This review was in the Metro today. I really enjoyed STP. Is this a good read too?


Exile On Main Street: A Season In Hell With The Rolling Stones
by Robert Greenfield (Da Capo, £9.99)
Zena Alkayat - Wednesday, February 27, 2008The Rolling Stones may as well have invented the mantra 'sex, drugs and rock'n'roll'. The potent combination consumed the band in 1971 as they camped out as tax exiles on the French Riviera in Keith Richards' Villa Nellcôte, recording what many believe to be their greatest album, Exile On Main Street.

Music writer Robert Greenfield visited the villa himself but here prefers to draw on the observations of others (through books, newspaper cuttings, interviews and at one point Wikipedia) to create a sketchy, patchwork account of that fateful year.

In broad strokes, he touches on Keef's relationship with Anita Pallenberg and their death-defying heroin addiction, Mick Jagger's adulterous tendencies and the torturous dynamic between the band members.

A cast of dozens, including drug dealers, producers and hangers-on, completes the picture. Greenfield's tone is chatty rather than authoritative and he treats his tale almost as fiction, charting the story in acts and presenting the band as his cast.

But he does give a flavour of those dark, hedonistic days and, if nothing else, leaves you amazed the album ever saw the light of day.

Do yourself a favor and search for old threads of discussion on this book.
It is terrible. Don't waste your money.

Still can't believe that anybody--much less a writer who did such excellent work on the '72 Stones in A Journey Through America With The Rolling Stones--could produce something so bad.

Gave it away; didn't want it on my shelf.

I looked at it. I think. And the first thing that came to my mind was - I've read all this shit before.

And what the FU*CK? WHO would rely on Wikishitia for ANYTHING?

That has got to be a joke.

Borrow it from the library. Do NOT pay one CENT for this book! Poorly written, boring, gossipy. A total wank, if you ask me.

Yes, borrow this from the library. Not very good. Reads like a rough-draft, needs editing, and, as I recall, gets some of the stories mixed up.

IMHO, people are exaggerating the poorness of this book. It's not that bad. It's not amazingly well written, but not terrible either. It does borrow lots from other sources, but it also goes into discussion to _some_ extent, and it adds some new information. Some of its most rewarding material is what came from first hand interviews with Andy Johns (always a generous participant, it seems). I also found the episode on Keith's and Anita's Swiss "rehab" very worthwhile, although it's practically impossible to determine how true it all is.

But compliments aside, it has several factual errors, it recycles old material, it dwells on irrelevant periods (e.g. the Bigger Bang era), it over-dramatizes some parts in a pretentious way, and it feels short.

If you are a hard core Stones fan you probably won't find much news in it. But as a first Stones book it's a fine look into the Stones' most romantic and decadent period of debauchery. Or if you're crazy about the Exile era.

That's my take on it. Not a "definitive opinion" (what a crazy notion), but I've read over a dozen Stones book, some of which are very highly regarded (Booth, STP, Phelge, Wyman, etc.).

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LieB
IMHO, people are exaggerating the poorness of this book. It's not that bad. It's not amazingly well written, but not terrible either. .

I agree. If you're a fan, check it out. It's not great, but I think it's better than some people are making it out to be.

LieB, I don't know what you read, but this book is the worst.

To be honest I've lost count of the Stones books I've read over the last 30 odd years starting with dear old George Tremlett but most are career spanning bios and I thought that this sounded interesting. It's an interesting period and STP was an excellent read.

Thanks for all comments. I'll wait for the price to go down or for one of my local libraries to stock it.

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HEILOOBAAS
LieB, I don't know what you read, but this book is the worst.

don't really see any reason why we need these comments. I don't wish to start a personal fued, but why insult someone else's opinion? Ah to each, their own.