Search - Rolling Stones :: Their Satanic Majesties Request

I Love this Record

Danielle Lane | Horseshoe, North Carolina | 06/11/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Every note, every word, every song, I just love this record. It's true that my friends don't like it as well as I do, but I can't help that. The Stones, Like the Beatles with "Sgt. Pepper" and Bob Dylan with "Blonde on Blonde" went a little psychedelic. But I think this record tops those other efforts. The music is just fab. Can I say that, fab. I shiver every time I play "2000 Light Years from Home." Those opening chords send chills up my spine. "On with the Show" is a pure delight as is "Citadel." I love "Sing this All Together," the opening song, but I really like to get into the long and strangely weird sort of instrumental "Sing this All Together (See What happens)." Anyway, like I said, I just love this record and if you give it a chance I think you will too."

L-oosely (rolling) S-tones with D-arvons

Annie Van Auken | Planet Earth | 01/03/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Perhaps THEIR SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST is supposed to be a tongue-in-cheek parody of the psychedelic excesses prevalent in 1967. If so, it succeeds in such aspirations "majestically." Or maybe Mick and the boys were only ripping off SGT PEPPER'S as a lark-- I'd like to think this is the case. Merry Pranksters weren't exclusive to California, after all.



To really appreciate this album in all its glory, one must see the original LP with its murky animated 3-D plasticine artwork (Look-- they turn their heads!). To savor the music however, a CD is quite sufficient.



This set has a lot of terrific songs on it. The only reason it gets a middling rating is "Sing This All Together (See What Happens)" --an unnecessary endless jumble that brings SATANIC MAJESTIES to a screeching halt-- much like Lennon's car crash does to the White Album on "Revolution #9." Both tracks badly mar the records they are on, yet neither experience would be truly complete without them. So, we must muddle through somehow.



THEIR SATANIC (etc.) has the distinction of containing both (to my mind) the best and worst examples of the Stones' golden era (1965-'73). The latter of course, being the cacophonous song mentioned above. Now, my all-time favorite Rolling Stones track may surprise you--- its....."On With The Show." For all its intended prurience, this one has always made me smile. You see-- there's a bit of Merry Prankster in us all!"

Misunderstood, underrated, underappreciated, whatever...

finulanu | Here, there, and everywhere | 10/11/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"These Stones role doobies! This album should suck, and for the longest time, I thought I did. Ah, but I learned my lesson. For those who honestly don't know, this is the group's psychedelic album. A lot of people view it as a cheap shot at Sgt. Pepper, but that's pretty far from the truth. To me, it sounds like the Stones just took a bunch of everything that was going on in '67 and mashed it together in a big melting pot.



So you've got your loud, fantastically catchy acid-rock a la Jimi Hendrix ("Citadel"), your universalist marching band anthems a la just about everyone back then ("Sing This Song Together"), your creepy, dissonant space freakouts a la Pink Floyd ("2000 Light Years from Home"), some druggy folk a la Traffic ("The Lantern," "2000 Man"), and even some world music inspired jamming a la nobody else at the time ("Gomper," "Sing This Song Together (See What Happens)". For fear of being hated by everyone, I am going to come out right now and say I like all of "Sing This Song Together (See What Happens)". It's unlike anything else you'll ever hear - a chaotic combination of free jazz and world music, with a "sex part" thrown in just for good measure. Even the album's defenders tend to crap all over it, but I think it's a really enjoyable, if odd, jam.



Actually, I pretty much enjoy every song on this album. Only two are true classics, and "On with the Show" is a pathetic attempt to send us all home laughing. And it's not like this can compete with Are You Experienced? or Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. But it's cool! "The Lantern" is one of the grooviest things in history, with rumbling piano and blues guitar licks. Bill Wyman's "In Another Land," with hazy "underwater" vocals and a catchy harpsichord line, must be about an acid trip or something. And it is quite good! "Gomper" proves that no Brit could play bizarre instruments like Brian Jones.



"2000 Light Years from Home" is my favorite. The mellotron is so spooky! The rumbling bass vamp is so cool! And the piano-bashing intro rules! And despite its uncanny similarity to the Beatles, "She's a Rainbow" is a fantastic little pop song, with a brilliant string arrangement from future Zeppelin member John Paul Jones.



This album shouldn't work at all, but it does. It does very well. Why? Because the early Rolling Stones could do anything, that's why. Oh, and you know why record companies suck? I'll tell you why. The trippy, brass-and-harmony fortified "We Love You" and the gently psychedelic "Dandelion" somehow missed the final cut on this album! They're both great songs, but they were only put out as a single. Why? I'm just guessing it has something to do with those stupid UK single separated from album practices, practices that make no sense to me.

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