I was in Barnes & NBoble today and the Stones sections was full of books can anyone offer reviews of the following (so i know what to add to my Christmas list):

1) The Stones: A History in Cartoons

2) The Rolling Stones Complete Discpgraphy, Alan Clayson

3) A Rough Guide to the Rolling Stones

4) The Rolling Stones: 365 Days, Simon Wells [this one was sealed, so i couldnt even figure out what it was about]

5) Exile on Main St., Robert Greenfield


thanks in advance, all



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-11-13 16:09 by HalfNanker.

I've read #3 and #4

A rough guide is pretty average, nothing special there.

365 days is a very fascinating photographic look at their early years. It would make a great christmas present to any stones enthusiast.

1.well it's cartoons

2.Not essential..session details are good but comments on each song are tired in places

3.Fairly good guide of Stones work...some mistakes but what the heck..

4.Some great rare shots but book spoilt by dimensions...shoulda been A4ish size

5.Have only read extracts...seems like a name dropping son of a thing that forgets about the music



ROCKMAN

I read #5 and enjoyed it. It is not about the music but more about what it was like in Nellcote in the summer of '71. If you are a fan of that period you will enjoy it but those who knock it for being kinda "tabloidish" have a fair criticism. It is not as good as his first book---STP.

the shittiest of the shit 5 about them. period.

Alan Clayson's discography is well laid out with glossy album covers etc. There are some irksome factual errors - such as the 'Rarities disc mistakes' being copied direct from the packaging. But Otherwise a nice little (expensive!) book.

Rough Guide I found to be an interesting and informative book (and I've read many) - although the author's dismission of nearly everything the band recorded after the 70s I found a little irritating.

Working on the Exile book right now. Mixed feelings, so far. Extensive details about the drug use. Nothing new there. But still interesting to hear how the songs came about. Espicially tunes like Ventilator Blues, and Casion Boogie.

>> 5) Exile on Main St., Robert Greenwood <<

Greenfield, isn't it?
or as i prefer it: Greenfiel :E
(unless he's finally stopped omitting the last letter of Keith's surname ...)

Greenfield's latest is mostly a rehash of Tony's book, but there are a few new tidbits in there like Keith Moon banging Bianca on her wedding night while Mick was singing with his guests and ignoring her.

Is that true?

365 is a lot bigger and better than I thought. There are some truly interesting unseen before shots in there. But there is a major glaring omission: the year and tour of '78 is COMPLETELY left out. Like it never existed. The photos go chronologically from a shot of Joe Jagger called "The Seed of a Stone" to the final crowd shots from Rio Copacabana and Shanghai in 06. But there I am in 77 during the Toronto bust and then next thing voila Jagger has that beard and we are talking Emotional Rescue. Some Girls, Miss You, NYC, USA Tour never happened.

"...no longer shall you trudge 'cross my peaceful mind."

Well, I just bought the Alan Clayson book (No. 2 in your list) - and I'm fairly disappointed.

The book is good for sending you back to your old Stones Cd's - in case you need any prodding ;-) but it's so full of errors - errors that even I can detect....

E.g. writing about "You don't have to mean it", he says "For the basic beat, Jagger favored a pounding tom-tom rataplan (??) as in "Peggy Sue"...." after just stating that Jagger had nothing to do with this particular song?

In cases like that it always makes me wonder about the mistakes I don't know so much about ...erros that are not as obvious....methinks the book might have benefitted from a more tight editing...

But I do like the idea of the book - and it even includes the solo albums by Mssrs. Jagger, Richards and Watts - but not Wyman and Wood or Jones??)

>> But there is a major glaring omission [in 365 Days]:
the year and tour of '78 is COMPLETELY left out. Like it never existed. <<

actually there is a nice 78 shot in there - it's (ludicrously) misidentified, but it's 78:


- 1978, courtesy of Coowouters (apparently the only credit is: Getty Images)

Speaking of, Lady sssoul - I know you like the good photos: have you been to the Getty Images site and looked for Stones in all the different subcategories?
I almost feel silly asking you this; you probably know that site inside out LOL. But justw anted to make sure. I just recently actually went to the source of many excellent shots and looked around. I realized that many other sites use this as their source.

"...no longer shall you trudge 'cross my peaceful mind."

i haven't been to the Getty site in a while, Chelsea. maybe in between tours i'll get around to it, though;
right now i'm kind of drowning in photos without particularly trying - very happily drowning, that is! but still.