Their Satanic Majesties Request Song By Song Thread

Wow, Paramus Park Mall, Harmony Hut, and Fernando Valenzuela in one post. Talk about bringing back memories!

 

Sing This All Together:

And now we open this record with Sing This All Together.
It starts with a piano that sort of reminds me of Lean On Me, and it's played by... wait, can it be? Edward himself? Yes Nicky mothaf***in' Hopkins in the mothaf***in piano, making the first of many appearances with the Stones.
Anyway the brass performed by Brian punches the track at :06, and there's either a guitar or bass performing what may qualify as a countermelody to Nicky's piano before the vocals start in unison at :21, and those vocals include John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The vocals have this ragged, disjointed feel to them and give this track sort of a hazy vibe. I also really like Charlie's maracas, they color the track rather nicely. And then at 1:22 we have a very percussion heavy section that Nicky and Keith both join in on and the rhythm has a fairly hypnotic quality to it. At 2:08 it starts to quiet down and then at 2:20 toms come in giving a heavier more tribal feel to it before the song resumes at 2:38. Truthfully this isn't really the strongest song, lyrics feel a bit too cliche, but there is some very intriguing instrumentation that saves the song for me, I love it.

 

The percussion of S.T.A.T. *is* directly influenced by a composition of The Pipes of Pan Joujoukan musicians, called: "Dinimaak A Habibi Dinimaak".
A listen to that field recorded album Brian made sounds, basically, like the entire template for what(ever) the direction of SATANIC MAJESTIES intended to be.

 

Oh good catch.

 

The more I listen to Satanic over the years, the less I find it a "psychedelic detour" as it is popularly referred to, but instead the logical piece of the puzzle linking the baroque/music hall elements of Between the Buttons with the more 'rockish' approach of Beggars Banquet and later Stones. In other words, there is no way they could have jumped from Buttons to Banquet without Satanic coming in between.

 

You know that really is true when you think about it. The psychedelic years really are necessary to get to that beloved foursome. First you have Jagger and Richards tinkering with their writing and the band flexing their muscles musically before they could really achieve that really great, nuanced sound they finally achieved by 1968. That's one of the many reasons I love this band is that every new album there was something different, always a new spin. Most of their albums you found something new with each listen that you didn't catch at first.

 

Sing This All Together >> All Together Now

I like the song, it has catchy rhythms and melody. Interesting choice for an opener.

Satanic Majesties was the first Stones LP I bought, somewhere around age 12-14, and I believe the only song I had heard was the single She's a Rainbow, so I must have read a good review somewhere, of which the main options for me back then were: 1. Hit Parader. And that's about it. I like the whole LP really, except for the Revolution 9 clone ...

 

John and Paul sing backing on We Love You, not this track. Anywho.... not a great opening track IMO, but the composite backing parts are interesting. The vocals seem forced, and lyrics are hardly top-tier, probably added as a last resort because the backing showed promise. Take a listen to some of the backing sessions here:

rolling stones sing this all together - Yahoo Video Search Results

 

I don't really care about the lyrics being a cliche in this case , or it being the strongest song.

I find the song very simple but insanely catchy, a singalong melody, as explained in the lyrics.

The other thing I find interesting about the song is... The Stones were never exactly known for lighthearted, positive energy, happy, singalong type of material.

This then is an interesting deviation from their norm, and completely unique in their catalog. The Stones letting their hair down and releasing a song not that far away concept- wise from a song on Beach Boys' Party!, but with stronger drugs probably involved .

Add the great percussion, piano, weird guitar tone, etc., behind the catchy melody and I look forward to hearing it every time . It has never grown old for me.

 

As well as "Dandelion"!

And the same goes for Nicky Hopkins - his first Stones contribution was "We Love You" (although "Dandelion" had Ian Stewart).

 

I actually don't own this album at the moment*; and regret not buying the SACD/CD back when it came out in 2002 or whenever.
....

