Their Satanic Majesties Request

This is of course NOT the case of the remaining Stones discography, but I believe that this album, apart from being extremely trippy , contains a lot of prog elements, that we will find some years later in our trusted early seventies milestones. 

I  have wanted to hear this whole album for ages.Had it with the original 3D cover waaaaaaay back but only remember She's a rainbow + 2000 lightyears from home,which is probably my favorite Stones song.

Now,just conveniently borrowed it but have not heard it yet.

Can't say I'm much of a Stones fan though.

 

I've always liked this album, and for some weird reason, this is the one album that I always thought was the first one to create that "spacy" feeling that eventually led into a lot of what we call progressive, and keyboard oriented material.

 

Because of the Stones attitudes and tendency to be lackadaisical and somewhat free spirited in a lot of their music, I think it helped usher a lot of the first comparisons and discussions about music and how in many ways both them and The Beatles were doing things that were not exactly well known to be like most pop music du jour ... meaningless songs for fun and radio sales! And I think that is good.

 

Because the album did not bring out a major single hit, like many of the others did or The Beatles album did, it has never really been thought of as a major accomplishment, although I really enjoy it, and the music itself in the album is pretty much unlike almost any of the music that the band undertook to do later. I also think, and I am not sure that I am the only one, that Brian Jones was hoping to help his band mates go onto some other things and musics and expand their vocabulary, which, sadly, they did not and then ... he left us ...

 

I have never really thought as the Stones as anywhere near "progressive" or even any term resembling that, and I think that even Mick would just tell you "it's rock'n'roll" and I like it, and it is very much what the Stones are about, but there may have been moments and times when  some things and thoughts crept in and they did some different things.

 

I would often think that turning Keith Richards loose with Mike Oldfield or Vangelis would probably be far out and different. The only problem would be, I don't think that Keith or anyone would be able to duplicate what they did, but we would all sit there and say ... WOW! It's just sad that we don't hear talks with these guys about the music and things that don't have a "star" -- just a person ... and I think the Rolling Stones might be taken a little more seriously and appreciated for what they do. Even if they are looking old these days, but miracles do happen and Keith is looking younger than he did years ago!

 

If you listen to it next to Sgt Pepper, there really isn't much of a similarity at all.  I guess they were both "psychedelic" and both had the band in garish costumes on the cover, but beyond that, nothing really.  So I think they need to be judged as separate things, not one as a "knock off" of the other.  It's a good, fun listen.

 

Four stars! ****