THE ROLLING STONES - LET IT BLEED @ 55

 

Celebrating 55 years on the shelves today is the eighth studio LP from The Rolling Stones, Let It Bleed, which was released on November 28th, 1969, in the US, and December 5th in the UK. While the record contains some of the band's most iconic staples, the period of its creation was fraught with turmoil as founding member, Brian Jones, spiralled towards his ultimate demise.

The album continues the group's move back to revitalizing its blues roots after its dalliances with psychedelia and baroque pop on albums like Between the Buttons & Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967). Their previous LP, Beggars Banquet (1968) had adjusted the band's trajectory back to the basics of the blues, though with this album, they were also dabbling in other forms of traditional Americana, including gospel and country influences. And while the majority of the group were on point with their contributions, Brian Jones was on his last leg.

Issues with Jones had come to the fore during the Beggars Banquet sessions, with Brian often showing up to the studio heavily inebriated, and grossly unprepared for the work ahead. He had become disillusioned and disconnected from the group, and by the time of the Let It Bleed sessions, he was nearly incapable of contributing at all. He only ended up participating in two of the LP's nine tracks before he was fired from the group. It was only a month later that he was found dead in the swimming pool of his home. It was a horrifyingly tragic and controversial end to the wildly creative spirit who had been responsible for getting the band off the ground in the first place.

After the dismissal of Jones, Mick Taylor was brought in to fill his slot on 2nd guitar, though his contribution to this album was also limited. As he had done for the previous album, Keith Richards stepped up as the band's workhorse to provide nearly all of the guitar parts. In addition to the rest of the band, who were also involved in nearly every track, guest musicians included percussionist Jimmy Miller (who also produced the album), keyboardists Nicky Hopkins and Ian Stewart (himself a former member of the band), and Ry Cooder.

As already mentioned, the focus was back to basics, with a heaviness and darkness pervading the overall mood. Journalist Jann Wenner described the lyrics as "disturbing" and the scenery as "ugly". When asked if the Vietnam War played a role in the album's worldview, Jagger said: "I think so. Even though I was living in America only part time, I was influenced. All those images were on television. Plus, they spill out onto campuses". Of the album's songs, the standouts include Gimme Shelter, Midnight Rambler and You Can't Always Get What You Want, all of which became staples in the band's live sets going forward, and though there were no hit singles, those songs received regular rotation on the radio, helping to establish them as mainstays of the band's repertoire.

For the LP's packaging, Mick Jagger originally asked surrealist illustrator, M. C. Escher, to design a cover, but he declined, so Robert Brownjohn was approached instead. His design displays a surreal sculpture with the image consisting of the Let It Bleed record being played by the tone-arm of an antique phonograph, and a record-changer spindle supporting several items stacked on a plate in place of a stack of records: a film canister labelled Stones – Let It Bleed, a clock dial, a pizza, a bicycle tire and a cake with elaborate icing topped by figurines representing the band. The reverse of the LP sleeve shows the same "record-stack" melange in a state of disarray. The artwork was inspired by the scrapped working title of the album, "Automatic Changer". The album cover was among the ten chosen by the Royal Mail for a set of "Classic Album Cover" postage stamps issued in January, 2010.

Upon its release, it was generally well received by critics and shot to the number 1 slot in the UK, and peaked at #3 in the US. In a contemporary review for Rolling Stone magazine, music critic Greil Marcus said that the middle of the album has "great" songs, but Gimme Shelter and You Can't Always Get What You Want "seem to matter most" because they "both reach for reality and end up confronting it, almost mastering what's real, or what reality will feel like as the years fade in." Robert Christgau named it the fourth-best album of 1969 in his ballot for Jazz & Pop magazine's annual critics poll. In later commentaries, he has said the album "still speaks to me with startling fullness and authority", with the quality of the "playing" alone "fantastic", and that despite some "duff moments" on side two, every song "stands up". Contextually, it is at the centre of what many feel is the band's high water mark of classic albums, from its predecessor, Beggars Banquet, through to the two LPs that followed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street.

THE ROLLING STONES (England's Newest Hit Makers) @ 60

Celebrating its 60th anniversary today is the eponymous debut LP from the legendary Rolling Stones, which was released in the UK on this day, April 17th, 1964. The slightly altered US edition came out on May 29th. While The Beatles were selling a relatively wholesome "mop top" version of the looming "British invasion", The Rolling Stones were digging deep into the grit and grime of American blues & R&B to fashion their "bad boy" counterpoint.

With roots that go back as far as 1950, when Keith Richards & Mick Jagger first became classmates and friends, the real genesis of the band would come in 1961 when the pair would reacquaint themselves on the platform of the Dartford railway station. Jagger was carrying records by Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters, which revealed to Richards a shared interest. A musical partnership began shortly afterwards, a relationship that was solidified when the pair responded to an ad in the music press from Brian Jones, who was looking to put together a new band after having split from his previous group.

