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Their Satanic Majesties Request

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Their Satanic Majesties Request is the sixth studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released in December 1967 by Decca Records in the UK and by London Records in the United States. It was the first Rolling Stones album released in identical versions in both countries. The title is a play on the "Her Britannic Majesty requests and requires" text that appeared inside a British passport.

Their Satanic Majesties Request
Studio album by
the Rolling Stones
Released8 December 1967
Recorded9 February – 23 October 1967
StudioOlympic, London
Genre
Length44:06
Label
ProducerThe Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones UK chronology
Between the Buttons
(1967) 		Their Satanic Majesties Request
(1967) 		Beggars Banquet
(1968)
The Rolling Stones US chronology
Flowers
(1967) 		Their Satanic Majesties Request
(1967) 		Beggars Banquet
(1968)
Singles from Their Satanic Majesties Request
  1. "In Another Land" / "The Lantern"
    Released: 2 December 1967
  2. "She's a Rainbow" / "2000 Light Years from Home"
    Released: 23 December 1967

The band experimented with a psychedelic sound, incorporating unconventional elements such as Mellotron, sound effects, string arrangements, and African rhythms. The band members produced the album themselves as their manager/producer Andrew Loog Oldham had departed. The prolonged recording process was marked by drug use, court appearances, and jail terms by members of the band. The original LP cover features a lenticular image by the photographer Michael Cooper.

Satanic Majesties initially received mixed reviews.[6] It was criticised as being derivative of the contemporaneous work of the Beatles, particularly their June 1967 release Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, with the similarities extending to the LP's cover.[7][8][9] In subsequent decades, however, it has gradually risen in critical reputation. Following the release, the Rolling Stones abandoned their psychedelic style for a stripped-down return to their roots in blues music.

Recording

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Recording of Their Satanic Majesties Request began just after the release of Between the Buttons on 20 January 1967. Because of court appearances[6] and jail terms, the entire band was seldom present in the studio at one time, making recording of the album lengthy and disjointed. Band members frequently arrived with guests in tow, further interfering with productivity. One of the more level-headed members of the band during this time, Bill Wyman, wary of psychedelic drugs, wrote the song "In Another Land" to parody the Stones' current goings-on.[2] In his 2002 book Rolling with the Stones, Wyman describes the situations in the studio:

Every day at the studio it was a lottery as to who would turn up and what – if any – positive contribution they would make when they did. Keith would arrive with anywhere up to ten people, Brian with another half-a-dozen and it was the same for Mick. They were assorted girlfriends and friends. I hated it! Then again, so did Andrew (Oldham) and just gave up on it. There were times when I wish I could have done, too.[10]

 
Mick Jagger (left), Brian Jones (back, center) and Keith Richards (right) in April 1967

The Stones experimented with many new instruments and sound effects during the sessions, including Mellotron, theremin, short wave radio static, and string arrangements by then-future Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones.[2] Their producer and manager Andrew Loog Oldham, already fed up with the band's lack of focus, distanced himself from them following their drug bust and finally quit, leaving them without a producer. As a result, Their Satanic Majesties Request would be the Stones' first self-produced album. Mick Jagger later opined this was not for the best, while expressing disdain for some of the tracks.[11]

In another interview, Brian Jones stated:

It's really like sort of got-together chaos. Because we all panicked a little, even as soon as a month before the release date that we had planned, we really hadn't got anything put together. We had all these great things that we'd done, but we couldn't possibly put it out as an album. And so we just got them together, and did a little bit of editing here and there.[12]

Some of the album's songs were recorded under various working titles, some appearing radically different from the final titles. These working titles include: "Acid in the Grass" ("In Another Land"), "I Want People to Know" ("2000 Man"), "Flowers in Your Bonnet" ("She's a Rainbow"), "Fly My Kite" ("The Lantern"), "Toffee Apple" ("2000 Light Years from Home"), and "Surprise Me" ("On with the Show").[2] In 1998, a bootleg box set of eight CDs with outtakes from the Satanic sessions was released, and it shows the band developing the songs over multiple takes as well as the experimentation that went into the recording of the album.

