Customer Reviews

Ronnie: The Autobiography

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

As an avid fan of Ronnie Wood's music-- with the Stones, the Faces, those early great Rod Stewart records (I still see them as Stewart/Wood records), solo, sitting in with rock's royalty-- I dove into this book with much relish (and a little mustard). Sure, I knew there'd be debauchery (the story of Woody showing up for his romantic liaison at future wife Jo's Paris hotel with Keith in tow is priceless, and if you're just browsing over a latte at Barnes & Noble, its on page 153). This guy is, I think it is safe to say, THE Good Time Charlie of rock'n'roll.

But for all the star cameos from the ranks of Britrock (e.g. all the Beatles) and American roots rock, blues and R'n'B (Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis), there just wasn't enough musical grit for me. Not word one, for example, about any of those Stewart records. I was hoping to read about the creative process by which so much of my favorite music was birthed-- inspirations in the studio, how he got such-and-such a guitar sound, what take was that "Lost Paraguayos" solo... stuff like that. You get a little of it, but I wanted a whole lot more. I mean, and I can't stress this enough, I love the guy. But the reason his autobiography merits a read is because of the music he's made (sorry Woody, but you have to die before your painting rates.) I wanted more of a musician's eye view.

That said, as a fan I found that the insight into his formative years shines some light on the life that resulted, and on the music. Notably, he grew up with older brothers who drew him into both art and music, and those relationships clearly shaped his musical persona; whether Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart, or Keith Richards, his most enduring work always seems to come as Robin to someone's Batman. His home as a child was filled with music and, although he doesn't say it this way, alcohol abuse. He writes with great candor about his own substance revelry, and as decedent as you might have expected life as a Stone to have been in the late 70s, you might even be underestimating it. He writes unflinchingly about his descent into freebase addiction in the early 80s (but not a word about, for example, 1234, recorded at the same time and which had at least one ripping tune on it.)

But he devotes a surprising amount of time to the saga of the New Barbarians, which was nice because I saw and loved that ill-fated combo when they came through NYC. And also, to his tour with Bo Diddley, another high point for this reviewer.

Oh, and if the chance ever comes up, do NOT let him manage your money, and NEVER invest in a club with him.

If you are a fan, you need to read this. If you aren't, I'm recommending the latte at Barnes & Noble. But I'm also recommending Some Girls, Voodoo Lounge, all the Faces records, Gasoline Alley, Never a Dull Moment, Every Picture Tells a Story, the New Barbarians live recording which came out in '06, I've Got My Own Album to Do...

I enjoyed reading this book. It was interesting to read about his early days, playing with Faces, his solo albums, and with the Rolling Stones. Wood actually sheds more light on the George Harrison/Patti Boyd/Eric Clapton love triangle than Clapton does in his own autobiography.

A relevant companion-book to this would be ALL THE RAGE, the autobiography by fellow Faces bandmate Ian MacLagen.

This is a great book and fun to read. No wonder everyone from jeff Beck, Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, all of the Rolling Stones and many more wanted to hang out as friends and play with this man. It comes across in this book. There' also a lot of history on the early days how all the early groups in England got there start and Ronnie was there. Most of all no matter what anyone thinks of the life of a rocker his family comes across as the most important thing in his life. This is a very good book and worth the buy.

As Ronnie Wood says himself, he is the "new boy" of the Rolling Stones -- meaning he's only been a member for more than thirty years.

But he certainly isn't lacking interesting stories. In fact, "Ronnie: The Autobiography" is crammed with good-natured recountings of the wild world of rock'n'roll's golden age. Wood has a mellow, nostalgic style, loaded down with plenty of humour and artwork.

Wood was born to a quirky family of water gypsies, won attention as a child for his artwork, and when he was grown, immersed himself in the rising tide of rock'n'roll. He performed with Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton, and nearly became part of Led Zeppelin -- and after the Faces broke up, he was asked to join the Rolling Stones as a replacement for Mick Taylor.

And that was only the beginning -- Wood became part of a tight-knit, well-oiled machine of friends and colleagues, who were soaked in drugs, sex and classic rock'n'roll. He recounts weddings, funerals, divorce, births, drug arrests in Arkansas, exploding septic tanks, cocaine, Monty Python, and lots and lots of music-making...

Reading "Ronnie: the Authobiography" is a little like sitting down with a grizzled rock veteran, having a beer, and listening to him reminisce about his wilder days. Wood seems to have had a relatively stable life compared to his bandmates Jaggger and Richards, but by no means a boring one -- it gets more interesting as soon as he joins up.

As well as art and music, Wood has a knack for words -- he has a pleasant, conversational style, and he puts in all kinds of shriekingly funny stories (and unnerving ones, like Keith chasing him with a knife) in an arch, deadpan manner. He doesn't make excuses for any bad behavior, but just owns up to it and relates it in the most amusing way possible.

