Out of Our Heads - The Rolling Stones

Out of Our Heads, is the Stones' third album and our favourite of the early period. We're listening to an original pressing of the US version from 1965, which differs quite a lot from the track listing of the UK version. The remastered versions known today are almost unrecognisable. Our martinis were made with Smirnoff Black with a green lemon twist. Could we be any more pretentious?

The exuberance of this album is infectious. The Stones took rhythm and blues numbers from the US, sped them up and gave them an energy which is exhilarating. This is also the album when Jagger/Richards hit their songwriting straps, drawing on Richards' mastery of the blues. The derivative nature of their songs is obvious (the riff from The Last Time echoes the first track on the album, Mercy Mercy) but the songs are no less brilliant for it. Richards was learning the masters and then messing around, coming up with songs that were equal to or better than his inspirators.

I'm Alright was recorded live, with thousands of screaming girls and Mick hollering "it's alright" over and over again. It's a reminder that the Stones were not just rock and roll stars at this point, but super pop stars, their posters gracing teenage girls' walls. If they were around now, their twitter trending would have rivalled One Direction. (And if you're wondering where else you've heard the riff, it's the Beastie Boys 'Girls'. You're welcome).

While Satisfaction (check out Charlie's 'miming') is the stand out hit and still gets everyone on the dance floor (particularly at a Dowling family party); That's How Strong My Love Is is the heartbreaking winner on the album.

The whole album sounds like a bunch of lads flirting with a generation of young girls. Which it was. They were bad, they were suggestive, they were dissatisfied and bored, they were excited and they wanted to show you the time of your life. If we were teenage girls in the sixties we would have been smitten. Hell, we're in our thirties, five decades later and we're still infatuated.