★★★★☆As incredible as it may now seem, in early 1968 the Rolling Stones were looking like a spent force. They had responded to the challenge set by Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band with Their Satanic Majesties Request, an attempt at psychedelia so ersatz that they even let Bill Wyman’s bit of fairytale fluff In Another Land be the lead single. The former leader Brian Jones was falling apart, the drugs bust at Keith Richards’s Redlands home had alienated him and Mick Jagger from the peace-and-love spirit of the age, and they had split from their inspirational manager Andrew Loog-Oldham. Then came Jumpin’ Jack Flash. Writing the best rock song of the Sixties will certainly revive your fortunes, which is why Rock and Roll Circus…

Source: The Times July 04, 2019 23:03 UTC