Dear Friends,
I missed mentioning the Q man’s birthday yesterday. I can’t believe how much he has grown up this year. I have certainly missed seeing him as often as last year, but we can rectify that. Teenagers, man. They grow so fast. I’m certainly looking forward to celebrating with him today.
*****
Dad taxi service in full effect, too. Last night and today. I’m okay with it, of course, but after this last week, last night I could have easily been asleep by 8PM. Naps are in order this weekend.
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I spent some time fooling around with Freeze songs. They are coming back slowly but surely. I’m glad to be playing them again.
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Suits is fucking ridiculous. I need to quit watching but it’s like a trainwreck involving some section of society that you kind of want to see get mangled. It’s fascinating in its utter bull puckey.
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Do the weekend, friends. Do it up right.
*****
I used to sit and look at the record cover for Their Satanic Majesties Request by the Rolling Stones a lot. Well before I ever listened to it, I would pull the record out of my Dad’s collection and just check it out. The cover was so trippy, and it had the word “Satanic” in it. I figured it must be something that I should not be looking at and for a kid, that’s irresistible.
Eventually, though, I dropped the needle on it, and it was the first Rolling Stones record outside of their Hot Rocks greatest hits collection that I really loved. It’s very different from everything else they did, for one thing, and for another, I didn’t start listening to it a lot until I was already a fan of The Damned. I knew instantly that at least one member of The Damned was a big fan of this record and if it was good enough for them, then it was good enough for me.
Plus, the songs on it are interesting and catchy. Psychedelics, if you have been paying attention, were a big part of my teenage years and this is a pretty tasty nugget of psychedelia. Just listen to, well, any of the songs, and you can see how much the Stones wanted to get in on the paisley part of the late 60s.
I’ve had many thoughts over the years that this record was really just them being poseurs, but I can’t prove that argument to myself. While it does seem like it is them trying to be the Beatles, there is still enough of the Stones whole thing present in Their Satanic Majesties Request to help it stand on its own eight legs.
I particularly love “Citadel,” “In Another Land,” and “2000 Man” from side one. Nothing against the two versions of “Sing This All Together.” They are both fine songs and I like’em, but little hairs on the back of my neck tend to stand up a little more for the other three.
This is probably because they are the ones that make think of the Stones aping the Beatles. I guess the second version, which finishes the first side, also kind of ventures into Pet Sounds territory, too. The more I think of it, I have to believe the Stones were geeking out a bit on that one, too, during these years.
I’ve always figured that the Rolling Stones were pretty shrewd when it came to the old music business, or they had really good management, so why not throw in with the other titans of the day and see if you can make something that says, “Hey fuckers, we can do this, too.” It is a gold record, so it did make them some money, but I’m guessing the record label was not super jazzed on the extra expense that went into making that lenticular cover.
On side two, the band really gets to cooking with gas. “She’s a Rainbow” is such a great song. “She comes in colors everywhere/She combs her hair/she’s like a rainbow” is a great opening line. Brian Jones’ mellotron on is so good, as is Nicky Hopkins piano and harpsichord work. The two of them really make the song for me. I was also today years old when I learned that John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin did the string arrangement. Fucking boss.
“The Lantern” is also a very cool song, too. It’s the sleeper here for me. Keith Richards’ guitar part is so great on it and Mick Jagger rules it, too. I never hear people talking about this one and it’s a shame. It’s a pretty Beatles-y sounding song, for sure, but I love it a lot. Whenever I’ve taken a break from this record and this one comes on after a while of not hearing it, I fall in love with it all over again.
If you grew up in the area that I did in Phoenix, then you know why “Gomper” makes my inner ten-year-old giggle. It was a common put down on our playground. Madison Simis school was right next to Gomper’s Rehabilitation and that was where children and adults with mental challenges could get professional help.
Children can be so cruel. To call someone a “Gomper” was the same as calling them a “Retard.” I was probably guilty of it, although I was always kind of sensitive about calling people names that harped on any kind of disability. I would much rather call someone an “asshole” if I was pissed at them.
“2000 Light Years From Home” is another great and underappreciated Rolling Stones song. I’m sure a lot of people like this one but never really think about it as part of the Stones’ canon. They should include it. Several of my favorite bands…Redd Kross, Monster Magnet, Love & Rockets and The Fuzztones all cover it. The original is pretty fucking swingin’. “It’s so very lonely…”
Their Satanic Majesties Request concludes with them doing another huge nod to the Beatles in “On With The Show.” It is a fitting end to a delightful record. I love that there is nothing super serious on Their Satanic Majesties Request. It just it was it is and I can play it for my fourth graders without worrying about them freaking out. In fact, when I played it yesterday in the morning, they seemed to like it.
And there you have it.
*****
See you tomorrow.
I asked AI to combine two song titles and this is what AI did.
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