Product Description

'The definitive story of The Rolling Stones' Heat In 2003, The Rolling Stones Forty Licks Tour sold out at venues across the country, testimony to their legendary status. In this remarkable book, the Stones themselves reveal the story behind that legend, getting right to the heart of what makes the group tick. It's the band's eye view of their history, punctuated by pithy comments on album and single releases, on memorable performances and on the ups and downs of their private world, and illustrated with 64 pages of stunning illustrations, many from their own personal archives. The book begins with their roots and what brought them together. It then charts their rise from playing in tiny clubs to their success as 'the greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world. They describe how their music has evolved and how it has changed their lives. 'It wasn't so much a question of being a wizard on the guitar. You also had to be quite a magician to live with the Stones' Ronnie Wood

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26311 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
According to the Rolling Stones hews closely to the formula set in 2000 by the publication of The Beatles Anthology. Like its predecessor, it's a beautiful coffee-table tome with hundreds of gorgeous photographs--from childhood pictures of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards to concert shots from the 40 Licks Tour. The text is taken from recent interviews with the band's four latter-day members (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood). Notably missing, however, is any contribution from former bassist Bill Wyman, who left the band in the early 90s and published his own history of the band in 2002, Rolling with the Stones. Where Wyman is an obsessive collector and diarist, the other Stones are more impressionistic in their memories, lending an approach to history as casual as the band's concerts are rigorously planned and staged.

The first half of the Stones' story has plenty of high drama (tours through the segregated South, Brian Jones's death, Altamont), which no-one seems eager to reflect on deeply. (Watts is the only one even to mention Altamont.) The more recent years have seen a long string of ever-more successful tours and ever-less popular albums, interrupted only by Jagger and Richards' near divorce in the 80s, plus rehab stints for Watts and Wood. While The Beatles Anthologyoffered the surviving members' interpretations of their experiences at a distance of 30 or more years, the Stones are still living the tale they're trying to tell--and they aren't always the most self-aware narrators. Or generous: Wyman's three-decade tenure is given short shrift, but the book finds enough space for some unnecessary digs (Wyman has "tiny hands" we're told and an "almost effeminate" style of playing).

To flesh out the band members' own recollections, the book also contains 13 essays from music-industry friends (Ahmet Ertegun, Marshall Chess), collaborators (Don Was), famous fans (Sheryl Crow, novelist Carl Hiaasen) and even the band's financial advisor for the past 33 years, Prince Rupert Lowenstein. Their views are sometimes fascinating (the unvarnished perspective of Crawdaddy Club owner Giorgio Gomelsky, the well-told stories of art bon vivant Christopher Gibbs), but just as often self-indulgent or sycophantic. Fans looking for an artfully designed volume of photos spanning the Stones' career won't be disappointed. Anyone seeking a comprehensive history of the band may want to wait for the band's definitive biography, which has been attempted many times but has yet to be written. --Keith Moerer

Simon Beckett, Observer
'Their often blunt recollections make fo ra hugely entertaining slice of rock 'n' roll history. As producer Don Was puts it:"whatever else is happening in the world, you can always count on the Rolling Stones to show up and play the shit out of 'Satisfaction'". Amen to that'.

Review
'Their often blunt recollections make fo ra hugely entertaining slice of rock 'n' roll history. As producer Don Was puts it:"whatever else is happening in the world, you can always count on the Rolling Stones to show up and play the shit out of 'Satisfaction'". Amen to that'. (Simon Beckett Observer )

Customer Reviews

Definitive book? No. Definitive Discography? Yes, definitively.
The Amazon product review summs up the book very nicely and it is hard to add to it, but for one glaring omission - the discography.

The 18 page discography at the end is definitive and comprehensive, showing how confusing the early albums were with different tracks in different parts of the world, but using same or similar titles and cover art. If for nothing else, buy the book for this! It will pay for itself with the money you save by not buying duplicated tracks on several supposedly different CDs.

Almost all mention of Bill Wyman is carefully avoided, and he is only grudingly allowed to creep in just a few times. Which is a shame, since to my aged ears the Stones music stagnated and went downhill as his influence waned, and became mindlessly repetitive and boring after he left. Reading the book, I can see why.

For an insight into why the Stones are what they are today, I think anyone reading the book will certainly gain a fuller understanding, but maybe they might not like what they read.

If you have ever been a Stones fan, as I was for several years starting in 1965, then this is worth a careful read. It does not give the whole picture by any means, but a lot of loose ends are neatly tied up, and I have a lot more sympathy for them now than I've had in the last few decades.

However, I guess I'm mostly a fan of Bill Wyman and his music; try listening to some of his Rhythym Kings' CDs, and if you read this book, then you must also read his side of their story in 'Rolling with the Stones'.

There is a terrific bio. . .
and I can't say whether it is this one.

I disagree that the definitive Stones bio has not been written -- The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones is a blistering account of the Stones at their peak during the 1969 tour that culminated with Altamont. Though he was as close to the band as anyone could be in those days, author Stanley Booth pulls no punches yet truly appreciates the Stones for the simply great band that they were.

Coffee table status belies modest content
For the size and weight of the book (which is beautifully presented) there is surprising absence of content on (and from) past members. There is obviously a lot untold! Your reviewer has got it dead right. An opportunity missed?