Any Brian Jones love here?

As much as I rate Mick Taylor's gtr solo wizardry, the Stones glamour dimmed considerably when Brian departed.
Any love and respect for The Rolling Stones main instigator?

 

He's a rock god. I like the guy.

 

Anyone at all interested in Brian Jones/The Stones should read the recent Trynka biography. It's fair, but not idolizing, toward Brian.

But it should be remembered that sometimes Brian wasn't always a very nice person:

 

Even though i loved jones' contributions to the stones ,I think the stones were better after Jones.. beggars banquet,let it bleed, sticky fingers, exile on main st are considered the best stones albums by the majority of fans and all were done without jones ( i know he made minimal contributions on beggars banquet)

 

We all go a little mad sometimes

 

With the loss of Brian Jones, the Stones slowly but surely drifted away from their first and most solid musical inspiration - The Blues.
Sure, they needed to evolve, but the further they wandered, the less inspirational the music became.
He was that anchor, that would keep them tied to those roots.

To his immense credit, at the same time he was open to exploring new sounds.

 

The stones were just as bluesy without jones perhaps more so...With jones in the band they released between the buttons , TSMR etc.. hardly blues records..

 

I prefer the Jones-era Stones. Not necessarily because of Brian. I just like 60s records better in general. Satisfaction, Cloud, We Love You etc... all float my boat more than anything post-Let It Bleed. Having said that, the band did continue to produce excellent records without him up to Exile.
It's very hard to judge someone from this distance but I do get the impression that while he was a very talented musician, he was also the architect of his own downfall and it's very hard to see how the Stones could have continued with him.
I do wish ABKCO and the band would sort out some decent archival releases from the Jones line-up. Let me mention Bill Wyman's 1964 Radio Luxembourg acetate for the umpteenth time. That would make a brilliant release.

 

The Jones era Stones and the post-Jones era Stones are both great, but they're certainly different. I think Brian Jones is the most imaginative instrumentalist the Rolling Stones ever had.

 

Well said. It wouldn't be fair to make comparisons between two entirely different guitarists who both brought so much to the table for the Stones. I've often found that when I mention Brian Jones in a conversation with friends or people in public, some get very defensive. One guy used the defense "show me the songwriting credits for Brian Jones." However, just because a guitarist doesn't write many songs doesn't devalue the compositions and textures they bring to a particular song. During their respective periods, both Brian Jones and Mick Taylor contributed so much when it came to shaping the band's songs/albums/sounds.

 

It would seem that Brian was just not well-suited for fame and went off the rails pretty quickly.

I'm presently reading Keith's book and he seems to have been thoroughly disgusted with the person Brian had become by 1967. He doesn't appear to have been terribly affected by Brian's death, and he quickly brushes past it in the book, with no emotion.

Keith also famously "stole" Anita Pallenberg from Brian.

 

I know it isn't the popular opinion, but I prefer the Brian Jones years to any other phase of their career. It probably has more to do with their willingness to change their sound than Jones' input, though. I enjoy the Taylor years through Goat's Head Soup, I like Black and Blue, Some Girls and Tattoo You during the Wood Years, but don't care for them after Undercover. They were one of my favorite bands when I was a kid, but they've put out so much music that I don't like over the past 40 plus years, I don't play them all that much any more.

 

I prefer him as a Stones guitarist to MT, but Ronnie takes the cake for me.

 

If he wasn't such a selfish prick, he'd still be here. What a waste.

 

I agree with much of this but I do still play them.
I will say, however, that of most all the original stones fans that I know, who got into them circa '65, they consider the Jones years the classic years and the post Jones years the coasting years.

 

would have loved to see where life would have taken brian jones.

 

probably somewhere where you have to wear a paternity suit rather than purple paisley underpants

 

New here, eh?

 

Any love for Brian Jones here ?

 

This thread is gonna be hundreds of posts isn't it?

He's both overrated by 60's-only music lovers and hardcore Stones fans who think he got a bad deal from the other members.

He's underrated by your casual Rolling Stones fan who only knows the hits.

Ultimately, it evens out. If he just did some songwriting, I'd be more of a fan, but he didn't sing or write songs; felt more like a studio wiz/session musician. Meanwhile much of his work is what I like best in the Stones' sound.

 

No! Just gathering moss.

 

On a more serious note, i find it very hard to imagine where Brian would have gone musically post-Stones. His guitar playing had gone downhill according to many and he wasn't a songwriter or a singer. He'd probably have trouble touring as he had more drug busts to his name.
Even if he'd sorted his personal life out he needed to get his confidence and ability back. I certainly can't see him playing in some kind of "super group". Lennon, PT as well as The Stones all stated the guy was a mess the last few times they saw him. Any suggestions he could have been in a group with Hendrix and/or Lennon are completely laughable unless we're talking about him playing nose-flute on the London Lyceum version of Don't Worry Kyoko.
I'd like to think that he could have started at the bottom (reputation aside) and built something back up with himself as part of a new group but everything we read about his behaviour and dedication 1966 to 69 goes against that idea.
Having said all that, it would be nice if his soundtrack for Degree Of Murder could be found in multitrack form and issued.

 

I really like the "early" Rolling Stones material, so yes, I liked the music put out by the group with Brian Jones. I actually think "The Last Time" is one great guitar song, to name many.

 

Like I've said many times, he was a brilliant colourist and could embellish basic recordings with fantastic sounds.
Listen to the multitracks of Between The Buttons, and you have the proof.

The man was a very troubled person and while the other members wasn't always nice to him, he did his own to act horribly to everyone, including women.

Jagger once said, that looking back they could have done better to help him, but they were all very young and selfish, including Brian himself.

From there, things often get out of hand.
I have seen Jones mentioned by forum members as the 'only real genius in the band' and 'their soul'.
Easy, now! A fine musician indeed. Let's park it there. Sad he had to leave us.

And regarding the "A Degree Of Murder" soundtrack: It's bad.

 

Great video with excellent insight into Brian's personal life. From her description of his personality it's not hard to see why he ended up the way he did in his relationship with the Stones and eventually getting kicked out of the band.