Recorded & mixed:

February 9-24, 1967: Olympic Sound Studios, London, England
May 16-21, 1967: Olympic Sound Studios, London, England
June 9-13, 1967: Olympic Sound Studios, London, England
July 2-22, 1967: Olympic Sound Studios, London, England
August 10-September 7, 1967: Olympic Sound Studios, London, England
October 2-23, 1967: Olympic Sound Studios & De Lane Lea Studios, London, England

Producers: The Rolling Stones
Chief engineer: Glyn Johns
Released: December 1967

Contributing musicians:

Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, Brian Jones, Nicky Hopkins, John Paul Jones, Eddie Kramer, Ronnie Lane, Steve Marriott, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, unspecified musicians (strings, brass).

Sing This All Together
Citadel
In Another Land
2000 Man
Sing This All Together (See What Happens)
She's a Rainbow
The Lantern
Gomper
2000 Light Years from Home
On with the Show

What are your thoughts on this album?

I like several of the songs, but it doesn't work very well as an album for me. I really enjoy 2000 Man, Citadel, She's A Rainbow, and 2000LYFH. Since they're so spread out, the album doesn't really flow for me.

A colourful mix of pearls and clunkers.

let's put it like that: if they played live every album they recorded and if I had to miss one concert only, this would be the concert i'd miss

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andrea66
let's put it like that: if they played live every album they recorded and if I had to miss one concert only, this would be the concert i'd miss

Quite the opposite for me. Not that I'm a huge fan of the album but I'd have to know how they'd pull it off.

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andrea66
let's put it like that: if they played live every album they recorded and if I had to miss one concert only, this would be the concert i'd miss

I think I'd pass on Dirty Work. I love to hear the 4 songs I mentioned liking earlier at any Stones concert. Some of the other songs would at least be interesting to see them try to play, and likely be hilarious disasters.

I used to skip "Sing This All Together (See What Happens)", without that shit it's a really cool album with those absolute must singles: "She's A Rainbow" and "2000 Light Years From Home". Very important cool part of The Rolling Stones history for sure.
I simply love it!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2015-06-19 13:33 by 1962.

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1962
I used to skip "Sing This All Together (See What Happens)", without that shit it's a really cool album with those absolute must singles: "She's A Rainbow" and "2000 Light Years From Home". Very important cool part of The Rolling Stones history for sure.
I simply love it!

Those two songs alone make this album worth it for me.

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NoCode0680
I like several of the songs, but it doesn't work very well as an album for me. I really enjoy 2000 Man, Citadel, She's A Rainbow, and 2000LYFH. Since they're so spread out, the album doesn't really flow for me.

Yep. I love these 4. Absolutely HATE the rest... which all sound dated. Whereas the 4 I do love, somehow sound almost modern.

Love all the songs, except for See What Happens. What's not to like about The Lantern, In Another Land and Gomper?

The album is a mixed bag, though, with a few «humour songs» (See What Happens, On With The Show).

But the maturity of about half of songs on the album is perhaps yet to be surpassed later in their career. Moody, atmospheric and daring are words that spring to mind.

2000 LYFH, Citadel and She's A Rainbow are among the very best they have written and recorded ever, imo.

No Rolling Stones album, a marketing product to improve the selling rates on the Pop market. The absolute musical low point in their career. Shameless and tasteless fishing in the Beatles pond ...

CRAP

Love it!!!

Never had a bad time listening to it.

It's an album I used to put on a lot when I was studying the effects of temporal release from the earth's gravitational pull and it sure did work a treat.

While Sing This Song Altogether (See What Happens) did outstay its welcome I always found Gomper quite amusing and meditational.

Some say it was the Stones' greatest folly, especially coming after Sgt Pepper's but I always saw it as a brave move into psychedelia. Yes, it is very much of its time but none the less charming for that. Still love it very much to this day.

She's A Rainbow and 2000 Light Years From Home are two of the greatest songs the band ever recorded. Totally mesmeric and able to transport you to places out there where the buses don't go. And there anin't nothin' wrong with that.

Citadel is the unsung classic - a song that has never been played live but one which would, if properly rehearsed, sound fantastic in the right setting. Imagine if they had unearthed this one at Glastonbury. It would have brought the house, or rather, field down.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-08-11 16:32 by Silver Dagger.

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Silver Dagger
It's an album I used to put on a lot when I was studying the effects of temporal release from the earth's gravitational pull and it sure did work a treat.

So you say you had floating experiences while listening?

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Nikkei

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Silver Dagger
It's an album I used to put on a lot when I was studying the effects of temporal release from the earth's gravitational pull and it sure did work a treat.

