My favourite Stones album in it's entirety. Great folky/bluesy tracks with the signature Stones edge, definitely a coming-of-age for the band. Great to listen to at night before bed.

This is album defines the term... sex, drugs & rock & roll.

They then continued to define the term up to the album some girls.

Since then, only brief moments of the term exist sporadically in their recordings.

when their drugs wore off they were worn out. Lol. Truth.

This is the best Stones album ever for me. It's a guitarists dream, though, The Rolling Stones Now still remains my fave original Stones album of all time for listening to when you are up/down/blue/through/just needin' something to get ya through. BB just flows and would be great as a set piece from beginning to end for a concert. My first copy of this album, which may or may not be mono (it's packed away now, so I don't know), was lifted from a local record store in Baltimore. I had listened to the album in one of them listening booths music stores used to feature (yeah, I'm that old, but not obsolete). I kept thinking as I first listened to BB, I want this album, but I didn't have the money. So, being young, stupid and broke, I lit out the front door of the shop with the album when the owner went into the back to check on something. Felt guilty as sin, having been raised as a good Catholic boy, but when I got home and cranked the album on the hi-fi, sin was forgotten. The sounds of heaven - or is it the devil's music - was in the air and I was taken away.

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DandelionPowderman
BEGGARS BANQUET



Preproduction:
Early-mid February 1968: Keith Richards' home (Redlands), West Wittering, Sussex, England
February 21-Mid-March 1968: R. G. Jones Studios, Morden, Surrey, England

Recorded:

March 17-April 3, 1968: Olympic Sound Studios, London, England
May 9-23, 1968: Olympic Sound Studios, London, England
June 4-10, 1968: Olympic Sound Studios, London, England
June 24-28, 1968: Olympic Sound Studios, London, England

Postproduction:

July 6-25, 1968: Sunset Sound Studios, Los Angeles, USA

Producer: Jimmy Miller
Chief engineers: Glyn Johns & Eddie Kramer
Released: December 1968
Original label: London Records (Polygram)

Contributing musicians:

Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, Brian Jones, Nicky Hopkins, Jimmy Miller, Dave Mason, Rocky Dijon, Rick Grech, Marianne Faithfull, Anita Pallenberg, Watts Street (L.A.) gospel choir.

Sympathy for the Devil
No Expectations
Dear Doctor
Parachute Woman
Jigsaw Puzzle
Street Fighting Man
Prodigal Son
Stray Cat Blues
Factory Girl
Salt of the Earth

Corrected for technical errors.

Stone cold classic. Sounds fantastic. Beautifully understated playing, in the main, brutally honest music and lyrically their peak.

Not one dud, great production, stunning songs and continuity, and StrayCat Blues and Salt of the Earth remain pinnacles of perfection to me. Throw in Sympathy... No other band was coming close at this stage.

My favourite Stones album. Parachute Woman, Stray Cat, No Expectations plus the "warhorses", what a fantastic album.
It is the turning point as many here have said. Their run of singles up to JJF/COTM is as good as any other band but i don't think they'd quite cracked the album scene entirely despite some good efforts in particular Aftermath.
Sadly, this is where Brian finishes his stint with the band (pretty much) and they've moved back to where they started but in reinvented rock form - blues.

Satanic , imo, is a better album the Sgt. Pepper. The Stones toyed with the Beatles and then discarded them....Beatles fans just can't handle that we are better.

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Brstonesfan
Satanic , imo, is a better album the Sgt. Pepper. The Stones toyed with the Beatles and then discarded them....Beatles fans just can't handle that we are better.

Obviously I would disagree, sales figures would certainly disagree and not that Critics are geniuses, but I've NEVER saw SM in any top 100 album list- But, opinions are like that!

I wish I could get that much out of SM!!!! Lol


I toss it off to the Beatles were just better at low brow philosophy and whimsy!

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Thrylan
To me, this is where the "Rollin' Stones" became the Stones. The cut is clear. No more Aftermath- BTB soul searching, experimental wandering. No more Satanic obsurdery...... With BB they do a 180° musically. From this point until decadence sets in, they define Rock. Both technically and aesthetically. Not my favorite Stones album, but an essential part of a 5 album roll, that in my opinion, no person or band has ever equalled.

I fully agree this is the beginning of the Stones being consistent on albums and not just with singles.

I also agree the 5 album roll was awesome but I stick to studio releases so for me it's 4. But I wouldn't say no one else has equaled it. I wouldn't agree no one has done it any better, but to say no one has equaled it is a bit extreme. I think even if you ignore The Beatles first two albums of Please Please Me and With The Beatles as being great but not classic, the run they put together with A Hard Days Night, Beatles For Sale, Help, Rubber Soul, Revolver and Sgt. Pepper is pretty great. If you had Magical Mystery Tour as an American Album (Originally EP in the UK) it stretches longer and then further with The White Album. If you don't count the Yellow Submarine soundtrack as a real attempt at an album, You could claim Hard Days Night through Abbey Road for a classic 9 album run.

