Their Satanic Majesties Request Song By Song Thread

Yeah I hear his and even Paul's voices stick out quite prominently in spot. There's no faking that Liverpool accent, now, is there?

 

Arrrghh! Sorry, I mean, thanks!
I just bought a mono LP, split by a dealer from the recent mono vinyl box.
With my Canadian stereo with (worn) 3D sleeve, I thought I had this album covered.
Well, I do, but this new one still looks good, especially given the terrible mess the new mono reissue makes of the cover.

 

Their Satanic Majesties Request is the near great, most under-appreciated Rolling Stones album.

What lends to it's unique sound is the seemingly more organic, "under-rehearsed" feel of most of the tracks.
The Stones were making their most blatant move away from their roots - the early hybrid of Rock and Roll & Blues.
I always liked that the overall feel of the LP, experimental and not adverse to new textures and sounds - stands out from their other albums.

Beginning with "Sing This All Together", a track that has a strong impromptu feel, organic, jam-oriented and not overproduced. The Stones give us a unique glimpse of their period of musical transition.

 

Wonder if we will hear any bass on the new pressing. I have the org SACD + UK org 3D cover LP sounds bass shy.( SACD muddy ).

 

Great idea for a thread. Love's Forever Changes is a far superior album, but what connects TSMR and Forever Changes is the sunshine and noir, there is a darkness to Stones attempts at psychedelia which often makes it more interesting than whimsical psychedelia, just like I far prefer the darkness of Syd's Floyd than the Scarecrow/Gnome Floyd. There is no cosmic bliss in the "mind expanding" world of the Rolling Stones, rather it leaves you disoriented and lost.

Sing this all together is good opening track, as lightbulb highlighted, it sounds "under rehearsed" in a good way. Others have pointed out that the Stones of the sixties wrote most of the material before hand, while the latter day Stones "jam" out their albums. There are obvious benefits to both methods of working, but TSMR and Sing this all together could be Stones first attempt at making music by jamming, at least it partly sounds like that.

Beneath the psychedelic decorations lies a hard, well produced album (I'd love to hear a "stripped" version of TSMR) pointing forward to the resurrection of Jumping Jack Flash.

 

Prefer Forever Changes, could be tbe production, one thing though. nay a duff track. Songs bleed into each other like incense and peppermints.

 

And the original lyrics were a tribute to BESSie Smith ...

 

The research done by Mark Lewisohn concludes that John and Paul are definitely singing background on "We Love You". However, he does NOT mention either John or Paul on any other Stones song, such as "Sing This All Together" (although the possibility could exist since Paul especially was hanging out with the Stones a bit during this time; and some people often hear one or the other---but vocals can be deceiving at times).

 

Probably my least favorite song on the album. I do like the instrumentation.
Shouldn't of been rerpised as if the central theme to the album IMO. Too much contrived hippydom in the lyrics.
The record gets better after this song.

 

...a special edition "50 th anniversary" coming in september ( ABKco )...

 

'Sing' is a great opening track. It lets us know that we are in strange territory, and feels welcoming but forbidding at the same time.
Like getting on the ghost train at the fair.

 

for my money the Stones were never more interesting than in this era. For me Beggars felt more like an ending than a beginning but they did soldier on well.
....but those Brian years are evergreen for me.

 

one more note about the thread itself, I find that rather than be individual songs that really each side is a concept with side 1 being a seance and through this communion with the dead are visions which are expressed in each following song. from urban decay to love to technological advancement, finally to abstract shifting rhythm and screaming, to a return to earth with a reprise of the beginning. ..and that's just side 1.

 

It's fairly difficult (some would even say impossible) to set aside one's preconceived notions about songwriters and artists when listening to a given piece of music. When I do that, to the best degree that I am able anyway, I quite enjoy "Sing This All Together". It is catchy, it is creative, it has a nice positive vibe to it that I personally embrace.

Back to those preconceived notions though. While "Within You, Without You", for example, sounds like George Harrison fully embodying a set of beliefs, "Sing This All Together" sounds like Mick Jagger putting on a costume for a few minutes, playing a part, and then taking the costume off. I sense a lack of sincerity which is based on my previous knowledge of who The Stones are/were, and I can't really stop that feeling from infringing on my enjoyment of this song.

Conversely, those same notions are what drive "We Love You" for me as a listener. Because to my ears, the song is really "You Hate Us". If it was ever meant to even vaguely be a song of unity, it fails miserably. But as a witty comment on the Stones' sense of persecution, it hits a home run. And without my sense of who The Stones ARE, I don't know that I would have ever "gotten" that track ("gotten" for myself, alone - I make no claims of a universal interpretation here).

Satanic Majesties may be the single album that I don't like all that much that I have spent the most time trying to "get" and embrace. Perhaps (hopefully!) this thread will expedite that process.

 

I know that this is slightly going against the thread, but I think your take on "We Love You" is spot on. I believe that's exactly what the song is saying. And that mellotron in the outro is utterly mesmerising.

 

I love "Sing This All Together with its sort of religeous gathering feel to it, the chant. They were taking the idea from The Beatles "All You Need Is Love" type of feel but it goes way off at a far out tangent.

 

'Sing This All Together' as the theme song for a children's program? Please tell me you remember the name of this show - I looked at Alan Alda's Wiki page and didn't see a mention of it. I can only imagine what a cover of STAT sounds like for a kids show!

 

I loved the album when released, instantly a Stones favorite of mine.

I defended it when it was trashed... for many years.

Still one, arguably my fav Stones albums.

 

Except they weren't in the studio when the song was recorded. I think some are hearing Bill in there. Don't forget, We Love You was recorded several months before most of the album proper. In the summer of 1967, John, Paul and Mick and Keith hung out quite a bit. Mick at several sessions (watching, not contributing) and John and Paul together and Paul on his own visiting the Stones in the studio. I don't think John and Paul are on Dandelion either. By the Fall, the Beatles were busy filming and recording Magical Mystery Tour, little time to attend sessions for their London rivals. Ron