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| Lazy Bones |
Wednesday, July 30, 2003
Ex-Rolling Stone to rock Ottawa
By ALLAN WIGNEY -- Ottawa Sun
As you read this, somewhere on the 401 someone is referring to The Rolling Stones as "the greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world."
It's a catchy phrase that dates back to 1969, when it became the standard introduction for Stones live shows.
At the time, it was true. And it had a lot to do with a young, soft-spoken guitarist who had been recruited by the crafty rockers to replace a soon-to-be-late Brian Jones.
Mick Taylor had gained a reputation as a virtuoso musician through three years of recording and touring with British bluesman John Mayall. And by the time he left the Stones four-and-a-half years later, Taylor could boast of having played a key role in the band's greatest albums -- including Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street -- and of turning a ragged five-piece into rock 'n' roll's standard-bearers for live shows.
Taylor won't be in Toronto today. (He's there next week.) But fortunately for us, he'll be at Tucson's in Ottawa Tuesday and again Aug. 14, backed by local musicians Glenn Smith (guitar), Ron Barry (bass), Peter Brown (keyboards) and Raphael Storto (drums).
Drawing on material from throughout his career, the guitarist and vocalist will be giving Ottawa's blues fans and musicians a demonstration in the art of lead- and slide-guitar playing.
"I actually like all kinds of music," Taylor says when asked about his passion for the blues. "I started off being influenced by Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino -- all the American rock 'n' roll players.
"When I started playing guitar I realized that music came from the blues. And the more I played, the more I seemed to absorb this music like a sponge. Especially when I was touring America with John Mayall, because each geographical area seemed to have different styles of blues and I realized there was all kinds of blues music."
Taylor came to Mayall at 17, offering to fill the shoes of guitarist Peter Green, who had left to form a band called Fleetwood Mac. (Green, incidentally, had replaced Eric Clapton as Mayall's go-to guy.) "I still felt very much like an undergraduate," he admits. "But I think through John Mayall's influence, and through playing with him five or six nights a week for three years, I developed my own style and sound. I found my own personal way of playing blues."
Also through Mayall, he found out in the spring of 1969 that the Stones were searching for a guitarist. Officially, Brian Jones was still very much a Stone and the cattle call was for session work.
But, as Taylor puts it, "I cottoned on pretty quickly. I realized during the course of the session that they were looking for a (permanent) guitar player. I didn't assume anything, but I think they did. I think they'd probably taken (pianist and road manager) Ian Stewart's advice, as well."
Taylor was called on for the Stones' upcoming single, Honky Tonk Women, and Jones was unceremoniously fired. It's difficult to imagine classic recordings like All Down the Line, Time Waits for No One or Shine a Light without Taylor's sterling lead work. He even achieved the rare distinction of copping a co-writing credit with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards for Ventilator Blues.
"Actually," Taylor says, "there were other songs that I had a bigger influence on, like Sway, Can't You Hear Me Knocking and Moonlight Mile. It's always puzzled me why I got credit for that song -- although I did actually have a part to play in that as well."
That song can be found on Exile on Main Street, the gem against which each new Stones album is inevitably measured -- even by the Stones. Taylor claims the band was not always so proud of their masterpiece.
"Nobody in the band really liked it that much when we had finished it," he says, "because it took so long to make and there were lots of technical problems. It really was, to us, like a glorified home-demo recording. But that's part of the appeal, really, because it has a very raw, rough sound and a restless, nervous energy to it."
Taylor remained with the Stones for two years and two albums after Exile, but thoughts of moving on culminated in a handwritten resignation offered days before the band was due to begin rehearsals for a 1975 tour. "It was short notice," Taylor concedes. He later patched things up with Richards and eventually played on the Stone's first solo album, but as for Jagger: "I've never really been forgiven."
By his own admission, Taylor "became a bit reclusive" for the next few years before emerging with a fine album of original songs in 1979 and touring with Bob Dylan.
Songs, however, do not come easily to the guitarist and subsequent Taylor releases have tended to be live recordings, often featuring versions of Stones songs alongside blues standards. Lately, he's been playing No Expectations, a Stones song that predates his involvement with the band, but is otherwise keeping the Stones content to a minimum.
"Really," he suggests, "people come for the guitar playing. Obviously, they also come because of my association with the Stones, but they don't come expecting to hear a whole set of Rolling Stones songs. It's nice if I slip one or two in, though."
More music more music ... You say you can't stand country music? Well, try the following: South of 78 at Barrymore's tonight; Veteran Whitehorse band The Undertakin' Daddies at the Black Sheep tomorrow ... Still can't stand country music? Okay, the Last Man Standing breakdance battle at Babylon this Friday should be pretty cool -- and country-free. |
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| Factory Girl |
Taylor is a fantastic guitar player, and I have seen him solo 3 times. Catch his show, if you can. |
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