The Rolling Stones

Keith Richards - The Origin of the Species
Affable hour with Keith himself relating his youth, from birth to meeting Mick Jagger, so somewhat for completists, or those who hadn't read his autobiography. Might as well have passed for social commentary rather than insightful musical analysis, though the latter part saw Keith considering how art school produced more musicians than it did artists (or advertising men), such as him. He was drawn to the guitar from a young age, and soaked up the musical world. Always a good value memoirist.

World's Greatest Albums: The Rolling Stones: Big Hits - High Tide And Green Grass
A clearly American-leaning compilation from Nov 1966, with the usual stuff about Brian being a virtuoso (!), the writing skills of Mick and Keith, choice of cover versions, and oddities like 'As Tears Go By' and 'Lady Jane'.

The Ronnie Wood Show: Bobby Gillespie
Ronnie recalled being present when Mick Taylor told Mick Jagger that he was leaving the Stones, and Jagger asking Ronnie what to do. Ronnie offered to help out if needed. And he still is. Bobby spoke fondly of John Lydon, of working with the Jesus and Mary Chain, and Ike & Tina Turner, whilst they shared views on Jerry Lee Lewis.

All You Need Is Love: All Along The Watchtower
Episode 15 looked at the way the 60s panned out, from Woodstock being an advertisement for a movement, to the disaster at Altamont. West London became a hotbed for R&B. The Beatles closed the Apple building and then split. Animals' singer Eric Burdon claimed that Hendrix must have killed himself. The death of Brian Jones was instantly reflected in the Stones' gig at Hyde Park, whilst their return to North America was a money-spinning operation. Perhaps the stand-out quote was "we'll be paying for the Sixties for decades to come", which seems to have been overtaken by events. Bill Wyman, Paul McCartney, Frank Zappa and Brian Epstein's brother Clive were amongst the contributors.

The Stones, by Philip Norman
This "acclaimed biography" as it calls itself would be better billed as a "3rd edition" because its compelling thoroughness stops around the mid-70s, with cursory catch-up chapters on the 80s, 90s and 00s. Since Brian Jones doesn't snuff it until about 70% of the way through, that might give you some idea that bar some stuff on their 70s travails, the meat of the story is effectively over. Norman does at least nail most myths (unless you persist in believing them, in which case...) as myths.

They've got a new-ish album coming soon:

Blue and Lonesome

But rather than original material, they're doing a selection of old blues covers, suggesting that "Full Circle" might have been a better title. According to regular producer Don Was, they were planning on working on new material, but hit a wall after about 3 days. Keith suggested a cover of "Blue and Lonesome" and the band tore through an album full of material in a matter of days.

Managed to miss wishing former Stone Bill Wyman a happy birthday on his 80th yesterday

Ole Ole Ole - A Trip Across Latin America
Concerning their tour from earlier in this year, as they performed gigs in Chile, Argentina (where the Rolingas dwell), Uruguay, Brazil, Peru, Mexico and finally Cuba. Whilst the forward narrative concerned the tour, with some side-steps of reminiscence, the sub-plot concerned the planning for their first gig in Cuba, which became delayed at the last minute when US President Obama decided to visit the day before. The delay moved them to Good Friday, to the chagrin of the Pope. But it went ahead, and was a triumph, unsurprisingly.

The Blue & Lonesome album is out Friday.

It's only seems like 5 minutes since Mick was mourning his beloved. Now he's the father of his new squeeze's baby!

Blue & Lonesome has become their first #1 LP in 23 years, so all the publicity did pay off.

misery guts wrote:It's only seems like 5 minutes since Mick was mourning his beloved. Now he's the father of his new squeeze's baby!

The baby has a typically modest name:

Deveraux Octavian Basil Jagger

The Rolling Stones - Totally Stripped
A 2016 doc put together from footage in 1995. Apparently, at that time, they followed the Voodoo Lounge album & tour by playing some stripped back sets in a few places, and here were rehearsals in Tokyo, and gig footage from Amsterdam, Paris and Brixton Academy, London. Plus other chatting footage from Mick & Keith, producer Don Was and other band members, and in Paris, Monsieur Jack Nicholson (cue Jumping Jack Flash). The idea was supposedly to play some of the lesser recalled numbers which they don't tend to have to play by obligation, but there was still plenty of familiar efforts too.

Anita Pallenberg has died at the age of 73

In 1965 Pallenberg attended a Rolling Stones concert and managed to get backstage, where she met the band. It would lead to a relationship with Stones guitarist Brian Jones, which Pallenberg said soon turned violent. She left Jones for Keith Richards, and the pair settled in London, where they would have three children. The pair struggled with drug abuse and would later separate in 1980.
During her time with the Stones, Pallenberg became a muse for the band. She provided backing vocals for Sympathy for the Devil and Mick Jagger was said to have remixed tracks on the band’s 1968 album Beggars Banquet based on her feedback. Pallenberg and Jagger would later star together in Nicolas Roeg’s 1970 crime drama Performance.

