It took five years and 11 albums for The Rolling Stones to truly hit their stride. All of their output prior to late 1968 was very good, and included moments of true greatness, but Beggars Banquet was the band’s first masterpiece.

The Stones responded to the lukewarm reception of their psychedelic rock effort Their Satanic Majesties Request not just by returning to basics, but by churning out their most memorable batch of songs yet. Instant classics ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ and ‘Street Fighting Man’ lead the charge but this is an album full of gems.

My personal favorites are the Dylan-esque ‘Jigsaw Puzzle’ and the deliriously scuzzy ‘Stray Cat Blues,’ but I can make a case for every one of the album’s 10 tracks. Mick Jagger delivers brilliant vocal performances across the board, whether he’s leaning into country pastiche (‘Dear Doctor’), blues slow (‘No Expectations’) or fast (‘Parachute Woman’), or Appalachian folk (‘Factory Girl’).

Keith Richards takes center stage on closing track ‘Salt of the Earth,’ strumming an acoustic guitar and handling vocals on the first verse. Apart from his co-songwriting duties, Richards took on a much bigger role on this album as founding member and former band leader Brian Jones fell into heavy drug use and was barely present for the recording sessions. Jones was found dead at the bottom of his pool a year later.

Beggars Banquet was a hit, but not a massive one. It reached #3 on the UK albums chart and #5 in the States. Neither of its classic singles reached the top 40 in either region. The band’s greatest albums were never their best sellers. The fact that this album still electrifies 55 years later seems more important.