Keith Richards has been speaking exclusively to Xfm about the making of The Stones’ legendary album, ‘Exile On Main Street’. In an interview to be broadcast in full on Saturday night’s Rock Show, Richards told Xfm’s Ian Camfield about the sweaty conditions in Nellcote, a French mansion which he’d hired to record the album.

“It was hard work down there”, said the legendary six-stringer. “It was a bit like stoking the boilers. It was the height of the summer in the south of France and it did get pretty sticky down there, it had a dust floor. It was kind of Hitleresque”.

Hear the interview in full from 10pm, Saturday (May 8).

[www.xfm.co.uk]

How recently this was recorded is anybody's guess - it clearly isn't live - and it sounds like a few other interviews we've seen or heard lately.

thanks for the heads up, Green Lady

[delicate bump]

So is this on in 15 minutes?

JumpingKentFlash

PM = night, Kent. 22:00 BST.

So that would be 23:00 GST german summer time...

unfortunately...

Listening outside the UK.
It looks like you're trying to listen to our radio station from outside the UK. Unfortunately, due to music-licensing laws, we aren't permitted to allow non-UK users to listen to our stations online.
However, if we've got this wrong and you are listening from within the UK, simply enter your postcode below and we'll get you started.


I hope someone inside the UK will record it?

>> I hope someone inside the UK will record it? <<

i second that hope!

Quote
open-g
So that would be 23:00 GST german summer time...

unfortunately...

Listening outside the UK.
It looks like you're trying to listen to our radio station from outside the UK. Unfortunately, due to music-licensing laws, we aren't permitted to allow non-UK users to listen to our stations online.
However, if we've got this wrong and you are listening from within the UK, simply enter your postcode below and we'll get you started.

So, you can enter a UK postcode, like this one : WC1E 7HY
And it works

>> And it works <<

good to know, Massimo68 - thanks [passing popcorn]

And I'll definitely lend an ear to that radio show tonight. Just logged in, with the West Wittering post code of PO 2 08, and that works, too.
(Redlands is in West Wittering...)

So? Is this happening now? Is anyone listening to it? What does Big K have to say? Does he still think MT didn't play any overdubs?

won't work from west coast usa. dang.

Happy is playing now. Next up KEITH ! don't have the ability to record.

It sounds like a telephone interview. He sounds really lucid.

He's talking about the recording in the heat of the south of france and guitars been out of tune .
OMG he seems to be comparing the recording process of Exile with ABB.

No plans to play it live,but he has heard "rumours" on his "radar".

Keith laughed at the comment that Mick's voice was too low in the mix.

"lead singers always say that......that's why you shouldn't let them do the mixing"

Playing ADTL now

whoa - just tuned in. keith is sounding veeeery good!! and looking forward to hearing what other people think about his autobiography. said it was weird thinking about himself for a year and a half.

oh, its' finished - hope some kind soul may have recorded this.

What about the overdubs????????

Talking briefly about his book. He's spent about 18 months on it.

Playing a Dirty Strangers track with Keith on piano.

That's it ! goodnight.

sc uk

PS he never mentioned the Extra tracks or Mick Taylor

sc uk

Hi people,

you can find a recording of the interview here:

[www.megaupload.com]

nice link....thx!...maybe it's me...but KR sounded cliche and kind of...well...befuddled...

thanks for the link to download LoIA, very cool. exile plus bonus material coming out, keith on xfm, stones week on jimmy fallon, new stones website coming, tour or no tour ever again, i'm getting fired up! time to crank up some stones!

Thanks LolA for the link, interesting to hear Keith talking about where to take the band to record in the future ( interesting to see if this happens).Also talking about his book- still 5 months away, but I cant wait to get it and see what he remembers!

Thanks for the information and the upload
CrazyMama

Quote
LolA
Hi people,
you can find a recording of the interview here:
[www.megaupload.com]

thank you kindly!

Thank you very much for it! Just uploaded and listening) Nice to hear Keith...does not sound old or ill or something, quite the opposite, that`s great!

Thanks for the running commentary straycatuk and beast, and LolA for posting the link to the interview.

Here's some more summary/transcription for anyone who hasn't heard or downloaded the interview.

________________________________

interview begins in mid-question...mobile recording

Interviewer: ---live sound on an album. With that in mind, would you consider maybe recording an album using a mobile studio in the future?

Keith: Well, yeah, I'd consider anything. In fact, ABB was pretty much recorded in, all in the same room. You know what I mean? the machinery and Don Was and--we were all in the same room. So, recording and the ways to record, keep changing--you just gotta keep up. I mean, I remember the first record was recorded on a 2-track Grundig!


polish vs rawness - rock AND roll
interviewer: Now, Jimmy Miller always said that the guitar in "Happy" is slightly out of tune, but that's what gives the tune its drive. While we're talking about this kind of way of recording, do you think that in modern-day technology, with everything being digital and stuff like that, a lot of the modern-day RnR bands lose that kind of essence of RnR that you captured back then?

Keith: Yeah. I think basically...you said it right there. Every now and again things tend to get too sophisticated. And in actual fact, RnR is not a particularly sophisticated-sounding music. And it shouldn't sound too smooth. And it should sound just very spontaneous. That's what I call...that's the "roll" end, yknow? The rock end is when you get everything--This rock, That rock. But it's the roll...you should always remember to retain the roll.

Interviewer: And that's kind of some of the charm of the album. The fact that on the track that's got your lead vocal on it, it's not perfectly in tune. But it's still to this day, it sounds like a timeless piece of music.

Keith: Well, even Segovia played out of tune now and again.

