I want to share a story that Dave Mason told me as we were writing his memoir, which comes out this fall by the way.

When Traffic was recording at Olympic Studios with Jimmy Miller, most of you probably know that Mick came in to observe those sessions and thus wound up bringing Miller over to their studio to work on beggars banquet. That’s basically how Dave wound up playing on a couple of songs on the album. Everybody was just hanging out. But Dave told me how, as the Stones were completing their sessions, he went over to Jagger and said something to him to the effect, "this really feels like the first official Rolling Stones album. The one that you have been building up toward. The one that really incorporates everything you are about." And he said Mick laughed and said, "I think you’re right." I enjoyed that insight because Beggars really does feel like the beginning of a much different era for the Rolling Stones

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hbwriter
I want to share a story that Dave Mason told me as we were writing his memoir, which comes out this fall by the way.

When Traffic was recording at Olympic Studios with Jimmy Miller, most of you probably know that Mick came in to observe those sessions and thus wound up bringing Miller over to their studio to work on beggars banquet. That’s basically how Dave wound up playing on a couple of songs on the album. Everybody was just hanging out. But Dave told me how, as the Stones were completing their sessions, he went over to Jagger and said something to him to the effect, "this really feels like the first official Rolling Stones album. The one that you have been building up toward. The one that really incorporates everything you are about." And he said Mick laughed and said, "I think you’re right." I enjoyed that insight because Beggars really does feel like the beginning of a much different era for the Rolling Stones

Mmmm,
How about Aftermath? That first fully M/J written album shows how the Stones wanted to progress, not sticking to their earlier written (and recorded by all five) rock/blues numbers of which several became big hits. Credits to Brian there for beautifully colouring many of the songs on Aftermath!
TSMR (more and more people realize that that one is underestimated) was created under the heavy influence of Flower Power and as such "weird". By the time BB was surfacing, there had been a big development in studio recording since Aftermath, which allowed the band to lift their songs to a higher, much more subtle (no more freaking) level, making it a quite (should I say very) different listening experience. However it wasn't sold as much as earlier albums (including TSMR). The opinion of true Rolling Stones fans (also at that time) counts heavier than that of Dave Mason ("with all respect to his great contributions to music).
Off course Mick was pleased, even more so after all the (not music related) sh*t they had to deal with during the 1967-1968 period, to come up with BB.


I'm a GHOST living in a ghost town

Between the Buttons has 6or7great-good songs like Ruby Tuesday, Let’s Spend the Night Together, She Smile Sweetly, Connection, Miss Amanda Jones, Whose been Sleeping Hereband Yesterday’s Papers

Thanks for the story. Beggars Banquet was a real Milestone.

Frankly, I feel there were many turning points in the first 20 years that defined
the "new" Stones. From basis Blues and RnR going on with Soul, R&B, Pop, then adopting
influences from Dylan/Kinks and flower power.
But yes, maybe Beggar's Banquet was the first album where they found their unpolished
selves. It was an interesting ride to get there though.

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

It is indeed totally different from what came before it. From black and white to Technicolor. It's a little primitive in parts but without it we wouldn't have had the sublime Let It Bleed.

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24FPS
It is indeed totally different from what came before it. From black and white to Technicolor. It's a little primitive in parts but without it we wouldn't have had the sublime Let It Bleed.

For me it sounds like a natural transition/progression. The freakiness within the sound is still there on tracks like the single JJF, SCB, SFM etc – just as it was on Citadel, 2000 LYFH etc.

The main difference, however, was that they were diving deeper into (authentic) blues and country - especially the latter (Prodigal Son, Dear Doctor, Factory Girl, No Expectation).

When listening to The Lantern, and putting on the BB-stuff afterwards, it's not that big of a leap, imo.

The quality of the songwriting and the performance might be better on BB, yes.

It was in interesting anecdote from Mason, though.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2023-08-18 14:02 by DandelionPowderman.

