The Rolling Stones - Back, Behind and In Front (1966)

Could You Walk on the Water is an unreleased album by The Rolling Stones, which was supposed to have come out in March 1966 through Decca Records. It was recorded at RCA Studios in Hollywood, during the span of three days between the 8th and the 10th of December, 1965. Something that was a considerable departure for the band was the fact that the nine songs they had recorded during those sessions were Jagger/Richards originals, with their previous five studio albums featuring a mixture of original material and covers. The planned album was pretty close to being released, with even a cover photograph being chosen, and a final tracklist being decided on, with only one small issue preventing its eventual release: the band's label, Decca, was uncomfortable with the album's name and its pretty obvious Christian connotations. This was 1966 America, after all, and with John Lennon saying that the Beatles were bigger than Jesus, they'd be smart to avoid such controversy. After some back and forth between the label and Stones manager Andrew Oldham, it became clear that they would not be able to release the record with the title they had wished to, and with the band booking additional sessions for the week of March 6th, it was decided to shelve such a project, with a new compilation and the "19th Nervous Breakdown" single being released instead.

With that, the band went back into RCA Studios on March 6th with seven songs (the entire Could You Walk on Water album minus the single and b-side) under their belt, instead of starting with a clean slate as they originally thought they would. That and the fact that it had barely been three months since the Stones had last recorded, all that while maintaining a very tight touring schedule, would seem to mean that the band could take it easy and only record about half a dozen additional songs, mix them together with the ones they already had, and call it a day. That wasn't what happened, though, as from March 6th to 9th, 1966, The Rolling Stones recorded twelve songs, including some songs that would later be known as classics. The material recorded during these sessions was so strong, as a matter of fact, that when the Aftermath album came out, songs from these later sessions outnumbered the December recordings nine to five in the final tracklist. That was not all the band did during that tumultuous winter of '66, however, with plans being made for the Stones to follow in the Beatles' footsteps and record their first feature film, to be titled Back, Behind and In Front, with their next album serving as the film's soundtrack when released. The project was quickly abandoned, though, as Jagger disliked director Nicholas Ray, and the band decided to focus their energy on other endeavors.

With all of that out of the way, we can finally answer the question: what would the Stones have released next, had Could You Walk on the Water not been shelved? And to answer that question, we'll first have to decide on what to include in the follow-up to CYWOTW, which I will not be tackling here because someone else did a much better job at it than I possibly could. Firstly, only songs from the March 1966 sessions are to be included here, with one track with an uncertain recording date being used here and explained later on. We will also be using the UK and USA versions of the album as a rough guideline when assembling the tracklist, not many radical changes being made to their sequence. Also, as to the album title, I decided to call it Back, Behind and In Front, since according to bassist Bill Wyman, the film's title was supposed to be the album title, and when the film was shelved, so was this working title. However, I find that to be a really interesting title, and since the idea was still being considered while these songs were recorded, I decided to use the name anyway. Other than that, Back, Behind and In Front will feature 12 songs, as had become standard for them by this point, and no non-album singles will be taken from this record, with both sides of the eventual single making its way into the album. Finally, not to stretch this out any further than we already have, here's our tracklist:

Paint it, Black (Singles 65–67)
Stupid Girl (Aftermath UK)

Lady Jane (Aftermath UK)

Under My Thumb (Aftermath UK)

If You Let Me (Metamorphosis)

Long Long While (Singles 65–67)

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Flight 505 (Aftermath UK)

High and Dry (Aftermath UK)

Out of Time (Aftermath UK)

It's Not Easy (Aftermath UK)

I Am Waiting (Aftermath UK)

What to Do (Aftermath UK)

Bonus tracks:

Out of Time (Metamorphosis)

Con Le Mie Lacrime (In Mono)

The Rolling Stones performing live in Sweden, April 3rd, 1966.

Side one starts off the same way the American pressing of Aftermath does, with the hit single "Paint it, Black", then followed by the trio of "Stupid Girl", "Lady Jane" and "Under My Thumb", which were featured both on the UK and USA versions of the album. After that pretty much undebatable first four, we enter some more doubtful territory with "If You Let Me", from outtakes collection Metamorphosis. There is much speculation as to when this song is from, with some claiming it to be from the August 1966 Between the Buttons sessions, while some others claim it to be from the March 1966 Aftermath sessions. In terms of session logs and data, the Rolling Stones don't have nearly as much documentation on what was recorded when and where as the Beatles do, for example, which can lead to some pretty tough situations like this one, where there's serious doubt as to when a song is from. Two things led me to include it: the fact that it sounds great when put together with the Aftermath material, not sounding even the slightest bit anachronistic, and the fact that there's some evidence to back up the idea of it coming from 03/66. So, to do all of that and also avoid releasing an 11-track album, it's included here. Closing off side one is "Long Long While", which had only seen release before as the non-album b-side to "Paint it, Black", finally being given a home here, being a more than adequate side closer.

Side two starts off with the one-two punch of "Flight 505" and "High and Dry", with the two songs being sequenced as side opener and track two respectively on all versions of the LP. It is then followed by "Out of Time", which was only released on the British version of the album. For a bit, I considered using the Metamorphosis version of this tune, where Jagger sings over the orchestral backing track for Chris Farlowe's hit version, seen as it's pretty good and was even used in a couple of film soundtracks. I decided against using it, however, as it didn't fit in very well with the rest of the album and wasn't what the band had intended for at the time, which we'll be respecting. It is followed by "It's Not Easy" and "I Am Waiting", which were also featured on both versions of the album, and also get to keep their spots on the tracklist. Finally, the album ends the same way as the original British version does, with "What to Do", also taken off from the American version of the album and only released in 1967, in the Flowers compilation. For bonus tracks, we have the aforementioned orchestral version of "Out of Time", as well as a strange, Italian-sung version of "As Tears Go By", which was recorded between sessions in January 1966. It is just a curiosity though, as Mick's Italian is frankly not very good. With that, we have our sequel to Could You Walk on Water done, pretty much ready for release.

With one 19 minute and one 21 minute side, Back, Behind and In Front can hold the argument of being one of the Stones' strongest albums, being able to hold its own with the whole 1968/1972 classic run of the band with ease. When comparing this sequence to the album that was eventually released, I was actually surprised by how much stronger of an album it is, managing to present this material undiluted by previous material while also sounding much more cohesive and concise than Aftermath. We also keep "Paint it, Black" as the album's main single, with "Long Long While" as its b-side, as there's no real reason to change this. One thing that would change is the release date, with CYWOTW coming out on March 10th, BB&IF would have to be delayed to sometime in late August, in order not to clash too directly with its predecessor. Very little is known about the Back, Behind and In Front project itself, let alone the details of its plot, script, and which songs were earmarked for potential use in the film. What we do know is that the Stones were on such a creative roll back then, and they managed to create such memorable songs using so little time, that there is no doubt that they'd fit in perfectly with the film. It's interesting to think of all the unfinished projects an almost 60-year-old band has, especially now that we've lost one of their most important members unexpectedly.

Sources:
The Rolling Stones - Aftermath [UK Version]

The Rolling Stones - Singles 1965–1967

The Rolling Stones - Metamorphosis

The Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones In Mono