Critics Hailed 'Beggars Banquet' as a Return to Blues-Rock Form, Despite Ongoing Legal Troubles

By the time Beggars Banquet arrived in December 1968, the Stones had spent nearly two years tangled in drug busts, court dates, and a disastrous psychedelic detour with Their Satanic Majesties Request. Most critics jumped straight to calling the album a return to form—Rolling Stone’s first issue had already praised the single “Jump