The Albums of 1968: The Rolling Stones: Beggar's Banquet

Release Date: December 6, 1968
Active Members: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Bill Wyman, and Charlie Watts
Guests: Nicky Hopkins on Piano
Produced by Jimmy Miller

Side One: Sympathy for the Devil; No Expectations; Dear Doctor; Parachute Woman; Jigsaw Puzzle

Side Two: Street Fighting Man; Prodigal Son; Stray Cat Blues; Factory Girl; Salt of the Earth


Beggar's Banquet brought a charge to the turbulent rock scene of 1968. Like their contemporaries The Beatles, The Rolling Stones were moving on after a brief dalliance with psychedelia, going back to a more traditional rock and roll sound, albeit, with a darker edge. The ten songs on the album deal with evil, death, desire, revolutionary politics, working class malaise, and an ongoing exploration of the blues.

Side one begins with "Sympathy for the Devil."  The Stones tell the story of Lucifer as he joyfully reflects on the chaos he's wrought throughout history. The Dionysian beats and pagan chanting add to the ominous, yet attractive, mood of the song. Like Charles Manson, who would become known to the world the next year, the song ends with an entreaty to conciliation and then shifts to violent threat promising death to all who cross his path. A historical marker flower power's demise.

"No Expectations" is a beautiful track, a highlight of the album. A reflective meditation on the end of a relationship/era featuring Brian Jones on slide guitar and Nicky Hopkins on organ, one of the best collaborations in the Jagger/Richards catalog. 

"Dear Doctor" is a country-western ramble on drinking, broken hearts, and exhaustion. "Parachute Woman" is a thumping R&B tune with some Anthony Burgess Nasdat speak from A Clockwork Orange (Stones wanted to adapt their own version of the novel).

The aptly titled "Jigsaw Puzzle" is an observational song featuring pastiche blues and surreal imagery. Some have compared it to Dylan's "Stuck Inside of Mobile (with the Memphis Blues Again).

Side two opens with "Street Fighting Man," often considered the most "political" single the Stones ever released. "Street Fighting Man" definitely hit the zeitgeist of 1968, released as Chicago blew up during the Democratic convention. The Nihilist spirit of the song suggests youth have nothing better to do but storm the barricades, foreshadowing the punk ethos of a decade later. A sitar from Brian Jones echoes the psychedelia of 1967. 

"Prodigal Son" was a delta blues song written by Robert Wilkins, an appropriate parallel to "Street Fighting Man." "Stray Cat Blues" features a return to the vintage Stones style, heavy blues riffs with some taboo content. 

"Factory Girl" is a bluegrass ode of industrial romanticism. A similar sentiment prevails on the closing track "Salt of the Earth." A well produced track, even though the lyrics admit the working class are:

A swirling mass of grey
Black and White
They don't look real to me
In fact, they look so strange

In a year packed with legendary albums, Beggar's Banquet is a solid LP from start to finish. A marked contrast to the chaos of the Beatles White Album, capturing the Stones as they were about to enter the zenith of their creativity. Just as Dylan's early records reflect the changing culture of the mid 1960s, the Stones were defining the latter stage of the decade. 

The Beatles: Let It Be (1970)

Release Date: May 8, 1970
Active Members: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr
Guests: Billy Preston on Keyboards
Producer: Phil Spector

Side One: Two of Us; Dig A Pony; Across the Universe; I Me Mine: Dig It; Let It Be; Maggie Mae

Side Two: I've Got a Feeling; One After 909; The Long and Winding Road; For You Blue; Get Back

The Beatles 12th and last album of new material to be released, Let it Be may not be their best, but it still captures the four of them at the height of their powers. As has been well documented, by 1969 the band was hitting a cul-de-sac in their epochal, but all too brief, recording career. Tired of recording epic studio albums that took months to complete (the White Album sessions took the better part of six months), they returned yet again to the studio in 1969 with what was intended to be a new approach, writing new songs on the fly with the goal of performing them before a live audience. 

