Beggars Banquet is certainly the Stones album i keep coming back to as the prime example of the Stones at their very best. Maybe it has something to do with the sequencing in the way the songs tend to compliment each other so well. The album is incredibly well paced throughout, and individually the songs stand up just as well out of sequence, which is something the Stones have rarely managed to achieve so effectively before or since. The country blues influences and predominant acoustic sounds with the addition of some occasionally amazing slide guitar playing is so refreshing, not least because it displays subtelty often missing from much of the Stones later work, and in particular the Stones post Tattoo You era recordings. Maybe the Beggars Banquet era Stones were more in touch with musical texture and sensitivity, as opposed to recycled riffs and formulaic songwriting structure. There's definitely a sense of the Stones needing to create something meaningful and far beyond mere commercial aspirations, however the 60s was a very different era in so many ways.

Yes, I know EOMS gets all the headlines, but BB is an incredible record, the lyrics, the music, the feel, the vocals, it stands alone as something very special, because I am in a rush, I will simply call it ineffable, :-)

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Edward Twining
Beggars Banquet is certainly the Stones album i keep coming back to as the prime example of the Stones at their very best. Maybe it has something to do with the sequencing in the way the songs tend to compliment each other so well. The album is incredibly well paced throughout, and individually the songs stand up just as well out of sequence, which is something the Stones have rarely managed to achieve so effectively before or since. The country blues influences and predominant acoustic sounds with the addition of some occasionally amazing slide guitar playing is so refreshing, not least because it displays subtelty often missing from much of the Stones later work, and in particular the Stones post Tattoo You era recordings. Maybe the Beggars Banquet era Stones were more in touch with musical texture and sensitivity, as opposed to recycled riffs and formulaic songwriting structure. There's definitely a sense of the Stones needing to create something meaningful and far beyond mere commercial aspirations, however the 60s was a very different era in so many ways.

I agree. Well said. For me another well sequenced album is Stickey Fingers. Let it bleed is great but some of the tracks seem a bit misplaced . . . and Exile seems very jumbled except for side 3. Perhaps Tatoo You is another example of well sequenced tracks . . .

yes it is the best IMHO

"Beggar's Banquet", to my mind (and ears), beats the pants off of "The Beatles (The White Album)". This is the only pre-1969 Stones album I have on my HD.

It is interesting that while the Beatles were collectively turning into four solo musicians, the Stones were coalescing into a unit that produced amazing results. The sum was indeed greater than its individual parts. This is also true of "Let It Bleed" (with Mick T being a "bit player" at that time).

This is the album the Stones had to make after the relative failures of Between The Buttons and Satanic Majesties. It was informed by the new acoustic back to the roots sound of John Wesley Harding and of course The Band's Music From Big Pink. Let's not forget that the rest of the music scene was still trying to make psychedelic music but the Stones took a bold step to bring in acoustic instruments and even a violin. And what an influence that proved to be on the early Rod Stewart albums with Every Picture Tells A Story and Never A Dull Moment. I still think Let It Bleed has the better songs that came to define The Stones but this is one mighty album that seemingly came from nowhere after the band retreated from the live scene. Sheer class.

Yes, this one and Gimme Shelter are my favourites, Stones at their purest.

Bliss - you mean Let It Bleed?

I agree.

It's the kind of album that they could easily make now in terms of going back to the basics - some blues, some country, the odd cover version and a few classic riff driven rockers. It would give them a new lease of life. Just do what they do best instead of trying to create a sound that will fill out the stadiums.

Oops, sorry, LIB. What was I thinking?

Beggars Banquet is a good choice. Even the very best stones albums had at least a couple of tracks on them that needed to grow on me before I appreciate the whole album. Except For Let It Bleed, I instantly loved the whole thing. I'm not sure if that means its the best album but I find that interesting.

To my taste it goes in this order :

Exile
Beggars Banquet
Let it bleed
Sticky Fingers
Some Girls

I like EOMS more, but this was the Stones album that made me a fan forever.