Beggars Banquet has a certain, earthy authenticity about it, I suppose. To me, it does sound somewhat more ‘grown-up’ than previous releases. There’s a realness to the record; it’s all quite ‘adult sounding’, if that makes sense. Perhaps, that is sort-of along the lines of Dave Mason’s point about it being the Stones’ ‘first official album’ Of course, that’s not literally true, but Beggars Banquet does set the tone for what would be continued: Let it Bleed, and that 1969 tour; their first as the ‘Greatest Rock ‘n Roll Band in the world’

Just to add to my above points: I do wonder whether Beggars Banquet had the same appeal to, say, a 13-year-old girl, as Satisfaction, or Get Off of My Cloud would have done. I suspect not.

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Big Al
Just to add to my above points: I do wonder whether Beggars Banquet had the same appeal to, say, a 13-year-old girl, as Satisfaction, or Get Off of My Cloud would have done. I suspect not.

Probably not, but those girls - and boys as well - were all growing up with the band like the whole rock culture did. What is peculiar for the 60's is that what started as a pure teenager pop phenomenon, lead by the Beatles, evolved into something else (that had a more lasting power).

The result is funny people like us, decades and generations later: listening seriously to the very same pop music as we did as a teenager - or music someone listened as a teenager...

- Doxa



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2023-08-18 15:03 by Doxa.

It’s interesting that Beggars Banquet didn’t sell that great in America when it was released in 1968 as it only reached number 5 .Whereas Satanic Majesties reached number 2.I think Brian was as dominant as Keith musically on Majesties .



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2023-08-18 19:10 by Taylor1.

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Taylor1
It’s interesting that Beggars Banquet didn’t sell that great in America when it was released in 1968 as it only reached number 5 .Whereas Satanic Majesties reached number 2.I think Brian was as dominant as Keith musically on Majesties as Keith.

It is interesting, given its reputation. No hit singles probably didn’t help. JJF wasn’t included. Street Fighting Man was banned from radio. And Sympathy was never released as a single, to my knowledge (at least not in the US). I wonder how it would’ve fared if it had been released. It’s not exactly radio-friendly. The band was out on a limb with that one. Like everything that’s great about the Stones, it took a while to marinate.

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Doxa

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Big Al
Just to add to my above points: I do wonder whether Beggars Banquet had the same appeal to, say, a 13-year-old girl, as Satisfaction, or Get Off of My Cloud would have done. I suspect not.

Probably not, but those girls - and boys as well - were all growing up with the band like the whole rock culture did. What is peculiar for the 60's is that what started as a pure teenager pop phenomenon, lead by the Beatles, evolved into something else (that had a more lasting power).

The result is funny people like us, decades and generations later: listening seriously to the very same pop music as we did as a teenager - or music someone listened as a teenager...

- Doxa

That's right, Doxa. Those 13-year'old's in '65, would probably be appreciating Beggars Banquet a few years later, yet the 13-year-old's of 1968, would surely prefer The Monkees, or something else suitably juvenile.

Your fanbase grows with you: who could wish more than this?
I can’t see The Rolling Stones or Bob Dylan trying to please the teen-agers, in the 80s or even later.

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1963luca0
Your fanbase grows with you: who could wish more than this?
I can’t see The Rolling Stones or Bob Dylan trying to please the teen-agers, in the 80s or even later.

That’s generally the case, of course: as your music matures, so does your audience. This is how many artists and acts retain their fanbase, and, of courses, pick-up older, age-appropriate consumers with that more mature-sounding work; even if they, perhaps, didn’t appreciate the ‘teenybopper’ releases from yesteryear. There are exceptions, of course: Green Day, for one. 2004’s ‘American Idiot’ must’ve gained them millions of young, EMO fans; teenagers, who were toddlers during the ‘Dookie era’ That renaissance of theirs was quite spectacular in retrospect.

You recently relayed that Dave said he only played on 'Street Fighting Man'. He remembers differently now?

Good to remember, it was a different song during his involvement in the recording.