Keith Richards on Keith Richards: Interviews and Encounters

by Sean Egan (Editor)

The iconic life and career of the famed guitarist of the Rolling Stones is detailed in this compilation of interviews that spans the last 50 years. Featuring articles from GQ, Melody Maker, and Rolling Stone, as well as interviews that have never previously appeared in print, it charts Keith Richards’s journey from gauche, young pretender and swaggering epitome of the zeitgeist to beloved elder statesman of rock. Initially overshadowed by band mates Mick Jagger and Brian Jones, Richards gained popularity as half of the second-most important songwriting team of the 1960s, and in 1967 the drug bust at his house and his subsequent trial and imprisonment made him a household name. His interviews match his outlaw image: free of banality and euphemism, they revel in frank stories of drugs and debauchery. Yet they also reveal an unexpectedly warm, unpretentious, articulate, and honest man. This collection amply illustrates the magic and charm of Keith Richards.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction, Autobiography

323 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

A freelance journalist, author and editor who writes about arts and entertainment (music, film, TV, comics and literature), social history (20th and 21st centuries) and sport (soccer and tennis history).

Reviews

[Mboconnor31 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Enjoyed the ride through memory lane and the entwining of this group's music and history with my own life, but did not believe the thinly parsed story so I read a lot online to fill in the missing pieces to the puzzle. A lot more was learned by reading news accounts at the time, than from Keith's version of fact.

Besides a bizarre positive spin of his years of heroin use, which included abuse of his first son. He wrote how he would have his son as a child on tour with him and his son was not only in charge of getting him out of drug stupors to perform or handling police knocking on the door but also would have to wake him up as he nodded while driving on tour in Europe. His son would tell him to pull over off the road to take more heroin so he could stay awake and continue driving to the next gig. Sickening neglect and abuse of a child, let alone of himself.

Another disturbing part was when the author insults a deceased young teenage boy-man who was having an affair with Keith Richard's lover and mother of his children, Anita Pallenberg, and who died in Keith's bed. He calls him an idiot and says he always knew he was an idiot. The young man was reportedly playing Russian Roulette with Anita in the bedroom when the fatal shot occurred while Keith was on tour with another lover. Anita's drug habit was on par with Keith's and had a daughter die during this time, allegedly from SIDS. However, you cannot stop thinking what money can buy....to get out of these horrific situations.

[Spiros · Rating 3 out of 5]

A swell collection of interviews, spaced throughout the decades. Keith talking is a lot like Keith playing guitar; certain riffs are creatively used in various permutations. As with Miles Davis, you can hear his conversational rhythms just by reading his words. As an added bonus, in a combined interview from 2002 ("Stones Keep Rolling"), you could almost swear you can hear Phil Cornwell and John Sessions doing their Mick and Keith roles from "Stella Street".

[John Nesbitt · Rating 2 out of 5]

After the first long interview you realize you’re reading the musings of a twenty eight year old thru the lenses of heavy drugs and fame. As the book moves on and he gets older, the interviews are rehashed tellings of the same things. You can totally skim the last half of the book.
Richards is an intelligent guy though. It would be interesting if he wasn’t so one dimensional.

[Shirley McCann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as I expected. A lot was just interviews he'd given years ago.

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful look into a long successful career.

[Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much sex and drugs and not enough rock and roll.

[Jayne Ward · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too much real life that's so far from my world.. Things I didn't really want to know.

[Randall Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book reveals how flat out verbally intelligent and articulate Keith is and it offers priceless info from cover to cover. A few of the many pearls inside: “If you don’t keep up your acoustic work, you’re never going to get the full potential out of an electric, because you lose that touch.” “There ain’t a good guitarist around who just plays electric guitar. You can’t fake it on an acoustic, you have to forget all the toys and just play.” “I love sitting around with an acoustic guitar whacking out songs.” “Usually there’s a lot more than two guitars on our records. “You write the song, record it, then work out a way to perform it live.” “So much depends on the feel and the enthusiasm of the playing.” “We’re more interested in the sound.” “It’s very rare on a track that you want the same sort of distortion all the way through.” “One of the great things about writing songs is to leave a certain area vague.” On and on the great Keith quotes continue…

If you love Keith’s work on guitar like the rest of us, then buy/read Keith Richards on Keith Richards and get into his head more in order to understand why he does what he does. This book is packed with critical info on how he approaches sound and recording; more importantly though, this book does a great service by avoiding the superficial aspects of rock stardom and getting into the real deal - the music.

[Glorianne Roccanova · Rating 3 out of 5]

ok, how do you review a book on keith, when you have read just about every book written about the man....every book I get one or two things that I have never heard. I thought the book was interesting, there were a couple of interviews that I did not read before. I like that it is a collection all together...as the book and writer, how hard is it to ask people to reprint the interview they did with keith. I know sean egan has done other books about the stones....I have the books.....olo

[Timothy Neesam · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entirely unrepentant accounting of Richards youth and heyday with the Rolling Stones. It's a good read, with a strong, clear voice and a surprising amount of detail (I suspect Richards is an inveterate journal keeper). Richards waxes rhapsodic about his love of music, drugs and guns. A number of incidents are narrated by friends of Richards, which is an interesting technique, though when it's told by his son, Marlon, I found a little disturbing. Like I said, unrepentant to the end.

[Royce Ratterman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't finish it quite yet - moved and now wonder where it went.
Overall, a collection of events, stories, and rock-and-roll adventures (behind the scenes) of a legend in the music realm.
An avid reader himself, made the book a more interesting read.
I have to find it to read the ending....

[Chris Craddock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great.

[Kenyon Boltz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I was expecting BUT learned a lot about Keith on Keith [and bought some new Rolling Stone albums].

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing life. Great read for an old Stones fan.

[Huck C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Humour. How does remember after what he's been through? Don't care much for his recent comment about the Beatles.

[Harriet Showman · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love courageous people. people who can get outside their skin