<Rocks Off interlude>


All-Exile Concert?
Interviewer: Now talking of the live kind of element of Exile, and the way you captured that, was it ever discussed within the ranks of the Stones that maybe it would be an idea to play the whole album in its entirety live for an event or some kind of tour or something?

Keith: I have heard that sort of rumor being passed around. But on my radar, at the moment, it's in the rumor area. But I have heard the idea being y'know mentioned in passing -- which means where there's smoke there's fire, yknow?

Interviewer: But it's kinda surprising that it's something you didn't discuss at any point in the past when you were touring, that you might do an Exile show maybe.

Keith: I think yknow the actual concept, that actual idea, has occurred--a few years back--but so far, we haven't taken it by the horns, so...


Exile....Grower rather than a Shower
Interviewer: The original reviews of Exile weren't complimentary, overall. And then--soon after that--the same writers reevaluated the album. Now loads of writers say it's your best. What's your take on that situation--from the original critique to the re-evaluation and everything else? what do you think of that?

Keith: I think it's very funny. I mean, I knew it was a "grower" yknow? (chuckling) I knew the thing would take a while for the thing to digest. And it's taken about 40 years, I think.

(laughter)

Interviewer: And now it's at the peak of its powers?

Keith: Yeah, it's amazing.

Interviewer: So when you read those initial reviews--having put all that work in--were you not fazed by them, even back then, in the early 70s? Were you like: "You guys are wrong, and you'll come round to this eventually"?

Keith: Basically, I think that was our attitude. We knew that digesting a double album is always a bit of a chore. And people get different takes on it, yknow? So, we weren't expecting fantastic reviews to start with. But at the same time we all felt that, yknow, "Hey, this gonna creep up on 'em -- this one is just gonna keep growing."


<Shine A Light interlude>


Gram
Interviewer: Let's talk a bit about Gram Parsons...cuz he was meant to have been around a lot during the making of the album. You can hear the country elements that are on Exile on Main Street. And I know he influenced you greatly, in that respect. But apparently he doesn't actually play on the album. Is that right?

Keith: No, that's right. No, he didn't, he didn't wanna...get mixed up or involved in it at all. He said 'This is your gig, your thing.' And he wouldn't be drawn.

Interviewer: OK. Did that have anything to do with yknow Mick's kind of feeling on letting him in, and playing on the album, at all?

Keith: I should think think there's a possibility that Gram sensed something like that, and--being the gentleman that he is: he pulled out.


Mick goes to eleven...
Interviewer: Now Mick has always said that his feeling on the album is that it's good...but it's not as great as other people say. And one of his criticisms is his voice is too low in the mix. Did you hear that when...yknow with end product?

Keith: Yes, I've heard this (laughter). You know how many times I've heard this? Look--lead vocalists' voices are never loud enough (laughter). And that's why you should never let them mix albums. Yeah.

Writing with Mick
Interviewer: One thing I think Exile really benefited from, though, is you know, you and Mick sort of sitting down together, and being creative in the same room. Is it fair to say that after Exile, up until ABB, the kind of working dynamic changed--whereby you didn't work on songs within the same 4 walls--and there was a lot of stuff done separately?

Keith: Yeah, I mean, after Exile we were truly exiles, and of course we all started to live further and further apart. When up til that point Mick and I had been pretty much yknow just 'round the corner. And so we soon had to develop this other way of writing--which you kind of got used to. Which is like...writing a buncha songs and then...gettin' together. But with ABB, that was very much similar to Exile, in that respect. We were all living in the same joint and recorded it and Mick [inaudible]

Interviewer: Do you think those albums benefit from that? With hindsight--if you look at the massive body of work that you've put together--that your favorite albums are the ones where it was you two, kinda together in the same room?

Keith: Yeah. I believe so. I think the Stones...the Stones kind of work better outside of the studio, if they can. Studio is always a little sterile (to describe it). And they seem to work well when you sort of throw them in the weirdest positions. So, I don't know where I'll put 'em next. [laughter]

Interviewer: Taking about things coming next...I read a rumor (and of course there's loads of Keith Richards' rumors) but, in terms of being creative, is it true that you still keep a tape recorder by the bed, just in case ideas come in the night?

Keith: Up until recently I did. But I dunno, I lost the habit. But the guitar is still there.

Interviewer: So you can always pick that up if any inspiration hits.

Keith: Yeah. I can trust my memory.

<Tumbling Dice interlude>


The Good Book
Interviewer: One more thing. I know we're gonna be talking about this further down the line. But the book is coming in October. Is this true?

Keith: Yeah. It's true.

Interviewer: Just tell me a bit about the book. Is this a no-holds-barred Keith Richards autobiography? I mean, we've waited a long time for the official thing from you.

Keith: Yeah, I can't really tell you too much about it....otherwise you won't go out and read it. It's coming--it's sort of finished. I've been working with James Fox, a great writer who wrote White Mischief, amongst other things, and we've been working a couple of years on it now. But it's finished. And I'm just waitin' to see what other people will think. It's kinda weird spending a year and a half thinking about yourself all the time.

Interviewer: Are you almost more apprehensive about putting out this book than you would be putting out an album, because you're so familiar with releasing music, but this is kind of a different experience for you?

Keith: Well. it is a different experience, but then...so is making movies. I kinda look forward to it, in a way. I'm interested in what other people will think. It's just the story, as-is.

<All Down the Line interlude>

Wrap-up
Interviewer: The legendary Keith Richards on XFM radio! Pleasure to talk to him. The new Exile on Main Street out a week from Monday. There are various different package versions you can get.... [etc]

- swiss



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-05-10 00:23 by swiss.

Thank you very much swiss!

You got the Sun, You got the Moon,
and you've got
The Rolling Stones