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![Beggars Banquet[LP]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81VJKSIXytL._AC_UL140_SR140,140_.jpg)
This is a truly great LP; I join the consensus. I love "Moonlight Mile," "Sister Morphine," "Dead Flowers," "I Got the Blues," "Can't You Hear Me Knockin'" and "Sway." The whole album is a wonder that grows better with the years.
I want to focus on the most well-known track, "Brown Sugar." Has there ever been a more politically incorrect hit song? This great rock anthem is a stew of racism, sadism, sexism, violence and cruelty. The lyrics are quite audible, though mixed in such a way that they don't reveal themselves all at once. Plus, the words are so fluidly literate, they are unexpected, so a lot of fans might not really think they're hearing what they're hearing--an excited account of the life and times of a "slaver"--a guy who delivered slaves to market.
By comparison, Randy Newman's "Sail Away," which is on a related theme, seems both safer and more obvious. And that's my point about the Stones. As they are being recalled now, the emphasis is on the great music, the greatness of Jagger as a singer and icon, Richards and Watts as musicians; their longevity, and their image of sexuality, satanism and "bad boy" appeal. What's forgotten is they were also among the smartest satirists in rock. Their earlier stuff from the Andrew Loog Oldham period, is full of snot-nosed sarcasm, making the same social points as Bob Dylan, but with far more humor. Like Randy Newman, Ray Davies and Warren Zevon, they often adopted obnoxious, loathesome or dangerous characters to portray in their songs, and they both give the devils their due, and enough rope with which to hang themselves.
"Brown Sugar" is the song where they take this strategy to the absolute limit--rubbing everyone's nose in as much of it as they can get away with, forcing the listener to, in a way, identify with the evil pleasures enjoyed by someone with the whip-hand of power. It's brilliant, scary, and devilishly ironic--a dimension of the Stones that is hardly credited enough by critics and fans.
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Evoice Klaus
Achtung, bei CD Neukauf möglichst die Virgin Ausführung nehmen!
Reviewed in Germany on January 12, 2015
