Few would disagree that he was at his creative best on Exile.

Then a ghost-like presence on Goats Head and an attempt to regain lost ground on IORR. Nothing ever again as creative as Exile, which showed his instinctive sharpness and his breadth of approach.

On IORR and B&B there's still a Keith groove, but the freshness of ideas and unabandoned open riffing had gone.

I blame the heroin - it had become his first love and it dominated his life and lifestyle. Compare the lively, irrepressible Keith on the One +One film or at the Monteux rehearsals, with the wasted presence on the '75-76 outings.

Stating the obvious perhaps. But on which albums since has he shown a lively presence approaching Exile?

SG - some nice stuff, but still recovering - main guitar lifeline is Ronnie.
ER - nice touches all round, but still mainly Jagger.
TY - mainly 70s out-takes and re-workings. (Nothing fresh/new).

Undercover - getting better - but again many old ideas, the new ones are mainly Jagger.

And, perhaps controversially, I think it's the next two album where he is really strong again. Many don't like the songs or production on DW and SW but Keith is certainly back where he belongs in all his abandoned glory.

The next album has him stylised again.

And B2B has some good songs by him (and by Jagger) but no knock-out playing.


But the album I've been listening to recently which captures his full breadth of styles in a similar way to Exile is "Pay Pack and Follow". The cover photos show what a bad state he was in but he's on each track and his presence is strong. Not as strong as on Exile but it's a joy to hear some of the natuaral flow which he has since lost. Great slide on Just 14. Country style licks and solos. Open rhythm chugging on Zulu and Mr Blue. And lots of acoustic. It really is "the lost Stones album" - and well worth discovering for those who love the complete Keith package.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2005-07-01 13:32 by Four Stone Walls.

"how could I stop" on cd. "slipping away" on stage (four flicks)

<SG - some nice stuff, but still recovering - main guitar lifeline is Ronnie.>

I don't agree here. Even though Ronnie makes a good contribution, this is indeed a Keith album, both in terms of writing and performing.

Examples:
Imagination
Some Girls
Lies
Respectable
Before They Make Me Run
Beast Of Burden
Shattered

And on Miss You, When The Whip Comes Down and Far Away Eyes he also does a great job. This was a band-record, filled with Keith's ideas - that's what makes it so great.

Regarding "nice contributions"

yes, the phrasing on Beast of Burden - but it's Ronnie that brings it to life.

Lies is a Faces-style knock-about.

Respectable is a lively song but apart from their snappy punk style, the guiatrs are unremarkable. It owes as much to bass and drums and vocals. Same regarding Whip.

On Miss You, he's just filling in. Effectively but still filling in. It's not a guitar song and not a Keith song.

Opening riffs to SG track and to Before they make me Run are nice but apart from that his guitar-work is not so prevalent. It's his bass on the SG track which is more noticeable - but that's not Guitar!

Strength of SG album is the very good songs, the superb band approach, great Bill and Charlie, a committed and enthusiastic Jaggerand a sparkling Ronnie. Keith is making contributions everywhere but he's not the domionant force. Infact his presence is less obvious than on IORR album. That album's songs are not so good but he dominates many of them - DLS, Luxury, IYCRM for example.

But on neither of those albums do we get his acoustic picking or his slide work, for example. Both fairly one-dimensional regarding approach. Black and Blue has more of a mix of styles though.

? not a dominating force on Some Girls? Some Girls is the blue print of Keith Richards. Finally he gets to do what he does best, playing fierce rythm guitar and driving the music. If Some Girls is not a Keith album, what is?

Mathijs

ah but Mathijs, the point of the game seems to be: "let's disregard (for no particular reason) most of what Keith's done since Exile - et voila: there's not much left." :E


"What do you want - what?!"
- Keith

Some Girls was mostly written by Mick, although agree Keith tossed-in some nice riffs. Dirty Work is the "Keith-est" album since EOMS. I tend to disagree with those who say he hasn't contributed much on the last two discs.


