Beggars Banquet

This article is about the Rolling Stones album. For the record label, see Beggars Banquet (book).
 This article needs additional removed. (April 2008)
Beggars Banquet
The Rolling Stones
Released 6 December 1968
Recorded 17 March – 25 July 1968, Olympic Studios, London
Genre Rock, roots rock
Length 39:44
Label Decca (UK)
Producer Jimmy Miller
The Rolling Stones chronology
Their Satanic Majesties Request
(1967)		 Beggars Banquet
(1968)		 Let It Bleed
(1969)
2002 reissue cover
Singles from Beggars Banquet
  1. “No Expectations“
    Released: 31 August 1968 (US)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 5/5 stars[1]
BBC favourable[2]
Blender 5/5 stars[3]
Entertainment Weekly A[4]
PopMatters favourable[5]
Rolling Stone 5/5 stars[6]

Beggars Banquet is the seventh British and ninth American studio album by the English rock band The Rolling Stones. It was released in December 1968 by Decca Records in the United Kingdom and London Records in the United States. It marked a return to the band’s R&B roots, generally viewed as more primal than the conspicuous psychedelia of Their Satanic Majesties Request. It also started off a string of four LPs that is usually regarded as the band’s finest work.

Contents

[edit] History

This section may contain original research. (April 2008)

Following the long sessions for the previous album in 1967 and the departure of producer and manager Andrew Loog Oldham, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards hired producer 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 only as a single 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“, “Parachute Woman” (along with Mick Jagger) and “Prodigal Son“; sitar and tambura on “Street Fighting Man“; mellotron on “Jigsaw Puzzle“and “Stray Cat Blues“, and sang backing vocals on “Sympathy for the Devil“.[7] Jones also played an acoustic guitar part on Sympathy for the Devil, but it is not audible in the final mix of the song.

On 7 June 1968, a photoshoot for the album, with photographer [9] On 9 September 1968, an WABC Radio News report stated that the release was delayed due to artwork for the album cover, a California artist’s work was considered “too dirty to release”.

Critics considered the LP as a return to form.[10] It was also a clear commercial success, reaching No. 3 in the UK and No. 5 in the US (on the way to eventual platinum status).

Early LP pressings of the album did not credit cover.

On 10–11 December 1968 the band filmed a television extravaganza entitled Marianne Faithfull 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.[11] 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. It was released once again in 2010 by Universal Music Enterprises in a Japanese only SHM-SACD version.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 57 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[12] 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.

[edit] Cover art

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 eponymous white-sleeved double-album, which was released one month prior to Beggars Banquet. The similarity garnered widespread accusations of Beatle-esque imitation when Beggars Banquet was finally released. In 1984, the original cover art was released with the initial CD remastering of Beggars Banquet.

[edit] Track listing

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

Side one
No. Title Length
1. “Sympathy for the Devil”   6:18
2. “No Expectations”   3:56
3. “Dear Doctor”   3:22
4. “Parachute Woman”   2:20
5. “Jigsaw Puzzle”   6:06
Side two
No. Title Length
6. “Street Fighting Man”   3:16
7. “Prodigal Son” (Robert Wilkins) 2:51
8. “Stray Cat Blues”   4:38
9. “Factory Girl”   2:09
10. “Salt of the Earth”   4:48

[edit] Personnel

The Rolling Stones
  • Mick Jagger – lead and backing vocals, harmonica on “Parachute Woman”
  • Keith Richards – acoustic, electric and slide guitar, bass guitar on “Sympathy for the Devil” and “Street Fighting Man”, backing vocals, lead vocals on opening of “Salt of the Earth”
  • Brian Jones – slide guitar on “No Expectations”, mellotron on “Jigsaw Puzzle” and “Stray Cat Blues”, harmonica on “Dear Doctor”, “Parachute Woman”, and “Prodigal Son”, sitar and tambura on “Street Fighting Man”, acoustic guitar (inaudible in final mix) and backing vocals on “Sympathy for the Devil”
  • Charlie Watts – drums, tabla on “Factory Girl”, backing vocals on “Sympathy for the Devil”
  • Bill Wyman – bass guitar, backing vocals and maracas on “Sympathy for the Devil”
Additional personnel
  • Nicky Hopkins – piano, organ on “No Expectations”
  • Rocky Dijon – congas on “Sympathy for the Devil”, “Stray Cat Blues”, “Factory Girl”
  • Ric Grech – fiddle on “Factory Girl”
  • Dave Mason – mellotron on “Factory Girl”, shehnai on “Street Fighting Man”
  • Jimmy Miller – backing vocals on “Sympathy for the Devil”
  • Watts Street Gospel Choir – backing vocals on “Salt of the Earth”

[edit] Chart positions

Album
Year Chart Position
1968 UK Albums Chart[13] 3
1969 Billboard 200[14] 5
Singles
Year Single Chart Position
1968 “Street Fighting Man” The Billboard Hot 100[15] 48
1971 “Street Fighting Man” UK Top 40 Singles[13] 21

[edit] Certifications

Country Provider Certification
(sales thresholds)
United States RIAA Platinum

[edit] References

  1. ^ Allmusic review
  2. ^ BBC review
  3. ^ Blender review
  4. ^ CD Universe
  5. ^ PopMatters review
  6. ^ Rolling Stone review
  7. ^ McPherson, Ian. “Beggars Banquet”. http://www.timeisonourside.com/lpBanquet.html. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
  8. http://books.google.com/books?id=vZ5dhYB-j8oC&pg=PA156. Retrieved 17 July 2011.
  9. ^ “Our Work”. Metro Imaging. http://www.metroimaging.co.uk/ourwork/ourworkexpanded.asp?ourwork_id=8. Retrieved 17 July 2011.
  10. ^ allmusic ((( Beggars Banquet > Overview )))
  11. ^ Walsh, Christopher (24 August 2002). “Super audio CDs: The Rolling Stones Remastered”. Billboard: pp. 27.
  12. ^ “Beggars Banquet“. Rolling Stone. January, 2003. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-19691231/beggars-banquet-the-rolling-stones-19691231. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
  13. ^ http://www.everyhit.com/ Type in “Rolling Stones” under “Name of Artist”
  14. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p5298/charts-awards
  15. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p5298/charts-awards/billboard-singles
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This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Beggars Banquet, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.