Search - Keith Richards: Under Review on DVD

Soulful Thru & Thru

Doug Anderson | Miami Beach, Florida United States | 04/25/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There is a wealth of biographical information & enlightening critical commentary (from Robert Christagau, Rolling Stone magazine music critic Anthony DeCurtis, Stones biographer Robert Greenfield, and other respectable critics & music journalists) that the music lover will greatly appreciate. However, the video footage is extremely grainy and dull. I own Stones bootlegs that show this same footage (of the '71 English tour, the '72 Texas shows, as well as the early & mid-seventies L.A. Forum & Paris shows) and it looks exactly the same on the bootlegs as it does here (I guess this makes me feel better about the quality of my bootleg collection). So, just so long as you keep in mind that Under Review is a budget series with low production values (no time or money was spent trying to clean up old master tapes), I think you just might find that this disc has just what you need. This disc will prove invaluable to those who want to know more about Keith's unique rhythm/lead style. Much time is spent discussing the magic riff formula discovered on Satisfaction and used to great effect on hits from Jumpin' Jack Flash & Brown Sugar to Start Me Up & Take it So Hard. Along with most of you Keith fans out there, these critics think that post-Exile Stones albums are not particularly good & that from Emotional Rescue ("All About You") onward the Keith songs are the only ones that matter.

A handful of random facts I picked up from this disc:

1)Most people know that the band was initially formed & led by blues purist Brian Jones. But what I didn't know was that Keith & Brian never really got along very well.
2) Beginning with Satisfaction (which critics describe as raw & dirty; a far cry from what other white kids were doing with rhythm & blues), Keith began asserting himself as the real musical director of the band.
3)From Beggars Banquet through Exile, Keith was very close to Gram Parsons. This relationship fascinates me and needs to be explored further but its clear that each had a profound impact on the other.
4)At least one critic called Exile Keith's first solo album. Keith made it in a studio set up in the basement of his French chateau (where he was living in tax exile) while Mick was busy with his newlywed Bianca & his high society life. Keith apparently never trusted Bianca. Many critics say the personal & creative rift between Keith & Mick really began during this period.
5) During the Exile recording sessions the band rarely all played together, instead they recorded their parts separately or in pairs, and Keith later mixed the tracks. Apparently over 200 versions of Tumbling Dice were recorded and Keith was still unhappy with the one that they went with.
6) Happy was written on-the-spot, right after Keith found out Anita was pregnant (again).
7)After Exile, with Keith out of commision from escalating drug use, Mick took over creative control.
8)Ronnie & Keith were friends & played together before Ronnie joined the band.
9)Apparently Chuck Berry was ... well let him rest in peace. But Keith respected him as a musician and made Hail Hail Rock n Roll not because he liked the guy but because he liked the music.
10) Because he never wanted to be put in the position of having to choose whether to save his best work for Stones albums or his own solo albums, Keith swore he would never make a solo album. But after Mick released She's the Boss, Keith, reluctantly, retaliated with a solo career of his own. When Mick contemplated putting together a band to support his solo work, Keith issued violent threats.

I could go on and on.

So, despite poor picture quality, I still am going to give this five stars because even though I have been a Stones fans for many many years, I learned that there was plenty that I didn't know.

Additional note: This Under Review mentions Keiths acting debut in the Pirates of the Caribbean film, but was made before the release of the incredible SHINE A LIGHT. So no mention of that Stones/Scorcese masterpiece."