Post by Pete70s on Oct 8, 2003 10:20:12 GMT -5
Today’s album is one I selected because I thought it would make for great discussion:
Their Satanic Majesties Request - The Rolling Stones, 1967
1- Sing This All Together
2- Citadel
3- In Another Land
4- 2000 Man
5- Sing This All Together (See What Happens)
6- She’s A Rainbow
7- The Lantern
8- Gomper
9- 2000 Light Years From Home
10- On With The Show
This album is among the Stones most loved and most hated albums (for many years it was their most hated, but given the quality of some of the things they’ve done over the past 20 years, I think many people have softened up to it). At the time, critics dismissed it as the “Sgt. Pepper rip-off”, and many of their fans were dumbfounded by it. As far as I’m concerned, Satanic Majesties is among their best work, and is a psychedelic masterpiece! The album uses several instruments that they had never used before (pump organ, mellotron, zither), and would never use again. For that reason, I think this is very much a Brian Jones album, since he was the most experimental in trying to branch out beyond conventional instruments. Somehow, the rest of the band went along with it this time (although kicking and screaming I’m sure...)
Despite the albums foray into new and unchartered territory for the group, their bad boy image remained intact. The title alone (a spoof of the phrase “Her Britannic Majesties Request”, used on English passports) was an almost guaranteed banning (remember, this was only a year after John Lennon’s “Jesus” statement). Yet nobody seemed to blink an eye, all the press went to Mick & Keith’s 1967 drug bust, which came a few months before this album appeared.
In the fall of ’67, the group released a single, “Dandelion” b/w “We Love You”. This single would be to Satanic Majesties what “Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane” was to Sgt. Pepper, a sign of things to come. I read somewhere that the single was originally slated to be on the album, but was left off at the last minute. My guess is that Dandelion would have closed side 1, and We Love You would have opened side 2. The reason I say this is because on the 45, the Dandelion side actually ends with the footsteps walking down the corridor, while the We Love You side begins with the door opening and closing. The inclusion of these two songs would have made this great album even better.
VH1 thought Sticky Fingers had a great cover? What about the cover to THIS album! Perhaps the first time ever that a moving 3D cover was used on an album. The group is pictured sitting in a garden of flowers in front of a castle that looks like it came from the set of a Sid and Marty Krofft show. When you turn the cover, their heads turn. If you look closely, you can see John and George hiding in the cover shot, and I THINK that when you turn the cover slightly, you see Paul and Ringo in the shot as well.
“Sing This All Together” opens with a strange fanfare and is a bizarre little sing-along song. Kind of like a campfire acid trip (but then again, I’m convinced that this album was made to drop acid to). It’s catchy and harmless, but far from the best song here.
“Citadel” kicks into a pretty heavy groove. It’s the Troggs “Wild Thing” meets Hendrix’s “All Along The Watchtower”, if you can picture it.. A heavily reverberated guitar riff, and a highlight of the album.
“In Another Land” is a weak point, I guess while Mick and Keith were sitting in jail, SOMEBODY had to do SOMETHING with the studio time, so Bill Wyman wrote and recorded a song (His only one, I believe... THANK GOD!). Heavy reverberation on the vocal doesn’t do much for Bill’s lack of emotion or the corny lyrics. But just when you can’t take anymore, Mick and Keith come in on the chorus to save the day (“Then I awoke... Is this some kind of joke?”). The band released this as a SINGLE (why?), and it even charted, but I highly doubt that Bill ever plays this for his grandchildren. The song ends with 4 very annoying (and unidentified) snores (Whoever it is, I’d hate to be married to THAT person!).
“2000 Man” is another high point, one of the best cuts here. Kiss covered this on the Dynasty album, but where they did it as a straight-ahead rocker, the Stones did it as a folk tune where the band kicks in at the chorus (“Oh, daddy, proud of your planet”...)
We are then taken to some bizarre flute-like mellotron intro, after which you hear Mick say “Where’s That Joint?”. Then the group kicks into “Sing This All Together (See What Happens)”, a 7-minute freak out, much in the vein of “Interstellar Overdrive” from Pink Floyd’s “Piper At The Gates Of Dawn”. It’s overlong and a bit boring, but I’m sure chemical experimentation must have made it sound interesting, if not scary! The jam breaks down and ends with a heavily echoed Mick singing a reprise of the albums first cut.
Side 1 ends with a brief uncredited piece, about 40 seconds of weird mellotron noise. Rumor has it that if you play it at 78 speed, it’s “We Wish You A Merry Christmas”. I’ve never tried it, but I believe it! The whooshing sound that fades at the end of the piece (“Whhheeeeee CHOO”, “Whhheeeeee CHOO”) appears to be saying “We hate you, We hate you...”. Bands did cool experimental stuff like that in those days, that’s why I LOVE this sh!t!!
