Rolling Stone issue #39 had a cover date of August 9, 1969. 40 pages. 35 cents. Cover photo of Brian Jones by Jim Marshall.
Features: “Brian Jones: Sympathy for the Devil”; “Brian Jones Obituary” by Greil Marcus; “The Wild: Things” by Eric Ehrmann; “Ronnie Hawkins” by Ritchie Yorke; “Doug Kershaw” by Patrick Thomas; “Fuzz Against Junk: The Saga of the Narcotics Brigade, Installment Seven” by Akbar Del Piombo.
News: “Kesey: Unzipping for the Summer Solstice” by Ken Kesey; “Rock Too Much For Newport”; “Liberation” by John Burks; “Brand-New Weapon: Japanese Sing-In” by Michael Berger; “Los Angeles Apple Polished Off”; “Berkeley Barb On Strike”; “Werber Innocent in Big Dope Bust”; “Crosby, Stills and Nash Add Young”; “A Tidal Wave in The Wild West” by Ben Fong-Torres; “Dylan & the Band’s Edwardsville Skyline”; “Toronto: Nothing But a Groove” by Ritchie Yorke; “Festivals”; “Cash Owes Govt. 82 Grand”; “Two More Join The Squad.” And Random Notes on Canned Heat. Lucky Whip, Atlanta pop festival, Steve Miller, The Wit and Humor of Richard Nixon, Ralph Nader, Jack Bruce, and Franco Zeffirelli.
Full-page ads: After the Rain by Muddy Waters on Cadet Concept; The Soft Parade by the Doors on Elektra; Everybody Knows This is Nowhere by Neil Young (“Free dirt!“) on Reprise; Discount Records; Rock & Roll on Atco; Capitol Records (Lothar and the Hand People, the Common People, and Mad River); The Wild West: A San Francisco Festival; Johnny Rivers on Imperial; Emerge by the Litter on Probe; “Honky Tonk Women” b/w “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by the Rolling Stones on London.
More ads: Beck-Ola by Jeff Beck on Epic; The Illinois Speed Press on Columbia; Through Rose Colored Glasses by Tim Rose on Columbia; Tony Kosinec Processes on Columbia; Pyewacket is Coming Soon [It never came. -Ed.]; Selected Poems: 1956-1968 by Leonard Cohen on Viking; With A Little Help From My Friends by Steve Cropper on Volt; KRLA; Rolling Stone Book – Volume II.
Reviews: The Best of Solomon Burke/King Soloman (by Peter Guralnick); Johnny Winter (by Pete Welding); Paradise Bar and Grille, Mad River (by Ed Ward); The Street Giveth and the Street Taketh Away, Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys (by Lester Bangs); An Evening with Wild Man Fischer, Larry Fischer (by Langdon Winner); Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Neil Young (by Bruce Miroff); Ronnie Hawkins/Mr. Dynamo, Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks (by Greil Marcus); Beck-Ola, The Jeff Beck Group (by Ben Gerson); I Remember Chuck Willis (by Greil Marcus); Concerto in B Goode, Chuck Berry (by Lester Bangs); Here We Are Again, Country Joe and the Fish (by John Morthland); Unfinished Music No. 2: Life With the Lions, John Lennon and Yoko Ono/Electronic Sounds, George Harrison (by Ed Ward).
Columns: “Astrology” by Ambrose Hollingsworth; “Books” by Andrew Kopkind (on US: A Paperback Magazine by Richard Goldstein); “Books” by Langdon Winner (on Chemical and Biological Warfare by Seymour Hersh).
Subscription offer: Subscribers could get four free Ballantine books (Bob Dylan’s Don’t Look Back; The Essential Lenny Bruce; The Jefferson Airplane and the San Francisco Sound by Ralph J. Gleason; and The Teachings of Don Juon by by Carlos Castaneda) with 50 cents for shipping and handling. $6 for 26 issues; $10 for 52.
Previously: Issue 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38.