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Irix

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MadMetaphoricalMax

The use of generic music rather than Stones music is bizarre, given the BBC has rights to use any music for no fee.

But this docu-series is also broadcasted internationally by other TV-stations that probably don't have such exclusive rights as the BBC. And original Stones-Music could be too expensive for some other TV-stations.

Since this docu series have been produced in co-operation with Mercury Studios which belongs to Universal music, music rights should not have been a problem at all.

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StonedRambler

Since this docu series have been produced in co-operation with Mercury Studios which belongs to Universal music, music rights should not have been a problem at all.

Yes, normally the music-rights should be no problem due to Mercury Studios / Universal Music. But the problem is the licensing-costs for other TV-stations.

In Germany there was in 1999 a movie "Sonnenallee" in which the EOMS-album played a central role. But the filmmakers used generic music (similar sounding to Stones) as well since the license-fees for the original EOMS-tracks were too expensive.

Why Ronnie Wood’s Episode of “My Life As a Rolling Stone” Is the Most Essential One -

[www.insidehook.com]

Also worth going back and
rewatching Crossfire Hurricane .....



ROCKMAN

and 25x5

and the quiet one

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Rockman
Also worth going back and
rewatching Crossfire Hurricane .....

I did this after the BBC programs.
It’s better than I remembered it being. I think when it initially came out I was pissed off about how much they left out, but re watching it, it covers all the basics and is better than I thought back then.

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ProfessorWolf
and 25x5

I have to dig out the old VCR for that one. Did that ever make it's way onto DVD?

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treaclefingers

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ProfessorWolf
and 25x5

I have to dig out the old VCR for that one. Did that ever make it's way onto DVD?

Not in the states it didn't. I have one from Japan, but it still might be a boot. I'm pretty sure it's on YouTube.

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treaclefingers

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ProfessorWolf
and 25x5

I have to dig out the old VCR for that one. Did that ever make it's way onto DVD?

no sadly

but i do have it on laser disc and beta too

but my laser disc player doesn't work anymore and there pretty hard to find nowadays

i'd post it here for you from my vhs conversion

but i'm not sure how much of a violation of the no official stuff policy a 30 year old tape would be that the stones refuse to re-release and seem to have forgotten existed

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ProfessorWolf

i'd post it here for you from my vhs conversion

There's a thread about 25x5 and DVD - [iorr.org] .

‘My Life as a Rolling Stone’ Is a Tribute to Charlie Watts — and Gives You the Stones as the Sum of Their Parts

Four-part docuseries shines a light on Mick, Keef, Ronnie and their late drummer, reminding us why they remain the gold standard of rock bands

By Will Hermes
August 29, 2022



Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts in 'My Life as a Rolling Stone.' ANDREW TIMMS

THE ROLLING STONES have been doing Rolling Stones documentaries for nearly as long as they’ve been a band, and given their early goes, it’s impressive they’ve kept at it. The first, Charlie Is My Darling (1966), was shelved for decades due to legal fights and various shenanigans; The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus (1968), a trainwreck of poor planning, was also shelved for years. Jean Luc-Godard’s brilliant but befuddling docufiction One Plus One (Sympathy For The Devil) got consigned to the art film circuit that same year, while Robert Frank’s verité @#$%& Blues (1972) was too revealing for anyone’s comfort and was largely disappeared. And Gimme Shelter (1970), of course, turned out to be more the document of a tragedy than the triumph of a band at its peak.

Joining these and subsequent Stones films, jostling for space in the flood of other pandemic-born music docs, is the four-part My Life as a Rolling Stone, which begs the inevitable question: Beyond cash-grab brand-building, what’s the point of yet another film about this band? The generous answer is: Who needs a point to savor the world’s self-proclaimed greatest rock ’n’ roll band defending that assertion in vintage performance clips? But what’s striking about this surprisingly satisfying docuseries (currently running on Epix) whose dubious conceit is devoting a full episode to each of the group’s four tenured members, is how effectively it shows the Stones’ magic as being fully about the sum of its parts. Not just Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, for all their storied magnificence, but also the irrepressible Ronnie Wood and the late great Charlie Watts — and, for that matter, key players like Brian Jones, Bill Wyman, and Mick Taylor, who get passing mention here. The most compelling episodes of My Life, in fact, are about Watts and Wood; their stories map the band’s symbiosis, and nicely complicate the standard Jagger/Richards Glimmer Twins mythology.

