How often have I heard that TSMR is an inferior copy of the Beatles SGT Peppers?
So many many times.
As a child this was my first Rolling Stones album because even shortly after it came out I purchased it as a cut out at Barnett’s Market, a local mom and pop grocery store in the 60’s.
I’m now going to re-litigate the legacy of this record. In many respects I find this a superior record to SPLHCB. (not all ways, step back Beatles fanboys)
The Beatles were heralded as presenting a psychedelic masterpiece in SPLHCB. Is there psychedelic songs on this record? Yes. Lucy in the Skies with Diamonds, Within You and Without You and Day in the Life qualify. Possibly Mr Kite. But these for the most part these were English dance hall tunes with added psychedelia.
Whereas TSMR dived headlong into tripping mind bending psychedelia.
Let’s begin with the beginning. Why Don’t We Sing This Song All Together, no English Dance Hall music here. Starting with the disjointed piano and out of tune horn section going right into a hippie trippy sing along with an eastern percussion section. Busting into timbales, wavering horns and Keith’s guitar noodling nested against a wall of reverb and piano keys.
But step back jack! Maybe one of my favorite Stones song outside of Jumping Jack Flash, Citadel. People might deride Keith for not being a technically masterful guitarist but, he doesn’t need to be when as I’ve seen him referred to more than once in my life and I’m in agreement, that he is a Human Riff. Swirling psychedelia flows all over this song with mellotrons and organs and bells. It’s as though I’m trapped in a futuristic steam punk fortress.
Next up Bill Wyman’s In Another Land. Harpsichord intro. His, vocals going through effects as though he’s singing it from underwater. Victorian trip out! Jagger comes in on the chorus to punch it out. You can hear the winds flow through this land with Keith’s minstrel guitar.
Moving right along to another stand out tune 2000 Man. Prescient for being the first song to predict men will be beating off to computer porn.
Well my wife still respects me, I really misuse her
I am having an affair, with a random computer
-2000 Man (Jagger/Richards) 1967
This song is so full of pop sensibilities you can almost imagine it being a song by the Monkees if their lyrics had more bite and edge.
Hold on to your hats freak out kids cause we’re not even half way through.
The reprise of Why Don’t We Sing This All Together, starts off with an old English pipes going which lurches forward with an eastern percussion and the human riff laying down some grooves with background chanting like a shaman high on the peace pipe. I swear as a child I would hold the speakers to my head and actually get high on the music.
This song is right behind Aphrodite’s Child 666 song All the Seats Were Occupied for freakout goodness. And they end it with some delicious theremin.
On to side two and one of the two songs that broke out of this LP’s curse to gain notoriety. She’s a Rainbow. Again the Stones excel at Victorian Futuristic Psychedelia where SPLHCB excels at English Dance Hall with a lot of pop and smidgen of psychedelia. If I do more of these retro record reviews one thing you’ll find is that I’m partial to mellotrons and by partial, I mean sick fanboy of the sound. It is put to use here to great effect and this isn’t even the top mellotron song. In fact the only LP that out mellotrons this one for my money is In the Court of the Crimson King which would come out two years later.
Following Rainbow is The Lantern, which is meh. You can’t win them all.
After that The Gomper. Sitars and timbals enough to make Ravi Shanker happy. Eat your heart out George Harrison. An organ in the background makes for a sonic swirl while another organ and pipe flutter around like spastic birds in delirious flight. I can almost see the lake mentioned in the song and frantic dancing of young maidens enraptured to the beat.
Then comes the broken reverse piano intro to best space rock song I’ve ever heard. Sorry Hawkwind and Bowie. you want mellotron you got mellotron and boy do I want mellotron. Driven forward by Keith’s riffs and Mick’s travelogue to the expanse of the infinity of space. Further and further you go. Can you ever get back? Noooooo! But at least in the infinity of space you can hear mellotrons if not screams.
Finally on the final cut they go the English Dance Hall route with On with the Show.
I don’t write this to put down SPLHCB or to say one is better than the other. They are both magical musical delights and while sharing the DNA of the times they are distinctly different in their musical landscapes. For too often TSMR has stood in the shadows of SPLHCB like a disgraced younger brother. And the final verdict to me is that in the wold of psychedelic music TSMR is the winner for pure druggy dripping mind bending freakiness compared to SPLHCB.
Next case!