godspeede's Full Review: Beggar's Banquet by The Rolling Stones
When the Rolling Stones recorded "Beggars Banquet" their future was unclear. Just the year before Mick Jagger and Keith Richards had been arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to three months and a year respectively for drugs. That massive public controversy was barely over when Brian Jones was busted for what seemed the umpteenth time. He managed to avoid jail because he was a suicide risk and because this time it had been a frame-up. In the middle of this the band, or most of it, managed to record "Their Satanic Majesties Request", which was about 40% of a good album with the rest being rather pointless trippy jams. In the alleged words of drummer Charlie Watts' mother: it was "about two weeks ahead of its time." Even worse it was compared unfavorably based upon its mystic themes and similar visual ambience to the Beatles' massive successful "Sgt. Pepper". Just to make life even more interesting, the Stones also disposed of their long time manager/producer Andrew Loog Oldham by refusing to do more in his presence during recording than endless blues noodling.
With their legal troubles temporarily behind them, the Rolling Stones reassembled determined to record an album that was more reflective of their blues and rock roots. We are fortunate in that some of the recording sessions were capture on film and later appeared in the movie "Sympathy for the Devil." What is revealed is a band in top form creatively. It also uncovered the increasing tragedy of Brian Jones, who even when present was usually more in the way than anything else. Even the successful completion of recording, however, was not the end of the immediate controversy associated with this album; for nearly ten months its release was held up by Decca Records. At issue was the cover that featured a perfect (as in filthy) bathroom wall that had been decorated with various scrawling only some of which referred to the included songs. Even Jagger's idea of marketing it in a plain brown wrapper with the words "Unfit for Children" did not appease the company, so eventually its cover was changed to something resembling a formal invitation (the original cover was eventually restored after the introduction of the CD format). Because its plainness seemed to echo the recent Beatles' white album, the Stones were once again criticized for being imitators.
Moreover, the best song of the sessions was not even included. "Jumpin' Jack Flash" instead was released as a single, one that stood in marked contrast to its rather silly immediate predecessors, "Dandelion" and "She's A Rainbow". Built upon a riff that bassist Bill Wyman claims to have created, it is a masterful work in the tradition of blues braggadocio found in such songs as Muddy Waters' "Hootchie Coochie Man. It also became a staple of bar bands for the next decade.
The album itself begins with the remarkable, "Sympathy for the Devil," which began its life as a rather boring folk song and became an energetic samba. It is a musical form that was unprecedented in rock, and which has not been successfully duplicated since. The song climaxes with a notable solo by Richards, who, while always the master of the Chuck Berry style of guitar, never became proficient with the kind of quick dexterity then associated with Eric Clapton. He more than compensates with intensity and his molten silver tone. The song with its Satanic themes also began the public association between the Stones and "evil" that was to endure for the next twenty or so years. Next up is what Jagger proclaimed at the time to be his favorite ballot, the rather pedestrian "No Expectations" marked chiefly by Brian Jones' effective if repetitive bottleneck guitar (among his last contributions ever to the Stones' music).
Perhaps to relieve some of the somberness of the first two songs, the Stones present a comedy track in "Dear Doctor", which is a drunken-sounding country parody (somewhat at odds with Richards' known proclivity for country music). It would have been best left for some bootleg album for which fools like me could pay thirty dollars, and in fact there is an underground version that is sung better! Perhaps for purposes of irony, the Stones next introduced "Parachute Women"; a strong driving blues tune that is proported to be Bill Wyman's favorite song by the band. It was featured at the live Rock n' Roll Circus Television show that took thirty years to become public. It is also notable as it introduced the phase "Blow me out" to the rock lexicon. Completely different in tone is "Jig-Saw Puzzle" that reflected Jagger’s propensity throughout the late 1960s to try to be Bob Dylan. This time he does a better job than usual. Said to have been written by the lead singer while in jail, it is supposed (somehow) to be about his experience with the British criminal justice system.
The opening song on what was then the backside of the album, "Street Fighting Man" sounded a bit like "Jumpin' Jack Flash" when first heard on a cheap AM radio. In truth, it is both more primitive and sophisticated than the earlier hit, primitive because the main riff is an acoustic guitar played and distorted through a small microphone of an early cassette player, sophisticated because it was repeatedly overdubbed and included even Brian Jones on sitar. Thematically it is about Jaggers' frustration with not being able to join the "revolution". It actually began as "Did Everybody Pay Their Dues", with identical backing but words that spoke apparently to the trials of being busted for drugs. Determined to prove their authenticity, the band next covers the old blues tune, "Prodigal Son". They would continue this practice on the next three albums: "Love in Vain" on "Let It Bleed", "You Gotta Move" on Sticky Fingers, and "Shake Your Hips" on "Exile on Main Street". Personally I like this style, but for most rock fans it is an acquired taste. There was some initial controversy associated with this song, as the original print of the album credited Jagger/ Richards instead of Rev. Wilkingson.
From the past to the present, next up is "Stray Cat Blues." According to Mick Jagger the Velvet Underground directly inspired the tune. Certainly the muddy, dark tone does call to mind the New York band, however, the Stones' mastery of dynamics makes this a performance to which Lou Reed and company could never have aspired. The theme is the hallowed rock tradition of seducing underage groupies, and added even more to the Rolling Stones' "bad boy" public image. On the last two tracks respects are paid to the great-unwashed working class. On "Factory Girl", Jagger sings about his working class girlfriend (something he doubtlessly never had), who gets him into fights when "we get drunk on Friday nights." On the whole a rather condescending tone by Michael Phillip Jagger, middle class former student of the London School of Economics. Far better is the elaborately produced "Salt of the Earth" in which he admits that he does not know the working class at all. Featuring a Keith Richards vocal on the first part of the first verse and change of time at the end, it was not for nothing that Axl Rose chose this song to sing when guesting with the band.
"Beggars Banquet" then is, despite the presence of a couple of questionable songs, an outstanding album without which no rock collection could be complete. Objectively it probably ranks in the top twenty rock albums of all time, and it illustrates just how good the Stones were (if you don't believe this catch the recorded performances of most of their contemporaries). It also underscores the fact that they were indeed the world's greatest rock n' roll band, a position, given the contemporary quality of rock music, they will probably maintain until their eighties or they die (which ever comes first).
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