A classic

A strong acoustic Delta blues flavor colors much of the material, particularly "Salt of the Earth" and "No Expectations," which features some beautiful slide guitar work. Basic rock & roll was not forgotten, however: "Street Fighting Man," a reflection of the political turbulence of 1968, was one of their most innovative singles, and "Sympathy for the Devil," with its fire-dancing guitar licks, leering Jagger vocals, African rhythms, and explicitly satanic lyrics, was an image-defining epic. At the time, though, the approach was still fresh, and the lyrical bite of most of the material ensured Beggars Banquet's place as one of the top blues-based rock records of all time.

2nd Best Stones' Album

This is an amazing cd and one of the best ever made. Of course we are talking about the beginning of the Stones' golden period here. Beggars, its follow-up Let it Be, Sticky Fingers, and Exile on Main St. are all five-star albums and easily some of the best rock n' roll ever made. Beggars is second only to Exile, which in my opinion is the greatest rock album ever made, hands down. It's also my favorite cd. Beggars comes close though. Kickin' off with Sympathy for the Devil, which has a stinging guitar solo from Keith Richards and really isn't that sacriligious (as most people claim). It's actually a good example of Mick Jagger's intelligence, something which he hid quite well. It goes into one of the prettiest songs they ever cut, No Expectations. I love the slide guitar on it. Some other good songs off this cd are the seminal Street Fighting Man and Stray Cat Blues (which foreshadows the route into sleaze the Stones would take later). Prodigal Son is a great blues cover (one of the many they did) and Factory Girl is just amazing. "Appalachian" with an African drum beat. Then it ends with one of the greatest closing songs ever, Salt of the Earth (it ranks only behind You Can't Always Get What You Want in the Stones catalogue). Beggars is a sort of bridge between their earlier and later material. Excellent cd...

THE GREATEST ALBUM OF ALL TIME

TOP FIVE ALL TIME LIST

Beggars Banquet

Physical Graffiti

Sticky Fingers

Please Please Me

London Calling

Primal

The Stones have never made a complete dud, but I just think the 60's albums were the most fun. "Beggar's Banquet" is sort of the "unplugged" concept (with the odd very electric exception), but it doesn't get soft in any way. There is some country, folk, blues, rock, and it is played so damn pure! "Sympathy for the Devil" is great, just as dark as any Black Sabbath tune, and likely the song you'll buy this for. "Stray Cat Blues" is not blues at all, but a great hard rock tune. After that, it's mostly acoustic numbers, but they hit you HARD. It's more mature than the earlier stuff, darker than what came later, and it's one of the best things ever made. Not particularly experimental, it falls through the cracks when critics make their "best of" lists, BUT, I would say this is the BEST non-metal hard rock album of all time. Also the best album of 1968, and that sais something.

balanced effect

when i bought the album, i was hoping for something that rocked harder than it did, kinda' like "Paint it Black" or the 80's rocker "Start me Up". I mean those where like the only songs i'd heard by them. i think this was my first stones cd. I bought it a few years ago when I was about 23. when i first bought it i liked the rockers "parachute woman" and "street fighting man" and the playful "dear doctor". "Sympathy for the Devil" was okay but i'd heard people say "it rocked". if i hear someone say a song rocks, I think of the band The White Stripes or Guns N' Roses. needless to say i was somewhat satisfied but more or less disappointed because i considered the rest of the album as filler. I thought to myself "this is what the legendary rock band the Rolling Stones sounded like at their peak?" I listned to it a few times hoping the rest of the cd would grow on me. I only discovered that the lyrics were good (I guess) but I definitely wouldn't call this a "rock" album. Calling the Rolling Stones a "rock" band is misleading. I learned later that the more accurate description is "blues rock". if i would have known this at the time, i wouldn't have been so critical of the album and would've been more prepared for their sound just as anyone else who like me is hoping to hear a "rock" album. I would've given this album about 3 stars after hearing it the first few times but after a few years of not listening to it, i "rediscovered it" in my cd tower and started listening to it again with a more mature and open-minded mentality. I like ALL types of music. For an album in general, I'd give it 4 stars, for "blues rock", i'd give it about 4.5 or 5 stars. for a "rock" album, I'd still give this 3 stars.

Back to Basics

After learning that they weren't quite ready to start producing their own albums (Satanic Majesties...what a disaster!), the Rolling Stones came back with Beggars Banquet, offering further proof of why any serious music fan will consider them "The Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band of All Time". While not quite measuring up to "Let it Bleed" (the only reason I can't give this album a full five stars!), Banquet is outstanding from beginning to end. This record is a wonderful combination of their blues roots and the more amplifier-driven rock of the era, a trend that Mick and Keith quickly latched onto and eventually became the leaders of (until the appearance of another fantastic group, Led Zeppelin). It's nice to see Banquet packaged with the original cover, after American distributers originally objected to the image of a toilet. Like nearly everything from the Rolling Stones, Beggars Banquet is, quite simply, timeless. Only the fact that the band is once again performing "Sympathy for the Devil" while on tour could possibly take some of the magic away from this album.