Customer Reviews

According to the Rolling Stones

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4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The recent publication of "According to the Rolling Stones" to coincide with the Forty Licks Tour, is classic Stones-style media manipulation. Looking back over their career & my collection of Stones videos, books & CD's, it is obvious that once again Jagger (& to a lesser extent, Richards) are attempting to revise their personal history and somehow cleanse themselves of their bad-boy image. This particular effort is the penultimate revision of a well-documented history.

From the outset, the choices made by the books' editor (Dora Lowenstein, daughter of the financial advisor to the Stones, Prince Rupert Lowenstein) as to whom to include make it obvious this will be a trip thru the past brightly. The single most glaring omission is that of Bill Wyman; yes, he's not currently a Rolling Stone, but one would think that 25+ years as an official Stone would count for something. Obviously, Dora & Co. didn't agree. Other omissions include Mick Taylor (only the spark for the finest Rolling Stones guitar interplay recorded), Andrew Loog Oldham (even Jagger/Richards admit they probably never would gone beyond the Crawdaddy Club without ALO), Bobby Keys (Keith's best friend for many years & the leader of the Stones horn section since 1969) and the Stones women, past & present. Marianne Faithfull & Anita Pallenberg were considered adjunct members of the Stones for many years, most of them the most productive and artistically satisfying of their career. The list of those Missing In Action could also include dead, but on-the-record Stones members such as Brian Jones and (especially missed!) Ian Stewart who was the original founder with Jones of the band. Stewart knew where all the bodies were buried, and never failed to take the Jagger/Richards egos down a peg or 10. Ian's contributions to the Stones legacy are glossed over at best.

Instead, in the tween-chapters essays, we have represented two journalists (one of whom has no claim to any contact with any Stone at any time), Peter Wolf of J.Geils Band, Sheryl Crow, Prince Rupert and Ahmet Ertegun. Needless to say, their contributions tend more towards the sycophantic than the enlightening.

Many excellent photos, a number of them full-page, are reproduced here, but again, almost none of Wyman, and very few of those in the inner circle. The majority of the photos are (in descending order) Richards, Jagger, Watts & Wood. Poor Ronnie, although a Stone now since the mid-70's, is still attempting to rationalize the fact that he has almost never been giving song-writing credit even when he was the primary catalyst of a riff.

The main pleasures of "According to the Rolling Stones" are hearing Charlie Watts speak out openly, especially concerning his period of substance abuse in the 80's. He analyzes and philosophizes on many aspects of the Glimmer Twins collaboration, as well as the contributions of some of the more ignored members of the organization. It's as much a pleasure to read Charlie's words, as it is to hear his lovely, economical drumming.

Ronnie is his usual entertaining self, & Keith comes up with some classic quotes as usual. Jagger's contribution is to once again prove what a jerk he's become in the past 20 years. "Exile on Main Street" not a good album? Apparently Sir Mick thinks the sound too muddy. I hate to mention this, your Lordship, but you did start out as a blues band, after all. "Exile" is one of the greatest blues albums ever recorded by anyone. The Mick of 1962 thru 72 would have adored this album. Just goes to show....(and of course, we all know what Mick's solo work has sounded like). Mick is quoted at one point as justifying the Stones later work by saying "as long as it works live, that's all that matters". Keith, on the other hand, offers that he can't stand playing such recent dreck as "Emotional Rescue" or "Undercover of the Night". At least someone in the band still has some musical integrity left!

So there it is. "According to the Rolling Stones" won't change anyone's mind about any of the band members, although Mick & Dora might wish it would. I am just praying, that we, the "peeps" in the audience, won't be subjected to a 50th Anniversary Tour/Commemorative Book. The thought of a 70 year old Sir Mick wiggling his geriatric fanny is really too grotesque to bear!

This book makes for more than just a nice coffee table book. It's got more than cool shots (a good many of them posed for) and interesting tales of the band by its four remaining members (and a host of interviews by collaborators, fans and close friends). What's missing from the book almost speaks louder than wha'ts in it. It is inevitable to stumble upon the absence of ANY quotes from the late Brian Jones, his substitute Mick Taylor or the former bass player Bill Wyman. It's the proverbial invisible elephant in the room! Let's face it: the book is more about the vibe and chemistry that kept the surviving members together through the years. Those left behind (like Wyman) have only themselves or their legends to speak for them. Because of this, I take a star off my rating, and leave it still at a good four stars, because it is still a nice document.