Karl

'Don’t forget, if you’re on your bike, wear white'

>> I tend to disagree with those who say he hasn't contributed much on the last two discs. <<

smile: i'm beyond tending on that one - i disagree completely.


"What do you want - what?!"
- Keith

What is Pay, Pack, and Follow?

I think that SG and ER are strong Keith discs. DW is hardcore Keith as well (especially if you listen to the outtakes). As for VL, Keith obviously did a ton of work. I recall him saying that he was trying to make rock and roll music grow up or something like that. I'd say he accomplished that on VL.

I must disagree with Four Stone Walls about SG. Whip, Lies, and Respectable have some of the best rythm guitar that Keith has ever played.............including EOMS.

Cafaro Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What is Pay, Pack, and Follow?
>
> I think that SG and ER are strong Keith discs. DW
> is hardcore Keith as well (especially if you
> listen to the outtakes). As for VL, Keith
> obviously did a ton of work. I recall him saying
> that he was trying to make rock and roll music
> grow up or something like that. I'd say he
> accomplished that on VL.


Pay Pack & Follow is a John Phillips solo disc. Has Jagger, Watts & Taylor on it also.

Listening to the Voodoo Brew set illustrates how much Keith was creating music.

Karl

Pay pack and Follow easily gets forgotten in the shuffle. And it is on paper a pretty Stonesy affair. Jagger. Keith, Ron, Taylor and Watts are all heavily involved. The reason it STILL does not come out sounding very hot is IMO because it is really not a cohesive statement. Yes they are all there in name and that alone makes it exciting but the album was \put together over so much time that it is virtually impossible for it to be a unified piece. The tapes were actually lost for a long time. The protagonists went through a lot of changes in the time. So if it was a ceratin bunch of guys who recorde the album it might have been a whole different set who mixed it. The same in name but not in spirit.
I actually think that SW has a surprising amount of Keith on it. He has some good moments.
ER not much, TY really not much at all, Dirty Work like all say is incredibly Keith. But it's Keith in a whole different manner. It is not healthy Keith. It's angry Keith. His partenrship with Ron is not so much a love affair here. It;s a retribution to his non love with Jagger. So DW is all RE-action. While Exile is PRO-action.
Voodoo is them together it's just not very good. B2B is IMO really good, but man is it the two of them divided.
By far the best Keith work in the last years has been the two soloalbums. And his live playing from 72 to 99.

I agree with KSIE about who VL sessions really show how Keith works or at least worked during that period (that was a long time ago).

No question that Keith's playing on his solo discs is extremley strong.

I think the KR/RW weaving on ER was a major step ahead (whatever one thinks of the material/tone of the album) - much jazzier, very different from even SG. Also like KR's work on B2B (Flip the Switch, Lowdown come to mind, among others).

A reply to Mathjis,

Keith's rhythm is not that strong on SG album. He is adopting a (mainly) punk style. A lot of scratchy stuff - ok for the time but not the stronger, full-blooded, open-ended riffing of 69-72. Ronnie's rhythm is as strong as Keith's on the whole.

When I listen to Pay, Pack and Follow (recorded not much earlier than SG) I think you still hear the 'real Keith'. Apparently he lived with John Phillips for about 3 months. Doing lots of Sgag ofcourse, but also lots of music. Possibly a similar working environment to Nellcote? His licks all over the track "2001" are just so natural Keith and very uplifting. Amazing track really. Written in 1976 but imagining the world at the turn of the millenium. And the irony is that the John Phillips album was released in .....2001!

Am I the only one to get more pleasure from Keith's playing on P,P &F than on SG?

(btw he does the You Got To Move slide bit inbetween two of the tracks. Nice touch).

And to answer your question "If SG is not a Keith album, what is?". Dirty Work, (closely followed by SW and (unfortunately!) VL). Pre-'72. Beggars, Bleed ans Sticky ofcourse.

Apart from "Before they make me run" I think Mick wrote all the songs on SG - and Keith added his rhythm.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2005-07-02 00:25 by Four Stone Walls.

