Thing is, I love Wood's playing and at his best he's perhaps my favourite rock guitar player. Something so jazzy and constantly creative in his Some Girls playing, never heard such minute, subtle licks.
Now just to highlight a fairly recent moment I love by Woods:

Start Me Up, Boston 99.

It's cool that he's up in the mix for once and man, is he funky. Him and Charlie are on fire on this one, it rolls like hell. My favourite version of the song.*

OK, just wanted to balance. Anyone has great Woody moments from, say, 1997? I mean, not when he's OK but when he shines?

By the way, a great show, Boston 99. Jagger is actually more creative than usual, varies adlibs here and there, anybody noted how he quotes Prince at the end of Brown Sugar? "Yeah, everybody's gotta party, we're gonna party like it's 1999"

Seems I'm talking with myself here, never mind... But still listening to Boston; there are horns on Sympathy, had never heard that before. Was it always like that in 99? How odd! Sounds completely out of place to me.

His best moments are on Some Girls. Beast of Burden, Some Girls track and Everything is Turning are my favourites.

Love his touches on SW album. Gives the whole thing an added zip and zing.

Especially like his early solo stuff. Faces - 'Say No More, Squire'.

He has done a lot of great stuff. I luv I've Got My Own Album To Do and Gimme Some Neck. "Shine A Light" on Stripped is tremendous! (+ lotsa more)

Hi Olivier. Woody does his best when he's as far from Keith on-stage as he can be. Then he plays his way. He also sharpens up when Mick jogs past him - maybe afraid that he might get clouted on the head.

Start Me Up simply roared in Boston - much hotter than when it opened up the sets last fall. Ron's playing was fine last weekend, including the splendid slide on 'All Down The Line.' I do miss 'Out Of Control' which was a highlight at the Fenway shows (thanks Ron). Other fave RW moments
The Birds (comp on Deram) - crunchy guitars, maximum r & b w/punk attitude, and Ron was only 17 - 19 years old.
Jeff Beck Group - 'Truth' & 'Beck-Ola'. Two classic slabs of proto-Zep.
Faces - the box has so many beautiful moments I don't know where to begin.
Rod Stewart - Complete Mercury Recordings - another great box, and Wood's playing throughout, say, 'Gasoline Alley' is utterly distinctive and exceptionally sensitive to the material.
"Now Look", "Mahoney's Last Stand" ('Just For a Moment' is a forgotton Faces classic), much of "Slide On This" and "Not For Beginners"
Then there are all the fine Stones albums.
Also dig Wood on the version of "Little Wing" from Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert, the original album not Jon Astley's horrible edited/cleaned up CD version.

His very best... him and Keith weaving live in concert during the 40 Licks Tour... never been a better guitar duo than those 2 on that tour...

If ABB is "Micks Tour" and VooDoo Lounge was "Darryl & Charlie's Tour"... then 40 Licks definitely belonged to Ronnie & Keith. It was the guitar tour to end all guitar tours.

At some of the gigs it was as if every song was a "concert in itself".

"It's just that demon life has got me in it's sway..."

I was in an elevator at the MGM during the Bridges tour. It was about 3:00 a.m. and an arm held the door open and asked me and my buddy to wait a minute. Moments later, two blond women and Woody saunter in. Woody is barely holding a glass with a clear liquid in it as he looks around the elevator and sloshes, "I won ten grand on the tele" and cracks himself up with the line. "Ten grand," he repeats with a widening smile before I get to my floor. For me, it was a great Woody moment.

I think Ronnie is still a great guitarist. I love this "team spirit" between him and Keith. I suppose that spirit is the core of the so called weaving...

otonneau Wrote:
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> Seems I'm talking with myself here, never mind...
> But still listening to Boston; there are horns on
> Sympathy, had never heard that before. Was it
> always like that in 99? How odd! Sounds completely
> out of place to me.

Weren't those horns a mind-blower?

I was at opening night in Oakland on that tour and was baffled/thrilled when they did "Sympathy" with the brass.

Pretty sure it had never been done before '99, nor has it been done since.

I love that version of SFTD with the horns. Takes it somewhere new. Sadly you can't hear keiths guitar but faintly you can hear his guitar solo wail away and then the horns kick in after his second solo. it is cool. This is a good Woody moment. You can hear his parts clearly and they are great especially his reggae backing on the solo.

I was just watching the MSG show from Four Flicks DVD and Woody is GREAT on CYHMK. I love it. That whole MSG show is just full of great guitar from Keith and Woody like mentioned earlier. Great stuff. Woody looks so alive on that show. He cracks me up during Mick's intros of the band.

I think another great Woody moment is when Mick licks him on SNL '78. Just the way he shakes his head and just plays it off. I wonder if he expected that. With Mick, he probably expected anything.

Sadly, it's been too long since I experienced a great woody moment. I know, it sounds like a personal problem, and it is. I'm going to down six or seven glasses of water and hit the bars again in an attempt to rectify this situation, See you guys and gals later.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-01-21 07:33 by ohnonotyouagain.

Some Girls Tour # 1 then Voodoo Lounge , in the studio Some Girls also




i took this in Buffalo 7-4-78

Yes, Ron Wood was a great rock guitarist. The performance of the 75/76 tour is due to him. In my opinion it is the best time the Stones had, a perfect interweaving guitar work, Ronnie played great rhythm and solos, I prefer his guitar work on YCAGWYW to Mick Taylors e.g. Hey Negrita is incredible, the solo on YCAGWYW in Los Angeles '75 (15 minutes version) is one of the greatest in Stones history.

