Tripping Out

Tripping out 1966 - 1969 with sex, drugs and rock'n'roll.  We see the Stones journey through relationships, drug busts, fame and fortune, laughter, joy and lonliness.  From Mick & Marianne to the Brian, Keith & Anita triangle played out daily in the press.  Mick as Turner in the motion picture Performance, with Anita Pallenberg, that eerily mirrors the rise, fall and death of Brian Jones. Featuring original Jagger; Richards compositions from Aftermath, Between the Buttons, Flowers, Their Satanatic Majesties Request, Beggars Banquet and Let it Bleed.

Aftermath, recorded in Hollywood, opens with Paint It Black, that was #1 for two weeks during the summer of 1966.  Bill Wyman plays the bass pedals of a Hammond B3 organ by pummelling them with his fists and Brian Jones plays sitar, both of which add to the unique sound of this standout track.  This album contains Brian's best work.  He plays several different instruments besides guitar.  From the sitar to a fine dulcimer on Lady Jane and I Am Waiting and marimbas on Under My Thumb. Between the Buttons, released February 1967. contains one of their best ever ballads in Ruby Tuesday.  This song has Brian Jones all over it.  Brian co-wrote it with Keith Richards (although Brian wasn't credited), he sings back up vocals with Keith and his fine piano, haunting recorder, along with a great lead vocal by Mick Jagger, takes this song to the top.  Miss Amanda Jones is another fine track, with classic guitar weaving between Keith and Brian. Flowers, released June 1967, with a nod towards the prevailing mood of the moment the Summer of Love, features Backstreet Girl and the Smokey Robinson classic My Girl.

Their Satanic Majesties Request, the unusual title was inspired by the words inside a British passport, “Her Britannic Majesty’s Secretary of State requests and requires…”, was released in time for Christmas 1967.  The most unusual of all the band’s albums – the one that polarizes opinion among fans and critics alike was recorded between February and October at Olympic Studios in Barnes, West London.  The Stones struggled to work around what was the most difficult time in the band’s career, against a background of personal issues, criminal trials and jail, it is an eclectic mix of music that includes She’s a Rainbow and 2000 Light Years From Home.  Brian plays the mellotron on both recordings. Beggars Banquet, released December 1968, is the album that changed everything for the Rolling Stones.  From the manner it was recorded at Olympic Studios in Barnes, London, to the track selection, a mixture of rockers Street Fighting Man, blues numbers Prodigal Son, No Expectations and ballad Salt Of The Earth, the band truly came into their own, and the Rolling Stones’ music of today is a reflection of what happened in that studio in 1968, they reached their musical manhood.

Let it Bleed, released November 1969, to coincide with the Stones first tour of North America since 1966.  Also, the first studio album to be released following Brian Jones departure from the band and subsequent death, it includes his replacement, 20 year old guitarist Mick Taylor. Like Beggars Banquet it was produced by Jimmy Miller and it’s also similar in that both sides of the LP open with two stone cold classics, Gimme Shelter, with Merry Clayton’s wonderful backing vocal, and Midnight Rambler, songs that have been a part of Stones live shows for the last four decades.  In another similarity to the band’s previous studio album it also features a blues cover, this time, Love in Vain, written by the King of the Delta Blues Singers, Robert Johnson.  The last track on the record is the ambitious and very different You Can’t Always Get What You Want.  Featuring the London Bach Choir arranged by Jack Nitzsche.  Al Kooper, late of Blood Sweat & Tears on keyboards and French horn.  Lastly, the future queen of British TV cookery shows, Delia Smith, baked the cake on the front cover.

My favorite verse: I went down to the Chelsea drugstore To get your prescription filled I was standin' in line with Mr. Jimmy A-man, did he look pretty ill We decided that we would have a soda My favorite flavor, cherry red I sung my song to Mr. Jimmy Yeah, and he said one word to me, and that was 'dead' I said to him (You can't always get what you want) well no! (You can't always get what you want) tell ya baby (You can't always get what you want) no But if you try sometimes, you just might find, mmm! Mmm! you get what you need Ooh yes! Woo!

Wanderin' Spirit
October, 2012
"Tripping Out"

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