He had such a wonderful ability to sense where the band was at, get into their heads, get their confidence, and then fire them up in the studio and get great performances from them. He was able to put such a spark into the cutting of the tracks. I started working with him on Trafficâs Mr. Fantasy and then moved on to the Stonesâ Beggars Banquet. He was an extremely impressive individual. He was able to grab the artist by the balls and bring them along with him. He could help them with song structures and be very involved on that level, or be a fly on the wall when he needed to be.
Jimmy Miller began working with the Rolling Stones in March 1968; by Millerâs own account, the first track they worked on together was âJumpinâ Jack Flash.â10 Glyn Johns takes credit for Miller getting the call to produce the Stones. He writes,
When the pain of Satanic Majesties Request had subsided, Mick told me they had decided to go back to using a producer and that they wanted an American . .. A few weeks earlier I had met Jimmy Miller, who was working with Traffic in the next studio to me at Olympic. He seemed like a really nice guy and was doing a great job, so I told Mick that we did not have to import anyone as there was already an extremely accomplished guy in London. Mick and Keith checked him out and he got the job.
(Johns, 2014, pp. 82â83)
It is tempting to credit Miller â at least in part â for the Stonesâ new sound that emerged with âJumpinâ Jackâ and developed further on Beggars Banquet. But Miller has remarked that he âdidnât ask them to change directionâ and that âthey were ready to do so, as was evident from the new songs they played meâ (Buskin, 1999, p. 128). Indeed, a survey of the records produced by Miller that the Stones might have known in early 1968 would not have indicated that Miller was eager to push beyond the psychedelia of 1967. Of the Traffic singles, âPaper Sunâ features a prominent sitar part that makes it a perfect fit for the Summer of Love, while âHole in My Shoeâ combines sitar with trippy lyrics reminiscent of the Beatlesâ âLucy in the Sky With Diamonds.â The album track âUtterly Simpleâ serves as Trafficâs answer to âWithin You Without You,â while the single âHere We Go Round the Mulberry Bushâ (released in November 1967) was filmed for inclusion in the Beatlesâ Magical Mystery Tour, though it did not survive the final edit of the film. In many ways, Mr. Fantasy and Their Satanic Majesties Request are stylistic parallels as well. It is worth noting, however, that Millerâs pre-psychedelic work with the Spencer Davis Group had been much more roots oriented and driven by American rhythm and blues.11 Miller remarks that âitâs fair to say that being American also helped, because . .. they had been raised on American recordsâ (Buskin, 1999, p. 128).
It is difficult to pinpoint the precise contributions of a producer, especially a collaborative one such as Miller. Miller was mostly not responsible for the actual recording of the sounds themselves, leaving this work to the engineer: âAs a producer I pretty much let the engineer get the sound together, and I might add my own suggestions if thereâs a particular sound that Iâm after or if thereâs something I would like to changeâ (Buskin, 1999, p. 131). As we listen to tracks from Beggars Banquet, however, we can identify important production details that Miller likely had at least some hand in creating. In âJumpinâ Jack Flash,â for instance, engineer Eddie Kramer describes how Richards loved the way his guitar sounded when recorded on an inexpensive cassette recorder. Jimmy suggested they use that sound, so Kramer recorded Richardsâs guitar on the cassette recorder and then transferred that sound to the studioâs four-track tape machine using a microphone as the cassette played back. The band then recorded the other parts using the cassette recording as a guide. The same technique was used for âStreet Fighting Man.â12
