When did Mick Taylor start to get sick of the Stones?

I think MT played great on the 1973 European tour, as evidential from the Brussels Affair set. His playing was an improvement upon Ya Yas in 1969, Leeds Lungs in 1970, and Ladies & Gentlemen in 1972. Drugs, or not, he was hitting a peak in 1973. While he stated on Crossfire Hurricane that he had to get out due to the drug taking, surely he was going from out of the frying pan into the fire what with joining Jack Bruce's band. Bruce was also experiencing addiction issues at the time, to a significant extent, that it may have had a later deleterious effect on his own liver.

I think the issue was with Keith Richards in that nobody knew whether he was going to live or die. There were stories of being comatose pre the 1972 USA Tour, of heroin cut with strychnine, and all sorts of abominable behaviour from Keith. Jagger was also, at the time, no slouch in the drugging and debauchery/

 

or, in all seriousness, he himself had an overblown ego, AND he was just stupid.
we know he comes across as this shy soft spoken guy, but so did Jimi Hendrix. Doesn’t mean you don’t have an ego, you have to in that kind of scene.
He also thought he could get into the inner circle, especially with Keith fading fast on smack, and when it didn’t happen he most likely thought that he could do any thing with any band and he didn’t need the Stones. And that’s where he let his insecurities get the better of him, heroin was not a good thing for Taylor. What he should have done is side projects into mass and fusion and invite Mick and Keith to contribute, he could have done a lot of things even after he left that he didn’t do, like make Blues, jazz records ala Duke Robelard, Robert cray on and on and on, but he became what he really is, a reclusive guitar player, and with THAT evidence I can honestly say that for better or worse, the Stones did truly bring the best out of him.
Unfortunately, Mick Taylor has been his own worst enemy, and it is a pity, really is.
Beave

 

They stopped paying him royalties after 1982, that’s pretty disgusting, so yeah I think they played a big part in that.

 

Alexis too. Though I think we'd need there to be a B(ritish)RRHOF for either of them to get nominated. Graham Bond likewise.

That is a scene that you would need to be in your 70s today to remember first hand. If it is going to get commemorated properly at all then they had better get a move on. Wont happen of course.

 

Then that MT + Free thing might well have had some kind of foundation & would have sounded pretty great I imagine. I have a Free bootleg (unattributed in terms of date but very Heartbreaker and Free At Last heavy) that claims to have Rabbit and Wendell Richardson on it but my guess it is Rodgers playing guitar on that one. Doesn't sound much like Koss. Bad Company would certainly have been a very different beast with the other Mick it it.

 

That is true. and later compensated for this. That was a despicable move by Mick and Keith, but it's a business.

That being said, throughout the 60's and 70's he *was* receiving royalties from his five years of work with the Stones and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers before that. He played thousands of shows with the Stones. I cannot begin to guess what he would have earned per gig but on the conservative side 5-10K? If I'm wrong, correct me please.

In addition to that he played a number of gigs with other artists, appeared on their albums, appeared on Keith's first solo record in '88, released his own records, continued performing on his own, this adds up to millions, or at least hundreds of thousands of dollars, so where did the money go?

When you have the talent of Mick Taylor and no money, you're doing something wrong. I know I've never earned the type of money Taylor did in the 70's alone, not even close, and yet I've never been broke.

 

No it’s not disgusting, it’s business.
Taylor LEFT. The contract he signed was for a period of time, like any business contract. When they re sighted with another label he was not a member of the band. I don’t get paid for work I did 10 years ago! It’s not a pension or a trust fund, he quit! They owe him nothing, he’s already been paid for his services.
Beave

 

If he was screwed out of his performance royalties, it’s the screwers fault. He would have missed out on 20% of (for those big selling albums that he was on) the CD-era.

 

That’s not how performance royalties work. It’s attached to the performance.
Edit: if there’s an expiration date, then it applies to all of them.

 

That's a fair assessment. But as a fan of both the Stones and MT, I want Mick to continue to receive royalties from the records he played on because they, and he, are just so damned good.

 

I agree it’s not their fault if he blew his money on drugs etc. It is their fault that he didn’t have more money to squander. (As I said above, CD-era sales of those albums). I am assuming Brian Jones’ heirs continue to get income off of his performance royalties. I don’t know for certain, but I imagine so. When s band member dies it’s not as if the other band members rub their hands with glee and silently think “I’m getting a pay raise!”

 

Super ego. He thought he could have a career like Clapton's, but he didn't have the personality to deal with all the non-musical requirements of a solo career like playing nice with record execs, promoters, et al.

 

Bullshi*, they owe him at least many thousands in royalties since 1982. Classic bloody albums they are still living well off and doinking supermodels at 70.

 

Thank god Rory didn't do it.

 

To answer your question, Taylor was sick of the lifestyle and was quoted in the 1989 documentary 25 X 5 that he feared he was going to die if he didn't leave. My guess is that after the '72 tour, the STP (Stones Touring Party) tour he was worn and burnt. They all were as the drugs began overshadowing the music.

As per many accounts Taylor became increasingly difficult to work with in the studio (read Sound Man by Glyn Johns). Glyn actually told Mick to remove him from the booth or he was quitting.

Yes, Taylor grew quite the ego himself.

 

I think Glyn's deal had to do with the drug use and not just Taylor personally. He never engineered another album for the Stones after Black and Blue (He co-engineered) which if Taylor was the only problem you would think he would have. Glyn left the Black & Blue sessions after arguing with Keith about studio time being wasted and inefficiency at the sessions.

His brother Andy never talked about having problems with Taylor but also participated in the drug use.

I recall reading somewhere that when they were are at Nellcote the house was somewhat split into factions depending upon the amount of drug use. The more use faction was Richards, Taylor, Bobby Keys, Jimmy Miller and Andy Johns and the less use faction was Wyman, Watts and Jagger.

 

Glyns disliked Keith as well, mostly related to the way he worked in the studio. Keith is the type to wait for that moment of inspiration and Johns got tired of waiting.

That's interesting about Nellcote and the drug factions, although it doesn't surprise me.

 

Keith also tended set his own recording hours to work around his drug use. I am sure Glyn Johns didn't appreciate that.

 

I don't think Jagger gets the credit he deserves for keeping it all together in the 70s. Without his guidance and business acumen that's a ship that would have gone down, Keith would have just descended deeper into drug addiction with music becoming a mere afterthought. These things happened anyhow but not to the degree they could have.

 

Fraser wanted out and left in mid 72' & I believe the offer to join Free was absolutely after this date.

 

Tetsu was in Free at the time Taylor was asked to join for their last tour.

 

I don't think Taylor played thousands of shows with the Stones. I'd be surprised if Taylor even played 200 concerts. After all, he was only a member for 5 years.: 1969-1974.

 

Correct and either way Mick knew Andy for maybe a few weeks in 68' tops.

 

True but even Wood alluded to (at best) his presumed lack of confidence pre Mayall and perhaps other post Stones issues in the book "According to The Rolling Stones"
Which I thought when reading the piece that it may have gone too unnecessarily far?

 

Andy John's said that the worst thing he ever did was heavily pushing Taylor to join Jack Bruce.
I also recall someone saying that Taylor had a stupid wife that was often pushing him also and telling him what he should do with his abilities and fully behind getting him to leave The Stones.