It's just about 45 years to the week that the Stones started work on Sympathy For The Devil - the song that was to transform their career and sound from a trend following pop band to stellar rock stars creating a sound of their own.

How important was the track in the development of the Stones' sound?

Below is an article from Ultimate Classic Rock on the recording of SFTD.

After taking what many viewed as a creative misstep with their bid for psychedelic street cred, ‘Their Satanic Majesties Request,’ the Rolling Stones decided to get back to basics, teaming with a new producer–Jimmy Miller, best known at the time for having helmed Traffic’s ‘Mr. Fantasy’ album–and returning to the R&B-inspired stylings that had served them so well in the beginning. Among the new batch of Mick Jagger / Keith Richards compositions: a song which may or may not have been inspired by the writings of French poet Charles Pierre Baudelaire but is definitely sung from Satan’s point of view.

Recorded initially at London’s Olympic Sound Studios on June 4-5 and June 8-10, with the famous “woo woo” backing vocals overdubbed later in Los Angeles, ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ features Jagger playing the part of the Prince of Darkness, singing his way through the history of humanity and his reactions to such events as the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Russian Revolution, and World War II, wrapping things up in the present. When we say “the present,” we’re not kidding: when Robert Kennedy was killed on June 6, 1968, Jagger changed the original lyric from “I shouted out, ‘Who killed Kennedy?’” to “I shouted out, ‘Who killed the Kennedys?’”

While Jagger is hesitant to commit to Baudelaire’s work as the specific inspiration for ‘Sympathy from the Devil’ (in a 1995 Rolling Stone interview, he admitted, “Sometimes when I look at my Baudelaire books, I can’t see it in there, but it was an idea I got from French writing”), the Stones frontman has always been quick to acknowledge that Richards had very little to do with the song, short of suggesting that they try it in another rhythm.

Charlie Watts acknowledges his own lack of involvement in the song’s creation in 2003’s According to the Rolling Stones, noting that the first time he heard the song was when Jagger played it for him in its entirety. “We had a go at loads of different ways of playing it,” said Watts. “In the end, I just played a jazz Latin feel in the style Kenny Clarke would have played on ‘A Night in Tunisia’–not the actual rhythm he played, but the same styling.”

Coming on the heels of an album entitled ‘Their Satanic Majesties’ Request,’ it’s no wonder that a song called ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ resulted in the Rolling Stones suffering through accusations of devil worshiping, but given that they’ve managed to soldier on for another 45 years since its initial release, it’s fair to say that the controversy didn’t do a great deal of long-term damage. Since its release, the song has been covered by numerous disparate artists, including Sandie Shaw, Guns ‘N’ Roses, Bryan Ferry, Blood, Sweat, & Tears, Natalie Merchant, and Jane’s Addiction, among others. Most critics agree, however, that the original remains untouchable.


[ultimateclassicrock.com]

Very important, but more for their image than musically, imo.

Musically, I think JJF was even more important for how their sound would become, as SFTD is something on its own: A samba with devilish lyrics and a spectacular guitar sound

Jumping Jack Flash was an incredible rock/pop moment and showed them honing this new rock direction and tightening it up for the 45 single format. I think Sympathy For The Devil was the full blown rock epic so two similar beasts but with a different body.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-06-07 14:54 by Silver Dagger.

Quote
Silver Dagger
Jumping Jack Flash was incredible rock/pop moment and showed them honing this new rock direction and tightening it up for the 45 single format. I think Sympathy For The Devil was the full blown rock epic so two similar beasts but with a slightly different body.

If you're talking the impact the song had on the Stones as a rock band, I agree with you



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-06-07 14:10 by DandelionPowderman.

"the song that was to transform their career and sound from a trend following pop band to stellar rock stars creating a sound of their own."

I think this is just lazy sound bite material.

They had their own sound within the experiemntal pop phase. As for being trend followers during that time, they were influenced and influential and that continued on for all of their career.

...