<ER not much, TY really not much at all>

Chelsea, I consider ER a Keith-album...

Dance (Great rhythm and interplay-licks)
Summer Romance (Driving rhythm, the whole punch)
Let Me Go (About every guitar track)
Where The Boys Go (Main riff, solo)
Down In The Hole (Great lead guitar, Ronnie very good as well)
She´s So Cold (Mastery by Keith. The licks towards the end are magic)
All About You (Beautiful. In the same league as How Can I Stop).

TY:
Start Me Up (The riff, say no more...)
Hang Fire (Great rhythm, one of his best solos ever)
Slave (Fantastic rhythm, hot solos)
Little T+A (Simply one of his best rhythm guitar recordings ever)
Black Limo (Ronnie´s backbone...)
Tops (IMO, the rhythm track is played by Keith - I´ve seen others claim that it was played by another guitar player, but to me it sounds like open G played by Keith.

I think both of these albums present Keith as his best; both as "the riffmeister" and as a lick-player. And also his guitar sound (from SG and ER on) was groundbreaking.

TY is a concoction of early to mid seventies songs. It's not a genuine album - never recorded as such. Yes, he plays well on some songs - but they are mainly Mick songs anyway. Am I the only one to think that the SMU riff is just a bit too simple/obvious and repetitive. And the vocal 'melody' follows this riff. Not that interesting. Verses boring, chorus far better.


Although ER (a favourite of mine too) had its songs recorded together for the purpose of an album they are still mainly Mick songs. Dance has a nice funk groove. Summer Romance is a throw-away, knockabout. I too like his more subdued style on this album. But my point was......you don't listen to the album and think......our Keith is back on form. Well, perhaps you do! He's certainly doing some interesting stuff though. ('They' say the solo on Boys Go is Ronnie btw).

He defines tracks more strongly on Black and Blue.

In SMU it's Charlie and Bill who rule. Perhaps Charlies best drum track ever. Great riff of course but it becomes quite thin after a while. On Flashpoint it's Ronnie ruling.

Agreed, on all counts. Yes. great riff. But one great riff doth not a great song make.

Brown Sugar has a great opening riff - but then the song (and Keith) develops on it.

1971 to 1981 - what a difference.

1991 - Highwire was a better all-round song than SMU - but without killer riff. Bill and Charlie still ruled, however.

I loved Highwire........classic Rolling Stones sound and guitar. I thought it would be a hit! Wrong again.

Shawn20 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I loved Highwire........classic Rolling Stones
> sound and guitar. I thought it would be a hit!
> Wrong again.


Classic Mick Jagger guitar,

Talk is Cheap

- Koen.

dandelion I really believe that what is nowadays ( and by that I mean since ca '80) considered typical "Stonesy" guitar; those real Keithian licks etc. It is usually a Jagger song then. Like on ER Summer Romance, Where th Boys, Let me Go.
One of my fave performance by Keith in later yeasr is "Hold on to Your Hat"

The opening acoustic guitar of "Angie", closely followed by the beautiful, ethereal and highly overlooked "Coming Down Again".

"The wonder of Jimi Hendrix was that he could stand up at all he was so pumped full of drugs." Patsy, Patsy Stone

Classic Mick Jagger guitar imitating Keith Richards chord for chord on Highwire.

Milo, NYC
Please go home

Interesting, never knew that.

ps I am at home - may I go out to the shops later today?


Chelsea,

Re: Pay Pack and Follow, I think it stands out as a really strong collection of songs. Some silly strings and girlie vocals in places, but what marvellous production by Mick and Keith, (allegedly). It's just wonderful to hear Keith in all his multifaceted forms, (slide, country lead licks and rhythm). I just get the feeling he was really 'inside' the music and very creatively involved with Mr Phillips - in a way that he hasn't been in the mainly Jagger-dominated albums since Exile. Yeah, he plays great on Hold Onto Your Hat. And on that album too - the acoustic lead on Almost Hear YS.