Their Satanic Majesties Request Song By Song Thread

Story Theater 1970-1971. It was an odd little program narratingacting out fairy tales and fables. Not exactly an all-star ensemble, but it included lots of familiar faces back in the day. Comedians like Avery Schreiber, Paul Sands, Peter Bonerz, Paul Sills, Hamilton Camp, Valerie Harper and Bob Dishy, along with Alan Alda. Ron

 

It's not well known, but Nicky Hopkins also played on at least two tracks on "Between the Buttons": "Cool Calm and Collected" (he's unmistakable) and "Something Happened to Me Yesterday".

The quality of the Stones music took a BIG upturn when Nicky arrived ("We Love You", "She's a Rainbow").

 

Citadel:

And now onto the second track Citadel. I've read that Candy and Taffy refers to Warhol Superstar Candy Darling and her friend Taffy, but I could be wrong.
Anyway, now onto the song and music:
We start with a trippy riff that gets accented by bass and drums at :04, adding a nice meaty rhythm, I like Mick's vocal and lyrics throughout this song, love when at :18, it switches to a more mellow sound with Nicky's harpsichord. Also I hear a whistling sound at :27 and it appears to be Brian's Mellotron, before we get back to the verses at :36. The song then slows down and resumes at 1:13-1:16. At 1:26, a saxophone and flute come in and the credits I've seen identify Brian as the performer of both, and while Bobby Keys is my saxophonist for the Stones, I love the loose, dirty quality they add to the song.
Overall this song is beyond awesome, one of my favorites on here without a doubt. On a scale of one to ten, I give it the number of dollars in the Stones' bank accounts.

 

You know I've heard about Between the Buttons, but it always seemed like rumors.
And yes, the Stones DID get better when Nicky joined. And if you were ever in his presence and you didn't do a Wayne-and-Garth, you should be ashamed of yourself.

 

Citadel is one of the few tracks that I like on the album and probably the most rocking track on the album. However, it never seems to make any of their compilation albums and is one my favorite underrated Stones' tracks. The song was supposedly inspired by the film Metropolis.

 

And never played live either, and I think it could be a good live track with some tweaking.

 

And now I'm going to post The Damned's cover of Citadel:

 

Citadel is great ! Whereas the opening track is little more than a mood setter, this is where the album starts for real. Great guitar sound and Mick doing a great melody line. A favorite !

 

Post punk outfit Comsat Angels did a somewhat poppier take on "Citadel". It's worth noting that some of the punk/new wave bands (including Siouxsie and XTC) seemed to embrace Satanic Majesties' dark edge more than some of the other hippie era stuff.

 

Citadel
I've never dug this track that much and find that bit of feedback on the guitar really irritating.

Sing this All Together
One of my favorite songs on the album. Really serves notice that this will be a real departure their previous albums. Love Nicky Hopkins work during bridge and the way he builds it all up.

The deep voice you hear at certain parts on the track always sounded like Charlie to me.

 

Thank you for this info. The one link I found has the audio removed, stating "This video previously contained a copyrighted audio track. Due to a claim by a copyright holder, the audio track has been muted.". Too bad, I'd love to hear this version. I did stumble across this cover version though:



If they can do it live, why can't The Stones

 

Never heard this until now, but that's a really cool cover.

 

I was already a Stones fan but had never heard anything good or bad about this album when I first discovered it through an elder friend of mine, I think in 1971 or '72. He lent it to me thinking I might like it, and he was right! Citadel got to me straight off!

There is nothing much I don't enjoy in this album, save perhaps for the couple of "freak out jams"... and even there, the one on side 1 is a rare window on Keith blowing lose on lead guitar!

 

"Citadel"

Love: The guitar riff
Don't Love: The vocal being more or less buried in the mix

And if you can make something cohesive and cogent out of the lyrics (which need to be read since they can't be picked up by just listening, by me anyway), you're one up on me.

Did Candy Darling really have a friend named Taffy? What are the odds?

 

"Citadel" recycles some of the hard-rock DNA of "Get Off My Cloud". Successfully, in my view.

That's all, I got nothing clever or insightful.

 

Citadel is one of my favorite tracks on the album. When I first heard this LP (some time around 1978-9 I think? And thanks to my local library), I thought the first four tracks of side one flowed perfectly together. I always felt first UK stereo pressings of this album are particularly bright - to its detriment - but it works for Citadel with that piercing guitar.

The Damned did a good version:

 

I posted The Damned's cover.

 

Doh! Sorry, I missed it somehow!

 

It's okay.

 

I love the song and the arrangement also but yeah, that sound you are talking about that appears throughout the song annoys me also.
It sounds like over tweaked plate reverb or something .