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MathijsQuote
71Tele
Mathjis, I've played guitar for 35 years and am very familiar with both the Stones' and Berry's canon. As with many things which seem simple (such as Keith's own open-G playing), it is easy to grasp the surface technical part. But there are nuances in Berry's playing that even as a pro I still don't get. Part of it had to do with his mammoth-sized hands, but there are subleties to the double-stop stuff he does that not even Keith got accurately. Yes, any mediocre bar mitzvah and wedding band guitar player can play a reasonable "Johnny B Goode", but Berry's was a master and only a few have really "got" him.
We're both saying the same thing, I totally agree. It's what I meant with the intro of Little Queenie -first grade guitar school stuff, but impossible to replicate by mere mortals like us.
Check out the first two videos in this thread -the guy has all the technicalities spot on, but in the end he totally misses the mark with his sound and his dead-on timing.
My point with Richards with Costello is: it sounds like Keith hasn't touched a guitar in four years, and has lost his sense of rhythm completely. I personally don't mind, as I am not waiting for a 2012 tour at all. But for the people and press waiting for this to happen, I think the last two public outings of Richards is just plain bad news.
Mathijs
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CarnabyQuote
Happy24
Can it get any better? He has other Berry covers and also some great covers of The Stones
Try this, I think you'll like it better-
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Mathijs
...I am not waiting for a 2012 tour at all. But for the people and press waiting for this to happen, I think the last two public outings of Richards is just plain bad news.
Mathijs
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stonesdan60
No point in arguing but I'm home, bored and so I will anyway. You've got to be kidding. I just listened again to She Was Hot from SAL just to give you the benefit of the doubt. No way is Keith "lost." He moves through every chord change perectly and his licks fit the song. His solo is perfect. His melodic lines in the chorus are right in key and blend with Wood just right. Maybe a different version of SAL was released where I live.
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StonesTod
i dabble in medical and neurological matters as a hobby and i can without hestitation tell you with 100% confidence that keith stunk at the beacon. this is my expert/hobby medical opinion, remember.
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71TeleQuote
StonesTod
i dabble in medical and neurological matters as a hobby and i can without hestitation tell you with 100% confidence that keith stunk at the beacon. this is my expert/hobby medical opinion, remember.
So should we call you "Dr. StonesTod"? Were you at the Beacon?
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StonesTod
good post justin. but you don't need to be a musician to draw that conclusion. and i also disagree that the head injury prompted his decline (it may have exacerbated it), which became first noticeable on the licks tour...it was a precipitous decline for a man who was in full control of his chops just 3 years earlier....
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carlitosbaez
The whole video of the ceremony is here, at the Dirty Rock Youtube Channel beside three videos posted here, enjoy!!!
[www.youtube.com]
Carlitos Tenerife
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Justin
Yeah the NS tour was overall really fantastic but I sensed a dip on the second leg of the B2B tour...European/Asian shows.
When the NS tour came around I saw the onset of the "slacking off" and it came through again during the newer songs like "Some Girls" "Just My Imagination" and especially "Moonlight Mile." He whips through "Some Girls" with some beefy leads but absolutley no chords.
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barbabangQuote
Justin
Yeah the NS tour was overall really fantastic but I sensed a dip on the second leg of the B2B tour...European/Asian shows.
When the NS tour came around I saw the onset of the "slacking off" and it came through again during the newer songs like "Some Girls" "Just My Imagination" and especially "Moonlight Mile." He whips through "Some Girls" with some beefy leads but absolutley no chords.
Yep.
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barbabang
last really great live moment for me was I'm Ready which he played somewhere in 2004?
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Justin
It was a perfect storm really. We really must add the backup musicians to the mix. I'm not blaming them for anything but honestly, I totally get Keith's willingness to throw his feet up and relax when he has Blondie on guitar, Daryl holding a bass line purely on root changes and Chuck playing the keyboard on the mid-range of the piano. Someone here once pointed out wisely that it's that middle area that Chuck plays in that is equally similar to the level of a guitar---that middle octave. Playing them both simultanously--they blend so wonderfully together, they almost act as padding for each other. You get Chuck to play in the higher keys...an octave higher..that leaves Keith hanging out to dry. If he knows the chords--great! No problem. If he doesn't...he's dropping clunkers everywhere and it'll be noticed. So because Chuck is a nice guy he may have realized "Oh crap, Keith is slagging off. I gotta try my best to cover his ass..." this started enabling Keith. But now it's at a point of no return. Keith has gotten used to the fact that the overall sound of the band will not suffer if he doesn't play his guitar...it will go on without him. It's a perfect storm to just say "Damn my fingers are killing me. Ah screw it these guys got it...I could breeze through this..." And that's basically what's happened.