I listened to this one over and over and over and really was blown away by the integrity of the album, the reinvention of the band, and the connection that it made to some vital, essential primal rhythm and soul. The world would never be the same.

There was no going back after BB.


On the internet nobody knows
you're Mick Jagger

No way. Great record, yes, but Let It Bleed is still their best album period. They had more maturity with that version of what they were doing as a band. It seemed that their performing and writing powers were at their finest for LIB. Sticky Fingers is easily their second best, Beggars third best. But really it's more like 1A, 1B, 1C - they are that close to greatness in and of themselves compared to themselves as well as other rock records. And then 2, 3, 4 etc...

Let It Bleed
Sticky Fingers
Beggars Banquet
Tattoo You
Exile On Main St

Exile

It is tempting to compare BB and LIB because as albums, they are structured the same way.

The power opening: I take Sympathy over Shelter. Never understood the craze about Shelter, and Sympathy was and is a UFO in the Rock skies, never done before, never will be approched in terms of originality and pure nonesense, that mad guitar suddenly striking like lightning midway through the song, the absurd woo woos.

The blues: Love in vain is richer in sound, but not as pure, and a bit perhaps demonstrative, whereas No Expectation is so marvellously understated. Besides, it's an original.

The country: Dear doctor just wallows in brilliant harmonies, strikes the exact balance between genuine and tongue-in-cheek; whereas i always felt Country Honk went nowhere and added nothing to Honky Tonk Women.

The rocker: Live with Me is much more radical of course, great use of sax, 'static funk', incredible guitar-piano interplay, the stunning bass intro, the cool lyrics... Parachute woman seems light in comparison.

The long chatty song: I think Bleed works better, the end is sooo way cool.

Side B:
Street Fighting Man vs Rambler, the two violent tunes... Hmmmm... too different to compare, and why choose?

Prodigal son VS Silver: Incredibly, Jagger's muffled vocals don't hold a candle to Keith's impassionate delivery, and the instrumental tune of Silver is just gorgeous. No contest.

Stray Cat vs Monkey Man: both are great and yet, somehow, in both there is something that does not fully 'work' for me, as if all the parts of the tunes did not 'gel' as they should. But Monkey has the stunning intro: that alone takes the cake.

Salt of the Earth vs YCAGWYW: YCAGWYW's arrangement is perhaps the most perfect piece of music under the rock sun, and I don't specifically mean the choir: I mean the organ, guitars, drums, the subtlety of it. Salt is perhaps more ambitious in a sense, but YCAGWYW hits the bullseye.

And then there is Factory Girl, I love Factory girl. Has to count as a 'score' for BB, so here I am, 4-5: Bleed wins over Beggar. And yet I am more fond of beggar. Oh well...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009-08-08 06:21 by otonneau.

Exile Exile

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Silver Dagger
This is the album the Stones had to make after the relative failures of Between The Buttons and Satanic Majesties.

The Stones already HAD come back with Jumpin' Jack Flash, which I maintain is the best rock song/rock single ever recorded.

In the U.S. Between the Buttons is a much stronger album--starting off with Let's Spend the Night Together, soon followed by Ruby Tuesday--so I don't think that album is considered as much as a "failure" as Satanic was.

Satanic's greatest flaw was the sense that the Stones were following the Beatles a little too closely, but anyone who was alive then can attest that Sgt. Pepper was a huge milestone in pop culture at the time, and it was easy to think that it pointed to a new era/direction in music. [The Rascal's box set on Rhino has a photo of them in '67 all dressed up in marching band uniforms, so everyone was getting into the act...]

JJF was the instant classic that announced that the Stones were back, better than ever, just as it's promo film showed the world the new Jagger persona best described by the title of the song.

Beggar's Banquet continued the momentum and pushed it even farther with the opening track, the first Stones epic in the new age of FM radio/album oriented rock.

