Rolling Stones
Their Satanic Majesties Request

THE REVIEW

An apparently out-of-tune piano and the not entirely dissipated intoxication of a hangover from an improbable brass group serve as the opening to what I personally define as the highest quality work of the Rolling Stones. The festive chorus, also materialized with the active collaboration or friendly incursion of close relatives from Liverpool, paves the way for excellently crafted tracks, despite the looming, hard-to-avoid shadow of the slew of albums proliferating in the most fruitful year in rock history.

Metallic voices, well-saturated and decidedly sulfurous, conclude the merry cycle of vocal fusions, leading to a bubbling triumph of sounds with a potentially psychotropic flavor. The call of the devil probably had a troubled birth and certainly not a few attacks from the fruitful censorial inquisition, but the dirty sound that indelibly characterizes the orchestral qualities of the "bad boys" gives the work just the right factor needed to ascend to Olympus without climbing treacherous rocks.

The baroque start with the acidic and metallically muffled voice of "Another Land" wisely breaks with the slightly off-key impromptu invasion of the classic muddy Stones riff. This is repeated multiple times, concluding with an unexpected and very heavy snore followed by the resumption of the aforementioned festive chorus, this time infused with violent brushstrokes of psychedelic grime.

Were it not for the evident uncertainties, unfortunately easy to catch in Watts' percussion commentary, "She's a Rainbow" would be an authentic masterpiece, but judging the overall beauty of the track, I prefer to overlook the venial sin of good Charlie and stamp it with the most precious of seals. The clean, almost fairy-tale sound of Nick Hopkins' piano gracefully accompanies one of the most beautiful compositions by the Stones like a veil of silk. The dirty sound that appears from the very first vocal assaults of Jagger and company is easier to clean compared to those that dominate their vast repertoire. This gives a sense of devastating sweetness, relaxing, perhaps disturbed by the fortuitously placed radio announcement at the beginning, but ingeniously subtle, fresh. The final clattering of the strings concludes this work in a way that would leave a sense of uncertainty to those who give a more detailed listen, but this is strictly subjective and in my opinion, extraordinary.

It simply deserved more. That's all.