KEITH RICHARDS: UNDER THE INFLUENCE: jolly stories from a great raconteur

KEITH RICHARDS: UNDER THE INFLUENCE
KEITH RICHARDS: UNDER THE INFLUENCE

Keith Richards: Under the Influence is a good enough excuse to spend time with the ever genial Keith Richards.  Keith is not just a rock icon and a medical marvel, he’s a great raconteur – ever genial, with an omnipresent cigarette-hacking chuckle.

Keith drops many a nugget while relating his own musical journey and much about American music of which he is a devotee:

  • About meeting Muddy Waters at Chess Records.
  • That he considers himself a better bass player than a guitar player.
  • How the intro licks to Street Fighting Man were recorded when only he and Charlie Watts came early to a recording session to mess around.
  • How his bass line with Charlie’s drumming sped up the pace to Sympathy with the Devil from a lament to really rockin’.
  • “I’m no longer a pop star and I don’t want to be one”.
  • A sharp observation that White “rock” can seem like a march, and “I prefer the ‘roll'”.
  • His period of not working with Mick Jagger in 1985-89 was “World War III”.
  • And there’s a VERY funny Johnny Cash-in-a-hotel-room story.

Here’s challenge – try to spell out Keith’s raspy chuckle. It’s something like “Huh-whey-whey-heh-heh”.

Keith Richards: Under the Influence has the feel of an infomercial for Richards’ book and newest solo album.  But, no matter, it’s time well spent.  Keith Richards: Under the Influence is available to stream from Netflix Instant.

Pearl Jam Twenty: a good first 43 minutes…

Just watched Pearl Jam Twenty on the PBS series American Masters.  It’s Cameron Crowe’s (Almost Famous) documentary on the formation and rise of the band Pearl Jam.  My initial test for any rock band documentary is whether it’s better than an episode of VH1’s Behind the Music.

The first 43 minutes of Pearl Jam Twenty is pretty good.  There’s the drug overdose death of the lead singer in Pearl Jam’s predecessor band (usually the fatal rock OD is AFTER the rise to stardom). There’s a wonderful video of an early performance where new lead singer Eddie Vedder unleashes the rage in his voice when angered by an overaggressive bouncer during a performance at a small club.  Finally, playing before a festival crowd of 60,000 for the first time, Vedder ends a song, gazes across the masses and inhales, literally breathing in the sweet smell of success.

But then the documentary tails off, and there’s not much in the last hour except for Vedder’s ad lib at an awards show cracking up Neil Young, Willie Nelson, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant backstage.  If you’re a big Pearl Jam fan, then the last hour is probably worthwhile.