It's the first album where the Stones take full advantage of the LP format (save Going Home from Aftermath) and try something different than composing a bunch of songs in the single 45rpm format.

From this point of view the idea is closer to the Who's "rock opera" than to any other SM's contemporaries (including Sgt Pepper).

I find that STSAT (both parts, esp. the second) showcases the vastest variety of Keith liks and leads and riffs in one single take. And it all stands together. It is not a "song" with intro -verse-chorus-solo etc.: who cares?

I can easily see why people who love BS or JJF hate Satanic. But why should the stones be tied to doing only variations of BS or JJF? Don't we have enough? Can the original get any better?

I think that SM is a very good album.


C

I have ALWAYS loved tSMR! A bit of pointless rambling in See What Happens is all the bad I can hear in it. Never could see the parallel with Sgt. Pepper's, save for the cover (which is marketing anyway).
I wished Cafaro would be more specific about those parallels he mentions. On With The Show is influenced by The Mothers of Invention's "America Drinks and Goes Home" more than anything else to my ear. The "show" the Beatles frame Pepper with is cute and good-humored lampoon. The Stones's cabaret thing is cynical and seedy.
To Gazza: sure they jumped on the psychedelic bandwagon, just as they jumped on the pop bandwagon before that... which was on the trail of the blues bandwagon... And AFTER it you have the country-folk, fidelling/yodelling bandwagon from BB to EoMS. Nothing wrong with it, it's the Stones being in sync with their time, within the capacity of their musicianship.

I think it's a patchy album with a few memorable moments. It's very true the Stones were jumping on the psychedelic bandwagon but i do believe this music gives the Stones output more variety. Citadel, She's A Rainbow and 2000 Light Years From Home are Stones classics and there's only Sing This All Together(See What Happens), Gomper and On With The Show that i'm really not keen on.
I prefer it to almost anything the Stones released post Tattoo You.

>To Gazza: sure they jumped on the psychedelic bandwagon, just as they jumped on the pop bandwagon before that... which was on the trail of the blues bandwagon... And AFTER it you have the country-folk, fidelling/yodelling bandwagon from BB to EoMS. Nothing wrong with it, it's the Stones being in sync with their time, within the capacity of their musicianship.


A reasonable point, except that it was merely a passing fad, unlike the other "bandwagons" which were musically connected to what the Stones were all about. Keith talks about the various Stones albums down the years as "his babies". TSMR stands out in the family album like a sore thumb - like the bastard offspring from a secret relationship thats best forgotten and which just doesnt look like it belongs.


Plus they did the other "bandwagon jumping" pretty well and convincingly.

Put this record on at a party, and watch people's jaws drop.
They can't believe this is Stones record. THey dig it,
The African rhythms, the psychedelica, the cover.
I don't think it ever really dated, unlike Undercover.
This, Buttons, GHS, IORR, all sound better with each passing year.
Funny how Jagger sort of disowns all the above records
when they sound better each and every year...including Exile.

To Gazza: OK, but I don't know... A group is a weird thing. Keith might well hate it or have always hated it... Did Brian himself have had a chance to have clear enough hindsight at all about it?... I swear I once read an interview in which Jagger said he was rather fond of this album. Who knows?... Strange thing is Brian's mellotron colors an important track from it (plus you have to include what he does to We Love You, as well as his reed contribution on Dandelion). AFAICT, it just might be considered as Mick's own slightly twisted mid-sixties baby instead of Keith's... Even Bill has an important track on it (seems lots of fans who enjoy TSMR like this track)...
When I think about it, actually, TSMR doesn't really even sound like a TYPICAL psychedelic album in the first place... Too much British, accomplished, classical influences, too much avant-garde cynicism, not enough flowers in the hair (if we forget about Dandelion), too much pessimism and darkness...
I am not even very fond of psychedelic music, and I see TSMR simply as The Rolling Stones, in all their mid-60s, novel glory... With a founding member dwindling near twilight, and another one's saturated axe roaring louder and louder in the back...
You know, to me, even in the disco fad thing, they were still the Stones!

AGAIN, i don' think the stones copied the beatles..in fact i think they all copied the stones.... fact...paint it black was recorded in march 1966..and
dandelion, nov. 1966, both well before the beatles did their stuff..and if you look at the other stuff on aftermath and b the buttons the stones were heading in that direction... with all of brian's work....sitar, harpsichord, flute,mellotron,marimba,dulcimer, viola, etc...the stones were among the first rock bands to put these into thier songs.. funny paul and john helped the stones doing vocals on we love you...

i think tsmr, ended with a bang... they did all they could with this type of music..put out, i think a strong closer for that time... its much better to listen too, and it still shows how great the stones were..much better than d.works.. i think even the stones would get bored doing albums like dirty works all the time... thank god they tried different types of music...thats why they are the best!

Great album but a few flaws (See What Happens, Gomper, On With The Show)

sorry..you have to listen to gomper and on with the show again...get the sony version and put it loud..ha... gomper is a cool song. once jagger is done it goes into a musical freak-out with brian going nuts for about 3 minutes on various instruments...
anyway i'm happy the stones returned to their roots after tsmr with one of the best rock songs ever with jumping jack flash..but tsmr, is a cool period piece!

I never thought of Gomper as a real song.
I don't like just messing around on instrument just to make it arty farty.

btw... The Velvet Undergrounds 'Lady Godiva's Operation' has the same hook.

Gomper is a beautiful melody. It has a freak-out interlude all right, but on top of it is a real song with a chord structure, verses and bridge. Mathijs, help!!

They could have made a good song out of it (I know there's a structure)... but as it appears on Majesties is not my idea of a good song.