Catch-up TV: Keith Richards: The Origin of the Species

Alistair McKay Friday 29 July 2016


Dave Benett

What makes a Rolling Stone? Not moss, obviously.

But in the mythology of the inadhesive rock ’n’ roll group, the key moment occurs at Dartford station in 1961, when a young Keith Richards spies Mick Jagger preening on the platform with his Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters albums under his arm.

In that moment, Jagger and Richards recognise each other as kindred spirits. No Dartford rendezvous, no Satisfaction, no Brown Sugar; and no Keith Richards as a kind of majestic Satan, a Methuselah who amazes by virtue of being alive and almost sentient.

Richards, remember, was man for whom the term “elegantly wasted” was coined, though the elegance is harder to spot these days.

So it’s notable that Julien Temple’s biographical collage, Keith Richards: The Origin of the Species (BBC iPlayer) ends on the railway platform at Dartford, with the immortal pirate looking backwards.

Just before the end titles, Richards notes that has known Jagger since he was four, “but we don’t talk about that a lot”.

What happens when you roll the Stones back up the hill? This is Temple, so what happens is a cut-and-pasting of found footage, coalescing to produce a flickering image of Richards as a war baby who grew up playing in the bomb holes left by Luftwaffe pilots who lacked the mettle to keep on flying into London.

“According to my mum,” says Richards, “the sirens were going off as I was emerging into the world.” He continues: “I have a complete hatred of Adolf @#$%& because he dumped on my crib.”

The London stuff is familiar, and not just from Temple’s other films. Still, the details of Richards’s early life are fascinating. Has the guitarist moulded them to fit his own image? Probably, but that doesn’t make them wrong.

What made the Keith? A grandfather who was a pal of Keir Hardie and a grandmother who became mayor of Walthamstow on the Labour ticket.

A father who played it straight as straight and a warbler for a mum. Saturday mornings down the Dartford Gaumont, watching Roy Rogers riding a beautiful palomino. He’s got guns and a guitar, says Keith, “and he whips everyone’s ass”.

And then the arrival of rock ’n’ roll and the rebellious schoolboy’s habit of wearing two pairs of strides — the drainpipes beneath the regulation baggies for a quick change at the schoolday’s end.

That’s Keith Richards’s version of what made Keith Richards, and he delivers it all from beneath a Rasta headband with his customary note of befuddlement. He looks and sounds shellshocked, but that’s a different, over-familiar story.

[www.standard.co.uk]

Is this on in the USA yet?

Dailymotion link:
[www.dailymotion.com]


"As we say in England, it can get a bit trainspottery"

Quote
Deltics
Dailymotion link:
[www.dailymotion.com]

thank you for this link.

watching at work!

Hello.

I've only just got round to watching this. I absolutely agree with the rightful praise for Julien Temple on a job very well done - some of the technical aspects were superb, such as the post-war-style narration of Keith's early life and the judicious use of Stones songs, amongst many praise-worthy aspects. Good on him.

What struck me most about Keith himself in the doc was something I often look out for when watching or listening to him, namely: in many ways, he is still such a London geezer, and one typical of his generation. Sometimes you listen to him, particularly if interviewed in America, or when he's had a drink, and he sounds quite mid-Atlantic. On this, however, his accent and turn-of-phrase were so clearly redolent of his origins. I loved listening to it, and really enjoyed his reminiscences of the place which originally formed him. A most enjoyable viewing.

Declan

Very annoying errors right near the start of this.

Setting the scene for Keith's birth (December 1943) there's a (mock?) radio report about the 4th year of the War (true for UK residents), and then mention American spearhead entering Belgium. Not quite. There was no substantive Allied action in (Western) Europe (outside Italy) until June 1944, and the Belgium border was crossed in about December 1944. For those who know, think about the Battle of the Bulge.

Keith then goes on about his young life being disrupted by the German bombing raids. By late 1943/early 1994 there were very few German raids over England. By that time the Allies by far had control of the air, and England was almost sinking under the weight of the Allied forces massing for the June invasion. True, the account about pilots getting chicken and dropping their loads early - over Dartford - is definitely true... but that was before he was born when the Blitz was on.

