Hello everyone!
This is Paul from Leipzig, Germany. After over 4 years of being a reader here I thought it was finally the time to join as a writer as well here. I'm a fan since 2016, when i was 13 and my teacher introduced me to a colleague as the young Keith Richards. Even though I was raised with more beatles and bob dylan than the stones I barely knew who that was and knew the stones from songs like angie, wild horses or satisfaction. But feeling honoured being called the young keith Richards I went to the library and started reading life, listened to the whole grrr compilation and became a fan finally after seeing the Cuba concert live on new years eve when it was first shown on german television. After that I was hooked. Luckily the stones announced a europe tour in may '17 and my dad had tickets for Hamburg for my 14th birthday. When I went to this concert and saw them all from the silver pit on the big screens I was hooked for life and wanted to do so many other concerts, what my parents did not allow back then. When I was on vacation in paris in february 2018 rumours for another European tour came up and I saved every cent for the tour. I even went to play in front of the venues where acts like bob dylan and zz top played to earn money there by busking, just for the stones. Luckily I went to see bob dylan too as I had the chance. In 2018 I went to Berlin (where i met theodora Richard's, I was stoked and she gave me some guitar picks of her dad and ronnie and a hug I'll never forget) and Prague, sadly not Warsaw as it was my 15 birthday but family vacation came first xD

In October I met ronnie in london on the rhino auction in Christie's, while I was there on vacation, so more or less by chance.

The following year I spent all my money for a rumoured american tour and had enough to afford flying alone to New York and see the stones there, at the age of 16 the biggest adventure ever and looking back the best investment I could have made before this whole covid pandemic.

After not being able to see the stones last year due to school and on I'm absolutely *** happy to have them back this year. I finish the high school this year in may, and the stones are rolling in Europe in June. Hoping to go to as many concerts as possible and see all of the friends I've made over the years again and to make lots of new ones as well.

I want to thank bjornulv a lot for his work on here, it gave and is giving me a lot of joy over the years. Glad to have joined the iorr family finally, see you all in summer.
Paul



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022-03-13 12:06 by KeefFan2003.

Welcome Paul!

Per Arne
Norway

Welcome Paul!

Welcome, Paul!

Welcome Paul....great personal story......

__________________________

Welcome. It's always interesting when a young fan comes on board. The ship has been sailing for quite a while. Would love to hear your opinion of their different eras.

As Keith said to the Belgrade crowd in 2007... "Welcome to the club."

welcome

you might be our youngest member

if i may ask what drew you to the stones?

it not often someone your age comes thru these parts i'm courious how fans of your generation view the stones

for instance

what's your favorite albums, period (live & studio)

jones, taylor, wood opinons

etc etc...

Paul, welcome!
Thanks for your story thus far.

~"Love is Strong"~

Welcome Paul. Great story, thanks for sharing!

Thank you all for the nice welcome.

@24FPS and @ProfessorWolf about the different eras, for sure the run they had between 1968 and 1974 I'd say cant be compared, so the late Brian Jones, whole Mick Taylor era must be the one that I like the best. But Black and Blue, Emotional Rescue and Voodoo Lounge are some of my favourite albums as well, blue and lonesome is the only record I ever bought in a recordstore when it was freshly released (more or less) and I absolutely loved it. I admire the whole work after all, while the 70s Stones are the best in my opinion, no matter mick T or woodie. I never really connected to the mid 60s Brian Jones era somehow, like TSMR and the whole experimental thing. Great songs, but I prefer the Open G Keith Riffs over that.
In my opinion the Stones are just the greatest rock and roll band of all time, staying for 60 years, producing great songs on and on and still playing live shows that kick ass. I've seen Paul Simon, Bob Dylan and Mark Knopfler live, all great artists and still doing great concerts, but it's a different thing with the stones. The whole travel on tour process, meeting friends from all over the world, a city becoming stonesland over the night, it all has got a special feeling with it. That's why I guess.