Title and packaging

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The working title of the album was Cosmic Christmas, or The Rolling Stones' Cosmic Christmas –[13] in the hidden coda titled "Cosmic Christmas" (following "Sing This All Together (See What Happens)"), a slowed-down version of the tune "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" is played on an oscillator. The album was released in South Africa and the Philippines as The Stones Are Rolling because of the word "Satanic" in the title.[14]

One proposed cover, a photograph of Jagger naked on a cross, was scrapped by the record company for being "in bad taste".[15] The initial LP[a] of the album featured a three-dimensional picture of the band on the cover by photographer Michael Cooper. When viewed in a certain way, the lenticular image shows the band members' faces turning towards each other, with the exception of Jagger, whose hands appear crossed in front of him. Looking closely at its cover, one can see the faces of each of the four Beatles, reportedly a response to the Beatles' inclusion of a Shirley Temple doll wearing a "Welcome the Rolling Stones" sweater on the cover of Sgt. Pepper. Later editions replaced the glued-on three-dimensional image with a photograph due to high production costs. A limited edition LP version in the 1980s reprinted the original 3D cover design; immediately following the reissue, it was claimed that the master materials for reprinting the 3D cover were intentionally destroyed, implying that faithful recreations of the cover would no longer be possible, but this has since been proven false by numerous re-issues. The lenticular album cover was featured, although shrunk down, for a (Japanese) SHM-CD release in 2008.[17][clarification needed]

The original cover design called for the lenticular image to take up the entire front cover,[18] but finding this to be prohibitively expensive it was decided to reduce the size of the photo and surround it with the blue-and-white graphic design.

The entire cover design is elaborate, with a dense photo collage filling most of the inside cover (along with a maze) designed by Michael Cooper, and a painting by Tony Meeuwissen on the back cover depicting the four elements (Earth, Water, Fire, and Air). In some editions, the blue-and-white wisps on the front cover are used in a red-and-white version on the paper inner sleeve. The inner-cover collage has dozens of images, taken from reproductions of old master paintings (Ingres, Poussin, da Vinci, among others), Indian mandalas and portraits, astronomy (including a large image of the planet Saturn), flowers, world maps, etc. The maze on the inside cover of the UK and US releases cannot be completed: a wall at about a half radius in from the lower left corner means one can never arrive at the goal labelled "It's Here" in the centre of the maze.

It was the first of four Stones albums to feature a novelty cover; the others were the zipper on Sticky Fingers (1971), the cut-out faces on Some Girls (1978), and the stickers on Undercover (1983).

At some point around 1997, rumors were first heard that the album existed as a promo version, including a silk padding.[19] A pink padded version was presented by photo accompanied by a letter from the Decca Copyright Department,[19] but it was shown that the letter does not match the album it was intended to authenticate making it almost entirely certain that this was a forgery.[20]

Release and reception

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Released in December 1967, Their Satanic Majesties Request reached No. 3 in the UK and No. 2 in the US (easily going gold), but its commercial performance declined rapidly. It was soon viewed as a pretentious, poorly conceived attempt to outdo the Beatles and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (released in May 1967), often explained by drug trials and excesses in contemporary musical fashion, although John Lennon and Paul McCartney did provide backing vocals (uncredited) on "We Love You" (recorded during the Satanic Majesties Request sessions, but released as a single a few months before the album).[21] The Wyman-composed "In Another Land" was released as a single, with the artist credit listed as Bill Wyman, rather than the Rolling Stones (the B-Side, "The Lantern", was credited to the Rolling Stones).[22]

