The Rolling Stones were back. Well, they’d never really gone anywhere, but most fans thought they’d lost their way with 1967’s psychedelic experiment Their Satanic Majesties Request. Widely considered rivals to the Beatles, the Stones were accused by some of copying the colossal influence of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, issued earlier that year.

Released in December of ’68, Beggars Banquet proved the naysayers wrong. A powerful return to the Stones’ blues roots and country appreciation, its lyrics were greatly impacted by assassinations, political strife, and volatile world events.

Andy Babiuk, a musician, vintage-instrument authority, and co-author of Rolling Stones Gear: All the Stones’ Instruments from Stage to Studio, says Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Bill Wyman, and Charlie Watts got to Beggars Banquet after the psychedelia scene faded in London.

“Everybody was like, ‘Okay, this sucks’,” he chuckled. “The Beatles went to India and started studying meditation and went to the maharishi. The Stones figured, ‘Let’s go back to being a blues band because that’s we do. That’s what we are.’”

A major step was producer Jimmy Miller joining the ranks. Recording sessions started in early ’68 and they released the swaggering rocker “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” as a non-album single that summer. It indicated the awesome power of the new material.

“I think the real turning point was bringing in an external producer,” said Babiuk. “Obviously, Mick and Keith were more than capable of producing the record, but bringing Jimmy in was the key. He was a musician – a drummer – and a New York guy in England doing stuff for Island Records like Traffic and the Spencer Davis Group. He had already been making really good-sounding records, and he gave the Stones a sound they hadn’t had with their original producer, Andrew Loog Oldham. Andrew wasn’t a producer-slash-musician-slash-engineer. He was more like a manager-slash-cool business guy-slash-cool friend.

“The difference is Miller got in and listened to the demos. He wanted to immerse himself as being one of the guys, really getting into the songs even before they were recording them. He wanted to understand what the band was trying to do. That’s why the record is really cool-sounding.”

The focus is even more remarkable because of what the band was going through. Jones, busted for drugs, was facing jail time. His involvement on Banquet was minimal, and the Stones also weren’t performing live, which gave Richards time to study old blues records, learn open tunings, and incorporate them with his songwriting.

“Brian had been playing open tunings with slide, but Keith had not really experimented with it as much until this point,” explained Babiuk.

The album opens with the chilling samba-coated “Sympathy for the Devil.” One of the song’s most notable parts is Richards’ earsplitting guitar solo. The razor-sharp tone is startling.

“I would say that’s Keith’s ’57 Les Paul Custom with a Triumph amp,” said Babiuk. “That’s a weird amp; big, British-made solid state. Triumph was making solid-state stuff for Vox at the time; they’d been trying to make their own, but only a handful were built, so they’re super-rare. The tremolo is unique, and apparently, Keith really dug that. He liked the amp and the sound he was getting.”

Richards owned two black Les Paul Customs, but the one used on Banquet was painted (by him) with a colorful moon design. In a video interview for the 2019-’20 “Play It Loud” exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he briefly explained the motivation for his artwork, which he applied using acrylic pens.

“I was playing [this Les Paul] half the time and then stopped. Maybe there was a song here. Maybe the moon is up and the sun is down. This is definitely acid, man. It’s the great inspiration!” he laughed.

Babiuk believes Richards doesn’t receive proper recognition for his role in popularizing the Les Paul.

“A lot of people credit Jimmy Page, Peter Green, and Eric Clapton,” he said. “But, as we know, in the early ’60s, Gibson didn’t make Les Pauls like that; they made the SG. So these guys were finding second-hand Les Pauls from the ’50s and going, ‘Wow! This sounds great! I can’t get a new one like this. I’ll get an old one.’ But Keith was the first British rock-and-roll guy playing a flame-top Les Paul; in ’64 he had the one with the Bigsby. You see him with it on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show.’ I think that was important enough to put it on the cover of my book. Keith was accustomed to the sound of the Les Paul early on, then tried a lot of stuff. Gibson gave him Firebirds, for example; he also plays a non-reverse VII on this album.”

Richards played bass (a Precision) on a couple tracks, and other instruments at the sessions included an ES-330, Telecaster, and a Gibson Hummingbird. Wyman played his Vox “Wyman Bass” and a customized Dallas Tuxedo.

The other well-known song on Banquet is “Street Fighting Man,” which was controversial in the U.S. for its politically-charged lyrics. Blues-informed songs include “Parachute Woman” and “Stray Cat Blues,” while “Dear Doctor” and “Factory Girl” bring country flavor. The working-man ode “Salt of the Earth” mixes the genres, and the ballad “No Expectations” features Jones’ acoustic slide. It stands as the last important musical contribution he made to the band.

Ultimately, Banquet succeeds because the Rolling Stones decided to do what they wanted to do.

“I think when bands take that approach to music, they usually create great stuff,” Babiuk said. “When you’re trying hard to do something to please other people, it looks and feels contrived. When you do something for yourself, your best work sticks out. Beggars Banquet is a good example.”

This article originally appeared in VG’s January 2024 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.