Welcome Paul,and thanks for sharing your story.

Howdy Paul ... welcome to IORR ....



ROCKMAN

I would suggest you do what I did. In the early 70s I had been active Stones fan since Let It Bleed. (I was aware of their singles growing up.) A girl found I was a big Stones fan and lent me her records, from the first album on. I felt like I discovered a completely different group. And I had, since Mick Taylor had taken over by Let It Bleed. Listen to the first album forward and you will discover what was so hot about Brian, and hear the chemistry of the group.

thanks for sharing

interesting to hear your opinions

if i could your brain a little more

what's your opinions on undercover, dirty work, bigger bang, bill vs darryl, and mick and keith's solo albums

not trying to overwhelm you just curious

@24FPS I'll do that. The early blusier recordings are rougher and I like that. Still it's the late sixties onwards for me.

@ProfessorWolf if theres one era I've never got in touch with then it's the Undercover and Dirty Work era. Horrible Album covers and the gap between Mick trying to make trendy pop songs and keith staying on real side of Rock and Blues, the true stones music after all (I'll say it like that now) was enough of a reason never liking these albums too much. Bigger Bang has some good songs on it, but it's definitely one of the albums I've heard the most. My friends in my age between 17 and 20 love it though. Songs like Rain fell down or Laugh I nearly died are classics to them.
Bill vs Darryl is something I never understood, it was something I never witnessed. I love Bill's playing but voodoo Lounge is way better than Steel wheels in my opinion, it just got funnier again.
Micks solo albums are okay. I loved gotta get a grip when it released, but I was 14 and just got into the stones so it had a fresh touch to me that I liked. When I discovered crosseyed heard that was clearly more my kind of thing, as the winos albums are in general. It just seems to me that keith went on with the music he was made to whether for the stones or not and mick tried a new way, I was just never able to like as much as Keith's work. Glad they found their ways back together after all, cant wait to see them touring this year. I'll try to be going to Madrid as it's the opener and Munich, let's see which other shows might be possible.

Quote
KeefFan2003
@24FPS I'll do that. The early blusier recordings are rougher and I like that. Still it's the late sixties onwards for me.

@ProfessorWolf if theres one era I've never got in touch with then it's the Undercover and Dirty Work era. Horrible Album covers and the gap between Mick trying to make trendy pop songs and keith staying on real side of Rock and Blues, the true stones music after all (I'll say it like that now) was enough of a reason never liking these albums too much. Bigger Bang has some good songs on it, but it's definitely one of the albums I've heard the most. My friends in my age between 17 and 20 love it though. Songs like Rain fell down or Laugh I nearly died are classics to them.
Bill vs Darryl is something I never understood, it was something I never witnessed. I love Bill's playing but voodoo Lounge is way better than Steel wheels in my opinion, it just got funnier again.
Micks solo albums are okay. I loved gotta get a grip when it released, but I was 14 and just got into the stones so it had a fresh touch to me that I liked. When I discovered crosseyed heard that was clearly more my kind of thing, as the winos albums are in general. It just seems to me that keith went on with the music he was made to whether for the stones or not and mick tried a new way, I was just never able to like as much as Keith's work. Glad they found their ways back together after all, cant wait to see them touring this year. I'll try to be going to Madrid as it's the opener and Munich, let's see which other shows might be possible.

Bill Wyman IS the Stones bass player. Just like Charlie was THE Stones drummer. In time you will understand that. Darryl sounded decent on Voodoo Lounge because he was somewhat imitating Bill's playing. He got away from that and Darryl has never sounded interesting, emotional, or anything but a fill in since. He might be a good jazz player, but the secret of Charlie and Bill was Charlie was a jazz drummer playing with a rock and roll bassist. The Stones don't need two jazz players.

Agree with KeefFan2003 about the Undercover/Dirty Work period. It was a low point for the band, but you can still peel away Undercover of the Night, One Hit to the Body, and Harlem Shuffle as great Stones songs.