The production, in particular, came in for harsh criticism from Jon Landau in the fifth issue of Rolling Stone,[23] and Jimmy Miller (recommended by the album's engineer, Glyn Johns) was asked to produce the Stones' subsequent albums, on which they would return to the hard-driving blues that earned them fame early in their career. In an April 1968 album review, Richard Corliss of the New York Times was also critical of the production value stating "... their imagination seems to have dried up when it comes to some of the arrangements. While still better than their previous ones, the arrangements are often ragged, fashionably monotonous and off-key." Despite this he gave the album an overall positive review, going as far as calling it a better concept album than Of Cabbages and Kings (1967, by Chad & Jeremy), The Beat Goes On (1968, by Vanilla Fudge) and even Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967, by the Beatles).[24] In a 1970 Rolling Stone interview, Lennon commented on the album: "Satanic Majesties is Pepper. 'We Love You' ... that's 'All You Need Is Love'."[25]

Legacy and reappraisal

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Retrospective professional reviews
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [26]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music     [27]
Entertainment WeeklyC[28]
The Great Rock Discography5/10[29]
Louder     [30]
NME8/10[31]
Pitchfork7.8/10[32]
Record Collector     [33]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide     [34]
The Village VoiceB+[35]

Keith Richards himself has been critical of the album in later years. While he likes some of the songs ("2000 Light Years from Home", "Citadel", and "She's a Rainbow"), he stated, "the album was a load of crap."[36] Mick Jagger disavowed the album in 1995, saying: "it's not very good. It had interesting things on it, but I don't think any of the songs are very good. There's two good songs on it. The rest of them are nonsense."[37] There are only two songs from the album which the Stones performed live, "2000 Light Years from Home" (1989–90 world tour, 2013 Glastonbury Festival), and "She's a Rainbow" (1997–98 Bridges to Babylon Tour and occasionally on concert tours in the late 2010s.)[38]

Satanic Majesties has been reassessed positively by critics. In a retrospective 1977 review, Robert Christgau of the Village Voice stated that the album "no doubt contains several great songs" despite negative reception from some.[35] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Pitchfork wrote that "Perhaps psychedelia wasn't a natural fit for the earthbound Stones, but the dissonance between their gritty rhythms and ornate, precocious arrangements is enthralling, not in the least because there's no other record—by the Stones or anybody else—that sounds quite like this."[32] AllMusic's Bob Eder called the mono mix of the album a distinct improvement over the stereo version, describing it as transforming the maligned album into "superb, punky psychedelia."[39] Richie Unterberger of AllMusic writes:

Without a doubt, no Rolling Stones album – and, indeed, very few rock albums from any era – split critical opinion as much as the Rolling Stones' psychedelic outing. Many dismiss the record as sub-Sgt. Pepper posturing; others confess, if only in private, to a fascination with the album's inventive arrangements, which incorporated some African rhythms, Mellotrons, and full orchestration. What's clear is that never before or after did the Stones take so many chances in the studio…In 1968, the Stones would go back to the basics, and never wander down these paths again, making this all the more of a fascinating anomaly in the group's discography.[26]

In August 2002, Their Satanic Majesties Request was reissued in a new remastered CD, LP and DSD by ABKCO Records.[40] In 2008, the album was released in SHM-CD for Japan using the same 2002 remastered, and in December of that year it was reissued (also as a SHM-CD Japanese only release) with the original lenticular cover for the first time in that format. In May 2011, the album was reissued on SHM-SACD.[citation needed] In 2017, a set containing two LPs (mono/stereo) as well as two SACDs (mono/stereo) was released, with another new remastered for the stereo version.[41] In 2018, the album was reissued as part of the Record Store Day. The release contained the 2017 remastered stereo version of the album pressed on transparent coloured vinyl (180g) and also featured the 3D-style sleeve.[42]

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, except "In Another Land" by Bill Wyman

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Sing This All Together"3:46
2."Citadel"2:50
3."In Another Land"3:15
4."2000 Man"3:07
5."Sing This All Together (See What Happens)" (hidden track "Cosmic Christmas" starts at 7:54)8:33
Total length:21:31
Side two
No.TitleLength
6."She's a Rainbow"4:35
7."The Lantern"4:24
8."Gomper"5:08
9."2000 Light Years from Home"4:45
10."On with the Show"3:40
Total length:22:32