And you can check out the story of his house being destroyed by a bomb (or more likely a V1) by looking here [www.dailymail.co.uk] [Edit: V1s didn't start until June 1944]

Finally, and I'm really surprised that this got past the BBC checks, the programme makes quite a lot of use of the characters from The Beano. There are several animations based on them. But at the end there's no credit to DC Thompson who (fiercely!) have the Copyright.

--
Captain Corella
60 Years a Fan



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-08-13 09:13 by CaptainCorella.

Quote
CaptainCorella
And you can check out the story of his house being destroyed by a bomb (or more likely a V1) by looking here [www.dailymail.co.uk] [Edit: V1s didn't start until June 1944].

You're better off checking it on page 21 of Life, since that site only covers 1940/41.
Still it's an amazing-looking site. I see some of the comments are complaining about inaccuracies. Oh well



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-08-13 12:39 by with sssoul.

Meanwhile, here's the source of some of the other images:

[www.youtube.com]
[www.youtube.com]
[www.youtube.com]
[www.youtube.com]

Sorry for the quantity! I get carried away :E

It did seem a bit modest in terms of 'credits'
No reference to ABKCO as the copyright holder?
Perhaps it's not required for TV brodcasts, unlike cinema releases.
Still, a very enjoyable programme, and one shouldn't get too hung up on factual inaccuracies.
Intetesting that Mick's first major production was of course WW2 related..."Enigma"...also a very good effort.

"Keith putting finishing touches on his “Lost Weekend” for BBC Four with Julien Temple in NYC. Julien's daughter Juno stopped by to say hi!"



[www.facebook.com]

does anybody know if and when this dvd will be released In north america??I haven,t heard anything.thanks.

What a charming photo - thanks Cristiano! Love to see my baby smile! :E

Quote
jlowe
It did seem a bit modest in terms of 'credits'
No reference to ABKCO as the copyright holder?
Perhaps it's not required for TV brodcasts, unlike cinema releases.

Copyright is copyright and should always be acknowledged. (Go tell The Verve!).

I'm more amazed that CD Thompson (The Beano) hasn't stomped on The BBC over this. They are astonishingly vigorous over their copyright of (eg) The Bash Street Kids.

--
Captain Corella
60 Years a Fan

Quote
CaptainCorella

Quote
jlowe
It did seem a bit modest in terms of 'credits'
No reference to ABKCO as the copyright holder?
Perhaps it's not required for TV brodcasts, unlike cinema releases.

Copyright is copyright and should always be acknowledged. (Go tell The Verve!).

I'm more amazed that CD Thompson (The Beano) hasn't stomped on The BBC over this. They are astonishingly vigorous over their copyright of (eg) The Bash Street Kids.

Copyright is never mentioned in TV broadcasts just as it's never mentioned in radio broadcasts. This is because a broadcasting license fee is paid.
[www.prsformusic.com]
If the documentary is ever commercially released then the various copyright holders will be acknowledged and paid.


"As we say in England, it can get a bit trainspottery"

[www.bbc.co.uk]

Keith Richards is taking over the reigns of BBC Four later this month, curating an entire weekend of programming on the channel.

He'll be picking the listings from dusk (19:00) till dawn (04:00) on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but it's going to be a "rock 'n' roll mystery ride" as we won't know exactly what's coming in advance.

Instead, the Rolling Stone will guide us through his picks himself, in on-screen segments filmed by director Julien Temple - explaining his choice of movies, documentaries, comedy shows, cartoons, music performances, old ads and more. Here are a few of the gems he's selected...

Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps
The Man Who Would Be King starring Sean Connery and Michael Caine
Archive treats featuring Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix with Keith, and never seen before archive of the Rolling Stones
A new 75 minute director's cut of Julien Temple's recent BBC Two documentary Keith Richards - The Origin of the Species
Temple said the shows would be "interwoven with a uniquely relaxed, wide-ranging and intimate interview in which Keith shares his legacy, world views, life philosophy and survival strategies with viewers."