Side 2 kicks off with another uncredited piece, this time it’s some guy yelling something unintelligible from what sounds like a fishing boat. The only words I can make out are “Are you ready?”. Then a police whistle, then...
The familiar piano intro to the albums only top-40 hit, “She’s A Rainbow”. Classic tune, great piano by Nicky Hopkins and string arrangement by John Paul Jones. Should be better remembered by radio! The song ends with a beautiful baroque-like piece, then a disturbing guitar chord. Much like the clucking rooster that turns into a guitar chord in the Beatles “Good Morning, Good Morning”, this guitar chord turns into a tolling bell, which leads into “The Lantern”, the albums darkest cut, and another high point.
Then we have a strange tune called “Gomper”, which features (what I THINK is) a Zither, a Chinese or Japanese stringed instrument. Brian Jones is ALL over this track! The first two minutes are OK, but this goes on WAY too long..
“2000 Light Years From Home” is the song many consider to be the saving grace of this album, and the ONLY song the group kept in their live sets (I know they’ve played it on recent tours). As overindulgent as the psychedelic theme got in some places on this album, this is the one track where they really got it right!
“On With The Show” is the closer, a kind of light-hearted tune, and a nice way to end an album that is kind of intense and disturbing at times. Jagger sings the lead through a megaphone (so it WASN’T Mike Love that first did this!) as though he’s a ringmaster of sorts, and I assume that it’s a song about a type of burlesque house (“Your wife will never know that you’re not really working late”)
This album marked the end of the Stones brief psychedelic phase. “Jumping Jack Flash” would be their next single, and “Beggars Banquet” would kick off a five-year period where they would revolutionize rock history and create their most critically acclaimed albums.
I first found this album in the early 80’s (unfortunately, the 3D cover had been peeled off and the record was kind of beat, but playable). I liked it enough, so I bought it on cassette when the Stones albums were re-issued in ’87, but the sound quality was so poor I didn’t like it, and for years I wondered why I even liked it in the first place. Then, last year when the HDCD re-issues came out, I went straight for Satanic Majesties, and now I LOVE it! Now the album can be heard in all it’s sonic glory! It’s quite a headphone experience to hear every little nuance and sound that was never audible before. Hopefully this album will finally get some respect!
Their Satanic Majesties Request - The Rolling Stones, 1967
1- Sing This All Together
2- Citadel
3- In Another Land
4- 2000 Man
5- Sing This All Together (See What Happens)
6- She’s A Rainbow
7- The Lantern
8- Gomper
9- 2000 Light Years From Home
10- On With The Show
This album is among the Stones most loved and most hated albums (for many years it was their most hated, but given the quality of some of the things they’ve done over the past 20 years, I think many people have softened up to it). At the time, critics dismissed it as the “Sgt. Pepper rip-off”, and many of their fans were dumbfounded by it. As far as I’m concerned, Satanic Majesties is among their best work, and is a psychedelic masterpiece! The album uses several instruments that they had never used before (pump organ, mellotron, zither), and would never use again. For that reason, I think this is very much a Brian Jones album, since he was the most experimental in trying to branch out beyond conventional instruments. Somehow, the rest of the band went along with it this time (although kicking and screaming I’m sure...)
Despite the albums foray into new and unchartered territory for the group, their bad boy image remained intact. The title alone (a spoof of the phrase “Her Britannic Majesties Request”, used on English passports) was an almost guaranteed banning (remember, this was only a year after John Lennon’s “Jesus” statement). Yet nobody seemed to blink an eye, all the press went to Mick & Keith’s 1967 drug bust, which came a few months before this album appeared.
In the fall of ’67, the group released a single, “Dandelion” b/w “We Love You”. This single would be to Satanic Majesties what “Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane” was to Sgt. Pepper, a sign of things to come. I read somewhere that the single was originally slated to be on the album, but was left off at the last minute. My guess is that Dandelion would have closed side 1, and We Love You would have opened side 2. The reason I say this is because on the 45, the Dandelion side actually ends with the footsteps walking down the corridor, while the We Love You side begins with the door opening and closing. The inclusion of these two songs would have made this great album even better.
VH1 thought Sticky Fingers had a great cover? What about the cover to THIS album! Perhaps the first time ever that a moving 3D cover was used on an album. The group is pictured sitting in a garden of flowers in front of a castle that looks like it came from the set of a Sid and Marty Krofft show. When you turn the cover, their heads turn. If you look closely, you can see John and George hiding in the cover shot, and I THINK that when you turn the cover slightly, you see Paul and Ringo in the shot as well.
