Stanley Booth, a member of the Rolling Stones’ inner circle, met the band just a few months before Brian Jones drowned in a swimming pool in 1968. He lived with them throughout their 1969 American tour, staying up all night together listening to blues, talking about music, ingesting drugs, and consorting with groupies. His thrilling account culminates with their final concert at Altamont Speedway—a nightmare of beating, stabbing, and killing that would signal the end of a generation’s dreams of peace and freedom. But while this book renders in fine detail the entire history of the Stones, paying special attention to the tragedy of Brian Jones, it is about much more than a writer and a rock band. It has been called—by Harold Brodkey and Robert Stone, among others—the best book ever written about the sixties. In Booth’s new afterword, he finally explains why it took him 15 years to write the book, relating an astonishing story of drugs, jails, and disasters.
The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones
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Editorial Reviews
Review
If you buy one book on the Rolling Stones, you'd be a fool if this wasn't it. -- Fat City
From the Inside Flap
This book has won acclaim nationwide as a masterpiece not only of rock journalism but of harrowing social history as well. Onstage and off, the Stones are portrayed up-close and the music, talk, drugs and sex are all captured in detail.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
52 of 53 people found the following review helpful
By Shannon
Format:Paperback
Okay, I am a huge fan of classic rock and punk music and I have a great time searching for new rock biographies, histories and memoirs to read. The Stones are one of the three bands I consider to be the "holy trinity" of British rock music (along with the Beatles and the Clash) and, after collecting 41 different albums of their music (yeegads!) I picked up a copy of this book, simply because I had heard it was good from another Stones fan.
What an understatement that turned out to be. "The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones" is not only the best book on rock 'n' roll I have yet read, and there have been many, it is also one of my top five books. Ever. As another reviewer already already stated, this book is many different things rolled into one. It is a deeply interesting document of the Stones' 1969 American tour (which included both Altamont and the recording of 'Get Yer Ya-Yas Out!' at Madison Square Garden). It is also a precise history of the band up to the point of its writing, a dreary and drug-soaked eulogy for the '60s and a deeply personal journal from the pen of Stanley Booth.
There isn't really anything else like this book. Unlike many rock biographers, Booth did not base his book on sketchy interviews and the "facts" presented in other people's books. He traveled with the Stones on the '69 tour and writes the story from his own point of view. This creates a very interesting situation for the reader because you get to see the Stones' world from Booth's eyes: as an outsider looking in. Each one of the Stones are captured beautifully through dialog and actions that Booth witnessed. You get to see everything from Keith's wry sense of humor to Mick's complexities as he tries to befriend Booth and keep him at arm's length all at once.
I can't stress to you how much you need to read this book if you are a Stones fan. As I read it, I was constantly stopping to admire the incredible writing of Stanley Booth. When you read this book, you will get to know him just as well as you get to know the Stones. With so many rock biographies written by hacks with no clue, "The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones" is a diamond in the rough. Buy it.
What an understatement that turned out to be. "The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones" is not only the best book on rock 'n' roll I have yet read, and there have been many, it is also one of my top five books. Ever. As another reviewer already already stated, this book is many different things rolled into one. It is a deeply interesting document of the Stones' 1969 American tour (which included both Altamont and the recording of 'Get Yer Ya-Yas Out!' at Madison Square Garden). It is also a precise history of the band up to the point of its writing, a dreary and drug-soaked eulogy for the '60s and a deeply personal journal from the pen of Stanley Booth.
There isn't really anything else like this book. Unlike many rock biographers, Booth did not base his book on sketchy interviews and the "facts" presented in other people's books. He traveled with the Stones on the '69 tour and writes the story from his own point of view. This creates a very interesting situation for the reader because you get to see the Stones' world from Booth's eyes: as an outsider looking in. Each one of the Stones are captured beautifully through dialog and actions that Booth witnessed. You get to see everything from Keith's wry sense of humor to Mick's complexities as he tries to befriend Booth and keep him at arm's length all at once.
I can't stress to you how much you need to read this book if you are a Stones fan. As I read it, I was constantly stopping to admire the incredible writing of Stanley Booth. When you read this book, you will get to know him just as well as you get to know the Stones. With so many rock biographies written by hacks with no clue, "The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones" is a diamond in the rough. Buy it.