So you say you had floating experiences while listening?

And people say this albums isn't flowing...

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RobertJohnson
No Rolling Stones album, a marketing product to improve the selling rates on the Pop market. The absolute musical low point in their career. Shameless and tasteless fishing in the Beatles pond ...

Agree with almost all your points...but even still, the song writing (see what happens notwithstanding) and performances are stellar so it can't help itself but be a very good album.

3.5 stars out of 5.

the album is CRAP
but I think the album fulfilled an important function – it somehow brought the Stones back to blues rock (Satanic Majesties Request made clear (to them as well as to others) that they were on the wrong way trying to ride the pop wave)

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MarthaTuesday

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1962
I used to skip "Sing This All Together (See What Happens)", without that shit it's a really cool album with those absolute must singles: "She's A Rainbow" and "2000 Light Years From Home". Very important cool part of The Rolling Stones history for sure.
I simply love it!

Those two songs alone make this album worth it for me.

ditto. Actually a better showing than some of their more modern records. Also grateful for this record in that it provided the direction for the next 4 masterpieces..."well we can't go there again".

peace

It aint no SGT PEPPER but there is something i really love about this album. Gomper is still so weird that i would keep it on it.
i would got ridden of the first song- Sing this All Together and replaced it with WE LOVE YOU, dnd put in Dandelion where THE LANTERN is and i think it would actually be a very strong album overall.

great cover

While some may say it was an attempt to be like the Beatles, outside of the cover and some of the sound, it is all Stones.

I wish this was the tracklisting:

Sing This All Together
Citadel*
In Another Land
2000 Man*
--> Dandelion*
--> We Love You*
She's a Rainbow*
The Lantern
Gomper
2000 Light Years from Home*
--> Child of the Moon*
On with the Show
Sing This All Together (See What Happens)

I could care less about the Sing This Together (See What Happens) reprise or the song starting the album, so the songs could be rearranged to make it better. Think of the strength this album would have had with those 3 tracks added (-->).

There would be 7 strong songs on the album (*).

I don't mind The Lantern and Gomper also. I may have to dig out the disc and listen to it now.

I always looked at Satanic Majesties as an cult, arti, psychedelic album with weird sounds and some great songs as 2000 Light Years and She's A Rainbow. I enjoy this!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-06-19 17:25 by runaway.

It's much more psychelic musically than Sgt. Pepper. It's a weird musical comparison, imo.

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DandelionPowderman

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Nikkei

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Silver Dagger
It's an album I used to put on a lot when I was studying the effects of temporal release from the earth's gravitational pull and it sure did work a treat.

So you say you had floating experiences while listening?

And people say this albums isn't flowing...

Man, the whole room was floating sometimes. As I said, always had a lot of fun with this album. But sometimes it was hard getting back home as the busses had stopped running by then.

Essentially a late night listen and preferably in a darkened room.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-06-19 18:09 by Silver Dagger.

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DandelionPowderman
It's much more psychelic musically than Sgt. Pepper. It's a weird musical comparison, imo.

Indeed. Couldn't agree more Dandy. Listening to Sgt Pepper always kept my feet firmly on the ground. With Satanic - and I think the thin, metallic mix had as much to do with it as the sounds and lyrics - I always felt in flight and other worldly. This is exactly what they set out to achieve.

People make the mistake of thinking that it should sound like a typical Rolling Stones album. Wrong. It was a unique departure and the band wanted to get away from the blues, r'n'b and rock'n'roll and sound totally different.

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Silver Dagger

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DandelionPowderman
It's much more psychedelic musically than Sgt. Pepper. It's a weird musical comparison, imo.

Indeed. Couldn't agree more Dandy. Listening to Sgt Pepper always kept my feet firmly on the ground. With Satanic - and I think the thin, metallic mix had as much to do with it as the sounds and lyrics - I always felt in flight and other worldly. This is exactly what they set out to achieve.

People make the mistake of thinking that it should sound like a typical Rolling Stones album. Wrong. It was a unique departure and the band wanted to get away from the blues, r'n'b and rock'n'roll and sound totally different.

It's a great point indeed. In retrospect there really isn't that much psychedelic about the Sgt. Pepper music. Perhaps everyone was just following the personal lives of The Beatles so much at the time the psychedelic tag was a combination of their perceived lifestyles as much as anything the music truly reflected. Although Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and Within You Without You captured elements of psychedelia so well it's hard to really say.