For sure, there’s plenty of mythology, dished up in Sienna Miller’s History Channel narration and a parade of beheaded talking heads (virtually all non-Stones soundbites are delivered in voiceover). It’s a useful approach, maximizing archival screen time, and the commentators are smartly-chosen; most are fellow musicians, with women (Sheryl Crow, Tina Turner, Chrissie Hynde, Bonnie Raitt) in a refreshing lead role. Jagger begins his episode, the series’ first, stressing his desire to avoid documentary cliché, which is comically inevitable — and indeed, the pans and zooms through empty recording studios and tape vaults soon begin. But Mick does his best to pull back the curtain. Describing how he plotted out gestures and camera angles in advance of the band’s first British TV appearances, we see a pokerface hot-boy twentysomething Jagger staring down the BBC lens, delivering the deliciously porny verses of Willie Dixon’s “Little Red Rooster” to a rapt nation. It’s a riveting clip, and after that, boilerplate talk of British parents wanting to lock up their kids, et al., feels earned.

Jagger’s long been viewed as the band’s cold-blooded strategist — or “brand manager,” as he’s dubbed here. In the wake of their ballooned fame and the Altamont disaster, however, that role was crucial to the band’s survival, and it’s illuminating to see Jagger wax Jigga-ish about his business acumen in between onstage ass-shaking. And debate the merits of stadium-sized corporate Stones vs the more human-scaled ‘70s version all you like, but the sight of ecstatic Cubans feeling the band at Ciudad Deportiva de la Habana stadium in 2016 (see also: the Havana Moon doc), a major geo-political feat, is a genuinely moving argument for supersizing. Moving, too, is the sight of Jagger nearly breaking down on a St. Louis stage last year at the start of the first Stones show following Charlie Watts’ death.

The Watts episode is the series’ revelation, its poignancy heightened by his absence (he died before his new interview segments could be filmed). “The best drummer England has ever produced,” as Richards calls him, was the band’s oldest member, and Watts testifies in old clips about his love of jazz (as a young player, he aspired mainly to be Chico Hamilton backing up Gerry Mulligan), and how much he disdained the madness of fame (“I hated being chased by girls,” he declares unequivocally; “it was embarrassing”). Less well-known was an apparently world-class case of OCD. His road cases were organized with tissue-paper between each piece of clothing, with a custom case for his trusty Victorian tea set; he was a skillfully obsessive visual artist who seems to have made detailed line drawings of every hotel bed he ever slept in; he housed a museum’s worth of instruments owned by jazz legends; he collected cars he didn’t know how to drive, horses he couldn’t ride, bespoke suits he never got around to wearing.

Watts could perfectly mimic Dre’s beats on The Chronic, while his dressing room, known as “The Cotton Club,” was set up as a sanctuary where Ellington recordings reliably set the mood. (The fact that later in life Watts got hooked on heroin and boozing was out-of-character, but unsurprising.) All this was a backdrop to his quietly phenomenal playing, invariably on the simplest of drum kits, setting others to marvel how “he could rock so hard while being so loose,” as the Police’s Stewart Copeland put it. In one of a number of bits unpacking great Stones musical moments, the deceptively simple cowbell beat of “Honky Tonk Women” gets dissected, and remains no less magical for it.  

The Ron Wood episode is similarly eye-opening, not just for his chameleonic musicianship and Zelig-like role in mid-century British Invasion rock — as Rod Stewart’s foil in the Faces and owner of “The Wick,” the legendary London townhouse/studio/hangout — but also for his little-brother role in the Stones social dynamic. Mirroring the call-and-response weaving of his guitar lines was the emotional weaving he did behind the scenes, shoring up bonds between Jagger and Richards when they were at their most frayed, and he’s credited here with literally saving the band. Wood brought his own flamboyant dysfunctions, though, as Richards’ partner-in-crime drug buddy; as Wood describes it, his freebase/crack addiction got so out of hand, it took Richards punching him in the face during a relapse to set him straight. Wood may never have delivered the fireworks of Mick Taylor, who he replaced, but a case is made here that the good time goofball pub-rock vibe he brought was probably more sustainable for the band in the long run.

