Tag Archives: Keith Richards

The 10 Best Memoirs Written By Musicians

music books

The 10 Best Memoirs Written By Musicians

When musicians decides to write their memoirs they are often uneven (this is a kind statement). They often struggle to give words the life that do in their songs, this “new” format may not come naturally to them. That said, many of these men and women have great stories to tell and often provide compulsive reading. They do stumble in their wording and structure from time to time, but the stories are compelling and they succeed in capturing the spirit of their cultural moment with astonishing insight.

These twelve ten books are great examples of how it can be done if the authors manage to adjust to the new form. They are good period, not because they are written by famous artists, but because they reflect all the creativity, movement and human drama you’d expect from people driven by art. We kept it to memoirs, so no fictional prose (sorry, Nick Cave), no poetry (sorry, Patti Smith and Leonard Cohen), there are some of the books that touches different genres but all these books are mainly memoirs.

They are not necessarily the best biographies about artists written (although sometimes they are) but they are the best books written/narrated by the musicians themselves!

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Feb 24: The Rolling Stones played Perth, Australia in 1973

rolling stones perth 1973

The Stones were at the top of their game in 1973… one of the best tours ever.On Feb 24 1973 they played Western Australia Cricket Ground in Perth, Australia, and a great sounding “stereo soundboard” bootleg turned up.. in 1987.

The Rolling Stones Pacific Tour 1973

Associated album Exile on Main St.
Start date 18 January 1973
End date 27 February 1973
Legs 2
Shows 14

The Rolling Stones Pacific Tour 1973 was a concert tour of countries bordering the Pacific Ocean in January and February 1973 by The Rolling Stones. The tour is sometimes referred to as the Winter Tour 1973. However this title is misleading, as much of it took place in the Southern Hemisphere, where it was summer at the time.

the rolling stones australia 1973

Continue reading Feb 24: The Rolling Stones played Perth, Australia in 1973

The Rolling stones – Highway Child (unreleased)

stones bb

The Unreleased series

Beggars Banquet is the seventh British and ninth American studio album by the Rolling Stones. It was released in December 1968. It marked a return to the band’s R&B roots and is generally viewed as more primal than the psychedelia of Their Satanic Majesties Request. It also started off a string records that is usually regarded as the band’s best work.

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards hired producer Jimmy Miller, who had produced the Spencer Davis Group and Traffic. This partnership would prove so successful that Jimmy Miller would work with the band until 1973.

The recording sessions for Beggars Banquet started in March and finished in June.

Today’s unreleased track is Highway Child off these sessions.

stones innside sleeve bb

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December 18: Keith Richards birthday

Keith-Richards-large

“Music is a language that doesn’t speak in particular words. It speaks in emotions, and if it’s in the bones, it’s in the bones.”
― Keith Richards

“When you are growing up there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you.”
― Keith Richards

He’s acknowledged as perhaps the greatest rhythm guitarist in rock & roll, but Keith Richards is even more legendary for his near-miraculous ability to survive the most debauched excesses of the rock & roll lifestyle. His prodigious consumption of drugs and alcohol has been well documented, and would likely have destroyed anyone with a less amazing endurance level.
~Steve Huey (allmusic.com)

Gimme Shelter (w/ a lot of great Richards photos):

Continue reading December 18: Keith Richards birthday

October 22: Jimmy Miller passed away in 1994 – 20 years ago

Jimmy Miller produced “The Rolling Stones” 4 best albums:

  1. Exile on Main St. (1972)
  2. Sticky Fingers (1971)
  3. Let It Bleed (1969)
  4. Beggars Banquet (1968)

He really connected with the band & Keith Richards in particular.

“It was really a gas to work with him. Jimmy Miller could turn the whole band on and make a nondescript number into something.”
~Keith Richards

Miller was a huge Stones fan before he started working with the band..

‘The night Jagger phoned I just knew he was gonna ask me to produce them. I glided over to his house on a cloud.’
~Jimmy Miller

Continue reading October 22: Jimmy Miller passed away in 1994 – 20 years ago