The Stones went all in with concept of TSMR. Strange how a single little molecule could stir up music and culture so much.

peace

Its definitely a divisive album. And I think it absolutely benefits from not being Sgt. Pepper's and always getting talked about. That way its the underdog and when you do listen to it you're going in with low expectations that are exceeded, or you're just going in not being so jaded by the release.

I'll be 100% honest and say I love the album. I don't think its perfect by any means, but god they did that Sgt. Pepper's copy well. I'd love to know why so many hate it. Is it because its essentially a direct copy and what the Stones did before and after was their own? Is it because you didn't like that kind of psychedelic music (which admittedly I didn't either, but this works)? Is it because its just fashionable to hate that album. I've truly never understood why it gets so much hate, and especially why its one of the albums thats hated by the public but also hated here. I find it unfathomable people defend the post Tattoo You albums yet destroy this one, but thats just me.

Anyway, back to the album, I think they absolutely killed it. First off, you have bonafide classics that everyone seems to agree are good. Mainly She's A Rainbow and 2,000 Light Years From Home. They've been played live and seem to be generally accepted as being ok to be liked. To me, 2,000 Man is also essentially a well known and accepted song as well. Very simple song with a message far beyond its years and just the right amount of catchy but not hokey that I feel that one is generally pretty liked.

Getting deeper into the album, you have solid rockers like Citadel. GREAT guitar from Keith and just a heavy friggen song all around. If you weren't into the album yet, thats the one I hear and think "only the Stones could have done this." That has their signature sound that no one else was doing at the time. It sounds dangerous and raucous and its something The Beatles would never do. The Lantern is another song I just love. Again, GREAT guitar fills from Keith here that I could just listen to forever. But great piano accompianment that is signature to the Stones and great vocals from Mick. I don't see why those 2 aren't more liked.

Then you get to the real meat of the album that people seem to have gripes with. IMO the acceptable songs that are out there, but not overly so, are Sing This All Together, In Another Land, and On With The Show. If there was a song I could understand people not liking, its the first one, which is admittedly kind of silly and doesn't go anywhere, but I personally like Mick's solo vocals on it, and I think it dives into the weirdness of Pepper and the 60s just enough but not overly so. I'm not really trying to defend the song. I like it, and thats the end of it, but I could understand why some see it as silly. In Another Land I really only put on the list cause its kind of trippy and its Bill so its jarring, but otherwise it was a single and I think its a solid catchy tune. And On With The Show to me is just straight fun. Thats the drunkenness of the 60s, but also its just pure saloon style entertainment and I think they do a great job with it.

Now the 2 clunkers, to me, are obviously Sing This All Together (See What Happens) and Gomper. The former is their one foray into complete psychedelic rock with seemingly no direction. And I guess thats maybe the point of psychedelic rock, but it does nothing for me. Thats just them being weird with no plan and it sounding like utter crap. There's no redeeming factors about the song, except to go back on it every once in a while and say "yeah, don't forget the worst of the 60s and that drugs got the best of everyone at some point." Gomper is kind of the same, but definitely less so. Its more Indian inspired than psychedelic to me, and really there's nothing wrong with the first half. The song is just kind of half baked to me, whereas the other songs do go somewhere and are more straightforward in their approach. I've personally never liked the second half of Gomper and saw nothing in the first half to redeem it, which is why I consider it the second clunker.

So there you go. Maybe not a review that will convince anyone, but I do think its a solid record (at least as solid as many of their shitty ones) and I've never understood the hate for it. I'd have to just chalk it up to people that have genuinely never listened to it or for people that remember that time, or have a perception of it, and unfairly judge the album based off that without giving it a fair shake. I understand its not for everyone and every Stones album doesn't have to be good. But completely honestly, I consider it a gem in their catalogue and one that I can go back to so often because they truly have nothing else that sounds like it. So its always refreshing to hear. I still contend its a Sgt Pepper's rip off, but more like an homage and trying to follow what they were doing with their own twist. It definitely has the Stones sound, and I think its a great representation of the 60s and that time without getting TOO psychedelic and staying rather pop, with the exception of 2 songs. If they were to play full album shows, I'd obviously love to see Beggars through Exile, but I'd pay very good money (and probably wouldn't have to!) to see this one. It would be a must for me.

And while I agree its very different than Pepper, I'm just saying I understand the comparison. But actually, I give more power to the Stones. Clearly Pepper was an influence (I think its insane to say it wasn't), but it shows the Stones could do that concept and go completely in their own direction. Not to make it Beatles and Stones, but the Stones could do the Beatles and make it their own. The Stones made their Sgt. Peppers, while the Beatles could never have made an album like this.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-06-19 18:34 by RollingFreak.