Brian Jones

Does anyone else agree that Brian Jones was the unsung hero of the Stones, and that, while they have been an amazing rock band their entire career, they haven't been nearly as great musicians since? What I mean is, with Brian, they did everything. Folk. Baroque Pop. Psychedelia. Doo Wop. The Blues. Space Rock. Straight up Pop. During his tenure they had their hand in every area and were quite original with it. When he was fired and Taylor came, they became a rock band. When Woody entered, they jumped on whatever bandwagon was big at the time and then settled into being a roots rock/nostalgia act. But with Brian, they tried everything.

 

Uly I see you've been here for nearly a year, but have you checked out the Rolling Stones album-by-album threads here? It's up to part 14, and there is terrific discussion about the Stones Jones era from some very knowledgeable folks. Forgive me for not providing a link but a quick search will get you to the threads.

FWIW, I would tend to agree with your point of view.

 

Right on Uly!!
Check out this thread: http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/the-importance-of-brian-jones.400524/

 

Yep. That about sums it up for me and quite a few people hereabouts. Brian brought magic to the table. You'll like some of the above suggested threads.

 

He provided the coolest colours in the Stones box of crayons.

 

No. The Stones didn't become a unique, game-changing band until Jones was pretty much sidelined.

 

Eh?

 

I take nothing away from Brian's talent, but for me the pre Beggars Banquet Stones are mostly just the singles. The albums don't really excite me, Satanic Majesties being a possible exception. I like them better as a rock band.

 

No Brian. No Stones. They'd be called something else. He drove them in the beginning.

 

Not to mention that if you look at the complete discography, the wheels started to come off with only the third studio album he had no involvement in. Granted, Sticky and Exile are monster albums. The Stones remained a solid band without him, as they retained their primary songwriters, but Brian's talent for arrangement was sorely missed, in my opinion. He didn't write songs but he had a knack for making them better.

 

as if as if

This is really interesting territory, that run of post-Brian albums through Exile. It's as though even without him they were still running in a 'pattern' established by him, that is, they fleshed out the tracks with interesting arrangements and players, almost as if to compensate for his absence? Also, considering some of those tracks were from the pool going back as far as Beggar's Banquet, it just may be he exerted a kind of influence on them at their inceptions.

Same is somewhat true of the post-Beatle solo work. Some of those tracks have a 'feel' to them as though they are following the 'Beatle esthetic'. As the careers went on this 'subliminal blueprint' began to fade more and more.

 

I agree, the BJ era was the Rolling Stones at their finest.

 

I like each version of band for different reasons. While their styles were not the same, I kind of view Brian Jones and Mick Taylor as the secret weapons of the band. They were always able to add something special to the songs.

 

Brian Jones era is my favorite because they were so experimental and Brian just made there songs better period.
There's a new book called " Brian Jones The Making of the Rolling Stones" that tells what Brian really brought to
The Rolling Stones! All the songs where Brian wrote the melody, one of the first great slide guitar players in England
when Brian played with Alexis Korner in 1961 before Brian formed the Rolling Stones. How Brian showed Keith open
tunings. And the conspiracy by Andrew Oldham, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger to ruin Brian Jones. Brian made the
Rolling Stones a world class band second only to the Beatles. This new book finally gives Brian Jones the credit he deserves!

 

The Brian Jones era Stones were really singles driven. First they were a Blues and R&B cover Band. They started writing original songs out of necessity. AM radio airplay was what everyone was shooting for at the time. As the 60's progressed the LP became more significant the Beatles, the Beach Boys and the Stones all raised the bar with each successive release.

Brian definitely brought something unique to the mix but I think his involvement was already waning long before he was pushed out of the group. I think the excesses of the decade and stardom had taken a Toll in him and that was why he had to go.

I still think the greatest period of creativity for the band occurred after Brian left. The sad thing is we will never know if he would have come back and continued to make great music after the Stones. Despite everything in a certain way the original line up will always be the "real" Rolling Stones to me.

 

I think we just had a thread on the importance of Brian Jones to the Stones...maybe a couple of weeks ago? I'd link it here but don't know how to grab link with my phone!

 

Yep. With Jones in the band, they were of course an exceptionally good rock band, one that wasn't afraid to get exotic or baroque, and one with fantastic singles...but overall they weren't extremely distinct from many other bands of the British Invasion era. Only when Jones started getting explicitly marginalized in 1967 did the band become the Stones, with an idiosyncratic sound that blended swaggering rock with country elements, a sound that put them on the path to becoming the Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World. Aside from Aftermath and Satanic Majesties they indeed weren't an album band when Jones was on board, and I wonder how much of the latter's success - with a handful of caveats, natch - was really due to Jones vs. the state the whole band was in at the time.

 

I think the people that say Brian added some sort of magic, and that he was the best part of the band are the same people that say George was the best Beatle.

 

Excuse me but with a comment like that it shows you don't know much about either band or musician.

 

Look. There's one now!!

 

My favorite era is with Brian, added some interesting sounds to the band and they explored a variety of styles,
most of which I liked.

 

Does Brian Jones have any song writing credits?

 

If you read the new book I think you would see things different. Then maybe not!

 

My favorite era is also with Brian. He was an exceptional musician until he flamed out. But Mick and Keith were also much younger and at their peak during that era. So Brian added the fairy dust but the others were also at their best.

 

round and round we go...