“Sing This All Together” opens with a strange fanfare and is a bizarre little sing-along song. Kind of like a campfire acid trip (but then again, I’m convinced that this album was made to drop acid to). It’s catchy and harmless, but far from the best song here.
“Citadel” kicks into a pretty heavy groove. It’s the Troggs “Wild Thing” meets Hendrix’s “All Along The Watchtower”, if you can picture it.. A heavily reverberated guitar riff, and a highlight of the album.
“In Another Land” is a weak point, I guess while Mick and Keith were sitting in jail, SOMEBODY had to do SOMETHING with the studio time, so Bill Wyman wrote and recorded a song (His only one, I believe... THANK GOD!). Heavy reverberation on the vocal doesn’t do much for Bill’s lack of emotion or the corny lyrics. But just when you can’t take anymore, Mick and Keith come in on the chorus to save the day (“Then I awoke... Is this some kind of joke?”). The band released this as a SINGLE (why?), and it even charted, but I highly doubt that Bill ever plays this for his grandchildren. The song ends with 4 very annoying (and unidentified) snores (Whoever it is, I’d hate to be married to THAT person!).
“2000 Man” is another high point, one of the best cuts here. Kiss covered this on the Dynasty album, but where they did it as a straight-ahead rocker, the Stones did it as a folk tune where the band kicks in at the chorus (“Oh, daddy, proud of your planet”...)
We are then taken to some bizarre flute-like mellotron intro, after which you hear Mick say “Where’s That Joint?”. Then the group kicks into “Sing This All Together (See What Happens)”, a 7-minute freak out, much in the vein of “Interstellar Overdrive” from Pink Floyd’s “Piper At The Gates Of Dawn”. It’s overlong and a bit boring, but I’m sure chemical experimentation must have made it sound interesting, if not scary! The jam breaks down and ends with a heavily echoed Mick singing a reprise of the albums first cut.
Side 1 ends with a brief uncredited piece, about 40 seconds of weird mellotron noise. Rumor has it that if you play it at 78 speed, it’s “We Wish You A Merry Christmas”. I’ve never tried it, but I believe it! The whooshing sound that fades at the end of the piece (“Whhheeeeee CHOO”, “Whhheeeeee CHOO”) appears to be saying “We hate you, We hate you...”. Bands did cool experimental stuff like that in those days, that’s why I LOVE this sh!t!!
Side 2 kicks off with another uncredited piece, this time it’s some guy yelling something unintelligible from what sounds like a fishing boat. The only words I can make out are “Are you ready?”. Then a police whistle, then...
The familiar piano intro to the albums only top-40 hit, “She’s A Rainbow”. Classic tune, great piano by Nicky Hopkins and string arrangement by John Paul Jones. Should be better remembered by radio! The song ends with a beautiful baroque-like piece, then a disturbing guitar chord. Much like the clucking rooster that turns into a guitar chord in the Beatles “Good Morning, Good Morning”, this guitar chord turns into a tolling bell, which leads into “The Lantern”, the albums darkest cut, and another high point.
Then we have a strange tune called “Gomper”, which features (what I THINK is) a Zither, a Chinese or Japanese stringed instrument. Brian Jones is ALL over this track! The first two minutes are OK, but this goes on WAY too long..
“2000 Light Years From Home” is the song many consider to be the saving grace of this album, and the ONLY song the group kept in their live sets (I know they’ve played it on recent tours). As overindulgent as the psychedelic theme got in some places on this album, this is the one track where they really got it right!
“On With The Show” is the closer, a kind of light-hearted tune, and a nice way to end an album that is kind of intense and disturbing at times. Jagger sings the lead through a megaphone (so it WASN’T Mike Love that first did this!) as though he’s a ringmaster of sorts, and I assume that it’s a song about a type of burlesque house (“Your wife will never know that you’re not really working late”)
This album marked the end of the Stones brief psychedelic phase. “Jumping Jack Flash” would be their next single, and “Beggars Banquet” would kick off a five-year period where they would revolutionize rock history and create their most critically acclaimed albums.
I first found this album in the early 80’s (unfortunately, the 3D cover had been peeled off and the record was kind of beat, but playable). I liked it enough, so I bought it on cassette when the Stones albums were re-issued in ’87, but the sound quality was so poor I didn’t like it, and for years I wondered why I even liked it in the first place. Then, last year when the HDCD re-issues came out, I went straight for Satanic Majesties, and now I LOVE it! Now the album can be heard in all it’s sonic glory! It’s quite a headphone experience to hear every little nuance and sound that was never audible before. Hopefully this album will finally get some respect!
Ooo, and tomorrow's my day!