Then we have Zeppelin who I, II, III, IV, Houses of the Holy and Physical Graffiti is one heck of a 6 album run.

To me, The White album is the only one at the "big 4/5" level......but it's all opinion and taste.


Someone, perhaps NL(?), put it best earlier, Ya-Yas is kind of the "fruit" of much of this work, thereby an extension...... Again, it's all opinion.

I think BB might be their best album.

I read in a old ROLLING STONES MAGAZINE (N.19), Mick Jagger saying that JJF should be in BB too.....WOW, it would be the best ROLLING STONES album, for sure!!! Imagine, SFTD, SFM and JJF at same album......

Mick Jagger -- Rolling Stone No19 - 1968



ROCKMAN

I've called Aftermath the biggest step the Stones put forward in their history, but
this step is quite a leap forward too, of course. But not as big as Aftermath, I think,
since many of the aspects that make Beggar's Banquet such a fenomenal album were already
present on Between the Buttons and Their Satanic Majesties Request. Listen to the guitar
parts on All Sold Out for example, and you'll hear the rudiments of Stray Cat Blues.

The main achievement is probably what I'd call the "unity in diversity". There's all
sorts of styles (even a waltz!), but everyone recognises it's the Stones we're listening
to. They were not the first band to return to the roots of American music, of course,
(Music from the Big Pink was a couple of months ahead), but like no other band they
made the music their own.

Bob Dylan (who owned the Big Pink) is also echoing on Beggar's Banquet, in the eleborate
lyrics about 20.000 grandma's waving hankies in the air and parades of grey suited
crafters and such. Lyrics like Stray Cat Blues or Parachute Woman take us into a different
world, though. Mick seems no longer inspired by Stupid girls like Miss Amanda Jones
and rich types who are bored in Knightsbridge or spoiled with thousand toys.
Here's a guy whose heavy throdder's itching and the world's got to know it.

It is amazing how they achieved such a rocking album with the use of so many accoustic
instruments, by the way.

Just as long as the guitar plays, let it steal your heart away

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Thrylan
Yes.... A young band, caught in a bit of an identity crisis. After being innovators early on, had become increasingly dirivative. In a 3 album span, you can call the light experimentation of AM/BTB v/s Rubber Soul/Revolver a tie, but SG Pepper smokes SM.....I think this is key. I'm sure this motivated Mick quite a bit to get back on firm footing and try to surpass the Beatles in success again. All these things were part of the 180° turn I spoke of. And yes, while I own SM, I listen to it, it's not why I'm a Stones freak. It's a subpar Stones album- and I find bits of it quite absurd.

Not to be combative or anti-Stones here, but I think Rubber Soul is better than Aftermath, and more original as it was recorded and released earlier (though to be fair Lennon-McCartney had already mastered the 2-3 minute songwriting format way before Jagger-Richards). It's debatable, of course, or perhaps a matter of taste.

But Between the Buttons vs. Revolver a tie? Revolver is considered by some better than Sgt. Pepper's (not by me, but by some fans and so-called music critics). The only noteworthy tracks from BTB are 'Ruby Tuesday' and 'Let's Spend the Night Together,' the only ones the Beatles would ever hypothetically consider to be up to par [to include] on their Revolver album. Track by track Revolver is superior to Between the Buttons (again, recorded and released earlier).

I agree, of course, that Sgt. Pepper's album demolishes the Stones 'SM' album...not worthy of comparison, actually. But I still enjoy listening to it, and it's still a noteworthy album in the Stones recording history (and it's still one of the many cultural artifacts of the 1960s).

But I agree, and it is clear, about your point of an identity crisis. Beggar's Banquet represents for the Stones a return to their roots to a degree, though not a necessarily a 180 degree turn (I can't imagine anyone too shocked when Beggar's Banquet was released).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-06 16:03 by nightskyman.

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nightskyman

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Thrylan
Yes.... A young band, caught in a bit of an identity crisis. After being innovators early on, had become increasingly dirivative. In a 3 album span, you can call the light experimentation of AM/BTB v/s Rubber Soul/Revolver a tie, but SG Pepper smokes SM.....I think this is key. I'm sure this motivated Mick quite a bit to get back on firm footing and try to surpass the Beatles in success again. All these things were part of the 180° turn I spoke of. And yes, while I own SM, I listen to it, it's not why I'm a Stones freak. It's a subpar Stones album- and I find bits of it quite absurd.

