Rolling with the Stones
- Book Review,
by Bill Wyman, Richard Havers
Amazon.com
Of his own choosing, Bill Wyman's career as a founding member of the Rolling Stones has achieved a perspective that his legendary bandmates don't yet enjoy: a beginning, middle, and end. Indeed, the musicians once hailed as the greatest rock & roll band in the world have become more like the band that wouldn't die. But history can't be denied, and the man born William Perks of Lower Sydenham, London, has lovingly assembled this over-500-page book, equal parts memoir and lavishly illustrated coffee-table tome, with a winning mix of clear-eyed reportage (based on his own voluminous diaries) and an eye for colorful detail and ephemera worthy of a proud family scrapbook. Which, in many ways, Rolling with the Stones most resembles: family--and musical--trees are acknowledged, career moves dissected, deaths mourned, and triumphs and foibles alike are dispensed with equal candor. Wyman deflates the myth of the Stones as rock's preternatural bad boys (a conservative, sensationalist press made it all too easy to live down to expectations) yet allows the tragic legend of band founder Brian Jones to assume its proper perspective. A half-decade older than his bandmates, the retired Stone has few illusions about the band's true cultural impact and creative arc, devoting nearly three-quarters of the book to the Stones' first, turbulent decade. What is more gratifying is that he avoids the myopic constraints of the similarly sized Beatles Anthology, generously weaving the recollections of band members, associates, family, reporters, and even fan letters into a narrative whose outline is epic, but whose viewpoint has a decidedly human scale. --Jerry McCulley
From Publishers Weekly
Wyman's obsession makes for a Rolling Stones fan's delight. While this tome has the visual treats of a coffee-table book, categorizing it as such betrays the rich text within. The Stones' bassist for nearly four decades, Wyman appears to have ruined it for all Stones biographers past, present and future. A tireless collector, he offers rare photographs and letters, press clippings, tour posters and record sleeves. And thanks to either reams of diaries or marvelous powers of recall unaffected by decades spent in a hard-partying rock band, he provides copious historical and observational data as well. Wyman, teaming up again with Havers (Bill Wyman's Blues Odyssey), gives even short-tenured band mates commensurate face time and portrays the good times, like the band's first visit to America in 1964, and the bad, such as the time Wyman went out to score heroin for a sick-and recently busted-Keith Richards in 1977. Among the memorable photographs are a fit and trim Richards in swimwear on a 1968 Australia tour and a three-shot sequence of Mick Jagger, Jerry Hall and a paparazzo, during which Jagger confronts the shutterbug and ends up on his back on the sidewalk. Wyman shows humility and humor by including his quote from '67: "It's alright leaping about the stage when you're 20, but when you get to 25 or 26 it gets a bit embarrassing." It's too bad the book stops in 1990, when Wyman, well past the age of embarrassment, stopped touring with the band.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Wyman (Stone Alone [1990]), the bass player for the Rolling Stones, is also their personal chronicler; he has kept a diary since the band's formation in 1962 and has amassed a spectacular collection of artifacts and memorabilia, which he includes here in this lush, attractive coffee-table book. Formed by Brian Jones, the Rolling Stones came out of the British skiffle and rhythm-and-blues scene. Infatuated with the blues recordings of Elmore James, Howlin' Wolf, and Muddy Waters, Jones gathered together like-minded musicians to perform in jazz clubs around London. The Rolling Stones were soon creating a sensation with their long hair (longer than the Beatles), their unkempt appearance, and the novel sounds they produced. Teaming up with Andrew Oldham, a young promoter who planted apocryphal stories in the press, the Stones became fodder for the tabloids, which fueled their bad-boy image. They released their first single in 1963 ("Come On," a cover of a Chuck Berry song), and, 40 years later, are once again touring (minus Jones, a casualty, and the retired Wyman), this time in support of 40 Licks, a greatest hits collection. Littered with a plethora of Stonesabilia--set lists; album covers; posters; news articles; posters; and pull quotes from Mick, Keith, their fans, critics, and contemporaries, Rolling with the Stones is exhaustive yet superficial; thorough but not penetrating. It covers the drug scandals, the hysteria surrounding the Stones appearances, their provocative artistic expressions, and their myriad relationships. Wyman doesn't shy away from descriptions of some of their excesses, but he doesn't go into too much detail, either. Stones fans will love the wonderful photos, so evocative of an era. Benjamin Segedin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Book Description
A backstage pass to the Rolling Stones from Bill Wyman, founder of the Rolling Stones. The Rolling Stones, commonly referred to as the world's greatest rock 'n' roll band, epitomize everything that's excessive, lavish, exciting, and powerful about rock music. Now, founding member and bass player Bill Wyman presents an honest and humorous account that serves as a backstage pass to the band's history, from drug busts, to tax exile, to solo careers. Straight from Wyman's huge personal archive, Rolling with the Stones features previously unreleased letters, photographs, memorabilia, and personal journals. With over 2000 photographs, more than 45 beautifully designed tour spreads, song lists from every show, and biographies on each band member, there is no need for any other Stones book to be written.
About the Author
Bill Wyman was born in London and became a founding member of The Rolling Stones in 1962. He has written several books, including Bill Wyman's Blues Odyssey, Stone Alone: The Story of a Rock and Roll Band and Wyman Shoots Chagall. In addition to playing with the Stones, he has released solo recordings and formed a new band called Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings.
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