Personnel

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Source:[13]

The Rolling Stones

Additional personnel

Charts

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Chart (1968) Peak
position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[44] 1
Finland (The Official Finnish Charts)[45] 7
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[46] 4
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[47] 99
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[48] 2
UK Albums (OCC)[49] 3
US Billboard 200[50] 2
Chart (2017) Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[51] 137
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[52] 189
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[53] 84
Chart (2018) Peak
position
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[54] 46

Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[55]
release of 2006 		Silver 60,000‡
United States (RIAA)[56] Gold 500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Notes

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  1. ^ Duplicated by Ampex for London Records, catalogue no. LPM 70141 and reel-to-reel releases.[16]

References

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  1. ^ Martin, Bill (1998). Listening to the Future: The Time of Progressive Rock, 1968–1978. Open Court Publishing. ISBN 9780812693683. Archived from the original on 4 May 2021. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d DeRogatis, Jim (2003). Turn on Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 55–60. ISBN 0-634-05548-8.
  3. ^ "Chicago Tribune". Archived from the original on 1 February 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  4. ^ Popkin, Helen A.S. (17 August 2005). "The Stones may be old, but they can still rock". Today. Archived from the original on 6 March 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  5. ^ Lester, Paul (10 July 2007). "These albums need to go to rehab". The Guardian. London: Guardian News and Media Limited. Archived from the original on 10 January 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  6. ^ a b Gilliland, John (1969). "Show 46: Sergeant Pepper at the Summit – The very best of a very good year (part 2, segment 5)" (audio). Pop Chronicles. University of North Texas Libraries. via the Digital Library of the University of North Texas. Retrieved 2012-08-23.
  7. ^ Landau, Jon. "Their Satanic Majesty's Request [1968 Review]". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  8. ^ duBrowa, Corey (29 December 2008). "SOUND CHECK: BEATLES VS. STONES". Magnetmagazine.com. Magnet Magazine. Archived from the original on 12 September 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  9. ^ "The Beatles Photos Hidden on the Rolling Stones "Their Satanic Majesties Request" Album Cover". Feel Numb. Archived from the original on 13 November 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  10. ^ Taylor, Tom (11 August 2021). "The Rolling Stones album that Keith Richards hates". Far Out.
  11. ^ Dodd, Philip (2003). According to The Rolling Stones. Italy: Chronicle Books. pp. 113–114. ISBN 0-8118-4060-3.
  12. ^ Jones, Brian (January 1968). "Show 46: Sergeant Pepper at the Summit – The very best of a very good year (part 2, segment 5)". Pop Chronicles. Pasadena, CA: Digital Library of the University of North Texas. KRLA. Archived from the original on 10 July 2017. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  13. ^ a b Margotin, Philippe; Guesdon, Jean-Michel (25 October 2016). Rolling Stones All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track. Hachette Books. pp. 203–237. ISBN 978-0-316-31773-3. Archived from the original on 19 August 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  14. ^ "The Stones are Rolling". Eil.com. Archived from the original on 5 December 2008. Retrieved 16 November 2007.
  15. ^ "Jagger 'Fed-Up', Producing Own Album". Rolling Stone. Vol. 1, no. 3. 14 December 1967. p. 18.
  16. ^ London Records, catalogue no. NPS-2.
  17. ^ "The Cover Uncovered: The story behind The Rolling Stones album 'Their Satanic Majesties Request' - Far Out Magazine". faroutmagazine.co.uk. 30 November 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  18. ^ Sandbrook, Dominic (4 June 2006). "The very image of the sixties". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 6 January 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  19. ^ a b "Stonesondecca.com". Archived from the original on 20 July 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  20. ^ "Kvart-bolge.com". Archived from the original on 17 October 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  21. ^ Gallucci, Michael (8 December 2015). "The Time the Rolling Stones Went Technicolor With 'Their Satanic Majesties Request'". Ultimate Classic Rock. Archived from the original on 3 April 2021. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