By focusing on individuals, the structure of My Life allows the band to bury or sideline certain parts of their story. The decades between 1980 and 2020 are largely MIA. There’s minimal attention on childhoods and pre-Stones life, less still on extra-curricular activities like family lives. Touchstone moments are tucked into each episode: the 1967 Redlands bust, Jones’ death, and Altamont all get screen time in Jagger’s episode; the 1975 flatbed-truck jam of “Brown Sugar” while driving down New York’s Fifth Avenue flashes by in Wood’s segment; and naturally, Richards’ 1977 Toronto arrest gets real estate in his. But Keith, who is touchingly ID-ed as the tough-love rehab enforcer for Watts and Wood, mostly sticks to the music here. He riffs on the battered acoustic guitar his grandfather gave him as a kid. While the documentary only touches on the significant cultural appropriation questions that have always trailed the band, Richards concedes his deep debt to black musicians, his love of the blues and R&B, his pride in helping boost the career of John Lee Hooker and in sharing a stage with Muddy Waters. But Richards crammed on Beatles records, too, trying to suss out the secret of writing great pop songs, which he soon did — as Jagger points out, he’s the guy who wrote “As Tears Go By” and “Angie” alongside the haunted sorcery of “Gimme Shelter.”

One of the best moments in My Life as a Rolling Stone is the reveal of Richards’ signature open-tuned, five-string deconstruction of the standard guitar set-up that made “Gimme Shelter” and other tunes possible. That a new generation of musicians can learn about that, and more, is justification enough for the whole project. “Solos come and go,” as Richards notes with his trademark cackle, “but a riff lasts forever.”

[www.rollingstone.com]

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Cristiano Radtke
“Solos come and go,” as Richards notes with his trademark cackle, “but a riff lasts forever.”

A simple observation, that is quite profound.

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treaclefingers

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Cristiano Radtke
“Solos come and go,” as Richards notes with his trademark cackle, “but a riff lasts forever.”

A simple observation, that is quite profound.

Indeed!

- Doxa

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treaclefingers

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Cristiano Radtke
“Solos come and go,” as Richards notes with his trademark cackle, “but a riff lasts forever.”

A simple observation, that is quite profound.

Too simple I would say.

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TheflyingDutchman

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treaclefingers

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Cristiano Radtke
“Solos come and go,” as Richards notes with his trademark cackle, “but a riff lasts forever.”

A simple observation, that is quite profound.

Too simple I would say.

Well, there's a lot of truth to it. if you ask kids today if they could sing a guitar riff some could probably hum riffs like Smoke On The Water, Satisfaction or Seven Nation Army. But if you ask them to sing you some solo I bet nobody will remember one.

Todays music doesn't even have solos. But it still has riffs, even if their more often played with synthies than guitars.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022-08-29 21:27 by StonedRambler.

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StonedRambler

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TheflyingDutchman

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treaclefingers

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Cristiano Radtke
“Solos come and go,” as Richards notes with his trademark cackle, “but a riff lasts forever.”

A simple observation, that is quite profound.

Too simple I would say.

Well, there's a lot of truth to it. if you ask kids today if they could sing a guitar riff some could probably hum riffs like Smoke On The Water, Satisfaction or Seven Nation Army. But if you ask them to sing you some solo I bet nobody will remember one.

Todays music doesn't even have solos. But it still has riffs, even if their more often played with synthies than guitars.

I can sing along with quite a few Mick Taylor solos note after note, and they have the same emotional impact on me than great rock riffs.

But hey, when Keith says his thing, people take it for granted.