I am glad youngers fans enjoy their later work. I think in time you'll see that it's echos of earlier, better work. In fact when Keith played 999 the other night with the Winos, I thought the intro was One Hit To The Body.

You have a lot of Stones music to catch up to. Good luck. The first thirty years were the best, and I hope you get to see them live.

Someday I'm going to find a young fan like Paul to take over my Stones discs and memorabilia collection which goes back to the 60's. My first single at age 11 was All Over Now. I was 18 when I first saw the Stones at MSG in 1972 after constantly listening to Ya-Yas for 2 years. It's so cool to hear from a young new fan.

HBK

Quote
KeefFan2003
@24FPS I'll do that. The early blusier recordings are rougher and I like that. Still it's the late sixties onwards for me.

@ProfessorWolf if theres one era I've never got in touch with then it's the Undercover and Dirty Work era. Horrible Album covers and the gap between Mick trying to make trendy pop songs and keith staying on real side of Rock and Blues, the true stones music after all (I'll say it like that now) was enough of a reason never liking these albums too much. Bigger Bang has some good songs on it, but it's definitely one of the albums I've heard the most. My friends in my age between 17 and 20 love it though. Songs like Rain fell down or Laugh I nearly died are classics to them.
Bill vs Darryl is something I never understood, it was something I never witnessed. I love Bill's playing but voodoo Lounge is way better than Steel wheels in my opinion, it just got funnier again.
Micks solo albums are okay. I loved gotta get a grip when it released, but I was 14 and just got into the stones so it had a fresh touch to me that I liked. When I discovered crosseyed heard that was clearly more my kind of thing, as the winos albums are in general. It just seems to me that keith went on with the music he was made to whether for the stones or not and mick tried a new way, I was just never able to like as much as Keith's work. Glad they found their ways back together after all, cant wait to see them touring this year. I'll try to be going to Madrid as it's the opener and Munich, let's see which other shows might be possible.

thanks interesting

my 2 cents


i concur with you on mick vs keith but be sure to check out wandering spirit and mick's blues recordings with the red devils as they are highlights of his solo career to me

be sure to check out ronnie's solo stuff and the faces too if you haven't

great stuff

dirty work and undercover are hard albums to get into i understand that

but check out the outtakes if you haven't already there are some wonderful things on there

much more stripped bare, basic, raw stones

boots to check for these are things like the incredible arthur collins tapes, foxes in the boxes and fully finished studio outtakes

and finally as to appreciating the jones era stones

the way i really was able to connect with and love this era of the stones is by getting to know the musicians that inspired them to begin with

listen to and get to know the works of people like muddy waters, jimmy reed, howlin' wolf, chuck berry, john lee hooker, bo diddley, james brown, elmore james, otis redding, wilson pickett, solomon burke, arthur alexander, and slim harpo

and if you find you can get into it (not everyone can) check out the pre wars blues guys that brian and keith loved so much like
robert johnson, charley patton, son house, blind willie mctell, blind lemon jefferson, barbecue bob, henry thomas, robert wilkins, furry lewis, blind boy fuller, and bukka white

leaning about and listening to these guys really helped me understand and appreciate what was so great and special about the early stones and what they were trying to do with there music

and it gave me an even greater appreciation of there later music too (believe me you'll notice entirely new dimensions and layers to exile)

to quote the late great willie dixon

the blues is the roots everything else the fruits



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022-03-15 01:28 by ProfessorWolf.

@HouseBoyKnows it amazes me how we see the same band 50 years apart but at the same age. That's crazy.

@PrefessorWolf the Ronnie solo work is by far my favourite, even over the solorecords keith and mick had. I've got my own Album to do is one of the best albums ever in my opinion.
I'm really into the old blues. I loved blues before I got into the stones. But I'll give it another listen. Just listening to lady jane. Brilliant Brian era song

ronnie really is great as a solo artist

my favorite is slide on this live

but my own album is a close second

and good for you having an appreciation for the blues its not something i see a lot in people your age