Review Summary: The Stones are Rolling
It’s 1967 and everyone is high. The summer of love is in full swing, Drug culture is sweeping the western world and The Beatles have just realised their seminal album ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’. Psychedelic music is exploding into the mainstream and now every popular beat band is fusing strange lyrics and exotic instruments into the music. So what do you do as one of the biggest rock bands in the world? Smash out a hard rocking album and stand out from the crowd or follow along with them. Naturally, The Rolling Stones did the latter. Their previous two records (Aftermath and Between The Buttons) had dabbled into psychedelic rock but hadn’t fully dived into the genre. With recording sessions fuelled by drugs and numerous court trials on certain members, ‘Their Satanic Majesties Request’ was released to highly mixed reviews. Critics saw it as a mediocre pastiche of the Beatles latest release and too far off from their regular work. Even half the group weren’t too fond of it with Keith Richards reportedly calling it “a load of crap”. With a recent reissue of the record coming out, I feel it’s time to look back at The Stone’s foray into psychedelic music and see if it holds up.
Like on their previous album, the group have incorporated numerous unique and exotic instruments into their music. The focus on instruments such as the tabla, Jew’s harp and the mellotron, Which all back the group’s usual guitar music bring forth a unique sound for the Stones and one that works well in places. The record shifts from baroque pop (‘In Another Land’), Acid Rock (‘Citadel’), Raga Rock (‘Gomper’) to Zappa styled insanity (‘Sing This All Together (See What Happens)’. It’s jarring to hear the Stones attempt anything that isn’t rock music essentially, but the experimentation is definitely an interesting touch on the album. Is it handled well? Eh kinda.
When the group plays it straight and holds to regular rock music structure and form, the album works incredibly well. The swirling pop of ‘She’s a Rainbow’ is an honest to god gem of a record, gloriously upbeat and powerful. The space rock Pink Floyd flavoured ‘2000 Light Years From Home’ is moody and atmospheric and one of the most enjoyable tracks on the record. Bill Wyman’s baroque ‘In Another Land’ hits with a solid chorus and great playing for the band, and ‘The Lantern’ is a folk rock trip which features some of Bill’s best bass playing. Things start to fall apart when the group gets really out there. The opener ‘Sing This All Together’ is a choppy sing along track, filled with screeching horn parts and awkward singing from Mick, and its 8 minute reprise is sheer chaos, starting as a spooky mellotron led track before devolving into an extended jam of tribal percussion and dozens of sound effects. Problem is, it doesn’t work well. It’s very much a case of seeing what sticks and I doubt much thought process went into making the track. The lack of a producer on the album clearly didn’t help much and Brian Jones himself admitted that a month before the album was due to be out, the group had put nothing together and the results were hastily thrown out. It feels rushed and this track was clearly just an attempt to pad out time on the album. Songs that could be great are weighed down by tackiness or drug fuelled chaos, like ‘Gomper’ with its needlessly long freak out ending section which goes nowhere. The closing number ‘On With The Show’, which emulates a circus styled vaudeville curtain call is tacked with a cheesy ringleader vocal from Mick which makes the listener cringe more than be entertained
Their Satanic Majesties’ Request isn’t a bad record. It’s not amazing either though. What stands out on this record is solid and well developed, but when the group tackle much more avant garde themes, things fall apart quickly. Clearly the band thought so too and quickly reverted to their stripped back blues sound on their next record, Never to touch psychedelia again. A good album, but one for Stones mega fans only
Standout tracks
Citadel
In Another Land
She’s A Rainbow
The Lantern
2000 Light Years From Home
