for the most part pretty solid rock and blues. The self-written track sucks in comparison, and there are a couple of less successful numbers, but this is pretty good. And a nice length and easy for me to listen to So, yeah the purists have a point. But I enjoyed this and listened multiple times

Kind of fun rolling stones. If anything though this album project is showing me I'm not all that interested in rolling stones outside of the hits.

Way more R&B than their later stuff, but I can see where their later albums came from. Fun little romp, doesn't overstay its welcome.

It's a collection of covers that don't stray far from the originals. If it wasn't The Rolling Stones this album wouldn't be on the list.

This was a most enjoyable listen of Stones songs I rarely listened to. Shows what a great rock n blues band they started out as.

Just wondering between three and four

its a good first album

An interesting historical snapshot of the Stones but not something I'll personally be listening to too often down the line.

I'm being generous by giving this 2 stars. A debut album of covers isn't a very auspicious start, especially since these aren't very good covers.

Мик Джаггер когда то был молодой

Very bluesy introduction to the Stones. Loved it even though I didnt recognize most of the music as being huge hits for them.

Didn’t bother: white boys ripping of the blues

⭐⭐- Ett album fullt med tandlösa blues och soulcovers där jag mycket hellre lyssnar på originalen. Detta album är bara intressant för att höra bandets utveckling mot senare album. Musikaliskt är det ganska ointressant, ingen edge eller bluesgritt, ett gäng unga killar som älskar blues och vill låta som sina förebilder men har långt kvar. Antar bara att albumet är med på listan i form av tidskapsel. Bäst är Tell me

Rock and roll, rocknrolling, right up my alley.

Day 413 Interesting for what would come later but obviously miles from their peak. Highlights Little by Little Can I get a witness Walking the dog

It's a good thing they learned to write songs. I hate boring, gentrified British covers of blues music. At least this isn't as bad as The Bluesbreakers. 2 stars.

So...mid? Holy fuck this production sucks. I think we're due for a remaster here, because this thing is actually painful to listen to. But then, do we really need a remaster of an album of covers? It's alright. We're listening to some early examples of rock. But not the earliest. Those go to the black artists who wrote these songs to begin with. Better, by the way. Whatever. This was fine. Fave tracks: - I Just Want To Make Love To You - I'm A King Bee

Крайне заурядное звучание — буквально каждый блюзовый альбом того времени звучит точно так же. Не уверен, что эта пластинка Камней заслуживает место в рейтинге. Поймал себя на мысли, что этот дебютный альбом очень похож на дебютник Боуи в том, что и тот и другой максимально сильно отличаются от того, к чему в итоге придут группа и исполнитель

Eh. I'm a Stones person, but this is not what I'm in it for. They didn't really become the Rolling Stones I love until December's Children in 1965

These are good, high-energy versions of blues and early rock songs, and it’s interesting to hear where they started from, but this feels like a document of a group working the cover-band circuit and honing its technical craft before finding its true mojo. I do like their handclap version of “Walking the Dog,” however.

Solid debut I'd never sat down and listened to. Even the covers that have been done to death have something to recommend them.

So much tour de force. I like all the energy poured on this one. Alright I guess.

I guess it’s interesting from a how it started, how it’s going point of view, but really this is just the sound of a new garage band finding their feet. 11 covers, 1 original. Fascinating for Stones stans, uninspiring for anyone else

Of things I learned listening to more than 1000 albums on this list, not liking The Rolling Stones is one of the bigger surprises. I can't tell if I liked this better or worse than any of their other albums. 2.5

It’s not bad but nothing stands out, it’s just a bunch of covers. Seems like this was put on the list to say “here’s how the Stones started…just wait till you see where they went”, which kinda defeats the purpose of this list imo

the album shows why decca wanted to sign the stones. they're not doing anything particularly interesting or new, but they played white american blues better than almost all american blues-based bands of the time.