A couple hundred years from now historians will write about the endurance of the `flash in the pan' phenomenon called, pop culture. ACCORDING TO THE ROLLING STONES will certainly be one of their reference books. This is history as it should be told--as it is lived--in all its informal, intimate, gritty, and compelling detail. 

ACCORDING TO THE ROLLING STONES presents unique privileged perspectives of the evolution of rock from the earliest days to the present. Essays from friends and colleagues plus hundreds of photos spanning the Stones' career enhance the interviews of Mick, Keith, Charlie and Ronnie.

Older fans will fondly remember the `Bad Boys of British Pop' as an enduring icon of the extraordinary sixties and seventies. New fans will discover the history of the Stones through the group's lives and their music as told by the mythmakers themselves. Fans of pop culture will value these memoirs of the group that lived it.

"According To the Rolling Stones" is a must-have for the Stones fan, but is hampered by the fact that you must already be a fan to know fully what's going on. With amazing pictures but incomplete text, this is a pretty good but unsatisfying coffee table book.

It charts the Rolling Stones from their respective childhoods, to becoming the baddest rock band in England. Then it follows them into parenthood, marriage, addiction, rehab, the death of messed-up bandmate Brian Jones and the near-breakup of the band in the 1980s. Music, mayhem, and the occasional arrest make up this book.

The pictures virtually MAKE this book. Many of them are ones I hadn't seen before, and there are actually more candids than posed pics. Pics of Mick Jagger being punched in the street, Keith Richards playing with his son on a tire swing, and the Stones examining possible cover photos are among these. The pictures have an intimate quality, and many of them get across the camaraderie or alienation between the Stones.

One of the major problems with the book is the lack of insights into the dynamics behind the music. Wives, girlfriends, children, fellow musician friends and so on are barely mentioned, occasionally pictured (Marianne Faithfull is barely visible behind her huge hat). It feels incomplete to have no view of what these guys are like to anyone except one another.

If they had included interviews from more than just the Stones themselves, it would feel more rounded, like the Aerosmith autobiography "Walk This Way," which included interviews from just about everybody associated with the band. And about half of the essays don't add to the book's content at all, especially the ones that analyze the Stones from a distance instead of talking about the writer's personal experience.

"According to the Rolling Stones" will delight fans of the Stones, especially those who like to see backstage pictures and hear how this song or that song came to be. But though this book is a hefty snack, I finished it feeling vaguely hungry.

The new Stones "coffee table book" is a disgrace in how it treats Mick Taylor. Ronnie Wood feels "sorry" for Mick Taylor? What a pitiful joke! Ronnie Wood's guitar playing is the only thing that's "sorry"! And that story about Taylor passing a note backstage stating that he was broke and had no confidence. It sounds "fishy" to me, but even if it's true, Wood has no class for repeating it. Even Charlie Watts jumped on the bandwagon with some anti-Taylor remarks. What's the point? It's not like Taylor is cutting into their record sales or anything like that. Why are they being so vindictive? Overall, I still like their music and their shows are entertaining, but this book has angered me. One of the other posters nailed it on Woody: He's just Mick Jagger's mouthpiece. Ronnie Wood couldn't shine Mick Taylor's shoes when it comes to playing guitar. The biggest joke on their last tour was Ronnie's horrible guitar playing on Can't You Hear Me Knockin'. With all their money and all their success, their insecurity shines through with the terrible trashing they gave the most talented guitarist that ever played with them. If it wasn't for Mick Taylor, there would have been no "golden period" for the band. Can you imagine Wood playing on Exile or Ya-Ya's or Sticky Fingers? Those great albums would have been mediocre at best if Wood had played on them!!!! I can't even think about it. It's too upsetting! One last thing on this book: Keith, in particular, really let me down with his comments about Taylor. He says that Taylor hasn't done anything since leaving the Stones. To that I'll reply with one of Keith's own favorite responses: "Rubbish!" Just because Taylor's albums don't sell millions of copies doesn't mean he hasn't done anything or that he isn't a great musician or performer! Let's face it, other than Tatoo You (which was mostly pulled from the Taylor-year archives ANYWAY) and Some Girls, most of their stuff since Taylor left the band is lackluster at best or tired retreads of hits from their golden years with Taylor at worst. The Stones have no class...plain and simple. I saw Mick Taylor at the Stanhope House in Stanhope, NJ recently and he put on a great show! Nobody plays lead or slide like him and noone ever will. Keith and Woody are just jealous because Taylor proves his superiority every time he picks up a guitar. Sign me "Angry at the Stones in Jersey City"!!!