28 of 29 people found the following review helpful
By "ionadh"
Format:Paperback
Talk about a masterpiece; this is one! Stanley Booth was a struggling rock journalist who managed, through persistent effort and good timing, to land a regular slot on the 1969 "Let It Bleed" tour of the Rolling Stones across these United States. What was supposed to be a simple, intelligent chronicle of a rock band's work became a chilling time capsule of the end of an era, and possibly, of a dream as well, when the band's disastrous appearance at the Altamont concert rang down the curtain on the Sixties hippie dream of world peace and brotherhood. This is not just a book detailing the Stones' many misadventures with the law, with drugs, with reckless groupies and sycophants and promoters, as you might expect; nor it is simply a grisly blow-by-blow of the tragic events of that December night in the northern California wilderness, when a vicious pack of Hells' Angels stabbed a young concertgoer to death, literally a few feet from where Mick Jagger sang "Gimme Shelter" and "Sympathy for the Devil" as Keith Richards and the other Stones churned out those classic songs behind him. You will find those contents in here, but they are only a fraction of the treasures this book contains. (Booth freely admits that his womanizing during this tour cost him his marriage, and he is as unsparing in his critiques of the Stones, whom he truly loves, as he is towards his own failings.) You can almost see, hear, feel the chaos, the majesty, the confusion, and the power of the events he's describing; each character comes wonderfully to life, through his use of interwoven, somewhat kaleidoscopic scene changes, flashbacks and flash-forwards, stream of consciousness and grimly bare-boned narrative. Brilliant, hilarious, loathsome, mesmerizing, harrowing, glorious...many such adjectives could apply to the events and personalities depicted in this epic book of rock excess and human misadventure. I'd like to write another review, just so I could give it five more reviews - it's that good!
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful
By Bryan Moore
Format:Paperback
I read this book well over ten years ago, and while it is not fresh on my mind, I can say with certainty that it's the best rock bio (or, more accurately, rock group's history) I've ever read. From the formatioin of the Stones to Brian Jones's death to the horror of Altamont, this book is completely engrossing and satisfying. But it isn't merely a biography or a fan's droolings; Booth has a great sense of sanity among all the insanity, and he is appreciative and critical at various points. Booth's persona is, I think, honest and even amiable. I consulted amazon.com to try and order it; while I'm not completely surprised to find that it's out of print, I'm saddened by the fact. I wish some publisher would lift it out of oblivion.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Don't waste your time
Unless you have some to waste and like reading about the Stones, which I did when I picked this rambling, narcissistic account up. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mark
5.0 out of 5 stars
Takes you into the heart of a Rolling Stones tour during the glory...
I've read just about every decent book covering the '60s/early '70s era Rolling Stones, from Bill Wyman's comprehensive coffee table scrap book and Keith Richard's fascinating... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Svlad Cjelli
4.0 out of 5 stars
Odd writing style but good read
The writing style was a bit odd, and the chronology jumped around a bit but you get used to it, the author was trying to tell a few different stories and wove them together, the... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Chris G
2.0 out of 5 stars
Did not enjoy this book
Was looking forward to reading this because I thoroughly enjoyed reading "Life" by Keith Richards! I thought this book was very boring and did not appreciate the authors style of... Read more
Published 8 months ago by mindyjo
1.0 out of 5 stars
Confused
I don't get it???? It may be me but Booth seems to be pretty "high" himself when he wrote this. There are pages of what the and who the hell is he talking about and with??? Read more
Published 8 months ago by GgV
1.0 out of 5 stars
Just rubbish
Almost impossible to read, each page was an effort and then then not worth it. It took 15 years to write, I soon realised it would take just as long to read, so I gave up. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Drummer Boy
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sets the standard
Exquisite in every sense of the word. The best possible perspective, from a guy who gets to hang out with the Stones at a most pivotal time. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Edvis
2.0 out of 5 stars
A very arrogant & unlikeable author.
It's extremely annoying to read a book that you think is going to be about a subject, then after investing your time to it, you realize that it's all for the purpose of a... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Bt
4.0 out of 5 stars
This Ain't The Summer of Love....
"True Adventures" is a classic account of the end of the Sixties rock scene and the prime of the Rolling Stones. Read more
Published on May 20, 2011 by JEP
1.0 out of 5 stars
ramblings of junked up pseud
I bought this book to understand more about one of the greatest Rock and Roll bands ever. What did I get instead? the incoherant ramblings of a a junked up pseud. Read more
Published on May 17, 2011 by stevem
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