âJumpinâ Jack Flashâ and âStreet Fighting Manâ also share a similar âdroneâ ending, as a single chord is sustained and various layers of music unfold simultaneously and are only loosely coordinated. Such harmonically static endings can be found in earlier Stones tracks such as âWe Love You.â Considering Millerâs role, it is worth noting that two tracks from the second Traffic album (recorded during the same period as Beggars) also employ similar endings: âPearly Queenâ and âCryinâ to Be Heard.â âStreet Fighting Manâ features a guest appearance by Trafficâs Dave Mason on shehnai, further reinforcing the Traffic connection. (Ric Grech, who was in Family at the time and whom Mason and Miller were producing, makes an appearance on âFactory Girl.â) Brian Jonesâs sitar and tambura on âStreet Fighting Manâ add a psychedelic element common to the previous work of both Traffic and the Stones. Perhaps the most effective production element in âStreet Fighting Manâ â and one likely attributable to Miller â is the way the choruses seem to expand atmospherically as the piano and tambura enter (with a hint of claves), opening up from the more closed sound of the verse dominated by the driving cassette-recorded acoustic guitar. Miller is likely also responsible for the pacing of the albumâs closer, âSalt of the Earth.â Beginning quietly with strummed acoustic guitar and slide guitar accompanying Richardsâs lead vocal, acoustic piano is added at the second verse as Jagger takes the lead. Piano dominates the bridge, as the drums enter for the third verse and Jagger and Richards sing in harmony. Choral backing vocals are added at the second appearance of the bridge, as the choir takes the verse melody before being joined by Jagger. A dynamic pullback is led by the acoustic guitar before launching into a gospel-style ending that soon shifts to double time, creating a crescendo of musical excitement as the track fades.
Perhaps no track on Beggars Banquet better illustrates the long path a track can take to completion â as described above by Mick Taylor â than âSympathy for the Devil.â Jean-Luc Godardâs 1970 documentary chronicles the development of the song. After attempting the song in many different versions, the band finally hits on a groove â thanks in part to the congas of Rocky Dijon and the patience and constant encouragement of Miller (though this is not seen in the film) â and the track comes together. Miller is likely responsible for bringing Dijon into the session, and he may also have suggested the vocal âwoo wooâsâ that accompany Jaggerâs lead singing (Miller is probably among the singers ultimately providing those backing vocals on the recording). Dijonâs conga playing also makes significant contributions to the last minute and a half of âStray Cat Strutâ and throughout âFactory Girl.â Such production touches can range from enhancing a track, as in the latter two instances, to transforming it, as in âSympathy for the Devil.â In Zakâs terms as mentioned earlier, Miller nurtured the overall process.
Regarding the patience a producer must possess, it is hard to imagine a producer having more patience with a musician than what Miller showed to Brian Jones. By the time Beggars Banquet was being recorded, Brianâs emotional and mental condition had deteriorated. Miller describes one session at which Jones showed up with a sitar. Knowing that the instrument would never work on the rootsy blues track they were developing (possibly â Prodigal Sonâ), Miller nonetheless set Jones up in the studio and had him play, even though his playing was not being recorded onto the main track. It may be that Millerâs sympathetic attitude towards Jones in such situations played some role in making Jonesâs important slide-guitar contribution to âNo Expectationsâ possible.
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Beggars Banquet was released in December 1968 and Miller would go on to produce four more albums with the Stones. He would also go on to produce Spooky Two and Blind Faith in 1969, and Delaney and Bonnieâs On Tour With Eric Clapton in 1970. But there was trouble on the horizon. According to Marianne Faithfull, âMr. Jimmyâ in the lyrics of Let It Bleedâs âYou Canât Always Get What You Wantâ (1969) referred to Miller and his increasing problem with substance abuse. She writes, âhe wasnât in too bad shape yet, but in Mickâs eyes what Jimmy was doing to himself was horrifyingâ (Faithfull, 1994, p. 185). By the time of Goats Head Soup (1973), Richards remarks, âwe wore out Jimmy Miller, who succumbed to dopeâ (Richards, 2010, p. 363). After splitting with the Stones, Miller produced many more records, including two classic heavy metal albums with Motörhead, Overkill (1979) and Bomber (1979), and two tracks on Primal Screamâs Screamadelica (1991). Beggars Banquet, however, remains one of his peak successes as a producer.