..I follow the Stones since 1963 and I find this rich book one of the most interesting...Why..??...because of the
true and authentic interviews..full of details and precisions never readen anywhere....stones fans can learn much
reading it...and the photos are not bad either...add the low price for such a big book...

I have really enjoyed reading this book. Some of the best commentary comes from Ronnie Wood. Some of the stuff that Keith says is highly amusing, especially the stuff he says about his old feud with Brian Jones. Spotted throughout the book is commentary from various other people, some of this is good, but allot is crap. One major disappointment is that they didn't feature Bill Wyman or Mick Taylor; they are both still alive I'll have you know. Enough from me, now read it!

According to the Rolling Stones is an autobiography/memoir of a band by the remaining members, three of whom were in the original incarnation. Their story is told exclusively via interviews that have the guys going back to the beginning of the band and up to the time of the band's fortieth anniversary tour. The boys look through the past not so much darkly as with a sense of innocence and fondness. We're spared much of the dirt and drugs in an attempt to simply convey more of the musical recollections, the who, when, where, and why of certain events, and the oft-conflicting versions of stories that have since become legends (being locked in the kitchen to write their first song tale, auditioning Taylor's replacement, Charlie punching Mick after he was called "my drummer," etc.). If you had a few hours to spend with the four members of the band and listen to their combined story of how they went from fans of American blues, jazz, and pop to the longest running rock and roll success show in the world, this is the document of such a rare conversation. To distill the story of The Rolling Stones is to take all that has been written about them and filter it numerous times to winnow out the fact and distortion from the truth. In order to do that properly, the importance of this book can not be ignored.
Much has been made about the absence of any and all former members and others in the Stones circle. Didn't Bill Wyman already pen his autobiography of life in the band? Do you really think Mick Taylor hasn't had a chance to tell his side of things? For my money, he is far and away the most over rated member of the band, anyway. Does anyone really think he had that much to do with their success? Do those of you out there who feel he got a raw deal somehow not remember that he quit the band? How can he be treated unfairly? He was given a golden ticket to ride on the Stones train long after it had already picked up a good head of steam. Taylor was nothing more than the hired gun in an arrangement that never fit the dynamic the band was based on - the oft-referred to weaving of guitars - and he bailed out when he couldn't stand the boredom or take the toll the lifestyle was exacting on him. He's a good blues guitarist who has done little of note since he left the band to pursue other musical avenues. I'm not knocking the guy at all, but I'm totally sick of the heroic status anointed a guy who performed little more than the same duties Darryl Jones now assumes. His fans believe Mick Taylor is the consummate underappreciated figure but it's a distorted view. It's a foolish attempt to deflect the deserved praise Jagger and Richards have earned onto a guy who never fit in the band by his own admittance. In this autobiography, the band members champion his chops but underscore his self-imposed distance from the core as well as verifying what has always stood from the moment Brian Jones' short-sighted and narrow vision of the band was steamrolled by the juggernaut that was the Jagger-Richards collaborative; the Rolling Stones are primarily Mick and Keith's band. It's driven the weaker out of the band (Jones and Taylor) and it discounts the accepted role Ron Wood has achieved. Please people, get over Mick Taylor already.
According to the Rolling Stones gives us as honest a history as we'll likely ever get. For one thing, I applaud the fact that this is a band that spares us the back-stabbing trashy tales that prop up duller histories. The mythology of the Stones is legendary and often overshadows their musical accomplishments (did you see the Larry King interview?) For once, we get a story long on the specifics and short on the stanky garbage we've been subjected to far too often.

This book is great if you are looking for the driving force behind their rise to fame and stardom. After reading 'The Stones' by Philip Norman, which is a very informative and researched book, and well worth a read , this is very refreshing. It lets you into the minds of the Stones. As soon as you read it, you get an understanding of the obsession with music Mick, Keith and Charlie had. Their relationships and differences, not blurred by third hand news. After reading this, I thought, hell, I cant blame them for living rock 'n' roll. They were in the right place and right time, and by their accounts, they still cant believe where it has led them!!

Good beach or train reading. And Keith is also a pretty good story teller!

I honestly doubt that a few of the reviewers in here actually read this book. They may have skimmed it, but from what they've written (eg: no hint at Keith's drug problems??---GET OUT!)it's pretty easy to see that they most certainly did not read the book on any serious level. This book is amazing! When I read it I felt like I was actually talking to the Stones and that they were sharing many interesting and informative details about their lives and the lives of those who influenced them musically and otherwise. If you're a Stones fan or very interested in the history of R&R as it applies where this band is concerned, this book is a MUST!