The Rolling Stones – Beggars Banquet Review

Thankfully The Rolling Stones made it through their psychedelic days. Beggars Banquet is the reward. It is not that Her Satanic Majesties Request or Between the Buttons were poor quality records, but it never felt as though the Mick Jagger-fronted group had a sound of their own. Brilliant albums like Aftermath released, of course, and they always felt a step behind the pop variety or psychedelic spice of the time. Beggars Banquet is the first album which feels truly like a piece from The Rolling Stones as an outfit with a voice worth hearing. That is not to disparage their previous, excellent releases, but this is another level. An all-time great which led into one of the greatest album trilogies of all time. Beggars Banquet was a shove in the right direction, and it is where The Stones remained for years to come.  

What The Rolling Stones lose in the erratic instrumental prowess of Brian Jones, they gain a consistency to their sound in a straight-rock adaptation. There are sub-genres which are taken a glimpse at, looked-in on with the likes of Jumpin’ Jack Flash and the legendary Sympathy for the Devil, but all of this comes in opposition to the music they had released with Jones up to this point. Mikhail Bulgakov may influence the tale, the oppressive Devil and shots of historic horror, but it is the tremendous effort of Nicky Hopkins on piano which gives the song its real edge. Add that ever-necessary guitar solo from Keith Richards, still as piercing and powerful today, and The Rolling Stones give us one of their all-time greats. Beggars Banquet is a thrill to return to, its constant surprises are not just in its hits, but in album features like Jig-Saw Puzzle and closer Salt of the Earth. Beggars Banquet is one of those rare albums where you can never forget your first experience listening to it, getting a slice of the sound it offers. 

Following up Sympathy for the Devil is no small task, and No Expectations hits the right angle. A roots rock piece with Jones bringing the best out of it with his acoustic slide guitar work. It certainly feels like the best offering of his final weeks with The Rolling Stones, and to add it to such a charming song, one which pays tribute to heartbreak and ballad-like loneliness, is a fitting moment. Get through Jagger putting on Monty Python’s Flying Circus-like old women voices on Dear Doctor and the roots rock spirit continues. Tonally concise, instrumentally fulfilled, a matured style of sound comes through on Beggars Banquet, something the band had shown more in their early blues rock cover days than they had in the lead-up to this effort.  

Street Fighting Man may be the obvious thrill for the B-side of Beggar’s Banquet, but the instrumental consistency of pieces like Prodigal Son and Stray Cat Blues, the latter with some rather uncomfortable lyrics now, are further examples of the ongoing thrill of The Rolling Stones. Factory Girl and album closer Salt of the Earth at least make up for the ropey suggestions of Stray Cat Blues. The work The Rolling Stones put together, the slick style, the impressive lyrical play and the influences Jagger and Richards adapt to Beggars Banquet, are nothing short of classic. What makes the difference is the band leaving behind the overblown psychedelic sound which would age rapidly in the years to come. Instead, there is muck and grime in The Rolling Stones’ sound, a noise which shifted so far from UK rock that it found some real joy as a flag-bearer for protest in the United States. A massive achievement can be heard on Beggars Banquet, as strong now as it was when it offered contemporary restlessness a voice.