What's even more striking about him is that he hasn't really got a bad word to say about anyone. He praises most of the people in this book, but if someone is nasty (like his ex-wife berating him after she drove into a storefront) he simply lets it pass. And he's perfectly willing to make fun of himself, such as smoking meringues and asking Kylie Minogue if she needed to find her parents.

And there are a LOT of people in this book -- Beatles, Stones, Clapton, the guys of Monty Python ("My mum wants you to go!"), Rod Stewart, Jimi Hendrix, John Belushi, and countless others. Not to mention some homage shout-outs to the greats of blues -- Muddy Waters makes an appearance, only to mistake Ronnie for Keith.

Oh, and the book is sprinkled with artwork by Wood -- very good ones too, with a sort of fragmented sensual quality. Even if, say, it's of Keith passed out.

"Ronnie: The Autobiography" is a warm, nostalgic book of a very crazy time in rock history, with plenty of stories that fans will eat up. A great read for rock'n'roll fans.

Well
This book makes Ronnie Wood look like a boozing,half wit who's gotten everything in his life by luck.It takes only a casual look at Ron Wood's life.Almost every chapter is celebrity name dropping and drug use.Ron Wood has a MUCH better book in him than this.It never goes very deeply into his feelings and thoughts.An example:while discussing Stones drummer Charlie Watts cancer scare,Wood says "A few years ago,Charlie went into hospital.No fussing,he just beat it".That's as deep as this book gets.No"It could have been the end of the Stones" or "I can't tell you how hard it was seeing someone who is like a brother suffering".A few sentences,and that's it.It's a fun book no doubt.But Ronnie's 1987 book "The Works" was far more sensetive and heartwarming.It showed Wood to be a kind,funny and talented good time boy who is a credit to any relationship he's in.
Unfortunatley for you "hard core" Stones fans,there isn't alot of depth to this.The whole period of 1994's "Voodoo Lounge" to 1998's "Bridges to Babylon" is only 5 -1/2 pages long.I would have liked to know what was going on when Bill Wyman left,what's it like writing with Mick and Keith and/or what's it like to perform in front of 100,000 people?
Just booze and star "F" ing in this book,with small moments of Wood growing up and a dash of family life.
The casual fan will rejoice.....die hards -not so much
www.markfloresmusic.com

Hard to believe how someone who has spent much of his life in the limelight, surrounded by so many notable characters in the world of music can offer so little insight, so few details. Instead, we have here a gripping saga of Ronnie Wood's real estate transactions and the siring of his sundry children, and of course his drinking and drugging himself into oblivion. Precious little information or illumination is contained here, though. What must it be like to be on tour -- on stage -- with the Stones, Stewart, Beck? Dunno, really. Is Jagger a megalomaniac? What's it like to be in the studio with the Stones? How about the songwriting process? He simply doesn't delve into such matters.

We are given to believe, for instance, that Jeff Beck is not a warm, cuddly sort, but are given not a shred of evidence to support that conclusion. Rod Stewart? Dunno much about him either, either; but Ronnie evidently bought a house about that time. It had a studio (they all did), and he painted (he always did) and had a another kid or two. Want details? Most likely the poor sotted lad can't recall many, having lost many a brain cell to drugs and drink en route to his eventual sobriety. Best of luck, Ron, but gee, this is a poor effort.

Let's face it: even though we know that sex with alot of beautiful but self-destructive women, drugs of all soughts, excessive amounts of alcohol and general debauchery shouldn't be things to strive for, it can be alot of fun to read about, especially if the main character survives. But this book isn't only that, of course, because Ron Wood, someone who often happened to be at the right place at the right time, is in the thick of the mid 60's to mid 70's British rock and roll scene, until he tops everything he's done up until that point by joining the Rolling Stones (according to him, he actually could have joined several years earlier) and becomes the BFF of the legendary (for good reasons and bad) Keith Richards. Not only does he get to be a part of the greatest and most enduring rock band the world has ever known, but he can freely indulge in his side projects which include music, art and business ownership -- some more successfully than others. And Ron smiles through it all, even when he's flat broke, and makes one friend after another with a virtual who's who list of rock stars and others on both sides of the Atlantic. On stage, Ron seems like one friendly agreeable guy, and it turns out that's exactly what he is (coupled with the addictions along the way, of course).

While some other celebrity autobiographies might be better written (because a professional is brought in to do the actual writing), "Ronnie" reads just fine, and it's difficult to imagine a more interesting and colorful cast of characters. Even with his trials and tribulations, one can't help but to envy him to a certain degree.

I questioned two of his anecdotes. In the first, Wood says that his agent wanted him to meet three guys who were looking for a guitarist. As he tells the story, he was committed to another band and had to turn down Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham who then went out and recruited Jimmy Page to create Led Zeppelin. A good story -- it's just not true, because it was Page who formed the band, and recruited the other three, after the demise of The Yardbirds. The second questionable anecdote is that, according to Wood, by 1975, The Faces were on the verge of breaking up before Wood joined the Rolling Stones, mainly because Rod Stewart was looking to go solo after the success of "Maggie May." The problem with that is that "Maggie May" became a hit for Rod Stewart four years earlier, well before The Faces split up.

