Was the Rolling Stones' "Their Satanic Majesties Request" their attempt to imitate "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by the Beatles?

BRY2K

I think that the jury is out in terms of definitive answer, star_gazer. Many dismiss the record as sub-Sgt. Pepper posturing; others confess, if only in private, to a fascination with the album's inventive arrangements, which incorporated some African rhythms, Mellotrons, and full orchestration. Released in December 1967, Their Satanic Majesties Request reached #3 in the UK and #2 in the US (easily going gold), but its commercial performance declined rapidly. It was soon viewed as a pretentious, poorly conceived attempt to outdo The Beatles and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (released June 1967), often explained by drug trials and excesses in contemporary musical fashion. Some are a bit harsher in their criticisms: "Clearly their answer to Sgt. Pepper, or at least "All You Need is Love," Satanic Majesties is actually as sloppy an artifact as Flowers". "What you get instead is a psychedelic album, full of experimental doodling – basically they were trying to produce their own album to rival Sgt Pepper, and in that sense, it didn’t really work". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Their_Satanic_Majesties_Request http://www.amazon.com/Satanic-Majesties-Request-Rolling-Stones/dp/B000003BEV http://cd.ciao.co.uk/Their_Satanic_Majesties_Request_Rolling_Stones_The__45655 May 06 08, 2:47 PM