Pictured above: The Rolling Stones, 1968.
While The Beatles out to India for their transcendental meditation course in Rishikesh, The Rolling Stones stayed back in merry England, having recently reunited after their hiatus following the failed Cosmic Christmas sessions. Brian Jones having been recently checked out of a rehabilitation center was actually invited to come to the course by George Harrison, but kindly declined due to personal reasons.
With the Stones’ previous dabble into psychedelia, much like many other bands of that time, they realized it wasn’t for them, and used the new album sessions as a return to their blues-inspired rock and roll roots.
“It really was the more sensible thing to do at that point in time, while other bands pretended to be things that they weren’t, we just said ‘This is us, no gimmicks or bullshit’ (laugh)”
Keith Richards, 1968
One of the biggest “roadblocks” in the sessions was none other than Brian Jones, who would barely show up to sessions, and when he did it was generally to play a relatively “unusual” instrument for what the rest of the band was going for, be it a sitar, tampura, mellotron, or any other sort of oddball instrument. About Brian’s presence in the album, producer Jimmy Miller said the following:
“When he would show up at a session - let's say he had just bought a sitar that day, he'd feel like playing it, so he'd look in his calendar to see if the Stones were in. Now he may have missed the previous four sessions. We'd be doing let's say, a blues thing. He'd walk in with a sitar, which was totally irrelevant to what we were doing, and want to play it. I used to try to accommodate him. I would isolate him, put him in a booth and not record him onto any track that we really needed. And the others, particularly Mick and Keith, would often say to me, 'Just tell him to piss off and get the hell out of here'.”
- Jimmy Miller, 1997.
Brian then asked the group if they’d mind if at least one of the songs from the Cosmic Christmas sessions gets on, with Mick getting slightly infuriated with such a suggestion.
“I really wanted to burn those fucking tapes, I hated those sessions that much! But Brian basically said ‘At least one or two songs, that’s all I ask. So, we just went with Citadel and 2000 Light Years from Home, since those seemed to be a snug fit for the album.”
- Mick Jagger, 1970
Recording for the album was concluded on July 25th, 1968, with the single Jumpin’ Jack Flash / Child of the Moon being released May 24th, 1968. Near the conclusion of the album, Mick thought up of something to promote the album besides conventional press and concert appearances, a television special about a “Rock and Roll Circus”. According to the director of the event Michael Lindsay-Hogg, the idea about combining rock with a circus setting came to him when he drew a circle on a piece of paper, and through loose association thought of a circus.
As plans for Rock and Roll Circus were underway, the release of Beggars’ Banquet was heavily delayed due to the album cover the band proposed, consisting of a photograph of a vandalized bathroom stall. The cover was deemed “too vulgar” by the executives at Decca. This caused great frustration for the group, who went as far as threatening to leave the label and form their own. Reluctantly the band eventually gave in, and Beggars Banquet was released on December 6th, 1968 on the now emerging ELP format.
Beggars Banquet
01. Sympathy for the Devil (6:18) [1]
02. No Expectations (3:56) [1]
03. Dear Doctor (3:22) [1]
04. Parachute Woman (2:20) [1]
05. Jigsaw Puzzle (6:06) [1]
06. 2000 Light Years From Home (4:45) [2]
07. Street Fighting Man (3:15) [1]
08. Prodigal Son (2:52) [1]
09. Stray Cat Blues (4:38) [1]
10. Factory Girl (2:09) [1]
11. Citadel (2:50) [2]
12. Salt of the Earth (4:47) [1]
Released: December 6th, 1968
Track sources:
[1] - Beggars Banquet, 1968 [2] - Their Satanic Majesties Request, 1967
By the time the album was released, preparations for Rock and Roll Circus were well on their way, with a decided lineup for the show, including a last-minute addition of The Velvet Underground, making their UK debut, at the request of Brian Jones who around the time had purchased and listened to their album White Light / White Heat.
Recording for Rock and Roll Circus took place on December 11th and 12th, 1968, with Jethro Tull, The Who, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, The Rolling Stones, and the one-time supergroup The Dirty Mac, consisting of John Lennon on guitar and vocals, Eric Clapton on guitar, Mitch Mitchell on drums and Keith Richards on bass.
