Was wonderin' what is the "Best" or most informative Mick & Stones bio? I Read "Up & Down With The Rolling Stones" Years ago. Wild stories!
Just finished Ronnie's book. GREAT Book. A Must read!
Of course I CAN'T WAIT for KEEF's autobiography to come out too! (When is that due by the way?)Any suggestions folks? Does Mick have an autobiography out?
Thanx!

here's one of the (fairly) recent "favourite Stones book" threads: [www.iorr.org]

>> Does Mick have an autobiography out? <<

no - he started one in 1983 or so but he wound up giving the advance back;
he said he found it boring to go through the recollection/writing process

>> Keith's autobiography ... When is that due by the way? <<

2010



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2008-11-09 13:33 by with sssoul.

There are many excellent books on the Stones; e.g the first Dalton book, the Stanley Booth book, the Phelge book, the Chet Flippo book all very good first hand accounts.
But Jagger bios...there are at elast 3 I can think of off the top of my head one by Sandford, one by Anderson, one by Seay - they are all very boring. Jagger is a persona, a being. But like many great actors, performers, mimes, he himself is pretty laid back and settled in life. The exciting parts of Jagger are within the confines of the Stones and his music.
There is an off the wall book on Jagger; can't recall the title. It is a small paperback, from right after the 72 tour.

I meant to say: Bill German is coming out with his onw book on the Stones and his parts in it. In 09 it will be released. It is called "Under Their Thunmb"

There are many forms to writing.
So there can be many variations of telling a story.
Mick would know that, seems to be a very big storyteller.
A 15 yr old is cashin in on a 15 yr bio.
Humph!?

So far, I would suggest the Andrew Loog Oldham books, "STONED" and "2STONED".

There is a, proverbial, treasure trove, of annecdotes in these two books, to keep the Fan fascinated and entertained, for a long time! For 2STONED, I don't know ANYWHERE else the RCA recording sessions have been gone into in such depth, before. The sidetrips Oldham takes into the West Coast Music of that era, is very valuable...for example, the Monterey Pop Festival.

The story of Oldham and Keith witnessing a Frank Sinatra recording session is one of those special things, Oldham shares.

His thumbnail sketches of the Major Players of those days, in the Music Business, are INVALUABLE...and again, you won't find them anywhere else.

Also, Paul Samwell-Smith's BLACK VINYL, WHITE POWDER, is another essential book on The Business in general !



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2008-11-09 17:49 by stonesmusicfan.

KEITH RICHARDS by Victor Bockris (1992)

UP AND DOWN WITH THE ROLLING STONES by Tony Sanchez (1979) is very spectacular, but in my opinion too much like the 'tabloids'

Jimmy Phelge's book, NANKERING WITH THE STONES is also a must read.

I mean, I don't know who else was there with these guys, OTHER than Oldham or Phelge that has written ANYTHING credible on the early days, maybe, outside of Bill Wyman, right ?

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with sssoul
here's one of the (fairly) recent "favourite Stones book" threads: [www.iorr.org]

>> Does Mick have an autobiography out? <<

no - he started one in 1983 or so but he wound up giving the advance back;
he said he found it boring to go through the recollection/writing process

>> Keith's autobiography ... When is that due by the way? <<

2010

AND it has be to be somewhat difficult if you did things you were NOT particulary proud of.

These guys put their pants on one leg at a time too, lest we forget ! Even leotards !

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steviewags
Was wonderin' what is the "Best" or most informative Mick & Stones bio? I Read "Up & Down With The Rolling Stones" Years ago. Wild stories!
Just finished Ronnie's book. GREAT Book. A Must read!
Of course I CAN'T WAIT for KEEF's autobiography to come out too! (When is that due by the way?)Any suggestions folks? Does Mick have an autobiography out?
Thanx!

After that fall from the coconut tree, I would think, some of his recollections come quite hard to be recalled !

Just got Marilou's LOVE YOU LIVE book. Wonderfully done and better than any of the Stones "Bios". If you are a true blue Stones fan you will love this book.

Best Stones book: Stanley Booth's Dance with the Devil.