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TheflyingDutchman

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StonedRambler

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TheflyingDutchman

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treaclefingers

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Cristiano Radtke
“Solos come and go,” as Richards notes with his trademark cackle, “but a riff lasts forever.”

A simple observation, that is quite profound.

Too simple I would say.

Well, there's a lot of truth to it. if you ask kids today if they could sing a guitar riff some could probably hum riffs like Smoke On The Water, Satisfaction or Seven Nation Army. But if you ask them to sing you some solo I bet nobody will remember one.

Todays music doesn't even have solos. But it still has riffs, even if their more often played with synthies than guitars.

I can sing along with quite a few Mick Taylor solos note after note, and they have the same emotional impact on me than great rock riffs.

But hey, when Keith says his thing, people take it for granted.

Yeah you can, I can do too, but the majority of people can't. But a lot of them will still be able to remember and sing a riff.

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StonedRambler

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TheflyingDutchman

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StonedRambler

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TheflyingDutchman

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treaclefingers

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Cristiano Radtke
“Solos come and go,” as Richards notes with his trademark cackle, “but a riff lasts forever.”

A simple observation, that is quite profound.

Too simple I would say.

Well, there's a lot of truth to it. if you ask kids today if they could sing a guitar riff some could probably hum riffs like Smoke On The Water, Satisfaction or Seven Nation Army. But if you ask them to sing you some solo I bet nobody will remember one.

Todays music doesn't even have solos. But it still has riffs, even if their more often played with synthies than guitars.

I can sing along with quite a few Mick Taylor solos note after note, and they have the same emotional impact on me than great rock riffs.

But hey, when Keith says his thing, people take it for granted.

Yeah you can, I can do too, but the majority of people can't. But a lot of them will still be able to remember and sing a riff.

There are countless people that can sing along with Bach or Mozart melodies, even played on a guitar. And a good melodic guitar solo is based on the same principals as a well known melody. Even Abba or Bob Dylan melodies come to mind.

Keith's quote is narrow - minded garbage.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2022-08-29 23:41 by TheflyingDutchman.

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TheflyingDutchman

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StonedRambler

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TheflyingDutchman

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StonedRambler

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TheflyingDutchman

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treaclefingers

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Cristiano Radtke
“Solos come and go,” as Richards notes with his trademark cackle, “but a riff lasts forever.”

A simple observation, that is quite profound.

Too simple I would say.

Well, there's a lot of truth to it. if you ask kids today if they could sing a guitar riff some could probably hum riffs like Smoke On The Water, Satisfaction or Seven Nation Army. But if you ask them to sing you some solo I bet nobody will remember one.

Todays music doesn't even have solos. But it still has riffs, even if their more often played with synthies than guitars.

I can sing along with quite a few Mick Taylor solos note after note, and they have the same emotional impact on me than great rock riffs.

But hey, when Keith says his thing, people take it for granted.

Yeah you can, I can do too, but the majority of people can't. But a lot of them will still be able to remember and sing a riff.

There are countless people that can sing along with Bach or Mozart melodies, even played on a guitar. And a good melodic guitar solo is based on the same principals as a well known melody. Even Abba or Bob Dylan melodies come to mind.

Keith's quote is narrow - minded garbage.

A guitar solo isn't the same as a melody, though I would understand that some guitarists may play melodies in their guitar lines.

The fact that you seem to be getting angry tells me you know that too, and feel a little silly now.

Just forget it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022-08-30 12:21 by TheflyingDutchman.

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glimmertwin1
I have only watched the Mick Jagger part so far.I think 25 x 5 is far better.

I have to agree, at least Lorne Michaels is a Stones Tragic with chronological knowledge. I don't know why they haven't turned 25x5 into a "Beatles Anthology" type multi episode documentary, you know, expanded it, carried on with it, enhanced it with better/restored footage? Heck the Beatles got 5 Dvd's/9 hrs or so out of 10 years ...

I thought it was a very solid series. Revelatory? For many of us die hards, probably not. But many moments to give you a shiver or even a tear down your cheek.

I thought the Charlie episode was quite gripping and made you realize just how different he was from the rest of them. To resist the obvious temptations they have had for 60 years the way he did seems inhuman. But he was a decent gentleman.