He added: "As dawn breaks, those viewers who have experienced the full ride can celebrate the fact that they have been able to make it all the way and out the other side with Keith Richards as the sun comes up on their TV screens.”


"As we say in England, it can get a bit trainspottery"

Nice. Thanks, Deltics.

So I went to youtube this morning to listen to the Muddy Waters tune that was mentioned in the blues album thread and this was recommended for me. Needless to say, I clicked on it. I didn't know it was available until now. I hadn't seen it mentioned here @ IORR. Apologies if it's been posted before.





[www.youtube.com]

Peace,
Mr DJA

Quote
CaptainCorella
Very annoying errors right near the start of this.

Keith then goes on about his young life being disrupted by the German bombing raids. By late 1943/early 1994 there were very few German raids over England.

I can categorically confirm that there were no more German air raids over London in early 1994. Happy to put the record straight!

Quote
Silver Dagger

Quote
CaptainCorella
Very annoying errors right near the start of this.

Keith then goes on about his young life being disrupted by the German bombing raids. By late 1943/early 1994 there were very few German raids over England.

I can categorically confirm that there were no more German air raids over London in early 1994. Happy to put the record straight!

Yeh, well Keith is not the most reliable of story tellers.
In the recent BBC4 TV Keith/Julian Temple three nighter, Keith recalls living in Morocco for a period of EIGHT months and enjoying the anonymity there.
I'm pretty certain the longest period he spent there was about ONE month in early 1967, after the Redlands bust.

This week, I finally got to see this documentary at the Beefeater music-documentary festival in Barcelona. I wasn't expecting tmuch but even so, I was very disappointed. There was hardly any focus on music and musical influences. Keith's anecdotes didn't lead anywhere, were neither funny nor particularly interesting, apart from a few that were already told in a much more interesting way in either Under The Influence or in his book. He basically came over as an old uncle going on and on about "the old times" ("Oh, and the OMO advertisments, hahaha" ). Is it really interesting to know that once as a kid he burnt his neck while sitting behind on his parent's bike?
But who I really blame is Julien Temple. I can see what he tried to do. And he used more or less the same approach in The Filth and the Fury (where it worked a bit better): a collage of images and sounds to present and portray the atmosphere of "those days" and to give a feeling of what life was like then, before Keith would "escape" and go rise to fame. But it results in a chaos, without any script, without any order, a roller-coaster of short fragments of this and that, animations that were not funny, people unnecessarily acting out parts of anecdotes, and various close-ups of Keith's face in a cloud of sigaret-smoke because, hey, we have never seen that before. The music fragments sometimes lasted less than 10 seconds, from Chuck Berry to Louis Armstrong to detergent advertisements in half a minute. Pointless and uninspired. Julien Temple himself was in the audience (he gave a short introduction before the film) and I wondered whether he maybe felt a bit embarrassed himself at seeing it on a big screen for the first time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-11-05 20:21 by matxil.

Keith is honest. I mean he sincerely thinks he is right and says the truth.

Regarding Stones history only Wyman is/will be certain (among other things because he has kept the evidences from the begginig). By the way Bill said that only 50% Keith wrote in Life is true. And about this issues I will always listen to Bill.

