Beggars Banquet

Beggars Banquet is an LP released in 1968 by The Rolling Stones. It marked a return to the band's R&B roots, generally viewed as simpler and more primal than the conspicuous psychedelics of Their Satanic Majesties Request.

History

Following the long sessions for the previous album in 1967, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards decided that the band needed more direction in the studio and in early 1968 hired Jimmy Miller, who had produced the Spencer Davis Group and Traffic. The partnership would prove to be a success and Miller would work with the band until 1973.

In March, the band began recording their new album, aiming for a July release. One of the first tracks cut, "Jumpin' Jack Flash", was released as a single only in May 1968, becoming a major hit.

Beggars Banquet was Brian Jones' last full effort with the Rolling Stones. In addition to his slide guitar on "No Expectations", he played harmonica on "Dear Doctor", and "Prodigal Son", sitar and tambura on "Street Fighting Man", guitar and mellotron on "Jigsaw Puzzle" and mellotron on "Stray Cat Blues".

By June, the sessions were nearly completed in England, with some final overdubbing and mixing to be done in Los Angeles during July. However, both Decca Records in England and London Records in the US rejected the planned cover design - a graffiti-covered lavatory wall. The band initially refused to change the cover, resulting in several months' delay in the release of the album. By November, however, the Rolling Stones gave in, allowing the album to be released in December with a simple white cover imitating an invitation card. (The letters R.S.V.P. that appear on this version of the cover are an abbreviation of the French phrase répondez, s'il vous plaît, which means "please respond".) The idea of a plain album cover was also implemented by The Beatles for their eponymous white-sleeved double-album, which was released one month prior to Beggars Banquet. This similarity, coupled with Beggars Banquet's later release, garnered the Rolling Stones accusations of imitating the Beatles. In 1984, the original cover art was released with the initial CD remastering of Beggars Banquet.

Critics considered the LP as a return to form. It was also a clear commercial success, reaching #3 in the UK and #5 in the US (on the way to eventual platinum status).

The original LP pressing did not credit Rev. Robert Wilkins as the writer of "Prodigal Son". His performance of "Prodigal Son" at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival was included on the Vanguard LP Blues at Newport, Volume 2; that performance is similar to the Stones' cover, and this may have been where the band first heard the song, although this is not certain.

On 10-11 December 1968 the band filmed a television extravaganza entitled The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus featuring John Lennon, Eric Clapton, The Who and Jethro Tull among the musical guests. One of the original aims of the project was to promote Beggars Banquet, but the film was shelved by the Rolling Stones until 1996, when it was finally released officially.

In August 2002, ABKCO Records reissued Beggars Banquet as a newly remastered LP and SACD/CD hybrid disk. This release corrected an important flaw in the original album by restoring each song to its proper, slightly faster speed. Due to an error in the mastering, Beggars Banquet was heard for over thirty years at a slower speed than it was recorded. This had the effect of altering not only the tempo of each song, but the song's key as well. These differences were subtle but important, and the remastered version is about 30 seconds shorter than the original release. In the same year the TV network VH1 named Beggars Banquet the 67th greatest album of all time. The album is also featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Sympathy for the Devil

Sympathy for the Devil is also the title of a producer's edit of a 1968 film by Jean-Luc Godard, whose own version is called One Plus One. The film, a fantasia around late 1960s counterculture, features the Rolling Stones in the process of recording the track in the studio. In the film a clip is seen where Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Jimmy Miller, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, Marianne Faithful and Anita Pallenberg are recording the song's "whoo whoo" backing vocals. Miller later revealed that this shot was staged, and that the backing vocals on the final track were overdubbed in Los Angeles with only Jagger, Richards and Miller present.

Track listing

All songs by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, except where noted.

1. "Sympathy for the Devil" – 6:27
2. "No Expectations" – 4:02
3. "Dear Doctor" – 3:26
4. "Parachute Woman" – 2:23
5. "Jigsaw Puzzle" – 6:17
6. "Street Fighting Man" – 3:18
7. "Prodigal Son" (Rev. Robert Wilkins) – 2:55
8. "Stray Cat Blues" – 4:40
9. "Factory Girl" – 2:12
10. "Salt of the Earth" – 4:51

Personnel

• Mick Jagger – vocals, backing vocals, harmonica
• Keith Richards – acoustic and electric guitar, bass, vocals
• Brian Jones – acoustic slide guitar, backing vocals, sitar, tamboura, mellotron, harmonica
• Charlie Watts – drums, percussion
• Bill Wyman – bass, backing vocals, percussion
• Nicky Hopkins – piano
• Rocky Dijon – congas
• Ric Grech – fiddle
• Dave Mason – mellotron, shehnai
• Jimmy Miller – backing vocals
• Watts Street Gospel Choir – backing vocals

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1968	UK Albums Chart	3
1969	Billboard Pop Albums	5

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1968	"Jumpin' Jack Flash"	UK Top 50 Singles	1
1968	"Jumpin' Jack Flash"	The Billboard Hot 100	3
1968	"Street Fighting Man"	The Billboard Hot 100	48
1971	"Street Fighting Man"	UK Top 50 Singles	21

References