But Ronnie today? It is no question of changing style I think. If he aren't able to find the right chords on songs he played a thousand times, we aren't talking about style and the musical direction. We are talking about a manual worker who aren't able to handle his tools. I don't speculate what the reason is, but it must be possible here to give a bad review without censoring.

Yes, I ment recent moments of course, as there surely is no shortage of great Woody moments up to 1995!
However, just to say I still think he's great in the studio and in fact I prefer all the tracks from ABB on which he is, the other I think lack something.

I also think that the guitar 'weaving' is at its best on Voodoo Lounge, as good as on Some Girls, in a neater, more controled way and although it's hard to tell who plays what (which is good) Woody's playing must be half of that amazing duetting I hear and therefore must be great. Thinking of neglected gems such as Baby Break It Down, woaw the guitars on that, as well as Sparks, Mean Disposition, Brand New Car... When Ronnie's in shape he still rules.

otonneau Wrote:
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> But still listening to Boston; there are horns on Sympathy, had never heard that before. Was it always like that in 99?

When they played it as an encore, yes. Which they did at all North American No Security shows, and in Stuttgart and Imst.

On ABB, for instance, just one note: after Jagger sang his last adlib on Let Me Down Slow, Woody punctuates with that high note, 'squeek!' and it's so vocal, like it was Jagger himself who had went 'woow'. That's one thing I think a good Woody does better than anyone: counter-chants, playing as one sings - some sort of guitar skat.

Well, otoneau, if you only want recent 'moments', they are very rare indeed.

My first Ronnie 'thrill' was listening to him on Faces' live Maybe I'm Amazed in 1971.

My most recent thrill on a similar level was his solo on Little Wing at a Corrs concert - circa 2000 or 2001.

RobertJohnson, judging from the boots i have heard i think Ronnie on this tour isn't the horrible guitarist you are describing. I find him basically good and sometimes something more than it. Of course there are a few exeptions but his whole job is good. You know, Ronnie is the one and only guitarist in the planet who is in danger of be crucified because of two lost notes during a two hours show. I think this is a kind of "Stones fans illness" but that's another story.

By The Way, i find his middle seventies solo on WCAGWYW (especially the LYL version) a bit childish. I love his solo on CYHMK during Licks Tour.

Also, listen to Ronnie on IORR from the same show (Boston 99). Solid, fun rock n roll guitar.

Wild Horses 1976-Knebworth. FANTASTIC LEADS - I love it (and Ronnie btw).

stickydion Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> RobertJohnson, judging from the boots i have heard
> i think Ronnie on this tour isn't the horrible
> guitarist you are describing. I find him basically
> good and sometimes something more than it. Of
> course there are a few exeptions but his whole job
> is good. You know, Ronnie is the one and only
> guitarist in the planet who is in danger of be
> crucified because of two lost notes during a two
> hours show. I think this is a kind of "Stones fans
> illness" but that's another story.
>
> By The Way, i find his middle seventies solo on
> WCAGWYW (especially the LYL version) a bit
> childish. I love his solo on CYHMK during Licks
> Tour.
>


You are right concerning the edited LYL version, it is childish, indeed. But that is due to the shortening of the original played in Paris (some great version is on "It's a Gas in Paris"), the other one is the Los Angeles version, available on boots, too.

Too Tough,

Wild Horses is certainly the Knebworth highlight. Ronnie even sings on that one.

Btw, it's not that recent - but who cares! Time is relative.

Yeah, in those days Ronnie could still deliver. If you listen to Mick Taylor's solos and compare to what Ronnie plays by then you will easily recognize that Ronnie played Mick's solos.

Any moment that Ronnie has with the Stones is a great one, for this reason: without the continued support of Mick, and (more in the background) Keith & Charlie, Ronnie could've gone the way of Def Leppard's Steve Clark, and let his alcoholism kill him.

I don't think we fully appreciate the battle that Ronnie is fighting, every day of his life. I'm perfectly willing to endure a few flubbed notes, as long as he stays with us. He is my favorite Stone, and maybe (beneath his playful veneer), the most courageous one.

I think Ron W was perhaps at his worst (on a Stones tour) during the B2B tour, in terms of low in the mix, minimal impact, etc tho overall I'm less of a fan of either the pretty good'75,'81 or '89 tours - from overblown to out of breath to Matt Clifford, hmmmm. The Wood/Bo Diddley club show I saw in '88 or so was fun but really ragged, and you could practically smell the coke wafting off the stage (crazed, jaw-clenched, grotesque coke grins from RW)Much better on the '92 Slide On This solo tour...I dug the '99 tour, including RW on the long & dynamic "Out Of Control," plus the return indoors for a hot somewhat stripped down set overall (dug his slide on 'Sister Morphine' MTV 10-spot - was that '98?)...Thought Ron was much improved, sometimes really hot, but not consistently so (& Chuck way too upfront in the mix) during Licks, & it appears like I'm lucky to have seen the US shows. But he's been terrific at all 4 shows I've seen this tour, and yes 'focused.' Clearly the more secure his recovery the stronger he'll be, though I can't imagine how he deals with Keith-as-bully.

Four Stone Walls Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Btw, it's not that recent - but who cares! Time is
> relative.

Oh, sorry, yeah, right. But Woody still can deliver if you
let him and give him time to do it. Like on Can´t You Hear
Me Knocking at MSG 2003. What a fantastic solo. It really
shakes me!