  22. ^ In Another Land single cover
  23. ^ Landau, Jon (10 February 1968). "New LP Put Stones' Status in Jeopardy". Rolling Stone. No. 5.
  24. ^ Corliss, Richard (28 April 1968). "The Stones: Heady Promises". The New York Times. New York, NY. pp. D29.
  25. ^ Wenner, Jann (2000). Lennon Remembers. Rolling Stone Press. p. 67. ISBN 1-85984-376-X.
  26. ^ a b Unterberger, Richie. Their Satanic Majesties Request at AllMusic. Retrieved 19 November 2007.
  27. ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. London: Omnibus Press. p. 2005. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8. Archived from the original on 4 May 2021. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  28. ^ Browne, David (20 September 2002). "Satisfaction?". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 28 November 2018. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
  29. ^ Strong, Martin (2004). The Great Rock Discography. Canongate. p. 993. ISBN 978-1841956152.
  30. ^ Needs, Kris (6 September 2017). "The Rolling Stones – Their Satanic Majesties Request...album review". Louder. Archived from the original on 5 March 2020. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  31. ^ "The Rolling Stones – Their Satanic Majesties Request CD Album". Muze. Archived from the original on 12 August 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  32. ^ a b "Their Satanic Majesties Request review". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 23 September 2017. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  33. ^ "Their Satanic Majesties Request: 50th Anniversary Edition". Vantage London, Great West Road, Brentford: Diamond Publishing Ltd. Archived from the original on 11 November 2022. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  34. ^ "Album Guide: The Rolling Stones". rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on 12 April 2011. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  35. ^ a b Christgau, Robert (20 December 1976). "Christgau's Consumer Guide to 1967". The Village Voice. New York. p. 70. Archived from the original on 22 February 2017. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  36. ^ St Michael, Mick (1994). Keith Richards – In His Own Words. Omnibus Press. p. 27. ISBN 0-7119-3634-X.
  37. ^ Wenner, Jann S. (14 December 1995). "Mick Jagger Remembers". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
  38. ^ Sexton, Paul (3 August 2019). "Rolling Stones Revive 'She's A Rainbow' As 'No Filter' Tour Hits New Jersey". uDiscover Music. Archived from the original on 3 August 2019. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  39. ^ https://www.allmusic.com/album/r540362
  40. ^ Walsh, Christopher (24 August 2002). "Super audio CDs: The Rolling Stones Remastered". Billboard. p. 27.
  41. ^ "Rolling Stones Announce 50th-Anniversary 'Their Satanic Majesties Request' Box Set". uDiscoverMusic. 31 July 2017. Archived from the original on 3 May 2018. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  42. ^ "RECORD STORE DAY 2018 > The Rolling Stones – Their Satanic Majesties Request". Record Store Day. Archived from the original on 3 May 2018. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  43. ^ Babiuk & Prevost 2013, p. 267.
  44. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  45. ^ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  46. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – The Rolling Stones – Their Satanic Majesties Request" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  47. ^ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  48. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – The Rolling Stones – Their Satanic Majesties Request". Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  49. ^ "The Rolling Stones | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  50. ^ "The Rolling Stones Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  51. ^ "Ultratop.be – The Rolling Stones – Their Satanic Majesties Request" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  52. ^ "Ultratop.be – The Rolling Stones – Their Satanic Majesties Request" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  53. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – The Rolling Stones – Their Satanic Majesties Request" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  54. ^ "Portuguesecharts.com – The Rolling Stones – Their Satanic Majesties Request". Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  55. ^ "British album certifications – Rolling Stones – Their Satanic Majesties Request". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  56. ^ "American album certifications – The Rolling Stones – Their Satanic Majesty's Request". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 18 October 2019.

Sources

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Further reading

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