Not to be combative or anti-Stones here, but I think Rubber Soul is better than Aftermath, and more original as it was recorded and released earlier (though to be fair Lennon-McCartney had already mastered the 2-3 minute songwriting format way before Jagger-Richards). It's debatable, of course, or perhaps a matter of taste.

But Between the Buttons vs. Revolver a tie? Revolver is considered by some better than Sgt. Pepper's (not by me, but by some fans and so-called music critics). The only noteworthy tracks from BTB are 'Ruby Tuesday' and 'Let's Spend the Night Together,' the only ones the Beatles would ever hypothetically consider to be up to par [to include] on their Revolver album. Track by track Revolver is superior to Between the Buttons (again, recorded and released earlier).

I agree, of course, that Sgt. Pepper's album demolishes the Stones 'SM' album...not worthy of comparison, actually. But I still enjoy listening to it, and it's still a noteworthy album in the Stones recording history (and it's still one of the many cultural artifacts of the 1960s).

But I agree, and it is clear, about your point of an identity crisis. Beggar's Banquet represents for the Stones a return to their roots to a degree, though not a necessarily a 180 degree turn (I can't imagine anyone too shocked when Beggar's Banquet was released).

I personally agree. I think the Beatles ran a "three-peat" on the Stones, with the third blow being a royal ass kicking.....But I am sure we are in the minority on that! They NEEDED to get back to their roots.

THEIR SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST is easily their second worst LP of all time and should've been an EP. Too Beatles wannabe and poorly done at that.

BEGGARS BANQUET is so good that no one noticed Jumpin' Jack Flash isn't on it. And, of course, imagine if it was, which nowadays it can be.

BB is definitely my personal favorite but LIB is probably their best then Exile.

BEGGARS BANQUET is essentially a warning...

They have a huge discography and albums before BB had some great songs on them but... BEGGARS is where The Rolling Stones start. Everything that came before hand was a building process. They got all the shit out of the way (TSMR), all the bland popness out of the way (BTButtons), all that fast hurried up stuff out of the way (just about everything except AFTERMATH and TSMR) and the thin sound out of the way (a lot of songs).

BEGGARS is fat, mean, serious and solid. It launched them into a part of the music atmosphere that would require them being on the verge of being completely strung out to come down with GOATS HEAD SOUP, the end of the brilliant ascent.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-12-28 17:18 by GasLightStreet.

Released as late as december -68....I didn't remembered that...thought it was a spring-68-album...anyway..one of the best albums made in the civilized side of the World...

2 1 2 0

Not only a great album but also the bands most important one. It defined the Stones! it was the launching pad from a really good pop band to one of the best bands of all time. I may slightly prefer Let it bleed and Exile but those could never have been made without having made Beggars first. All praise to Jimmy Miller for producing it as well.

Right now, it's my favourite Stones album.

yes indeed, the series starting with BB and ending with GHS is just overwhelming. That said I also love Aftermath, Between the Buttons and Their Satanic a lot.

Yep, this is one of the best albums ever recorded by ANYONE!

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kleermaker
yes indeed, the series starting with BB and ending with GHS is just overwhelming. That said I also love Aftermath, Between the Buttons and Their Satanic a lot.

"ending with GHS" hmm I think you need to back up one album.

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Ket

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kleermaker
yes indeed, the series starting with BB and ending with GHS is just overwhelming. That said I also love Aftermath, Between the Buttons and Their Satanic a lot.

"ending with GHS" hmm I think you need to back up one album.

deep down he knows that, he's just stubborn about admitting it in public ;-)

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Turner68

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Ket

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kleermaker
yes indeed, the series starting with BB and ending with GHS is just overwhelming. That said I also love Aftermath, Between the Buttons and Their Satanic a lot.

"ending with GHS" hmm I think you need to back up one album.

deep down he knows that, he's just stubborn about admitting it in public ;-)

I would admit it immediately if I would agree. . But for me GHS is the last really great Stones album.

Sympathy for the Devil 10/10
No Expectations 10/10
Dear Doctor 10/10
Parachute Woman 10/10
Jigsaw Puzzle 8/10
Street Fighting Man 10/10
Prodigal Son 10/10
Stray Cat Blues 10/10
Factory Girl 10/10
Salt of the Earth 9/10

this is an underrated album. i rank it higher than sticky fingers.

after side 1 of exile, side 1 of beggar's is probably my favorite side of stones vinyl.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-12-28 10:59 by Turner68.

Sympathy for the Devil 10/10
No Expectations 10/10
Dear Doctor 10/10
Parachute Woman 10/10
Jigsaw Puzzle 10/10
Street Fighting Man 10/10
Prodigal Son 10/10
Stray Cat Blues 10/10
Factory Girl 10/10
Salt of the Earth 10/10

Fantastic album.
I'll buy a new copy of BB in cd. In your opinion which is the best version/edition?

Have a nice day.