For the next two years, the band would build their following, taking their cue from The Beatles, but self-consciously crafting their image so as to contrast against the "fab four". While they initially dabbled with the whole "matching suit" look, their manager quickly abandoned that approach and realized that the Stones could benefit by cultivating a style and aesthetic that was counter to The Beatles more approachable & family friendly vibe. Instead, the Stones would go for a messy, unkempt and raunchier look and feel, coming off as the kind of lads parents would definitely NOT want their daughters bringing home for dinner!

For their first LP, recording was completed in only five days scattered across January and February of 1964. At this point, the songwriting prowess of the Jagger/Richards duo was barely starting to take root, so only one of their compositions was included, and that was only on the UK version of the LP. There were also a couple of songs from these sessions credited to "Nanker Phelge", which was a pseudonym used by the band from 1963 to 1965 to designate songs they'd collectively written. The selection of covers reflects the group's focus on American blues & R&B classics. The US version had a slightly different track list, plus the subtitle, "England's Newest Hit Makers", which eventually became adopted as the official title for the album on later reissues.

While the group's sense of originality and identity were still developing, their debut LP still manages to stand as one of the best examples of the British blues scene of that era, full of vitality, rawness and edge. It became one of the UK's biggest selling albums that year, holding the #1 LP slot for no less than 12 weeks. And while it lacks the iconic hit singles that would soon define the band, it still represents the group in their early prime, poised to become one of the most important rock bands of all time. 

THE ROLLING STONES - THEIR SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST @ 55

Marking its 55th anniversary today is one of the most controversial LPs by the Rolling Stones, Their Satanic Majesties Request, which was released on December 8th, 1967. It was the band’s one and only full blown foray into psychedelic music, a move which resulted in accusations of them creating a “second hand Sgt. Pepper”, while offering some of the band’s most inventive, adventurous music.

Production on the album stared way back in January of ’67 and dragged on throughout the year thanks to a combination of ongoing legal issues and sheer self indulgent chaos. Various band members were regularly being distracted by court appearances and jail time, which meant that it was rare for the entire band to find themselves working in the studio at the same time. When band members did show up, it was often with entourages in tow, further compromising productivity. One of the most level headed band members, Bill Wyman, had this to say about the album’s production:

“Every day at the studio it was a lottery as to who would turn up and what – if any – positive contribution they would make when they did. Keith would arrive with anywhere up to ten people, Brian with another half-a-dozen and it was the same for Mick. They were assorted girlfriends and friends. I hated it! Then again, so did Andrew (Oldham - band manager) and (he) just gave up on it. There were times when I wish I could have done, too.”

Wyman channeled his frustration into the song, In Another Land, which parodied the mayhem and confusion of the sessions. With the band’s manager bailing, the group were left to their own devices to try to cobble together an album in the midst of all the drug addled madness. Retrospectively, the group has recognized the shortcomings of the experience and the effect on the final product. Jagger stated:

“It’s really like sort of got-together chaos. Because we all panicked a little, even as soon as a month before the release date that we had planned, we really hadn't got anything put together. We had all these great things that we'd done, but we couldn't possibly put it out as an album. And so we just got them together, and did a little bit of editing here and there.”

Jagger disavowed the album in 1995, saying: "it's not very good. It had interesting things on it, but I don't think any of the songs are very good. There's two good songs on it. The rest of them are nonsense."

Along with Jagger’s harsh appraisal, critics and fans were sharply divided by the album with some praising its risks while others dismissed it as a rip-off of Sgt. Pepper. Personally, I find it one of the group’s most intriguing albums with some of my favorite songs from the band. Citadel, She’s a Rainbow and 2000 Light Years from Home offer a triptych of psychedelic perfection and are worth the price of admission alone. Yes, there are sloppy indulgences like Sing This All Together and On With the Show, but I think it’s unfair to slag it as a “lesser Pepper”. For me, the two LPs are like sides of a coin. Where The Beatles offer the “lighter” side of the LSD experience, The Stones, as was often their role in the dichotomy between the two bands, lured the listener into the darker recesses of psychedelia. The two should be taken together as offering a complete spectrum of the drug culture.

