THE ROLLING STONES

Beggar’s Banquet (reissue, 1968)

Post-psychedelia and Satanic Majesties, the Stones stretch out

Generally spoken about as a welcome return to the blues, really Beggars Banquet is less about the blues – or the country, or the rock’n’roll – than it is about the attitude. This is very relaxed. Here in Glyn Johns’ roomy soundworld, even unspectacular songs like “Jigsaw Puzzle” are allowed room to develop. Amid the superior pieces like “No Expectations” and more minor moments of parody and innuendo, jammed endings on songs like “Salt Of The Earth” embrace a real joy in improvisational ensemble playing. It’s at the root of what we now think The Rolling Stones are all about. As viewers of Jean-Luc Godard’s Sympathy For The Devil will know, this seat-of-pants exploration of feel was at the heart of the process which transformed Mick Jagger’s acoustic folk song “Sympathy For The Devil” into a loose and sinister widescreen groove. In this new double-vinyl set, “Sympathy” also sits apart from the rest of the songs as a separate 12in, much as it towers above the rest of the songs on the album. By the time of Let It Bleed, this willingness to jam and extend had moved in from the outer perimeter of the songs to their heart. A deep and searching swing was now the sound of The Rolling Stones’ imperial phase. Extras: 7/10. Excruciating Jagger phone interview flexi; “Sympathy” 12in; MP3 download.