To commemorate 50 years since its initial release, the album that brought us ‘Sympathy For The Devil’, ‘Street Fighting Man’, ‘No Expectations’, ‘Stray Cat Blues’ and more has been treated to a new master from Grammy Award winning engineer Bob Ludwig.
'Beggars Banquet' marks the Rolling Stones' return to basic 1960s rock 'n' roll.
From the album's (inoffensive, relevant, mildly amusing) original cover - a graffiti-covered toilet wall (shock!) - which was banned by the band's own record company for alleged 'indecency', to truly subversive and provocative tracks like 'Sympathy for the Devil' and 'Street Fighting Man', this is the album where the band's true, mature musical and cultural identity emerges for the first time in all its glory.
But 'Beggars Banquet' is not just an extremely original rock-blues album. The Sixties, for all the capriciousness and folly that led too many great musicians, the Rolling Stones included, down blind alleys, inspired and encouraged a spirit of imagination and experimentation; and Beggars Banquet is full of distinctive and original touches.
The basic track of 'Street Fighting Man', for example, was recorded on a cassette deck in Keith's house, with Keith on acoustic guitar and Charlie Watts on a toy drum kit. If 'Jigsaw Puzzle' sounds like an imitation or knock-off of Bob Dylan, it does so with a very real and very Stones-esque humor and menace.
The enduring relevance of lyrics like "Let's think of the wavering millions, who need leaders but get gamblers instead" ('Salt Of The Earth') is as clear today as it was in 1968.
CD version.
Tracklisting
1. Sympathy for the Devil
2. No Expectations
3. Dear Doctor
4. Parachute Woman
5. Jigsaw Puzzle
6. Street Fighting Man
7. Prodigal Son
8. Stray Cat Blues
9. Factory Girl
10. Salt of the Earth