Bootlegs have made it clear that they had nearly all of the elemnts for the Beggars Banquet sound in 1966 - 1967. The only real change from the guitars of 1966 - 1967 is Keith taking on open E and D.

The Beggars Banquet era recordings have too much swing and air to be classed as just rock. Familiarity and the many live versions has dulled the actual experiemntal nature of Sympathy For The Devil, Street Fighting Man and Jumpin' Jack Flash. There's still some of the psychedelic flavour in there...

Sympathy For The Devil, Street Fighting Man, Jumpin' Jack Flash, Jigsaw Puzzle, Child Of The Moon, Stray Cat Blues all have varying degrees of this flavouring and it's a big reason why I love Beggars Banquet.

The acoustic tracks on the album balance things and give the impression it's a more get back to your roots affair. It is and it isn't.

...

The studio version of Jumpin' Jach Flash features an obvious riff, but scratch the surface and you find that the riff is actually the combination of many seperate things and those things in seperation don't quite make it as a stand alone riff. It's not a riff in the same way something like Smoke On The Water is or Whole Lotta Love is.

It took on a more solid minimal approach live in 1969 etc, but there's enough musical interplay going on to stop it being too laden... It still breathes.

A lot of cover versions make it too rock, too much emphasis on the basic riff and not on the musical air around it.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2013-06-07 14:08 by His Majesty.

Citadel deserves a mention in this context as well, but that track still had a heavy load of psychedelia to it. It's hints on what to come in that track, though.

Quote
DandelionPowderman
Citadel deserves a mention in this context as well, but that track still had a heavy load of psychedelia to it. It's hints on what to come in that track, though.

This is where the bootlegs come in to play, many of the basic tracks for TSMR are quite Beggars Banquet-esque.

The Satanic Sessions - Surrey Rehearsals - Jumpin' Jack Flash/Child Of The Moon - Beggars Banquet

There is much in the way of similarities.

Quote
His Majesty

Quote
DandelionPowderman
Citadel deserves a mention in this context as well, but that track still had a heavy load of psychedelia to it. It's hints on what to come in that track, though.

This is where the bootlegs come in to play, many of the basic tracks for TSMR are quite Beggars Banquet-esque.

The Satanic Sessions - Surrey Rehearsals - Jumpin' Jack Flash/Child Of The Moon - Beggars Banquet

There is much in the way of similarities.

Yep, and Keith's guitar on Stray Cat is very "Satanic-esque"

Quote
DandelionPowderman

Quote
His Majesty

Quote
DandelionPowderman
Citadel deserves a mention in this context as well, but that track still had a heavy load of psychedelia to it. It's hints on what to come in that track, though.

This is where the bootlegs come in to play, many of the basic tracks for TSMR are quite Beggars Banquet-esque.

The Satanic Sessions - Surrey Rehearsals - Jumpin' Jack Flash/Child Of The Moon - Beggars Banquet

There is much in the way of similarities.

Yep, and Keith's guitar on Stray Cat is very "Satanic-esque"

The metallic guitar sheen on Jigsaw Puzzle is another Satanic-esque sound.

Quote
His Majesty
[.....A lot of cover versions make it too rock, too much emphasis on the basic riff and not on the musical air around it.

That "musical air" ,or the wash behind the bold brush strokes, is huge part of this band's magic.

Quote
Spud

Quote
His Majesty
[.....A lot of cover versions make it too rock, too much emphasis on the basic riff and not on the musical air around it.

That "musical air" ,or the wash behind the bold brush strokes, is huge part of this band's magic.

Indeed.

well for 'Sympathy' there is a lot of film showing them working on it..the one plus one stuff..

that article has Jagger saying Keith had very little to do with it..guess that meant the lyrics..he sure had a lot to do with the music..

great bassline throughout plus his finest guitar work

Quote
Spud

Quote
His Majesty
[.....A lot of cover versions make it too rock, too much emphasis on the basic riff and not on the musical air around it.

That "musical air" ,or the wash behind the bold brush strokes, is huge part of this band's magic.

Nice observation Spud. It sure is a "Can You Feel The Magic?" moment.

