Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #432754 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05-29
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 1.24" h x 5.40" w x 8.24" l, 1.30 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Although this sympathetic portrait doesn't tell fans much they don't already know about Rolling Stones guitarist Richards, it is a diverting addition to the rock-bio genre. Bockris ( The Life and Death of Andy Warhol ) relies heavily on secondhand excerpts from Stones interviews, books and criticism, stringing together quotes and recollections with minimal narration. We hear from Richards's former lover, Anita Pallenberg; critics Chet Flippo, Nik Cohn and Albert Goldman; and Mick Jagger's old flame Marianne Faithfull, who believes that Richards's drug problems stemmed partly from guilt over the 1969 ousting of Stones guitarist Brian Jones, who drowned in his swimming pool two weeks later. Richards himself speaks about Jagger and other band members, tensions within the band, songwriting (his favorite is "Jumpin' Jack Flash") and substance abuse. Bockris doesn't skimp on tales of his subject's aggression and heroin addiction, yet he also chooses anecdotes that emphasize the sincerity and amiability behind the musician's fierce stance. Richards emerges as more a tortured artist than a junkie, more a generous party-lover than a materialistic star in this well-organized, complimentary biography. Photos.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
As the most notorious member of the Rolling Stones, Richards would seem to be the perfect subject for a titillating biography. Bockris, author of The Life and Death of Andy Warhol ( LJ 9/1/89), has plenty of material to work with: Richards was a pioneer in making drugs, androgyny, and the occult de rigeur for the rock lifestyle, surviving legal battles, romantic quagmires, and bitter personnel changes. The hard-driving intensity of his music is the only constant. With such a wealth of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll tales to tell, this is a surprisingly unexciting book. Richards's songwriting partner and lifelong friend Mick Jagger is hardly heard from. Bockris relies so much on other sources that many libraries may already have most of this material. Not an essential purchase. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 4/15/92.
- Dan Bogey, Clearfield Cty. P.L. Federation, Curwensville, Pa.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
A gushing Keith Richards fanzine and high-bias Rolling Stones history. Richards, Bockris tells us, was the son of a dour working- class father who told his son to ``stop that noise'' and a doting mother who listened to Keith practice in the kitchen for hours. In 1962, Richards joined the newly formed Rolling Stones; he was touring by 1963. Here, Bockris (The Life and Death of Andy Warhol, 1989, etc.) details--mainly through interviews with Richards--the guitar player's studio work, live performances, and personal life, as well as a chronicle of the band that was formed by Brian Jones. To Bockris, Jones is a virtual nonperson, and Richards--whose considerable talent as a songwriter peaked out, by his own estimation, in 1973--is the band's single, irreplaceable driving force. (By contrast, Stones bassist Bill Wyman says in Stone Alone [1990] that ``Brian was the inventor and inspiration of the Rolling Stones'' and that Richards ``screwed up the band with his drug problems for about ten years.'') Much of the portrait here is a depressingly familiar canvas of addiction and denial, with Richards repeatedly arrested, burning down numerous estate houses by nodding off with lighted cigarettes, methodically punching out his common- law wife, Anita Pallenberg, in front of their children, delaying concerts and recording sessions for hours and days while in a stupor or trying to obtain drugs. But Bockris quotes Richards as saying, ``I've never had a problem with drugs--I've had problems with police.'' And Bockris finds it all romantic: ``The drugs helped Richards understand he was living in the midst of a cultural renaissance.'' Interesting, and probably choice fare for Richards fans, but hardly gospel. (B&w photographs--not seen.) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.