The Rolling Stones Engineer Reacts to Fans Saying 'No Brian Jones, No Stones,' Talks How They Compared to Jimi Hendrix

Eddie Kramer also talked about taking a classic photo of Jimi Hendrix and Mick Jagger backstage.



During the fourth Q&A session hosted by Gibson, Eddie Kramer talked about working with The Rolling Stones.

Apart from The Stones, Eddie was involved in the production of five Led Zeppelin records, and also got to work with Jimi Hendrix on each of his three solo albums, as well as with John Mayall, Traffic, KISS, and many more.

When the interviewer asked, "I wanted to get right into [the band's late] Brian Jones [who died in July 1969 aged 27], what was your impression of Brian?", adding "There's a group of people who say, 'No Jones, No Stones,'" Kramer replied (transcribed by UG)

"God bless Brian Jones, I miss him; he was an amazing musician. He was the founder of The Stones and an incredible multi-instrumentalist.

"At the time of the sessions that we were doing, he would appear on occasion and when he was together, it was fantastic - because there was nothing the guy couldn't play.

"Piano, he could play Indian instruments, anything - there was nothing the guy couldn't play. By the way, he was a huge fan of Jimi Hendrix and a good friend.

"And many of the times he would pop into Jimi's session a little bit out of it, we would have a lot of fun, but as a musician, musician's musician, he was fantastic.

"I agree, you can't say without Brian, The Stones... The Stones are The Stones with Brian. Brian was a central figure in the creation of their music - and the founder."

Here's a question about the differences between Hendrix, [Jimmy] Page, and Keith [Richards]: did your work with The Stones on [1967's] 'Between the Buttons' inform how you recorded Hendrix on [1967's] 'Are You Experienced'?

"Hendrix was so different, and The Stones were so different... I think the work I did with Jimi was very specific to him, and how to get the sounds for his guitar, and he was incredibly efficient with having Chas Chandler there as a producer.

"The Stones, you know, this was always about getting Mick [Jagger, vocals] into the studio on time, all that kind of stuff - they would show up late...

"Jimi in the latter days would show up late, but at the beginning with The Stones, sometimes they were wonderful, coming in seven-eight o'clock at night; other times I would be sitting in the studio waiting 'til 11-12 o'clock, you know?

"In terms of the working relationship, my earliest relationship with The Stones, obviously as an assistant engineer, but once I got to work with [producer] Jimmy Miller and working on [1968's] 'Beggars Banquet,' that was a whole different story. And then, of course, the live stuff that I did with them after."

Did you feel you were making history at the time you were recording The Stones or was it just like any other sessions?

"You know, it's funny; when you're in the moment, you're doing your job, and if you don't do your job, you're out of it, so you better pay attention.

"And that's what you learn as an assistant engineer, as a junior, then a senior engineer: you pay attention to the client. The client is trying to do something, and if you can't help them, then you're not doing your gig.

"I have to tell you, the only time I was really, really nervous was when I got to record The Beatles for the first time. That was like, 'Whoa, OK, royalty coming in.' But once they came into the room, they were cool."

You talked about going to see The Stones at Madison Square Garden, meeting Jimi Hendrix right there at the stage door and then going in and seeing one of the concerts that became the basis of [the 1970 live album] 'Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!' There's a picture of Jagger and Hendrix sitting on a bench, that you took. Were they aware that you were documenting that?

"You know - this is the most interesting thing about the times we are in now compared with the '60s: nobody gave a damn. I mean, nobody said, 'Hey, you can't put that camera here, you can't take a picture.'

"That just didn't happen, and it helped the fact that I knew The Stones and I knew Jimi, and I was hanging out and stuff. It was just taking a picture, you know, who cares?

"I managed to get this really lovely shot not only of Mick and Jimi together, which is marvelous, two huge icons of the music business, and of that moment.

"And there's a few others, about four or five pictures. There's Charlie [Watts, drums], and Mick, and who else? Charlie, Mick, Jimi... Keith wasn't there. They're hanging out, they're talking, very relaxed."

[www.ultimate-guitar.com]

Glyn Johns had much clearer memrories to tell...

The interviewer should have asked him : "okay you taped the two 1977 Mocambo gigs... Now spill the beans : what was the setlist for these gigs?"

This anecdote is marginally better :

[www.ultimate-guitar.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2020-06-05 23:49 by dcba.

I have a friend who says he quit listening to the Stones after Brian left. That's too bad. Looking back, Brian's rare slide work was great, and his intermittent adventures with various instruments was cool. But was his rhythm guitar playing all that essential? I think Lennon was a much better rhythm player, and much more important to the song being played.

In a sense Brian abandoned the Stones while he was still part of the group. I think the estrangement happened around 1965. After that is was occasional contributions, which seemed to be given begrudgingly.

The Brian Era Stones, only because he was there, are a great period, but not the best. From 1968 to '72 was really the ultimate Stones. They really rocked during that time, with little peaks continuing until 1990.

He talks about Brian as a great musician.Too bad he didn’t mention the jam between Taylor and Hendrix backstage at the Garden



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2020-06-06 04:24 by Taylor1.

Quote
24FPS
I have a friend who says he quit listening to the Stones after Brian left. That's too bad. Looking back, Brian's rare slide work was great, and his intermittent adventures with various instruments was cool. But was his rhythm guitar playing all that essential? I think Lennon was a much better rhythm player, and much more important to the song being played.

In a sense Brian abandoned the Stones while he was still part of the group. I think the estrangement happened around 1965. After that is was occasional contributions, which seemed to be given begrudgingly.

The Brian Era Stones, only because he was there, are a great period, but not the best. From 1968 to '72 was really the ultimate Stones. They really rocked during that time, with little peaks continuing until 1990.

I did that too. But I came back.

.... never left ....
Death before Dishonor



ROCKMAN

Right.
How could I've left that trip.

Kramer was a firsthand "witness", probably unbiased, he saw and worked with Brian and was impressed by his work. It is important to have people that were there, and genuinely touched by what they heard, be willing to acknowledge that Brian was a great musician. Because when one looks at pictures or movies that show Jones unhealthy, that could invite to trivialize Brian Jones's entire musical contributions to the Rolling Stones.
Rockandroll,
Mops

he worked in that specific era...of course he's biased....that's ok...I like and really enjoy each peak of the 3 different Stones eras....

Brian ,Taylor and Wood have all been great.What sets Brian apart is that he founded the band.Plus we will never know what great music he might have made .