RIP

Rock N Roll Guns For Hire - The Story of the Sidemen
Earl Slick presented this, having worked on & off with David Bowie since 1974. The sidemen (and women) gave an added lift usually in the live arena, but sometimes in the studio as well. Slick understood his status, and how precarious it might be if he wasn't needed. Bernard Fowler has been helping the Rolling Stones with vocals since the mid-80s, and they all spoke highly of him, but he still felt the itch to be a proper lead singer in his own right. Crystal Taliefero was proud of working for Billy Joel, and he spoke highly of her too. Wendy & Lisa enjoyed being part of Prince's Revolution, but felt he could have been more honest in giving them credit. Their solo career didn't take off due to industry sexism. Perhaps the most content of all was Steve Cropper, who worked with Booker T and Otis Redding during the heyday of Stax. Slick summarised by saying that the age of the side-players seems to be coming to an end.

Conspiracy: Drugs, Punk, Pop & Death
A fun little hour from 2015 looking into 4 notorious cases which might have had more to them than is often said. The first was about the time that the Rolling Stones were busted for drugs - was it an FBI plot to stop them getting US visas? It seemed that it backfired and Jagger and Richards were soon off the hook, and the story of Marianne Faithfull's Mars Bar merely enhanced their myth.
Next was the idea that the Sex Pistols were cheated of being #1 during Jubilee week in the summer of 1977. A chap from Radio 1 denied it could have been their work, if it happened. It had the most plausibility on this show.
Next a new one to me, that Eddie and the Hot Rods saw their promising career nosedive because Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page put a black magic curse on them for mocking Aleister Crowley. Unsurprisingly, this got very short shrift, but at least some of the original band are still around and playing "Do Anything You Wanna Do".
Finally, did Jim Morrison die in his Parisian bath-tub, or did he have a misadventure with heroin in a nightclub and get moved to the bath-tub to disguise this fate? It's well-known that there's no way to prove this one as his body was disposed of very quickly, and his girlfriend Pamela was a junkie and unreliable. Might as well argue that aliens got him.

They're returning to the UK for 5 tour dates, their first proper tour here since 2006:

No Filter

The band last played the UK five years ago, with headline performances at Glastonbury and the BST Festival, but they haven't toured here for 12 years.

This could be the last time etc

Celebrity Damage Control: Keith Richards
Somewhat dreary series simply retreading old gossip about drugs and run-ins with the cops, in England and in Canada.

Whistle Test Special: It's Only Rock and Roll
David Hepworth interviews Mick Jagger about his new solo album She's The Boss, this being 1985. Mick's in good form, denying any friction with the rest of the Stones, almost suggesting CBS put him up to doing a solo record, being fond of doing videos, working with Julian Temple on them. He doesn't like gratuitous violence, but names Sid Vicious singing My Way as one he loved. He enjoys his film roles, but hates pretension and the way 50s songs lacked content, unlike the music of Cole Porter or Bob Dylan. He claims to have written part of an autobiography, but only plans 18 months ahead. Repeats like this are usually fascinating.

Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers - Live at the Fonda Theatre
A 2015 tour involving playing their legendary album in sequence, including many tracks they've not really played since the recording sessions, but others like Wild Horses and Brown Sugar have endured rather more. They did an encore of a tribute to BB King, and Jumpin' Jack Flash too. There was some back stage chatter from all 4 key Stones about the project, sometimes amusingly pre-empting what each other would say.

Going A Bundle - Evening News
An edition from a 1976 series looking at how things are made, in this case a newspaper, presented by Harry Flower and James Villiers. But! Here Bill Wyman is interviewed at Kew Gardens about flower-growing, and he gets mentions of 2nd solo LP having been on sale for a few months, and the Stones set to tour Europe and England in the coming months. He gets the headline "everything is coming up roses for Bill" on the finished article. An amusing curio.

Marianne Faithfull
A new French-backed (!) doc on the singer who flew very close to the Stones flame. Mick & Keith wrote As Tears Go By, which started her ball rolling, and she spent 2 years with Mick. She was upset over the death of Brian Jones, and nearly fell pregnant to Mick, ultimately leaving him because she feared for her life (or sanity) if she stayed. She went on to survive through some tough times, and became an undesirable alien to the USA.

They've been forced to postpone tour dates because Mick is ill. They expect him to make a good recovery soon, and the dates will be rescheduled, but in the meantime, they just watch and wait.

misery guts wrote:They've been forced to postpone tour dates because Mick is ill. They expect him to make a good recovery soon, and the dates will be rescheduled, but in the meantime, they just watch and wait.

He's already on the mend, tweeting to that effect.

The tour dates have been rearranged, and Mick has done a nice clip with him dancing to show he's back and firing on all cylinders.