SUN TURNIN' ROUND
WITH GRACEFUL MOTION
WE'RE SETTING OFF
WITH SOFT EXPOLSION
BOUND FOR A STAR
WITH FIREY OCEANS
When
Their Satanic Majesties Request
came out in
December 1967,
fans asked,
"Where did The Rolling Stones go wrong?"
Released six months after
the Beatles' similar,
but way more
culture shaking,
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band,
Satanic Majesties seemed like a
tossed-off afterthought
at the time,
the second-greatest band
in the world's take on
the Summer of Love
pop-art masterpiece.
Besides,
what business did a
blues-based group
like the Stones
have with
frilly psychedelic music anyway?
The rebound was
the following year's
Beggars Banquet,
a back-to-basics triumph
that also happened to
kick off one of rock's
longest winning streaks.
But nobody at the time
knew what was
right around the corner.
So, 50 years later,
where exactly did
the Rolling Stones
go wrong with
Their Satanic Majesties Request?
Fact is, they didn't.
Looking back at the album
five decades
down the road
with the
50th Anniversary Special Edition,
it's clear now that
the Stones' psychedelic detour
was just another progression
on the path they started
with 1966's
Aftermath
and continued on 1967's
earlier offering,
Between the Buttons.
Their Satanic Majesties Request
isn't a perfect record,
but it's a lot better
than most people,
including
the Stones themselves,
gave it credit for in 1967.
The Anniversary set includes
mono and stereo
vinyl LPs,
mono and stereo
Super Audio
CD versions,
a booklet and the album's
original 3D cover art.
The Stones didn't have
too many leftovers
in their vaults,
so you won't find
any bonus tracks here.
But the mono mix,
which Mick Jagger claimed
was vastly superior,
sharpens the material enough
to shed new light on
Satanic Majesties. Again,
it's not a perfect record,
but it's far from the
kaleidoscope-eyed-stumble
reputation
that has dogged
the album for
so many years.
Like Sgt. Pepper,
its main reference point,
Their Satanic Majesties Request
is a loosely tied together
concept album about
the psychedelic revolution
that was being stirred
around in 1967.
And like Sgt. Pepper,
it's held together more
by related musical foundations
than a unified theme.
There's not much difference
between the two versions of
"Sing This All Together"
that open and close
Side One of
Satanic Majesties
and the title track
and reprise
that bridge and
(almost)
bookend
Sgt. Pepper.
Of course,
Sgt. Pepper got there earlier
(as did other albums from that great year),
and it's the more
fluid record,
but parts of
Satanic Majesties
sound like
contemporary companion pieces
without the
dusted-off nostalgia
that occasionally seeps into
the Beatles album.
"She's a Rainbow"
and
"2000 Light Years From Home,"
particularly,
come off as
studio-kissed
highlights of the era.
Other songs, like
"Citadel,"
Satanic Majesties' toughest cut,
slip into the mix
in ways that make it seem
like the Stones knew
what they were
doing all along
(various members over the years
have claimed the band
was distracted and
directionless during
the making of the album).
Even bassist
Bill Wyman's
"In Another Land,"
which he wrote
and sings,
and which includes
little input from
Jagger and Keith Richards,
is an integral part
of the LP's pattern
when you hear it
in context,
though it made a lousy,
and barely charting,
single at the time.
A lavish
50th-anniversary package
probably isn't going to change
anyone's mind
about the album,
mostly because anyone
who's going to spend money
on it is already knows
it's not the
embarrassing disappointment
cynics claim.
Time has softened those blows;
Their Satanic Majesties Request
holds up better than
many other beloved works
from the era.
Open your ears
and you'll hear a
key record by one of
rock 'n' roll's most
important artists
on the cusp,
once again,
of a grand
new adventure.
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