Their Satanic Majesties Request

[Estranged Reality]

This is an underrated album. The history behind it is that the Stones and the Beatles were rivals in the '60s (it still lives on today - Paul McCartney recently said that the Stones copied everything the Beatles did a year or two too late), and they recorded this as a response to Sgt. Peppers. They never did anything like it again. It's very trippy, druggy stuff. I like it, though. Very daring sound for the band and it's an interesting oddity.

Anyone else heard it?

Here is some interesting trivia from Wikipedia:

Its title is a play on the "Her Britannic Majesty requests and requires..." text that appears inside a British passport. Also, if one was to look very closely at the cover one would see the faces of all four members of The Beatles hidden in the two bottom corners of the album.

Released in December 1967, Their Satanic Majesties Request was not well-received, being often viewed as a pretentious, poorly conceived attempt to outdo The Beatles and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (released June 1967). Reaching #3 in the UK and #2 in the US (easily going gold) the album sold well initially, but its commercial performance declined rapidly. The response of the audience and the growing rejection of the flower power scene by Jagger and Richards would mean a turning point for the Stones; in 1968 the Stones would return to the hard driving blues that earned them fame early in their career.

Edited December 10, 2006 by Estranged Reality

[pepsicoca]

It's an interesting album because at the cusp of two eras : it precedes the second Stones golden age (Beggars' Banquet, Let It Bleed, Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out, Sticky Fingers, Exile On Main Street). It still has a certain charm although it is not among the best Stones' records.

[Lithium]

Lennon and McCartney actually sang "oh la la la" in the background of the song "She's a Rainow" on that album, while John Paul Jones arranged the strings for it in his session days.

It's a pretty great album, but far away from the Stone's best.

[frankwhite]

i've only jus gotten into the stones in the past coupla days so my opinion is hardly educated but...listenin to their shit its like, maaaaaaaaaaann, u didnt need to DO that! i mean, its a great album n all n i really dug it, dont get me wrong but...u cant escape the fact that it comes across as a poor mans Sgt Pepper. thats maybe too harsh an indictment but not entirely irrelevant. its a great album, i've only listened to it the once over n i've listened to sticky fingers, englands newest hitmakers, exile on main street, satanic majesty request, let it bleed, beggars banquet and aftermath all in the past 3 or 4 or so days so i guess thats a lotta info to take in but their bluesy stuff is hot as a fresh turd n...i dunno, i dont think that psychedelia really...did anythin for em. they seem to represent the sleaze better (all this pontificating based on less than a week of fandom, im so fulla shit ) but really, i dunno...the bluesy shit is jus so...sublime, i hate that whole "the stones answer to *insert miscellaneous beatles album here* cuz they HAD their own thing n didnt need to go down that route. then again, they were experimenting n the beatles didnt exactly invent that...did they? i dunno, i guess my opinion on the subject doesnt count for much but...ask me later

[adnan]

I need to buy it.

[Yamisonic]

It was the Stones' response to Sgt. Pepper.

The album isn't really good, but 2,000 Light Years Away From Home or however it's called absolutely rocks, even better than She's A Rainbow IMO.