| September 11th, 2005 09:19 AM |
|
|
| Ten Thousand Motels |
It's only rock n' roll
...but Keith says the Stones can’t quit
By JIM FARBER
NY DAILY NEWS
Originally published on September 11, 2005
The Rolling Stones — Charlie Watts, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger and Ron Wood — return to the Garden Tuesday.
Keith Richards doesn't have to think long when he's asked if the Rolling Stones would have soldiered on if drummer Charlie Watts had succumbed to throat cancer last year instead of trouncing it.
First, Richards hesitates.
"Well, we'd really have to think about it," he says.
But two seconds later, he adds: "You know, I've got to say, probably we would. We would go on."
And there you have it.
To those who've been asking themselves if anything could stop this vampirically resilient band from moving forward, the answer seems to be ... just about nothing. Not even the demise of the man Richards says is "the true soul" of the band.
Once again the Stones are touring the country (arriving at the Garden Tuesday and Giants Stadium Thursday). And once again pundits are scratching their heads over how long these sixtysomethings can dodge the odds and keep putting on a show of two sweaty hours - not to mention how long hundreds of thousands of people will continue to pony up hundreds of dollars to watch them.
So far, reviewers have glowed over the Stones' performances, and enough people have shown up to sell out every place the band plays.
For Richards, the torrent of "Will you guys ever pack it in?" questions misses something fundamental about the band - their attitude toward playing live.
"It's an addiction," he says, adding with a cackle, "and addiction is something I should know something about.
"Nobody would have questioned why Count Basie or Duke Ellington kept doing it," he continues. "They just accepted that this is what they do."
The Basie and Ellington references may be more apt than they first seem. Anyone who has seen the Stones play live knows that, in a way, they're as much a jazz combo as a blues-fueled rock band. When the musicians push and pull against the riffs and rhythms of each other, there's a spark of improvisation - even amid a concert that, in many ways, couldn't be more calculated.
"It is a jazz band in its own little way," Richards concurs. "Charlie is a jazz drummer, and [bassist] Darryl Jones worked with Miles [Davis] for five years. That gives us more freedom to move."
It also creates one more striking comparison between the Stones and the band they've most famously been cast against: the Beatles. Just as the Stones' tour builds momentum, Paul McCartney will start his own road show (kicking off in Miami on Sept. 16).
While McCartney's concerts offer impeccable re-creations of the Beatles' studio recordings, the Stones shimmy through their catalogue with the quirks and vamps of a thriving live unit.
"We always knew that the Stones could have just been a studio band," Richards says. "But it just won't ever happen. We need the injection of the show - and the audience."
That's good, because the Stones' studio work flagged badly in the last decade and a half. They followed 1989's middling "Steel Wheels" with 1994's awful "Voodoo Lounge" and 1997's even worse "Bridges to Babylon." They've focused instead on live CDs, all of which have ranked as little more than weak souvenirs of the shows.
But the band's new album, "A Bigger Bang," reverses that sad trend. It's the Stones' most stoked and engaged studio work since 1981's "Tattoo You."
JAGGER JUMPS IN
Richards thinks he knows why it clicked this time. Again, it relates to Watts' health scare.
"When Charlie went into chemo, Mick and I had to look at each other and say, 'Are we going to put this thing on hold?' In about 30 seconds, I thought, 'That seems to be a no. So Mick, you get on drums, and I'll double on bass, and let's put some songs down. [As a result] Mick and I were working together much closer than we have in a long time."
Richards says the temporary loss of Watts changed Jagger's role in the band. "Mick has come more into the music side than on any album ever," Richards says.
The singer played the slide guitar on "Back of My Hand" and wrote the riff in "Rain Fall Down," a terrific little funk piece that counters the group's usual style.
"He's been working on his electric guitar since we've been off the road," Richards explains. "He's always been a great acoustic player, but the electric always seemed to run out of his hands. Now, I think he finally tamed the beast."
Though Jagger and Richards often collaborate on music as well as lyrics, the guitarist says the words to the album's most talked-about song, "Sweet Neo Con," were pure Jagger. It's an unfiltered put-down of the current conservative American regime, offering a rare political statement from the normally above-the-fray Stones.
While Richards says he might not have written the song himself, Jagger felt strongly about it. "I find politics a pretty pallid subject for songs in general," Richards says. "I've only done it a few times, like in 'Street Fighting Man' or 'Sweet Black Angel.' "
The timing of "Sweet Neo Con's" release shows the Stones still have an unusual flair for getting ink. Originally, the group sent copies of the new album to the press with just 12 of its 16 songs. "Neo Con" was omitted. They didn't feed that song to the media until right before the tour kicked off, giving them a last-minute PR push.
The group has also attracted attention by making "Bigger Bang" their longest album since the 1972 masterpiece, "Exile on Main Street." Richards credits the extra songs to the span of time since their last CD.
"It's been eight years [since "Bridges to Babylon"]," he says. "At 16 songs, that's just two a year."
Once Richards and Jagger worked out the basic shape of the songs, they brought them to Watts, who was then ready to join them in the studio. "He showed us how they really should be played," Richards explains.
The guitarist says he was happily surprised by the speed of Watts' recovery, and how well he took to his treatment. "If this is what chemo does to you, I'm going for it," he says with a laugh.
Learning of Watts' condition "sent a shiver up the spine," Richards admits, but he adds: "I've gotten used to that by now," alluding to his own brushes with death, courtesy of his one-time heroin addiction.
Richards says his ability to beat the odds and still thrive at the age of 61 have given him a special view of life.
"When you've gone through all that stuff and come out the other end, there's a great feeling of energy that stays with you," he says. "Life doesn't hold much fear anymore."
GUITAR LEGEND
Staying alive has also given Richards the chance to bask in the full depth of his influence. He rates as one of the few guitarists in rock history whose style has become its own genre. Every guitar-based band alive has come up with at least one riff that apes his prickly approach.
"You don't find a style," Richards asserts, "a style finds you."
His particular approach appeals to more than one generation. While the Stones' main demographic remains baby boomers, it's amazing how many teenagers turn up at their shows.
"When I grew up, I listened to older stuff too," Richards says. "My own kids went through their teenage raving stuff. Then, in the last two or three years, my daughter started playing Ella Fitzgerald and Muddy Waters. There's something about music. When you like it, you want to find out where it came from."
If the younger generation finds excitement in Richards' playing, he doesn't always return the favor. Of hip hop, he says, "Other than its sense of rhythm, it's music by the tone-deaf for the tone-deaf."
Richards puts his faith instead in the endurance of rock. "It's blues-based music, and now it's part of everyone," he says. "Even if you don't like it, you can't get rid of it."
The same might be said about the Rolling Stones. While many listeners hope they never fade away, just as many wish they would once and for all. If that were to happen, Richards says he and the guys would continue to play just for themselves. "We're men on a mission," he says.
"Now, we just have to figure out what that mission is."
[Edited by Ten Thousand Motels] |
|
