By Artist The Rolling Stones Beggars Banquet
Beggars Banquet
Thursday, 09 April 2009 12:11 | 
Author: The Grouch | 
If you have been living under a rock for the past 40 years you may not know who the Rolling Stones are. If you are under 20 you may know them as a band your old man or even grandfather listens to.
In a nutshell The Rolling Stones ARE R&B based rock and roll incarnate.
I have never seen them in person although I had a couple of chances. I didn’t go once out of stupidity. I didn’t go once due to a lack of funds. Stones tickets are EXPENSIVE.
The first time was their 1981 tour. My sister had seen them in 75 in Detroit and they were terrible. Mick Jaggar ran around like a rooster on LSD screaming “Well alright”. The acoustics in the venue were bad and Keith was in thee midst of some kind of drug binge. So when the Stones came around in 81 and all my buddies were getting tickets I passed. I can still remember telling my friend that I was going to save my money because the Stones sucked so much the last time they were in town.
Boy was I wrong. Who knew Keith had cleaned up, the acoustics in this venue were better AND they were making a live album of this tour? OH WELL.
The second time was in 1990 or 91 in Japan. I was working there when the Stones did their first ever tour of Japan. The “tour” was 10 days in the Tokyo dome. I remember that the Japanese government wouldn’t grant Keith a visa due to his drug convictions. So the Prime Minister of the U.K. (I think it was Thatcher) called the Prime Minister of Japan to intercede on Keith’s behalf. (In the phone call she probably pointed out how much the Stones pay in taxes and that England could use the money.)
When I first went to Japan I learned that if you complement someone on something they are likely to give it to you as a gift. That does not apply to Rolling Stones tickets.
Thankfully the Japanese government required the Stones to allow their show to be shown on NHK – the Japanese public television channel.
This album is really more of a blues album than a rock album.
Track 1: Sympathy for the Devil Really cool drums start the song before a piano comes in and the backup singers go into some kind of a chant. The guitar rocks and the lyrics keep your attention Every cop is a criminal and all the sinners saints. One of the best songs ever written. A really cool bass line holds it all together as the band jams. The lead guitar absolutely rips it up in the middle of the song followed by Mick telling us You can call me Lucifer – I’m in need of some restraint – I’ll lay your soul to waste. Please to meet you I hope you guess my name.
Track 2: No Expectations This is a straight up country jam. I really like the effects on the guitar. Take me to the station ad put me on a train I’ve got no expectations to pass through here again. The thing about this kind of song is that the Stones just do it so well. The music is soulful and Jaggar’s voice sounds good. It would be easy to turn this into a parody, but they don’t. Its simply an emotional blues track.
Track 3: Dear Doctor is a very funny song. The music is old country and the lyrics make me laugh each time I listen to the song. It seems that the protagonist is set to marry an ugly fat girl he doesn’t like. At the last moment he is saved when she runs off to Virginia to marry his cousin Lou. Whew!
Track 4 Parachute Woman I love the guitar and drums in this song. It’s just so funky. There is the requisite guitar/harmonica jam – its good. Its very simple, but rocks none the less.
Track 5 Jigsaw Puzzle Killer bass along with rock solid drums and soulful guitar make this song work. I have no idea what the words mean but it doesn’t matter, the guitar and piano that plays around the edges keep my attention.
Track 6 Street Fighting Man One of the all time classics. The guitar is gritty. The rhythm section grooves as Mick mumbles something I can’t understand aside from the words What’s a poor boy to do except play for a Rock and Roll band? Again it doesn’t matter because the music rocks so hard and whatever the words are his voice sounds good on this track. I dig the guitar solo!
Track 7 Prodigal Son Delta Blues via England. This track shows just how talented the Rolling Stones’ guitarists are. Its clean and powerful. The bass, drums and even the vocals all blend together to give a foundation for the guitars to really shine. One of the best songs on the album in my opinion.
Track 8 Stray Cat Blues Gritty raw electric blues – man I love this song. Killer bass, spot on drums and a nasty guitar line along with piano runs all provide a chance for Jagger to put out some sneering vocals that bring forth a menacing attitude – the Stones are not the Beatles. Where the Beatles were lovable “moptops” the Stones are bad ass rockers who want to sleep with your sister or daughter. The bass opens up at the end of the song, giving the guitar a firm bottom from which to scream. Killer jam!
Track 9 Factory Girl Once again we hear just how well the Stones play guitar and mandolin as well as violin. More Delta Blues done really well.
Track 10 Salt of the Earth Delta Blues ends the album as Mick praises “the common man”. While the lyrics are a bit cheesy there is no denying that the guitar leads just rock. This is a very mellow song with a lot of soul. When Charlie Watts comes in thundering on the drums, it actually add to the melancholy sound coming from the guitar. A very good song with a distinct mellow groove which is enhanced by the backup singers who sound like they came right out of an African American Baptist church.
Grouch Rating: 5 out of 5 scowls
If you only own a couple of Stones albums this should be one of them.