that "Lady Jane", "Under My Thumb" and "Mother's Little Helper" have the potential to be great singles. Aftermath was regarded in Melody Maker as the group's best LP to date and one that would "effortlessly take Britain by storm". The magazine's reviewer applauded its focus "on big beat, power and interesting 'sounds, noting how the use of dulcimer, sitar, organ, harpsichord, marimba and fuzz boxes creates an "overwhelming variety of atmospherics and tones". While the lyrics' derisive attitude to women offended some listeners, this aspect received little attention in the British pop press or complaints from female fans. In the cultural journal New Left Review, Alan Beckett wrote that the band's lyrics could only be fully appreciated by an audience familiar with modern city life, particularly London. He said that the Stones' "archetypal girl", as first introduced in their 1965 song "Play with Fire", was "rich, spoiled, confused, weak, using drugs, etc.", adding that: "Anyone who has been around Chelsea or Kensington can put at least one name to this character." Responding in the same publication, the intellectual historian Perry Anderson (using the pseudonym of Richard Merton) defended the band's message as an audacious and satirical exposé on sexual inequality. He said that in songs such as "Stupid Girl" and "Under My Thumb", the Stones had "defied a central taboo of the social system" and that "they have done so in the most radical and unacceptable way possible: by celebrating it." Some feminist writers defended "Under My Thumb". Camille Paglia considered the song "a work of art", despite its sexist lyrics, and Aftermath a "great album" with "rich sonorities". In a 1973 piece for Creem, Patti Smith recounted her response to the album in 1966: "The Aftermath album was the real move. two faced woman. doncha bother me. the singer displays contempt for his lady. he's on top and that's what I like. then he raises her as queen. his obsession is her. 'goin home.' What a song... stones music is screwing music." Among US commentators, Bryan Gray wrote in the Deseret News: "This album does the best job yet of alienating the over-twenties. The reason – they attempt to sing." Record World review panel selected the album as one of their three "Albums of the Week", predicting a major seller while highlighting "Paint It Black" as "only the first of a series of hot [tracks]". Billboards reviewer predicted that