... But it was a favourite in those hazy, smoky, patchouli days of the late-'60s. Bought around the same time I plunged 100% into drinking tea, this sat on my shelf along with Dear Mr. Fantasy, Spooky Tooth, Disraeli Gears, Strange Days, Axis: Bold As Love, Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, etc. I never thought of it as sounding like uh, That Other Band's then-recent work; in fact, the record that it seemed to match most in atmospherics and feel (to me) was A Saucerful Of Secrets. Kind of a slightly darker thing; more opium than Acapulco Gold, if you will.

I heard it over at a friend's house a few years back, and was a bit surprised -- it didn't seem as overtly psychedelic (or as dense) as I remembered. Jammy, yes ... a bit directionless at times, mayhap. But some pretty great songs on a record supposedly bereft of same: "Citadel", "2000 Man", "2000 Light-Years From Home", "She's A Rainbow", "The Lantern", "In Another Land" and yes, I'm forgetting one or three due to drinking too much Lapsang Souchong back in the day. Anyway, I'll be checking out that Amazon link to see about finally getting an SACD copy, thank you.



*May I still play?

 

Bought this on, or near, day of release. Loved it immediately. Still do.

And yet, I can't bring myself to include a single track from it on the few comps I've made. It's just that much of an oddball. I acknowledge that others see it as The Obvious Logical Progression, but I see a Glorious Sore Thumb.

Oh yeah, by all means, We Love You and Dandelion belong on this album. Don't delete anything, just add them.

Which I've done.

STAT is an effective quirky opener; nothing more, nothing less. I love the idea of the reprise to close out Side 1, but the execution falls flat the second time around.

 

Yes you definitely can.

 

Bruce you jerk, have you stolen my record collection ?
From the albums you list I think you have . What other albums of mine have you absconded with.?

 

Technically "Cosmic Christmas" closes out Side 1, but that discussion's still a few tracks away.

 

You may have them all back, for the nominal ransom of ...

... one MILLION dollars.

 

Done .
Send them back to me and I will pay you in... 2000 Light Years .

See how I tied this back to Satanic?

 

I always liked this record. When I first got into the Stones and asked for a Stones' record for Christmas (1975), I requested Satanic Majesties. My brother wouldn't allow that so I got Through The Past, Darkly and Ya-Yas instead (most would commend my brother). "Sing This All Together" was a favourite back then. I used to watch a children's program starring Alan Alda and Peter Bonerz around 1974 - I was probably seeing it in syndication years after initial production as it was pre-MASH. Anyway "Sing" was the theme song in a non-Stones version. That song probably doesn't mean much to me now but it did back then.

 

"Sing This All Together" makes for a good introductory track. Good, but not great. Sets the tone nicely.

 

This.

 

I love Sing This All together... Perfect opener to the album. I love the laid back, informal sound the track has. It really just feels like a group of people jamming. I know many people like to write this album off, but I love it.

 

That's more or less how I feel about it. I like it, I listen to it, but there are better songs to follow, that's for sure.

 

I always love tracks like that, almost like "Sgt. Peppers'", or much later, "Zoo Station" on Achtung Baby.

 

I think that "Sing This All Together" gets a bit of a bum wrap from detractors, playing in to the album's dodgy reputation a bit. The lyrics are pretty cliched, but the music is engaging and exotic. It may not be great songwriting, but I love the texture going on here with Keith delivering some really interesting licks with that unique (to this album) distorted guitar tone, unlike anything he had done before or since. Of course, the addition of Nicky Hopkins was a big boost as well.

In my own CDR mix re-imagining of Satanic Majesties, I don't begin with this track. I start with the "We Love You"/"Dandelion" single and then kick off the album proper with "Citadel", following the rest of side one's sequence until closing with a seven minute mix of "Sing This"/"See What Happens" as one track. Look at the album like this and what once seemed like a mixed bag suddenly looks like a powerhouse! Truth be told, I dig every track on the album at this point--yes, even the largely unloved "On With The Show".

 

I think so too. But I very much like the instrumental (as posted previously). A slight edit of that might have worked better.

I'm pretty sure I hear John's voice sticking out for a second towards the end of the song !