Mick comes off as he usually does, clear, consistent and a bit scripted. But totally charming. Ronnie was wonderful, and I think that Keith has become the most special elders spokesman for music that there is. A grizzled old bluesman who has become the thing that he grew up worshiping. Quite remarkable.

For me what really stands out are those tempting glimpses of footage we have not seen before. There wasn't much of it, but the occasional backstage color from the 1972 tour, a couple of other things that made me wonder, what else are they sitting on? Please just make that documentary already. Pull together the best clips and just spoil the crap out of us. We put the time in. We only deserve as much:-)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022-08-31 01:12 by hbwriter.

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hbwriter

...For me what really stands out are those tempting glimpses of footage we have not seen before. There wasn't much of it, but the occasional backstage color from the 1972 tour, a couple of other things that made me wonder, what else are they sitting on? Please just make that documentary already. Pull together the best clips and just spoil the crap out of us. We put the time in. We only deserve as much:-)

Amen to that

I only bothered with Crossfire Hurricane. It didn’t do much for me. Truthfully, I don’t think any ‘new’ Stones documentary can. The days of needing to hear fresh interviews and insights are over. I just enjoy the music. However, I only have positive things to say about 25x5. That documentary taught me so much.

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Big Al
I only bothered with Crossfire Hurricane. It didn’t do much for me. Truthfully, I don’t think any ‘new’ Stones documentary can. The days of needing to hear fresh interviews and insights are over. I just enjoy the music. However, I only have positive things to say about 25x5. That documentary taught me so much.

You should see the Charlie-episode, for the clip from his first jazz gig alone. Great stuff

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The Worst.
I have now watched all episodes. There are some great moments in all four episodes, but I’m not fully satisfied. My initial feeling is that this could have been so much better if they only had let someone with actual knowledge of the Stones’ history and music to write the narration, choose the music and edit the clips. This happens time and time again. Why on earth do they have that background music when they obviously have the rights to use Stones’ own music?! An unforgivable choice by the BBC producers. But most annoyingly, what the narrator tells us doesn’t always match with what we see and hear. When they are talking about riots in 1968 and how this influenced Mick, the only logical thing is to play Street Fighting Man, but no, they rather show a dull moment from the Goddard film instead. When they go in depth on open-G tuning, they play Gimme Shelter – which, of course, is not an example of open-G. Keith talks about the power of a great riff, and they go on to show him playing Sitting’ on a Fence on his acoustic guitar. Max Weinberg tells about Charlie’s drumming on Rocks Off and asks us to listen to all the fills, but they play a segment from the song more or less without fills. Stewart Copeland talk about how Charlie could rock so hard but play so loose, and have a relaxed style for a high energy type of music. I guess they could have played Bitch or something, but they use this slow, low energy (but still beautiful) rehearsal version of Tumbling Dice as an example. Brian Johnson says Mick’s greatest gift as a frontman is to control a huge stadium, but they zoom in on Mick performing standing still in an arena. They talk about New York’s 52nd street, but show pictures from London. Mick is talking about crazy stage ideas in the 'modern' era, and they go on to, not show anything from Babylon or A Bigger Bang, but the 1981 stage. Etc. etc. etc. And there’s a lot of factual errors that are of minor importance, but still… facts are facts. The Montreux rehearsals were not done in 1974. When they show the Lotus stage from 1975, the narrator says that the band will be a travelling carnival for the next TWO decades. The Stones didn’t end their touring circus in 1995, they are STILL doing it – almost five decades later. According to the script, Stones have played for a total of 15 million people. The actual number is far higher. Okay, that's my rant for today. But I’m still waiting for the perfect Stones documentary!

I totally agree, Anders. It's great to watch our guys, as always, but they could have been much more accurate regarding the stories the makers are trying to tell us. Quite annoying actually...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022-09-01 15:01 by Niklas.

Channel 9 has just announced a big Stones report this week. Looks like the My Life As A Stone timing but that’s been out for a while now… maybe an Australian tour announcement later this week??

ROCKMAN