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jamesfdouglas
I'm reading the comments here after both hearing the soundcloud file and watching the youtube. All I have to say is wow - many of you are hardcore apologists!
If that sad video from a few days ago didn't convince me that Keith likely may not be able to pull off a show - yeah I said "a show" not 'tour (FORGET that!!!), then this seals it shut for me.
That's not to say they won't do it, but I sure as hell don't think they should, and I'm not paying any cash for a ticket that would break my heart even further.
I'm not surprised at all the excuses that people are throwing around.
"Oh, it's not his guitar", as a guitar player myself I can say that that's NO excuse for his 'playing' at all. I mean how many different guitars has he played in his life? And if the guitar is out of tune, how hard is it to be aware after srtumming it once???
"Oh, well the music was seemingly unrehearsed". This is not Rush, this is not Dream Theatre, this is a 3-chord Chuck Berry song for bloody's sake! It's the music that should be imprinted in Keith's DNA. Hell, he's the world's ultimate Chuck Berry tribute/plagarist!
I even read someone saying "well Elvis Costello was on vocals"... and??? what has that got to do with anything?
It shouldn't matter about the guitar. If shouldn't matter if he's rehearsed or not - he's Keith bloody Richards. If Keith is unable to even pull a simple 3-chord song based on the MOST BASIC dusty riffs that he's built his career on replicating... without sounding like a permanent rehabilitation patient... then either The Stones are done, or even more sadly, they should be done.
Too bad for the other guys, but the thought of a Stnes tour without Keith would make too many people go postal.
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StonesTodQuote
71TeleQuote
StonesTod
i dabble in medical and neurological matters as a hobby and i can without hestitation tell you with 100% confidence that keith stunk at the beacon. this is my expert/hobby medical opinion, remember.
So should we call you "Dr. StonesTod"? Were you at the Beacon?
yes i was. first show. second show i was called back into surgery at mount sinai and couldn't attend.
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JustinQuote
stonesdan60
No point in arguing but I'm home, bored and so I will anyway. You've got to be kidding. I just listened again to She Was Hot from SAL just to give you the benefit of the doubt. No way is Keith "lost." He moves through every chord change perectly and his licks fit the song. His solo is perfect. His melodic lines in the chorus are right in key and blend with Wood just right. Maybe a different version of SAL was released where I live.
Jeez, if anyone can watch SAL and come away thinking that Keith is perfectly fine--the rose colored glasses need a cleaning. I remember getting the SAL CD when it first came out and counted how many times Keith did that obnoxious "noodle" lick he likes to do and in "She Was Hot" I think he did it more than 10 times in just that song! I wanted to throw my stereo out the window. The biggest problem is that Keith has no idea of the chord changes. He either forgets or doesn't care to remember--I pick the latter. So what does he do? He noodles around in the key of the song and that will slide him by. A wrong chord containing 6 notes is a bigger blunder than one little note--that's why he avoids chords in songs they rarely play--"She Was Hot" being an example, and "Far Away Eyes" or "Undercover of The Night" or "Little T&A" and "Live With Me."
I mentioned in another thread that a lot of people on this board simply are not capable of noticing these issues. Either they don't care to notice or simply unable to notice. And yes a lot of it has to do with being a musician. To be unable to pick out these issues--leaves you in a wonderful state of false illusion. These are the same people who are begging for a new tour while rest of us are worried to hear about their next move. We can never bridge the groups together and it is what it is.
Here are the facts: age has absolutely caught up with Keith. The once invincible Keith is now at the mercy of his body and mind performing the way a 68 year old man's would. It is my personal opinion that it was his head injury that has propelled Keith to this current state. You throw in family life (and hardships) and him simply enjoying his semi-retirement brings us to where we are today. If need be, he would need a rigorous 3 week boot camp session to get back his chops to an acceptable level. And I'm not just talking about "reherasals" with the group. He would need assistance from someone to push him to learn the songs and get reacquianted with the gutiar. The problem is that when they get into reherasals...no one is pushing Keith. And before now--there was no need to. Keith was self-efficient and very independent--not to mention responsible and took his job seriously.
I'm not angry at Keith. Someone has to make these realizations and it's not just me but a few of us on this board. It's not a coincidence that we all feel this way. It's really happening and it sucks. Whether you care to notice or not...this is the reality. I'm very skeptical how a tour--no matter how long or short it would be---would pan out...it is very uncertain. All I know is I'd hate to be in Mick's shoes when it comes time to decide.
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Carnaby
Try this, I think you'll like it better-
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CBII
Our good friend Carlitos has posted the entire event on his site and I intend to watch all of it today.