Best Book on The Rolling Stones

This is how I feel, too.

I've read Keith's "Life" and am now reading the book about the '72 STP. Both books have been entertaining reads, but neither seems to focus very much on the creation of the music.

What would be a good career-spanning book about the Stones which talks about the music, ideally about each album?

 

I absolutely love this book. It's also interesting because it covers an era that many people aren't interested in - the eighties and nineties, and there's a lot to tell.
I feel that Bill German has been totally honest and I like that.

 

Just finished Sun, Moon and Rolling Stones. Really enjoyed it.

 

Rolling with the Stones by Bill Wyman is good. It's kind of a coffee table,book but it is excellent.

 

This book comes as close to a Lewisohn treatment of the Rolling Stones as I have seen. The title of the book is really unfortunately misleading because, although "gear" is a major focus, there is so much more to be found in this book. It's very much worth seeking out and reading, in my opinion.

 

Does anyone on the forum own the recent 'All The Songs' Stones book? I'd be interested to know whether it is considered well researched.

 

I actually think it may be the best Stones book, even if its accuracy, and even factual assertions, are open to question. The Booth book, the two Greenfield books and Keef’s Book are all good reads, too.

 

...."According to the R S " is not that bad...! and " Phelge Stones "by Jimmy Phelge for the years 63/65....

 

Good call. I like this book as well. Graham was a fan who got really close to the Stones by writing a regular newsletter. He really captures what it was like to be fan hanging on the Stones every move and having a window into their inner circles.

 

the tony sanchez one..what was the name?...
'71 or '72 written..very good...

 

Up and Down with the Rolling Stones (1979)

 

Ya, "Up And Down With The Rolling Stones" is a good one.
I wish they would put the "12 x 5" Stones documentary on dvd. I just watched this on vhs the other night. Fantastic.

 

12 x 5 or 25 x 5?

 

Oh, is it "25 x 5"?

 

I read the Tony Sanchez book (Up and Down with the Rolling Stones, 1979) thirty years ago and it was a fascinating, fun look into their (mainly Keith's) drug lifestyle. But at one point Sanchez describes a situation where Keith was involved in some sort of drug (or barroom) dispute with some Italian guy (or guys) that was headed towards a possible violent resolution, but Keith ended up backing down (pussying out, really, as Sanchez depicted it) because Keith was English and this guy (or guys) was Italian and Italians were just tougher than English guys. When I read that I thought it was an assessment that revealed more about Sanchez agenda than Richards and I questioned his veracity for the rest of the book -- but I did finish it.

 

Some people say parts of it are factually inaccurate as well.

 

I don't doubt that parts of Up And Down... are more or less made up out of whole cloth, but to give him his due Keith himself has given credence to some of the stories Spanish Tony told in the book, even re-relating a few in Life.

My biggest issue with Up And Down... was its slightly sleazy tone/vibe. Another music bio not unlike David Crosby's or Dallas Taylor's where I felt like I needed to take a shower once I was done reading it.

 

Ya, there is some B.S. for sure, but "it's only R&R"...

 

Despite the B.S element, it contains some great pictures, some of the best I've seen of the Stones

 

Yes, the "25" referred to 25 years of the band having been in existence, although it seems to have come out out in 1989, which is two years late.

But then as Charlie said in the film, being in the Stones had been "five years of working and 20 years of hanging around," (or words to that effect.)

And, yes, it is a great documentary and a shame it has not been released for home viewing.

(12 x 5 is the second American album by the group, released in 1964.)

 

Thank you for this. I was only aware of Greenfield's "Exile" book, which I thought was much better than its reviews, and the classic "True Adventures...." I'm going to have to track down this "Ain't It Time We Said Goodbye" book, because the other two Stones books by Booth are great.

 

Yes, it is. He pops up here & there throughout - you can see him in Muscle Shoals and in one of the helicopters leaving Altamont for example.

Stanley is a very complex, eccentric character, and not in the best of health these days. I visited with him in Memphis last fall, and the conversation veered all over the place, from full on recitation of Robert Burns poems, and discussions of Catholic levitation practices to early Memphis R&B records to Stanley's experiences at Memphis State in the days of the Memphis State 8, the students who broke the color bar there.

 

I concur it's a great read. I think it was much better than its reviews. It's also, excepting Keef's book, the only 1st-person account of what the band was up to while recording "Exile." I've heard people knocking its accuracy too, and it's just ridiculous. The guy was there. Even the complaints about his rumor-mongering in the book seem bizarre to me. He is re-telling what he saw and heard at the time in the south of France, including the gossip. It's the only 1st-person source outside of Keith's telling and Keith doesn't dwell that much on "Exile" anyway. "True Adventures" is a better book, a rock'n'roll classic, but so what? "Exile" is a fine read, too.

 

Not unlike with preferring The Compleat Beatles over Anthology, give me 25 X 5 over Crossfire Hurricane any day. Not, mind you, that I would ever expect to see 25 X 5 or The Compleat Beatles ever get an official re-release...

 

You like how Bob did it? Making it up out of whole cloth and stealing words left and right? Plagiarism doesn't really cover the scope of it. I mean, it was clearly an intentional artwork nearing a word-theft collage, like some mad experiment with Burroughs' cut-up technique with others' words over what might partially be Dylan's life experience. Although, even that's in dispute. Some say his recounting of recording "Oh Mercy" is mostly fiction. "Chronicles" is a great read and a work of art of some kind, but it's not real. No one, not even Dylan, gets to steal from the truly greats like William Faulkner and Proust and gets away with it. Chronicles might be great because Dylan shows us how he's done it over the years, lifting a phrase here and a few words there to put it all in a new light.