“After my set with the Mac, I think the Velvet Underground came on, and their stuff really blew me away, with that redhead Mo Tucker banging away on the drums, Sterling Morrison fingering that guitar, John Cale plodding on the bass, and Lou Reedie screaming away on the mic, they basically were a punk group before punk was a thing”
- John Lennon, 1978
The setlist for the concert as televised is as follows:
- Entry of the Gladiators (Introduction)
- Song for Jeffery (Jethro Tull, introduced by Mick Jagger)
- A Quick One (While He’s Away) (The Who, introduced by Keith Richards)
- Over the Waves (Interlude)
- Ain’t That a Lot of Love (Taj Mahal)
- Something Better (Marianne Faithfull, introduced by Charlie Watts)
- Yer Blues (The Dirty Mac, introduced by Mick Jagger and John Lennon)
- I’m Waiting for the Man (The Velvet Underground, introduced by Brian Jones)
- Jumpin’ Jack Flash (The Rolling Stones, introduced by John Lennon)
- Parachute Woman (The Rolling Stones)
- No Expectations (The Rolling Stones)
- You Can’t Always Get What You Want (The Rolling Stones)
- Sympathy for the Devil (The Rolling Stones)
- Salt of the Earth (The Rolling Stones)
The program was televised on Boxing Day, 1968, to great critical success and contributing to the commercial success of Beggars Banquet. Despite this, not everyone was happy with the final product, in particular Jagger, who felt that The Rolling Stones’ performance was substandard and tried to keep the program out of the public eye, to no avail.
“They weren't just usurped by The Who, they were also usurped by Taj Mahal and The Velvet Underground - who were just, as always, extraordinary. They were usurped to some extent by the event itself: the crowd by the time the Stones went on were radically festive.”
- Pete Townshend, date unknown
Pictured above: The Who, 1968
By the start of 1968 The Who, who had already released three albums, started to attract the attention of the underground press and were touring Australia and New Zealand with The Small Faces. Guitarist Pete Townshend, having recently quit the use of drugs, was unsure of what direction the band should take musically. They were no longer teenagers but wanted their music to remain relevant. Around that time his friend, art director of the underground newspaper International Times, Mike McInnerney, introduced him to the teachings of the Indian spiritual leader Meher Baba, and the Who member quickly became fascinated with Baba’s values of compassion, love, and introspection.
The Who’s commercial success was on the line after the single Dogs failed to reach the top 20, and there was a real risk of the band being forced to break up. They still performed live well and spent most of the spring and summer playing in North America but things were tense as their act of wrecking their instruments at the end of shows was putting them in debt.
“Things were a fucking mess, for a lack of a better term, we pretty much we’re in the red financially, without a whole lot of options.”
- Roger Daltrey, 1975
Townshend and co-manager Kim Lambert realized they needed a larger vehicle for the band’s music than hit singles, and a new, more cost-effective, stage show. Having dabbled into the concept of telling stories through songs in the form of rock operas with the two “mini-operas” A Quick One, While He’s Away and Rael, desired to make something that could serve as both a vehicle for hit singles, with each song standing well in isolation, yet still forming a cohesive whole on the album.
In August 1968, in an interview to Rolling Stone magazine, Townshend talked about this new rock opera, which at the time had the working title of Deaf, Dumb and Blind Boy, and described the whole plot of the album in detail, which ran to 11 pages. He also detailed some other plans of the album, including releasing it on the ELP format and the intent to perform it live.
Recording of the album started on September 19th, 1968 at IBC Studios in London. There was still no established title at this point, and recording was slow due to a lack of full plot and a full selection of songs. The band hoped the album would release by Christmas, but sessions dragged on, still without a coherent plot or proper album title. Because of the lack of any new Who by early December, Decca decided to release a compilation album consisting of every non-album single and B-side up to that point, on the now better established ELP format, titled Who’s Next.
“My idea for the cover of Who’s Next was me dressed in lingerie holding a whip, hence the title Who’s Next! (Laugh), Sadly the bastards at Decca’s head exploded when we showed em that cover, saying ‘Are you out of your minds?!’
- Keith Moon, 1971
Despite the slight misstep with the proposed and subsequently rejected cover, Who’s Next was released on December 3rd, 1968.
Who’s Next
01. I Can’t Explain (2:05) [1]
02. Bald Headed Woman (2:10) [1]
03. Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere (2:41) [1]
04. Daddy Rolling Stones (2:48) [1]
05. Shout and Shimmy (3:18) [1]
06. Circles / Instant Party (3:12) [1]
07. Instant Party Mixture (3:28) [1]
08. Substitute (3:49) [1]
09. Circles (2:29) [1]
10. Waltz for a Pig (2:26) [1]
11. I’m a Boy (2:41) [1]
12. In The City (2:23) [1]
13. Disguises (3:12) [1]
14. Batman (1:26) [1]
15. Bucket ‘T’ (2:11) [1]
16. Barbara Ann (2:02) [1]
17. Happy Jack (2:11) [1]
18. I’ve Been Away (2:10) [1]
19. Pictures of Lily (2:46) [1]
20. Doctor Doctor (3:01) [1]
21. The Last Time (2:51) [1]
22. Under My Thumb (2:38) [1]
23. Someone’s Coming (2:31) [1]
24. Dogs (3:07) [1]
25. Call Me Lightning (2:25) [1]
26. Magic Bus (3:20) [1]
27. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (2:38) [1]
Released: December 3rd, 1968
Track sources:
[1] - Maximum As & Bs: The Complete Singles