I lean toward Let It Bleed as their best album, although it's a neck-in-neck horse race between the two. The years '68 and '69 are actually the most creative period within the Golden Age years of '68- '72. [perhaps they should be called "Diamond Age??"] As far as the best Stones album....in terms of songs, impact and overall significance, basically it's a toss-up between Beggars and Let It Bleed.




These albums speak for themselves. They don't need defenders with lame [non] arguments like "this was the first Stones album I bought..."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009-08-09 17:53 by loog droog.

Exile is the best.

beggars should be a double album

Beggars is simply the greatest record ever recorded...it's not even close.

Mick Taylor said his favorite Stones album was Beggars, even if he didn't play on it.

I love Exile but I do not get how it could be their best album ever. It's not THAT good. If it had less songs on it I'd possibly be closer to agreeing with it being their best.

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It's the kind of album that they could easily make now in terms of going back to the basics - some blues, some country, the odd cover version and a few classic riff driven rockers. It would give them a new lease of life. Just do what they do best instead of trying to create a sound that will fill out the stadiums.

Please don't take offense, but really, are you serious? We are talking about guys who are approaching 70, how long do you think such a thing could even last? Do you really think they could turn a corner creatively, become re-invigorated, and ride a new career wave for another 10-20 years? I'm not saying it's impossible for them to make another great album, but at this point, nothing can give them a new lease on life, they are just too old from any kind of realistic and practical standpoint.

Beggars is my favourite, with Their Satanic Majesties Request a close 2nd.

Beggars is my favourite party because despite all the hoo-haa about it being a supposed''get back to your routes'' album, it does still have a psychedelic, forward looking edge to it.

... and the album also has some of my most favourite geetar tones.

PS: The Satanic Sessions box set and The Surrey Reherasals are the missing links between TSMR and BB.

The jump from satanic to beggars wasn't really that vast when you see it in context. The presentation and end product is rather different, but scratch the surface and there is much in common between the two.

for the purposes of threads like this, Beggars and LIB = a double album
and yep, it is unsurpassed. (as are a few others.)

Beggars was the first Stones album i bought with my own money - i am still proud of my excellent 13-year-old taste! :E
it's also the first album i got on cassette and the first one i got on CD,
which made it easier to decide which SACD to buy first. Beggars and i have got a good thing going :E

I think Jigsaw Puzzle sounds most like the Stones 66-67 period, in fact the track could almost have belonged on Between The Buttons because, like Who's Been Sleeping Here, it's heavily influenced by Dylan lyrically and Jagger's voice still has that psychedelic tinge to it which would be gone by the time of Let It Bleed. I love Jigsaw Puzzle just like all the other tracks on the album.

Vocally Jagger is interesting on Beggars Banquet because he's still not fully developed his 'rock' voice aside from one or two of the most well known tracks (Sympathy For The Devil and Stray Cat Blues especially). In many ways Beggars Banquet is the Stones dabbling in different areas, mainly within the country/blues genre, before they decided to go down a predominantly more blues rock route (especially with Sticky Fingers). Even Street Fighting Man has a predominantly acoustic feel. Let It Bleed is pretty much a replay of Beggars Banquet's style, although it is marginally more electric sounding generally. Let It Bleed has some of the greatest Stones performances of all time, although the songs collectively seem rather more patchy. Let It Bleed at times lacks the relaxed assurance of Beggars Banquet.

First: Exile (pour l 'atmoshere et l 'histoire)
Second: Sticky Fingers ( Pour la couverture et les guitares)
Third: Let It Bleed (pour les textes et les compositions)
Fourth : Beggar's Banquet (pour la rupture avec le passé et le retour au blues)

commentaires in french in the text ...

1. Sticky Fingers
2. Let It Bleed
3. Beggars Banquet
4. Exile On Main Street
5. Get Yer Ya-Ya´s Out!

6/onwards: a huge step behind...