Ok barely featured on it, other than No Expectations. SFMan. I don't buy what Anita said in this instance. He was so important to Satanic Majesties and obviously very involved and into it. Prince Stash has said so as well. And yes it seems he wanted to go in that direction, but became so whacked out by then, not to mention Mick and Keith's song writing becoming so powerful, I just can't see Mick saying it was Brian's album. This article is the only time I've ever heard this sentiment even being remotely uttered. Hence, I feel it was an editoral/transcription mistake leaving out the word ''last." Just my opinion.
Again, though, Mick doesn't say 'last'. He says it was Brian's album. We can't just go around changing quotes just because we can't accept what the quotes say.
As far as Beggars Banquet being Brian’s album, I will say it’s one with a direction that seems more in line with what he wanted, and he was more involved that Mick makes it sound like, even if he isn’t playing much guitar on the album. Again, tamboura on “Street Fighting Man” (and I know that Jimmy Miller also talked about Brian bringing a sitar; yes, Miller had his own issues, but I figure it’s worth noting), Mellotron on “Jigsaw Puzzle” and “Stray Cat Blues”, acoustic guitar and harmonica on “Parachute Woman”, the harmonica on “Dear Doctor”, and backing vocals on “Sympathy”.
I agree but in this instance I don’t. Do you seriously believe editorial mistakes do not happen? Especially at Creem? And I say this with experience I hung out and sometimes worked in the mail room there in the mid 70’s. Trust me, editorial mistakes happened. Lester practically welcomed them lol.
Surey they can, but we can't cherry-pick where we want to post-editorialize the material to reshape the quotes into what we want, as readers - especially adding 'missing' words that we believe should be in a quote. That sends us up the river Nile.
Well, according to the quote, Mick did indeed do that. Brian's band, Brian's album. It's not far fetched. They guy was a member of the band since day one thru when he left/got axed in 1969.
Correct. But we can speculate which is what we are doing. Anyways carry on. Not worth arguing about really.
I can see arguments for both sides. It was Brians last album, but I also can see the idea for it being Brian's. The thing that always puzzles me about this is the Stones claiming Brian played nothing and or was incapable of playing anything yet on the film One Plus One he is clearly seen playing his a** of and none of this is heard on the soundtrack. Not saying what he was playing was any good. But he is definitely playing and playing a lot. Would love to hear what he was playing.
While it seems contradictory that Brian would oppose the back to the roots/R & B/rock approach of Beggars' Banquet, as this was the original musical direction of the band that Brian devised, I believe it is true. Brian was into world music and the direction of "Gomper" and "Sing this all Together(See what Happens)" and "2000 Miles from Home." Brian was able to stretch out on multiple instruments and improvise on jams on Satanic and that is what he liked and thought the direction of the band should be.
"Brian's album"? Nah. Keith's album is more like it. See, Richards in particular was going back to listening to blues LPs in '67 and '68 due to a more relaxed schedule. Obviously, that got him in a LOT of trouble, too. NO DOUBT Brian enjoyed aspects of "Beggars ..." but at the same time, he was getting deeper into Afrobeat and electronic sounds. He supposedly had made a lot of home demos that he destroyed, either accidentally or otherwise. So, we'll never know. But it's worth realizing how similar "Sympathy ..." is to the Afro- beat Jones produced on "Pipes ...", even though Jones' performance was largely wiped from that track. Some of Jones' contributions were not added to the final mix because Richards especially saw no room for Brian's sitar. We have clear insight as to who contributed what to the tracks that make up "Beggars ...". It's easy to find here: Complete Works of The Rolling Stones To me, Jones' harmonica is easy to distinguish from Jagger's. Jones' style is more busy. The only track that fooled me for years 'til someone corrected me is "Jigsaw Puzzle". For a long time I thought it a case study in how Jones' guitar deteriorated. It IS rather shaky on the coda. Yet, it's RICHARDS, clearly aping Brian's slide style. ( For comparison on their styles, listen to Jones' slide on "I Wanna Be Your Man" then Richards' tone in '69 and tell me that Jones' didn't rub off on Keith. ) The only track on "Beggars ..." in which Brian is front and center is "No Expectations". For the other 2/3s of the LP, he is more of a support player, adding bits of mellotron or sitar on "Street ..." deeply buried in the mix and a couple of harp turns. That's it. Al Kooper gave us a clear picture of where Jones' heart was when he walked in to do keyboards on "YCAGWYW": "Brian was on the floor reading a botany book." We get it, he was inspired by the purchase of AA Milne's estate, but that ain't R'n'R.
