Rolling with the Stones

by Bill Wyman, Richard Havers

The longtime bass player for the Rolling Stones combines firsthand reminiscences with personal memorabilia to provide an insider's look at four decades or rock 'n' roll history.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction, Rock N Roll, Memoir

512 pages, Hardcover

First published October 21, 2002

Reviews

[Sharon Barrow Wilfong · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun book. If you're a Stones fan you should read it. Bill Wyman, the bass player for the Rolling Stones from the beginning in the 1960s until his retirement in 1993, kept a collection of hundreds of photographs of his time with the Rolling Stones.

This coffee table sized book contains photos from when the members were children, where they went to school, how they met and how their band evolved from covering the Blues to their own identity with self-written songs.

Wyman conscientiously describes each member of the band, including Bryan Jones, the founding member, yet the first to leave and his untimely death. He includes later members, their function and all the people surrounding or connected with the band.

We learn of their personal relationships, personal demons and life's journey through to the nineties, which is when Wyman left.

I appreciate how Wyman combines honesty with compassion. He has no ax to grind, no one that he bad mouths, although he doesn't sugarcoat the drug and alcohol abuse or rampant permiscuity.

After reading this book and looking at all the glossy, color pictures, of which every single page has several. I feel as though I have vicariously taken the journey with Mick, Keith, Bryan, Stu, Charlie, Woody, many others and, of course, Bill.

[Lann · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you read this large hardcover book, you have to read it very carefully, and even re-read some passages. You have to soak it in, cos' it's the ultimate Rolling Stone fact book. Bill was the Stone's archivist...and he kept precise notes and journals filled with everything Stone's you can think of. This book is only for the most hardcore, get the job done, Rolling Stone fan.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great if you can find it. It retailed locally at $75, then I saw it on sale for $19.99 and grabbed it. This is a massive coffee table book, but along with the photos of tour programs and ticket stubs, there's lots of text here as well. This book, as well as Wyman's Stone Alone are much more in depth than Keith Richards' otherwise entertaining Life. Wyman stood to the side and played bass for so long so he has seen it all, first hand.

[Chris Ford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book. Always admired people with the tenacity and discipline to keep journals and chronicle their journey through life. Bill Wyman's scrapbook of his own life with one of the most interesting bands ever is so amazingly detailed that even die hard Stones fans will learn things they didn't know. It is also just a well put together project that is packed with intelligent ways to share information as well as being beautifully presented.

[Ira Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I initially read Wyman's earlier history of the Stones trying to see if Mick and Keef really did murder Brian Jones. This book is full of photos and episodically describes vingettes about the ecosystem in which the Stones became the world's greatest rock & roll band.

[Wilfried · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice to read how it all started.

Somehow you feel that Wyman was not the driving force of the group.

The overwhelming amount of illustrations hinders the reading.

[Markku · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stone alone, part II with photos. Heavy, too big book to read and the thisandthat trivia overcomes the text itself. But some of the seventies was interesting, although one soon loses interest to various details of tours. Wyman is strangely silent of his womanizing which was the major part of Stone alone, admitting it every now and then. Anyway, nice memorabilia.

[Garrett Cash · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not read this massive wall of exhaustive text, which seems to encompass every bit of Stones-related minutiae you could imagine. But I skimmed most of it and looked at the astounding collection of flyers, photographs, and more that Wyman collected over the years and put into this museum-in-a-book.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is plenty written about the years during with the Rolling Stones were successful. I read this because I was curious about the first few years, and it's the only book I know of that details the early tours and what they're lives were like when they were broke musicians.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting, but this is not a portable book. Massive in many ways.

[Nita Herger gassen]

i just read Stone Alone and Bill Wyman said Brian Jones started the Rolling Stones

[Ed Wagemann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Were the stones actually just a Beatles rip-off?

https://medium.com/@edwagemann/i-wann...

[KennyO · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lavish production and Bill Wyman's voice! Forget about reading this one in a few sittings. It's something to be savored over weeks or even months. Besides, at its weight your hands will tire of holding it open and up. Love it!

[BananaBerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably not quite four stars, but still good.

[Kelly Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! Shocking in some parts. Must read if you like the stones

[John Hardin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A complete history of the band in words and pictures by their former bass player.

[Funkykam71 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book because it shows the cool things about one of my favorite bands. i give this book a five out of five.