Album Name: Beggars Banquet

Release Date: December 6th, 1968
Artist: The Rolling Stones
Label: Decca Records
Rating: All Ages
Verdict: The Rolling Stones’ remarkable return to form belongs on any list of top ten albums of all time: Lead singer Mick Jagger’s voice complements guitarist Keith Richards’ guitar playing like very few duos have before. “Sympathy for the Devil” and “Street Fighting Man” are particularly good. The band blends masterful music and powerful lyrics to form one of the greatest albums of all time.

It is common knowledge that the Rolling Stones are one of the greatest bands of all time. The English rock group has created some really fantastic music since their conception in 1962, and helped to invent what we today know as rock and roll. Despite their incredible musical prowess, however, the Stones’ path to legend was not an easy one. During the late 1960’s the band was going through an unsuccessful foray into the realm of psychedelia, a genre of drug inspired haze that was popular at the time,
but did not work with the band. They had achieved some popularity with their 1964 record The Rolling Stones, but had fallen from grace after 1967’s Their Satanic Majesties Request, a psychedelic mess received poorly by critics and fans alike. With their reputation in jeopardy, the Stones needed a miracle, and a miracle they got.

Beggar’s Banquet is an album that seems to change with each listen. It opens explosively: the first track is the devilishly maleficent ode to Satan, called “Sympathy for the Devil.” Jagger’s voice is as charismatic as it’s ever been, before or since, and the simple backing african samba drums and grooving bass line that let you really focus on the lyrical genius. It is told from the perspective of Old Scratch himself, relaying his perspective on various horrors committed in human history, from the crucification of Christ to the assassination of President Kennedy. While it may seem like fun make-believe, the song is really about human nature, and how Satan is really just a name for the evil that is in all of us.

“Dear Doctor” is a far less serious departure from the lyrical heaviness of many of the other tracks on the album. It tells the story of a man who’s heart is broken because he fears he is abo

ut to marry the wrong woman. As the song progresses, we find that he’s being forced into the marriage by his overbearing mother. At the end of the song, however, he receives a letter (that Jagger reads in a mocking, falsetto voice) from his bride to be, who reveals that she’s “down in Virginia with your cousin Lou/There be no wedding today.” He then sings of how he is weeping with joy, for he has not only b
een given a reprieve from this wedding, but he’s also gotten his freedom back.

My favorite song on the album is the dynamite “Street Fighting Man.” It is the most political track, giving a strong message about standing up against corruption, control, and what’s wrong with the world. It also tells of the futility of these actions, because the person who does them isn’t powerful enough or rich enough to make them heard. Mick Jagger sings “What can a poor boy do/ ‘Cept for sing in a rock n’roll band,” which was that feeling that many young musicians got back in the sixties, the feeling that the government was overwhelming, that music was their one and only way to make a difference in the world. The band expertly relates the feeling of defiant resignation through the song, and it echoes throughout the overarching themes of the entire album.

These three tracks are the ones that really stand out to me personally, but there are seven other great songs on the album, each wildly different musically and in message. There’s “Jig
aw Puzzle,” the story of the Rolling Stones themselves, “Salt of the Earth,” which, similar to “Street Fighting Man”, speaks of the futility of the poor. There are only ten songs on Beggars Banquet, but the album really does resonate, even today, both lyrically and musically. Over the years, it has held up, and it’s one of the few great albums that I can listen to in any mood, and it will make me feel awesome.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRXGsPBUV5g[/youtube]