Let it Be put the group's issues under a microscope. They were getting older and weary with each other. George remained frustrated with his limited role and would temporarily leave the band a few days during the sessions. Camera crews were recording their every move for an intended documentary, thus adding to the pressures they were facing (early morning 8am sessions did not help either). The haphazard rooftop concert that concluded the sessions made for a great ending to the movie, but it got cut short and left incomplete (a fitting ending for the project). 

The album would sit on the shelf for over a year and go through many iterations. Glynn Johns produced the original mix, tracks that were without overdubs, even including mistakes. Members of the band could not agree on a final mix, just as the album was ready for release in the summer of 1969. Phil Spector was brought to do a mix, crafting a more polished sound that somewhat captured the spontaneity of the recording sessions. 

The initial cover had the four of them replicating the cover of their first album, but was replaced with the so called "funeral" design cover with four snapshots of the band members as individuals. For a generation the cover symbolized the demise of the Beatles. No longer a cohesive unit, the four headed monster Mick Jagger spoke of, but four young men about to go their separate ways.

"Two of Us" opens the album on poignant note, with John and Paul harmonizing on a folk-pop ditty Paul wrote about the joy of traveling with friends. Although Paul wrote the song about his relationship with Linda, hearing him and John sing the chorus: "You and I have Memories, Longer than the road that stretches far ahead" adds a bittersweet undertone.

John's "Dig A Pony" features surreal lyrics set to heavy and erratic guitars. One of the most exuberant tracks on the LP, don't miss the cover version performed by St. Vincent back in 2009. "Across the Universe" may one of Lennon's most beautiful compositions. Spector added strings and background vocals on the album version. John's hopeful and transcendent spirituality comes through on the track.

Harrison's "I Me Mine" maybe hit too close to home, a sarcastic song about ego and self destruction. Perhaps the lyrics are too straight forward, but the sting still comes off the record, possibly George's own protest against the machinations of John and Paul.

"Dig It" was originally over five minutes of improvised lyrics. Spector included a mere fragment as sort of bridge to the next song, still that fragment leaves the listener intrigued. John yells out random names and quotes "Like a Rolling Stone."

The title track opens with Paul's piano and offer a spiritual message of hope. Background choral vocals and organ music give the song a hymn like feel. George's guitar solo is a highlight and exemplified how all members could still make great contributions to each other's songs. Paul's lyrics have an eloquent simplicity, much like a Psalm.  "Maggie Mae" closes side one on an absurd note, an old Liverpool standard.

Side Two opens with "I've Got a Feeling" was one of the last true collaborations of John and Paul. An old fashioned rocker; the track may be the closest to what the Beatles were trying to accomplish on Let it Be. "The One After 909" was an early Lennon/McCartney collaboration from their schooldays they finally put on record.

"Long and Winding Road" marked another high point in Paul's songwriting, one of his crowning achievements as an artist. A fitting song to bring closure to the Beatles career.

George's "For You Blue" feels like an intended b-side, with some slight lyrics, but sounds like he's having fun on it. "Get Back" closes the album on a rocking note.

While the final version of Let it Be did not reflect the initial vision for the project, the four still sound magical when they play together. But there's also a sense of exhaustion in the music, a finality to songs like "Across the Universe," "The Long and Winding Road," and "Let it Be." Abbey Road, recorded later that summer for financial reasons, would allow George to take center stage and bring the Beatles recording career to a pleasing conclusion, Let it Be reminds us they were human. 

Welcome to Eric Talks Albums

Welcome!

Eric Talks Albums will offer a variety of album reviews from all eras of rock and roll. The decades of the 1960s and 1970s will get particular attention. New releases will be covered as well. I use the term "reviews" in the general sense, there will be appreciations, criticism, history, and much more.

As this decade enter its final stretch, it feels as if rock itself is on trial. Will the form continue? Should it continue? Pete Townshend's unfinished rock opera Lifehouse imagined a future where all entertainment is experienced through screens and simulated environments. Today the world seems to be in the opening (or closing) of something, a duel between the real and unreal. 

Albums are real. Talismans with their own significance to all who experience them, the back beat to life.