The Rolling Stones Stop Copying Others on Out of Our Heads

The Rolling Stones were a cover band before they were anything else. “Out of Our Heads,” their third album, is the record where that cover-band identity cracks. The group still leans heavily on borrowed songs, but the cracks are showing. “The Last Time,” a rewrite of a gospel song, is the track that signals the shift — a riff-driven anthem that sounds nothing like anything else on the record. It is the moment the band stops copying others and starts sounding like itself.

The album runs twelve tracks, thirty-three minutes, and moves from straight R&B covers through originals to the kind of rock that would define their next few years. It is a snapshot of a band in transition, not a finished statement.

Opening With Mercy, Mercy

Mercy, Mercy opens the record at 2:47 and sets a steady pace without much fuss. Hitch Hike follows at 2:26, a simple blues shuffle that passes without leaving much mark. Then comes The Last Time, at 3:42, and the record changes shape entirely.

The Last Time is the centerpiece of the album. It takes a gospel number and turns it into something far heavier, built on a riff that critics call “one of pop music’s truly great riffs.” That riff is the whole reason the song exists. It is the sound of the Stones finding their own voice, even while they are still singing someone else’s words.

Moving Through The Middle

That’s How Strong My Love Is and Good Times follow at 2:26 and 1:59 respectively, two solid covers that do not trouble the memory. They are competent, professional, and easy to forget.

I’m Alright, at 2:25, is a minor blues number that adds little beyond keeping the tempo moving. It is pleasant but disposable.

(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction is the second great moment on the record. At 3:45, it is a rewrite of a blues song that became the band’s first real hit. The riff is simple, the delivery is confident, and it shows the Stones can take a borrowed idea and make it feel like their own. It is the song that proves the band had a future beyond covers.

Cry to Me, at 3:10, is a ballad that does not quite match the energy of the album’s high points. It is pleasant but slight, a rest stop between the hits.

The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man, at 3:07, is a novelty number about a fictional office worker. It is amusing in small doses but overstays its welcome across three minutes.

Play With Fire, at 2:15, is the third great track here. It is a slow-burning original with a guitar solo that feels like the band’s first real statement of intent. It is the sound of a group that knows it wants to be a writer-led band.

The Spider and the Fly, at 3:40, is a strange, literary cover about a spider that eats a fly. It is a curiosity rather than a highlight, a track that shows the band’s taste for oddball material.

One More Try closes the record at 2:00, a simple blues number that ends the album on a low note.

The Two Sides Of The Record

The album splits neatly into two modes:

The covers are competent but interchangeable. The originals are the reason anyone remembers the record.

What The Critics Heard

Critics have always pointed to the same two moments on the record. The Last Time is the one that changed everything. Satisfaction is the one that proved the band could write a hit.

“The Rolling Stones called the right time to stop making these cover albums,” reads one review. Another notes that the album “put distance between The Stones and their lightweight package-tour companions” through their growing ability to write their own material. Both reviews agree that the record marks a turning point.

The Verdict

This is a transitional record. It is not a great album, but it is a necessary one. The covers are fine, and a few of them are better than fine. But the record’s real purpose is to show the Stones moving away from covers toward originals. The Last Time and Satisfaction prove that move worked.

Play With Fire is the best original on the record outside those two. It is a strong sign of what the band would become in the years to come.

The weaker tracks — The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man, The Spider and the Fly — are curiosities that do not hold the album together. They are the sound of a band still figuring out what it wanted to be.

Key Facts Box:
– Artist: The Rolling Stones
– Album: Out of Our Heads
– Year: 1965
– Tracks: 12
– Total running time: 33 minutes
– Standout tracks: The Last Time, Satisfaction, Play With Fire

“Out of Our Heads” is not a classic, but it is a stepping stone. It is the record where the Stones stopped pretending to be a cover band and started building their own sound. The Last Time and Satisfaction are proof that the move paid off.

The weaker tracks do not drag the album down. They just remind you how far the band had come by the time they released this record.

1965 · album review · classic rock · Rolling Stones · Satisfaction