Despite some doubtful memories, perhaps clouded by too many years of drug and alcohol consumption, "Ronnie" is an awful lot of fun and one that any Rolling Stones fan, or just a fan of 60's British rock, will enjoy immensely. I'll have to read the Patty Boyd and Clapton books now.

I bought this book mostly because I wanted to read stories about Ron's days with The Faces. I saw them play many times and they were one of my favorite live bands back in the late 70's.

I'm sure that Ron Wood's story is interesting and compelling on many levels, but this book is a waste. Disorganized doesn't begin to cover how haphazardly this book is assembled. It doesn't work as history, it doesn't work as adventure, and it barely works as biography. It works best as an exercise in cluelessness, as Ron doesn't seem to have any idea how screwed up he sounds. One minute he's writing about how spectacularly broke he is, then within two sentences he's talking about flying off for a tropical vacation somewhere. Supposedly earthshattering events in his life are covered in one sentence (the deaths of loved ones is used to justify more drugs and booze). Having to take his wife to the hospital when she went into labor is literally an interruption to his partying. His chapter about drug treatment reveals no insight at all. We learn little about Stone's tours other than that each one was the best ever. Ron, your own words make you sound incredibly stupid. A train wreck from start to finish.

There are a lot of rock bios and autobios on the bookshelves these days, and they vary in terms of honesty, depth, quality of writing and of course the general attractiveness of the underlying personalities. Ron Wood's new autobiography must stand as among the very best, a hugely entertaining story about one of rock's true originals, engagingly told, without the kind of bombast or self inflation so typical of rockers (think Gene Simmons).

Wood has been part of British rock since the very beginning, and he knows or knew essentially every musician of importance and plenty of no importance along the way. The book will give you plenty to chew on regarding his time with Jeff Beck, the legendary Faces, and of course the Stones, but it isn't all just music. Wood is at heart clearly a loving family man, and he speaks movingly about his wives, children, his parents, in an utterly human and warm way. His troubles in business, his judgement on managers, his epic involvement with drugs and alcohol, various brushes with the law, and notes on side projects, tours, solo albums, you name it, are all addressed seemingly frankly and without any attempt to settle scores, grind axes, or elicit pity or envy. The man is simply utterly charming, funny, quirky and endearing throughout.

There are innumerable anecdotes, vignettes, and asides about life with some of rock's more volatile and, um, interesting personalities; about what it feels like to freebase cocaine; about drug dealers hovering around the Stones; and about millions squandered and millions made; even his kids. Episodes glossed over elsewhere (the Margaret Trudeau affair, the New Barbarians tour, drug bust in St Maarten, the death of John Belushi, etc) are all here somewhere. All of it is told with good humor in Wood's voice, illustrated with his own sketches of places and people, and a generous amount of color photos you've never seen before.

If you have the slightest interest in Wood, the Faces or the Stones, you will absolutely treasure this book.

When I started reading RONNIE the only thing I knew about Ronnie Wood was that he played with the Rolling Stones, and I know little about the Stones, so it was fun to challenge Wood to "convince me" he has anything worthwhile to say. Did he convince me? Yes, for the most part. Why?

* Who wouldn't want to learn more about someone whose father was part of a 24-piece harmonica band?

* His descriptions of his drug and alcohol use made me nauseous, so I guess he knows what he's talking about. Note: He says his family has always come first. I don't believe him. It might come first now, but it's unlikely it did when he used to go on several-day binges.

* He provided all illustrations, handwritten headings and quotes, and most of the photos for the book--all beautiful additions. He's a visual artist who took this book seriously.

* He has a lovely understated sense of humor. For example, "One of the benefits of sobriety is how it illuminates the qualities of the incredible people around me. Look at Keith. For the first time in a long time, I really take in what Keith's got to say. Although there are a few pins in his head, there's also a great brain, filled with history and humour. And now I don't forget what he tells me."

* He "thinks" about music. "Right from the Brian Jones days, the Stones always had a very unique style that's built around a kind of delay where Keith plays something on the guitar, Charlie follows on the drums and Bill is slightly behind on the bass. When Brian was playing with them he'd be somewhere in the middle. It combined to create a kind of chugging effect....It takes a lot of concentration because there's a lot of push and pull, but we can surprise each other ...." (Could this push and pull summarize his life?)

It's tough to condense a life into 358 pages; you end up abridging topics that could easily stand alone in separate books. (That's the problem with most autobiographies.) Wood abridges a lot, but that doesn't mean what he wrote wasn't interesting, because it was. He writes about his boyhood, his musical career and the influences on it, his life of "sex, drugs ...", his marriages, his voyages into art, and sobriety...; but I wanted him to go deeper, to be more introspective. He attempts introspection in the last chapter, when he reflects on the writing process, but by then it's too late. Perhaps if he'd started by writing this chapter first?

Ronnie Wood and Stones fans should enjoy this book, as well as readers interested in some behind-the-scenes looks at the life of a rock musician.