An album with absolutely brilliant moments, genius insights, but unfortunately with a production that doesn’t measure up and a couple of fillers.
It has long been claimed that the Stones intended to imitate the Beatles with this album: it’s likely that the idea of making a psychedelic record came to them after listening to some psychedelic works by the Beatles, but to speak of imitation is simply ridiculous if words still have any meaning.
She Is A Rainbow is often clumsily compared to the Beatles because at the beginning you can hear voices and murmurs that seem to quote the Beatles (I Am The Walrus, Yellow Submarine), but frankly, it’s hard to understand what the song has to do with the Beatles. She Is A Rainbow does not resemble any particular Beatles song; perhaps, at most, one might find a stylistic affinity. If She's A Rainbow imitates the Beatles, then so does Happy Together by the Turtles, but that’s clearly not the case. It’s evident that the Beatles’ style influenced everyone, but imitation is another matter.
The Beatles themselves [embraced] psychedelia; it’s not like they [invented] it, having only made 4-5 tracks that could be considered more or less psychedelic rock, while the rest is baroque pop, where psychedelia is just an imprint, which is certainly not belittling, I enjoy psychedelic pop. It was a trend that was influencing everyone, and the Stones were influenced by it too, that’s all.
The album starts off poorly only to later gift us with gems like 2000 Man, She's A Rainbow, Gomper, 2000 Light Years From Home, On With The Show.
Some of the solutions on the album constitute far bolder experiments than those present on SGT. Peppers: fearless use of dissonance, futuristic electronics, avant-garde synths.
The problem is that 2-3 tracks seem uninspired, and the overall feeling is of an album recorded too hastily. If they had taken the proper time, it could have been an epoch-making masterpiece, which it certainly is not.
Compared to the Beatles, as usual, the Stones will pay the price of being much less singable, presenting broken, limping, mumbling melodies. The average Italian, with the heritage of Sanremo culture and the Italian singing tradition, struggles to appreciate certain things.
While SGT. Peppers, which features two epoch-making masterpieces, is one of the most overrated albums of all time, it is greatly enhanced by its production. This, on the other hand, is one of the most underrated albums of all time, but… it suffers greatly from its production, even though someone might appreciate it today in the current lo-fi trend.
Rating: 3/4
