Captured during a prolific spurt of recording activity at Chess Studios in Chicago that June, Five by Five was released that August in the UK shortly after their debut album, The Rolling Stones, had appeared.

Because Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were still honing their songwriting skills, only "Empty Heart" and "2120 South Michigan Avenue" were credited to "Nanker Phelge", a pseudonym for band-written compositions.

Andrew Loog Oldham produced Five by Five and even contributed liner notes where he lists the band's achievements thus far (and stretches the truth by claiming the Rolling Stones' debut album had spent 30 weeks at #1 when it, in fact, was at the top for 12).

[citation needed] The full recording of "2120 South Michigan Avenue", now heard on the remastered 12 X 5, was faded early here for lack of time available on a conventional EP in 1964.

[1] In his book The Rolling Stones: An Illustrated History, British rock critic Roy Carr wrote that "along with the Beatles' Long Tall Sally four-tracker, 5 X 5 is unquestionably the first and last great EP.