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Palace Revolution 2000
There are many excellent books on the Stones; e.g the first Dalton book, the Stanley Booth book, the Phelge book, the Chet Flippo book all very good first hand accounts.
But Jagger bios...there are at elast 3 I can think of off the top of my head one by Sandford, one by Anderson, one by Seay - they are all very boring. Jagger is a persona, a being. But like many great actors, performers, mimes, he himself is pretty laid back and settled in life. The exciting parts of Jagger are within the confines of the Stones and his music.
There is an off the wall book on Jagger; can't recall the title. It is a small paperback, from right after the 72 tour.

This could be the one by Anthony Scaduto, an American writer who wrote a very good bio on Dylan, published around 1971.
The Jagger book was very poor in comparison.

most of Stones' bios cover all their scandals but not music. 50 pages about Bill's girls and half about Sticky Fingers, thanks!

Inspired by another thread I came to think of Philip Norman's "The Stones" (1984) as one of the best books about the whole group I have ever read - even if it only covers the story up until the end of 1983.

I don't really think any of the individual books I've read on Jagger has been up to much. I think Jagger is very hard to analyze or even pinpoint.

The best book about Keith Richards is probably Victor Bockris'. He may not always have his facts right but at least he tries to see Keef in a different light, which makes for a pretty interesting read.

As for pure entertainment value, I'd take Tony Sanchez' "Up and down with the Rolling Stones" anytime

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Amused
most of Stones' bios cover all their scandals but not music. 50 pages about Bill's girls and half about Sticky Fingers, thanks!

I have to ay that this is a problem for any writer on the Stones, individually or as a group.
Partly as a result of their own "endevours" they have (Charlie excepted) become tabloid fodder. You can't really blame the writers.
Would a serious book on the Stones and their music (without the gossip) have that much wide interest?
Ronnie's book is very light on the actual music. Clapton's was bit better, but still focussed on his (past)demons - which of course is perfectly legit but it overshadows any critique of his music.
I guess that is usually the problem with any book on r and r.
Dylan and a few other artists seem to have transcended the tabloid era-but they are exceptions.
If the Stones had had private lives as uneventful as members of Pink Floyd (for example) would they have maintained the public interest? Food for thought.
However there are some good books out there-for any fans- and in some respects I think they have been served better than the Beatles.
My favourites -those by Booth/Norman/Oldham/Dalton.
Bill's book of course are a must, despite his obsession with bank balances!

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mofur
Inspired by another thread I came to think of Philip Norman's "The Stones" (1984) as one of the best books about the whole group I have ever read - even if it only covers the story up until the end of 1983.

Norman's book is very mediocre, especially compared to "Shout!", the one he had done on the Beatles a couple of years earlier.

It actually bugs me no end how he seems to publish a much-heralded 'updated' version to cash in with every tour, which basically consists of an additional four pages covering about 15 years of their career and which appear to have been researched by a chimpanzee.

Even worse is the fact that whenever someone like the Daily Mail wants to publish an expose on the Stones and rubbish them, they always seem to turn to their 'acclaimed' biographer Philip Norman to do the dirty work for them.

Norman's a twat.

Bill's first book was a huge dissappoinment. I have said it before - IMO some of the best books on the Stones are Marianne Faithful's autobio, and Ian Maclagan's autobio.

"Keith Richards: Life as a Rolling Stone" by Barbara Charone is brilliant if you can find it. She was there in the 70s and really tells the inside story...

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Palace Revolution 2000
Bill's first book was a huge dissappoinment. I have said it before - IMO some of the best books on the Stones are Marianne Faithful's autobio, and Ian Maclagan's autobio.

I agree. I am currently reading Faithfull, and its a pretty good book.

Maybe Keith will talk about his "falling out of a coconut tree" and give us what really happened instead of that made up tripe.

It would be great if a book was written from a perspective of what actually happened with Mick instead of some of the crap I've read where things were done because he's a star or whatever. I forget when it came out but I think it was a somewhat silver book simply called Jagger. It seemed interesting but I think in the end I deemed it in the same category as Tony's book - bullshit.

I would suggest Bockris' Keith bio, Stanley Booth's "True Adventures..." & Greenfield's "Journey Through America With...". For me, that's the top tier right there.

Additional reading I would recommend would be the book about Exile On Main St from the 33 1/3 series, Booth's short Keith bio, and Spanish Tony's trashy, but extremely fun and interesting "Up And Down..."

Avoid Greenfield's eminently disappointing Exile book and Stephen Davis' "Old Gods Almost Dead".