Keno's ROLLING STONES Web Site THEIR SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST Released - 1967, on London/Decca Records (now Abkco Records).  Produced by The Rolling Stones. Personnel: Mick Jagger - Lead and Backing Vocals; Percussion. Keith Richards - Lead,  Rhythm and Acoustic Guitars; Backing Vocals. Brian Jones - Rhythm Guitars; Mellotron, Organ, Piano; Horns; Tamboura; Sitar; Sarod; Flute; Percussion. Bill Wyman - Bass; Percussion; Organ, Piano, Lead Vocal on "In Another Land";  Mellotron on "Cosmic Christmas" Charlie Watts - Drums, Percussion. Additional Personnel - Ian Stewart., Nicky Hopkins, Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Eddie Dramer, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, John Paul Jones. (Click on song for lyrics and song personnel)

           

REVIEW This was the first album by the Stones to get bad reviews. Too bad, it didn't deserve it. No it's not at all your typical Stones album, more a hippie psychedelic album that some felt sounded too much like the Beatles. Pictures of the Fab Four's faces on the album's cover somewhat hidden in the flowers did not help matters. The truth was that this album was made in pieces with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Brian Jones in and out of court (and jail) facing drug charges while they were tying to put the LP together. Nobody knew who would be in the studio on any given day. Because of this, Bill Wyman got to use one of his songs, "In Another Land", which he sings lead on, but Charlie Watts was the only other Stone in the studio the day it was recorded (Mick & Keef's backing vocals were added in later). With all the legal problems going on within the band, which did affect the making of this LP, there were still two gems that they turned out on here anyway, "She's a Rainbow" and "2000 Light Years From Home", both featuring Brian on mellotron, with the latter being one of rocks' all time great psychedelic songs and containing perhaps the best use of a mellotron by anyone on a record. Then you have another winner in "Gomper",  minus the brief vocals, it's mainly all Brian playing exotic instruments. Another neat little tune is "2000 Man", sounding more like what we were use to hearing from the band, with Keith's fine acoustic guitar. If you want to talk about a song that was ahead of its time, for sure it is this one! When this tune was written in 1968, nobody had home computers (there weren't any yet), heck, only a few big businesses had computers back in those days. But the song is about the 2000 man, and Mick somehow figured that by the year 2000, people would be very much into computers, hence the line: "I am having an affair with a random computer", gee, how did he know that would be something that would happen in 2000? *This album also has the first of only 2 hidden tracks to ever appear on a Stones album, "Cosmic Christmas". The track shows up following "Sing This All Together (See What Happens)" and is very spacey, indeed! Yes, this is a good Stones album even if it is different. - Keno, 1998 *Old Ratings vs. New Ratings The oldest ratings that you see here are from back in 1998 when I first rated the album for this site. Since time does change one's point of view, I decided to listen to and rate the album again, doing so in late 2005. In May, 2018, 20 years after the first ratings were made, I rated all of the songs for a third time. Also note that I did not look at the old ratings from 1998 until after I placed my new ratings here in both 2005 and 2018. To read other fans reviews on this album, go here. To see how THEIR SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST's songs was voted on by fans, go here. To listen to some sound clips or buy the Remastered THEIR SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST, click here: Their Satanic Majesties Request Return to Stones Album Ratings