The album’s title and cover were also sources of controversy, comparison and criticism. The title, which was a play on the "Her Britannic Majesty requests and requires..." text that appears inside a British passport, had to be modified for some markets due to the term “Satanic”. The album was released in South Africa and the Philippines as “The Stones Are Rolling” in order to avoid offense to the more religious public. The original cover concept for the album was to have a photograph of Jagger naked on a cross, but that was scrapped as being too crass. They ultimately settled on an idea which, again, drew comparisons to Sgt. Pepper, but AGAIN, if you understand the friendly rivalry between the bands, makes perfect sense as you find numerous references in each to the other band. The Beatles cover had “welcome the Rolling Stones” written on a doll's jumper while the Stones had photos of The Beatles interspersed among the flowers. It was all done in fun and to make light of the supposed rivalry between the bands. Original pressings of the cover featured a “3D” effect, which was intended to be used for the entire front cover, but had to be scaled back because of the expense. In the end, the group photo got reduced and is surrounded by a psychedelic boarder graphic with the photo affixed to the center.

After this album, the band would turn sharply away from any further dabbling with psychedelia & overt experimentation in their music and return to their raw blues roots. It's a move which would define the rest of their career and contribute to the departure of Brian Jones, who's multi-instrumental prowess was largely responsible for driving the groups more adventurous arrangements. With that being the case, Satanic Majesties Request becomes a bizarre detour in the group’s musical canon. Richie Unterberger of AllMusic summed it up thusly:

“Without a doubt, no Rolling Stones album – and, indeed, very few rock albums from any era – split critical opinion as much as the Rolling Stones' psychedelic outing. Many dismiss the record as sub-Sgt. Pepper posturing; others confess, if only in private, to a fascination with the album's inventive arrangements, which incorporated some African rhythms, Mellotrons, and full orchestration. What's clear is that never before or after did the Stones take so many chances in the studio. In 1968, the Stones would go back to the basics, and never wander down these paths again, making this all the more of a fascinating anomaly in the group's discography.”

THE ROLLING STONES - BETWEEN THE BUTTONS @ 55

 

Released on January 20th, 1967, the UK edition of The Rolling Stones fifth British studio album, Between the Buttons, is celebrating 55 years on the shelves today. The US edition, featuring a slightly different song selection and order, was issued on February 11th. It’s an album that found The Stones in the middle of their most musically adventurous period, largely driven by the wanderlust of founding guitarist, Brian Jones.

This phase of the group’s career had begun with the previous album, 1966’s Aftermath, and was synchronous with the changes taking place among many of the pop groups of the time. Driven by trailblazers like The Beatles, The Byrds and The Beach Boys. They were all looking to expand their horizons and explore new musical territory, each challenging the others to push further with every new album.

By the time Between the Buttons went into production, Jones had almost entirely set aside his guitar, only using it on a couple of songs for the album. Instead, he was indulging in a variety of instruments including organ, accordion, recorder, vibraphone, piano, harmonica, dulcimer, kazoo, tuba, trombone & trumpet! Though the songwriting duties remained with Jagger and Richards, Jones’ sense of exploration drove the group into more challenging styles and arrangements, at least temporarily shifting the focus off of strictly blues based music and into more diverse avenues. This gives the LP a decidedly psychedelic sheen, as is reflected in the blurry album cover photo, which uses a primitive home-made camera filter constructed of black card, glass and Vaseline. It was shot at 5:30 AM after an all-night recording session by photographer Gered Mankowitz.

The first phase of recording began early in August of 1966 in LA while the band were on tour in the US. The group returned to the UK in September to continue work on the album with producer Andrew Oldham, who’d handled the job for the group up to this point. However, tensions would make this his last album with the band. Besides the variety of styles, the music was notably more complex, particularly with the rhythms. In addition to the core band members, most keyboard duties were split between session musicians Jack Nitzsche & Ian Stewart. Recording was done on 4 track systems, which necessitated a lot of bouncing in order to do overdubs, something the band found frustrating as the process inevitably meant sacrificing the quality of the sound each time mixes had to be bounded down to make way for more overdubs. Jagger griped that it all ended up sounding muddy to him and expressed a lot of displeasure with the sound quality of the end results.

The title of the album was something of a mix-up caused when Charlie Watts asked the producer what the title of the album would be. Oldham replied “between the buttons”, not as the title, but as a turn of phrase to say that it hadn’t been decided yet. Watts then went and created a six panel cartoon and poem with that phrase as the title for the graphic which ended up as the back cover for the album. From there, they decided to just let it stick as it was.

Upon its release, it was both a commercial and critical success and has since gone on to be considered one of the groups strongest albums. It showcased them at the peak of their most daring creativity. Jones was bringing a rainbow of sounds to the table and the end results were enough to push their contemporaries to go even further with their own music. For me, this is the prime era for the band, the pinnacle of their powers and the ultimate expression of their musical potential. After Jones’ departure and subsequent death, that sense of adventure seemed to disappear from the band as they returned to more traditional blues roots, something which would remain their status quo for the rest of their career. But there were still a couple of “out there” records to come with Flowers and Their Satanic Majesties Request before they’d pull back into their comfort zone.