JJF had already been released when they started work on Sympathy. JJF sounds like the work of a rock band to me, as opposed to, say, a pop group.

Quote
tatters
JJF sounds like the work of a rock band to me, as opposed to, say, a pop group.

It sits niceley in the middle, with an experiemntal edge.

The feel you get, during the first seconds - before the riff kicks in on JJF - is mystical and slightly psychedelic to me

Two things that helped the bands progress - Satanic Majesties failure and Mick and Keith facing jail

Quote
Send It To me
Two things that helped the bands progress - Satanic Majesties failure.

It wasn't a failure.

Quote
His Majesty

Quote
Send It To me
Two things that helped the bands progress - Satanic Majesties failure.

It wasn't a failure.

It certainly wasn't for me either during many happy psychedelised nights in my youth. The only failure was getting er, home again, from out there where the buses don't run! Heh heh!

Quote
His Majesty

Quote
Send It To me
Two things that helped the bands progress - Satanic Majesties failure.

It wasn't a failure.

no it had great songs like 'In Another Land'...'She's A Rainbow'...

it is trippy though..

Quote
tatters
JJF had already been released when they started work on Sympathy. JJF sounds like the work of a rock band to me, as opposed to, say, a pop group.

Talking from memory, when JJF came out I thought it was a really powerful single, a bit like The Who's I Can See For Miles. I didn't think of it as rock although in hindsight it certainly is the beginning of that new late 60s sound. However, when I heard Sympathy For The Devil I knew that this something new altogether and when that guitar solo came on...boy oh boy...I knew we weren't in Kansas any more.

Quote
duke richardson


it is trippy though..

That's a good thing.

Quote
His Majesty

Quote
duke richardson


it is trippy though..

That's a good thing.

Yep. Great multi-dimensional qualities.

Quote
duke richardson

Quote
His Majesty

Quote
Send It To me
Two things that helped the bands progress - Satanic Majesties failure.

It wasn't a failure.

no it had great songs like 'In Another Land'...'She's A Rainbow'...

it is trippy though..

I like both, but that's me. Just out of curiousity - WHY isn't She's A Rainbow a great song?

Quote
Silver Dagger

Quote
tatters
JJF had already been released when they started work on Sympathy. JJF sounds like the work of a rock band to me, as opposed to, say, a pop group.

Talking from memory, when JJF came out I thought it was a really powerful single, a bit like The Who's I Can See For Miles. I didn't think of it as rock although in hindsight it certainly is the beginning of that new late 60s sound. However, when I heard Sympathy For The Devil I knew that this something new altogether and when that guitar solo came on...boy oh boy...I knew we weren't in Kansas any more.

You didn't notice it's similarities to Sgt Pepper album and Dear My Fantasy lead guitars or Keith's own lead on The Lantern?

Quote
His Majesty

Quote
Silver Dagger

Quote
tatters
JJF had already been released when they started work on Sympathy. JJF sounds like the work of a rock band to me, as opposed to, say, a pop group.

Talking from memory, when JJF came out I thought it was a really powerful single, a bit like The Who's I Can See For Miles. I didn't think of it as rock although in hindsight it certainly is the beginning of that new late 60s sound. However, when I heard Sympathy For The Devil I knew that this something new altogether and when that guitar solo came on...boy oh boy...I knew we weren't in Kansas any more.

You didn't notice it's similarities to Sgt Pepper album and Dear My Fantasy lead guitars or Keith's own lead on The Lantern?

Never thought of it as similar to The Lantern as it doesn't have the same momentum. The guitar on The Lantern has a similar pitch and metallic topiness but is much more restrained. When Keith's solo comes in on Sympathy For The Devil time stands still and the universe moves to a different rhythm.

Are they a rock band?

Quote
Silver Dagger
When Keith's solo comes in on Sympathy For The Devil time stands still and the universe moves to a different rhythm.

True that.

I fookin' love that solo!

Quote
Green Lady
Are they a rock band?

No. They are too good to be just that.