Quotes from Anita indicate otherwise. She said he wasn't into the SMR direction nor Peace/Hippie proclamations. Was he able to thrive playing psychedelic music? He was an ace musician, so he had no problem in most musical realms. Maybe what he was looking for was more honesty in the music, rather than the pretenses upon which much of psychedelic music is built upon.
there are several stories from 1966 onwards of Brian passed out on the floor of the studio. Oldham in his book tells a good one of him coming in late to the studio in LA and plugging in his guitar and then passing out spread out on the floor and everyone having to walk around him, then his guitar buzzing in on the tracks until the engineer stopped everything and waited for someone to do something. Keith finally got fed up ripped Brian's lead out of his amp.
But then again, he was also huge into CCR at the end of his life. Really, Brian was not the most consistent person. He never lost the love of the blues music, but he also felt a desire to stretch out and find that next thing to conquer. Like a lot of artists, Brian tended to be very restless and get bored, which was a big part of why he never stuck with any one instrument for too long. As soon as he figured it out, it no longer interested him as much. In all likelihood, he would have probably gone through different styles, both for personal/artistic reasons and for practical reasons (he would need to make a living, after all).
Does anyone know when the Stones heard the Basement Tapes bootlegs? I think that changed everyones directions in music more than we realize. I can see Brian quickly switching from psychedelic sounds to roots music.
I don’t know, I think most music fans understand that The Band had a huge impact, even if they didn’t sell the most records (sold some, but not anywhere near Beatles or Stones or the like). I’m not sure of Brian listening to the Basement Tapes or the like, but I know he was friendly with at least Robbie, and giving that he and Dylan were friends on some level, he had more than likely met at least a few of the others. I can see him liking the Basement Tapes or Big Pink (remember that the Brown Album came out after he died).
And Let It Bleed is Keith’s album as well, since he does nearly all the guitars, gets a lead vocal, and is the only member on every track.
I think everyone who was anyone in music devoured the basement tapes as soon as it was possible and not because of The Band. Dylan was a huge influence on both The Beatles and The Stones. They would have wanted to hear them as soon as they heard they existed.
That’s true, the Dylan connection would have been the first thing people noticed. For whatever reason, I didn’t think of that.
It might just be me, but I’ve always gotten a very “basement tapes” vibe from Beggars Banquet. They sound similar to me in some weird way. Even more than when the Stones did it for real with Exile. That’s why I can believe the motivation or idea or what have you for BB as well as SMR was Brian’s. He seemed to be always chasing new sounds and ideas.
Definitely. Brian and Mick were both guys that constantly tried to find that next new thing to get excited about.
I really wonder what the original source is for crediting Brian with acoustic guitar on "Parachute Woman"...I mean, various books and websites can say this based on an assumption (such as, the belief that Brian and Mick both played harmonica on that track, yet in the live version from "Circus", only Mick plays harmonica at the end while Brian plays guitar throughout...therefore, their assumption is that he must've played it on the record). But unless we know their source for saying that, I think we need to take it with a grain of salt, to say the least - and be outright skeptical of it, at most. I mean, Mick and Keith have both pretty much stated that Brian only played guitar on one song from BB, which we know to be "No Expectations". Other than the session tapes proving he played harmonica on "Dear Doctor", and the obviousness of him playing tamboura on "SFM", we really can't say for sure what else he did on the album (the Mellotron on "SCB" and whatever is making that white noise sound on "Jigsaw Puzzle" are most likely him, but could potentially be Bill as well). I sure wish the basic session tracks circulated, as they do for Satanic Majesties. Those are a revelation, in that they show that Brian was in the studio with the rest of the band, playing Mellotron on most of the tracks, instead of just only turning up occasionally to add it as an overdub, as was long suspected.
