The Rolling Stones
Their Satanic Majesties Request

LA RECENSIONE

< "Their Satanic Majesties Request" was recorded while we were almost in a coma, in a "Do we really have to make a record? Yes..." atmosphere (Keith Richards, 1988).

The second half of the '60s musically follows and evolves the footsteps left by the first. The beat movement had developed, going far beyond to modify the literary, social, and also musical fields. Despite the attempt to confine the culture of the beat generation to the limited and alternative underground, the creative energy that emerged had great difficulty remaining naturally imprisoned. A necessity-need to synthesize into notes the dazzling and soporific reality that was felt is evidenced by the seminal debut "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" by Pink Floyd (which quickly reached the sixth position on the U.K. chart) and the groundbreaking "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by the Beatles, which was able to ascend at the speed of light to a psychedelic masterpiece but also a monument to all music. And this, to remain in Albion and among the groups recognized with established fame.

On the other side of the Atlantic, contrasting the English production, we find the eclecticism of The Byrds (an excellent meeting point between Dylan and the Beatles), able to interpret a virtually unique versatility with albums like "5D" (Fifth Dimension) and the lysergic experiments with a hint of flower power of "Younger Than Yesterday" released a good four months before the Beatles' concept.

The acid tests (gatherings held in San Francisco and exclusively conducted with the taking of LSD...) had become a customary reality due to the famous Ken Kesey (author of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest") who recruited among his ranks the newborn Grateful Dead, thus skyrocketing their popularity. A targeted search for consciousness expansion well developed by the nonconformist professor Timothy Leary who invented the famous slogan: "Turn on, Tune in, Drop out..." that gathers a plethora of followers capable of creating a contagious communicative circuit.

To the psychedelic call, the Rolling Stones soon responded with the release of "Their Satanic Majesties Request" in December 1967. The cover (handled by Michael Cooper already at work for "Sgt. Pepper's... ") can be seen as an ingenious melting pot between a desire for fun and black magic, leaving the kaleidoscope of sounds of the vinyl the role of a radiant travel companion for the listener. To emerge is the lysergic cheerfulness of "Sing All This Together" (with the winning choruses of the Lennon-McCartney duo), while in the visionary "Gomper" the persistent accompaniment of the bongos prominently highlights the free inspiration that further underlines the experimental attempt. Marking the way in "The Lantern" are Jagger's wavering voice and Nicky Opkins' piano, witnessing how the influence of a certain Syd Barrett managed to emerge from the London underground, while the surreal magic of "Citadel" (which quite recalls the pace of "Get Off Of My Cloud") becomes an opportunity to appreciate Brian Jones' creative ability who plays harpsichord and saxophone. Available in a 45 rpm format for the American market well before the album's release were "She's a Rainbow" and "2,000 Light Years From Home": the former develops over a fairy-tale melody where children's voices provide an unpredictable aura of purity to the piece, perfect for the conception of a bright string arrangement by a very young John Paul Jones; the latter turns out to be the fitting soundtrack of a cosmic journey in which the old and new Stones effectively merge.

It is a very convulsive period for the English band that proposes a respectable work, seemingly following contemporaneous and hallucinatory musical structures, merging with what was achieved in the just preceding albums. Be clear, the tracks are there, and the new hippie culture-derived image poorly amalgamates with the consolidated teddy boys of the five built with years of hard work. Identity crisis? No, let's rather talk about dissimulation mostly induced by the desire to test their ability to manifest an attempt at artistic evolution, far from that compulsive freedom of expression that had transpired through the immediacy of even just three chords and that the band had been able to create until then. A leap into the dark that does not reflect any loss of consistency on the part of the Stones, but still gives us a sufficiently elaborate album able to reflect without presumption, the extraordinary air of freedom that was felt at the time.

Five months later "Jumpin' Jack Flash" will be released, and the stones will roll again as they knew best...