Cap 3. Sympathy for The Stones

THE ROLLING STONES

"Beggars Banquet"

(ABKCO, 2002)

THE ROLLING STONES

"Beggars Banquet"

(Decca/ABKCO, 1968)

Tanto Decca Records en Inglaterra como London Records en EE.UU. rechazaron la portada de la pared de aseo con pintadas. La banda se opuso a cambiar el diseño, lo que retrasó la publicación del disco varios meses. Finalmente se rindieron a las presiones. En 1984, para su reedición en CD se publicó con la portada original.

Sus satánicas majestades regresan a las raíces tras su viaje psicodélico y graban uno de los mejores discos de blues de la historia: el demonio, ritmos africanos, delta music, aullidos nocturnos, slide guitars, bourbon, Brian Jones dando sus últimos coletazos, espirituales... Primer corte de la cara A "Sympathy for the devil", primero de la cara B "Street fighting man". Beggars Banquet es el hito que da comienzo a la edad de las piedras rodantes, que completan Let it bleed, Sticky Fingers y Exile on Main Street.

El cambio forzoso a la portada blanca con R.S.V.P. inscrito a modo de invitación coincidió con la edición del White Album y tuvieron que soportar ser acusados de imitar a The Beatles.

"Street Fighting Man"(1) se publicó como primer single y se convirtió en la canción de las revueltas estudiantiles en Europa y en USA. A pesar de su popularidad, en las listas norteamericanas no pasó del número 48 debido al rechazo de muchas emisoras que se negaban a propagar mensajes subversivos. En la cara B del single se podía oir "No expectations".

Para promocionar el álbum se organizó un concierto-programa de tv al que llamaron Rock And Roll Circus. Tardaría 30 años en ser rescatado por Rolling Stones Inc. porque Mick Jagger no soportaba que The Who, Jethro Tull y Taj Mahal les hubieran vaciado el bar, robado las carteras y bailado con sus novias. En su fiesta.

(1) Watts:

"'Street Fighting Man' was recorded on Keith's cassette with a 1930s toy drum kit called a London Jazz Kit Set, which I bought in an antiques shop, and which I've still got at home. It came in a little suitcase, and there were wire brackets you put the drums in; they were like small tambourines with no jangles... The snare drum was fantastic because it had a really thin skin with a snare right underneath, but only two strands of gut... Keith loved playing with the early cassette machines because they would overload, and when they overload they sounded fantastic, although you weren't meant to do that. We usually played in one of the bedrooms on tour. Keith would be sitting on a cushion playing a guitar and the tiny kit was a way of getting close to him. The drums were really loud compared to the acoustic guitar and the pitch of them would go right through the sound. You'd always have a great backbeat."^[9]

On the recording process itself, Richards remembered,

"The basic track of that was done on a mono cassette with very distorted overrecording, on a Phillips with no limiters. Brian is playing sitar, it twangs away. He's holding notes that wouldn't come through if you had a board, you wouldn't be able to fit it in. But on a cassette if you just move the people, it does. Cut in the studio and then put on a tape. Started putting percussion and bass on it. That was really an electronic track, up in the realms."