Quote
matxil
This week, I finally got to see this documentary at the Beefeater music-documentary festival in Barcelona. I wasn't expecting tmuch but even so, I was very disappointed. There was hardly any focus on music and musical influences. Keith's anecdotes didn't lead anywhere, were neither funny nor particularly interesting, apart from a few that were already told in a much more interesting way in either Under The Influence or in his book. He basically came over as an old uncle going on and on about "the old times" ("Oh, and the OMO advertisments, hahaha"). Is it really interesting to know that once as a kid he burnt his neck while sitting behind on his parent's bike?
But who I really blame is Julien Temple. I can see what he tried to do. And he used more or less the same approach in The Filth and the Fury (where it worked a bit better): a collage of images and sounds to present and portray the atmosphere of "those days" and to give a feeling of what life was like then, before Keith would "escape" and go rise to fame. But it results in a chaos, without any script, without any order, a roller-coaster of short fragments of this and that, animations that were not funny, people unnecessarily acting out parts of anecdotes, and various close-ups of Keith's face in a cloud of sigaret-smoke because, hey, we have never seen that before. The music fragments sometimes lasted less than 10 seconds, from Chuck Berry to Louis Armstrong to detergent advertisements in half a minute. Pointless and uninspired. Julien Temple himself was in the audience (he gave a short introduction before the film) and I wondered whether he maybe felt a bit embarrassed himself at seeing it on a big screen for the first time.

I can see what you mean. I quite enjoyed it as a BBC TV programme to watch one evening but I'd have been disappointed if I'd gone to cinema especially to see it.

Temple's recent document on Wilko Johnson was much better. A similar kind of style (retro film clips, ads etc) but much more revealing about its subject and his upbringing - and very compelling on his struggle with cancer. More of his music too.

Quote
matxil
This week, I finally got to see this documentary at the Beefeater music-documentary festival in Barcelona. I wasn't expecting tmuch but even so, I was very disappointed. There was hardly any focus on music and musical influences. Keith's anecdotes didn't lead anywhere, were neither funny nor particularly interesting, apart from a few that were already told in a much more interesting way in either Under The Influence or in his book. He basically came over as an old uncle going on and on about "the old times" ("Oh, and the OMO advertisments, hahaha"). Is it really interesting to know that once as a kid he burnt his neck while sitting behind on his parent's bike?
But who I really blame is Julien Temple. I can see what he tried to do. And he used more or less the same approach in The Filth and the Fury (where it worked a bit better): a collage of images and sounds to present and portray the atmosphere of "those days" and to give a feeling of what life was like then, before Keith would "escape" and go rise to fame. But it results in a chaos, without any script, without any order, a roller-coaster of short fragments of this and that, animations that were not funny, people unnecessarily acting out parts of anecdotes, and various close-ups of Keith's face in a cloud of sigaret-smoke because, hey, we have never seen that before. The music fragments sometimes lasted less than 10 seconds, from Chuck Berry to Louis Armstrong to detergent advertisements in half a minute. Pointless and uninspired. Julien Temple himself was in the audience (he gave a short introduction before the film) and I wondered whether he maybe felt a bit embarrassed himself at seeing it on a big screen for the first time.

It was never supposed to be about his musical influences.
This from the BBC website:
This is the story - filmed by acclaimed director, Julien Temple - of Keith Richards’ formative years during the post-war period, and an exploration of how they impacted his life, and influenced the 60s and the decades that followed.
[www.bbc.co.uk]
"Under The Influence" from last year is more what you're looking for.
[www.movie-life.net]


"As we say in England, it can get a bit trainspottery"

This documentary will be screened next month in Italy at the Lucca Film Festival:

Keith Richards: Origin Of the species (by Julien Temple, 2016, production: BBC)
April 3, at 9:00 PM at the Cinema Centrale in Lucca

Keith Richards describes his life to the Britain director, in front of a camera. The documentary is dedicated to the childhood and adolescence of Rolling Stones' guitarist; he tells stories from his life, his influences, his family ties, all told with the help of photos, documents and videos. Most of all about music; the music that had an influence on him or on the Rolling Stones, the incredible music from that age and from Rolling Stones performances. A documentary about the artistic evolution of Richards and at the same time, the evolution of Great Britain and international music during the Golden Age from 1945 to 1962 and beyond.

Cinematographer: Steve Organ
Edited by: Jonny Halifax

The film will be showed after the conversation and the award ceremony to Julien Temple and it will be introduced by Alessandro Romanini.

[www.instagram.com]

Here's a nice interview with Julien Temple (video) on which he talks about Keith and how it was working with him on "The Origin of the Species".

[www.msn.com]