∎ Download Life Keith Richards 9780297854395 Books

Life Keith Richards 9780297854395 Books

Download As PDF : Life Keith Richards 9780297854395 Books

Life Keith Richards 9780297854395 Books

This is the book of the season. Should we be surprised? The surprise, Keith implies (tongue in cheek) is that he remembers it all. The surprise for me was the skill with which he has developed an authorial voice. Of course, he's a creative artist, but a 3-minute song is different from a 550 page book. Even though the book was written with the help of his old friend, James Fox, the voice comes across as pure, unadulterated Keith.

Some snippets of the book have been publicly discussed, in particular his comments on Jagger, but they are incidental to the story. The short shrift given to Bill Wyman is equally interesting and the praise lavished on Charlie Watts comes as no surprise. Fundamentally, this is Keith's story, from his beginnings in a gritty London suburb to the final image of him in his Connecticut library.

That life has always been about the music. The drugs are a distant second; they helped (for a time) facilitate the music--not to inspire it, but to enable the long hours and the metering out of energy. Sex is a distant third. This is a book about a man, his musical aspirations, his idols, his struggles and his triumphs. It combines rock-solid honesty with a sense of fundamental decency and intelligence. Who knew that KR was a great reader?

The book is long, but it is a joy to read. The inside scoop on the source of the song titles and album titles, the Stones' methods of composition and technical details on such matters as open guitar tunings are the book's gems. A friend of mine was married to a prominent rocker close to the Stones. She told me that whatever you read in the tabloids about sex and drugs should be balanced by the realization that, first and foremost, it's always about the music. That is the Stones' first and last obsession. That comes through loudly and clearly in KR's autobiography.

He is also, of course, a man of family and we meet his mum and dad, his children and his loves, but fundamentally this is a book about the sixties and seventies and some of its greatest music.

Read and enjoy.


Tags : Life [Keith Richards] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. With the Rolling Stones, Keith Richards created the riffs, the lyrics and the songs that roused the world,Keith Richards,Life,Orion,0297854399,Biography Autobiography,General

Life Keith Richards 9780297854395 Books Reviews

I was a bit disappointed when I finished this one. I was wanting to read about Keith Richards and the The Rolling Stones. There’s not as much Rolling Stones here as I had hoped, but I suppose you can’t fault the author. The title, ‘Life’, is about….well…his life. Nothing in the title of this book includes the words “Rolling Stones”. So there are a lot of other aspects of his life here, and even though there is a fair amount of Stones stuff, I simply wanted more.

What consumed most of Keith Richards’ life was drugs. Oh Lord, do we read about drugs. It’s truly a miracle this man is still alive. Although he claims he’s been clean since the 80s, there’s plenty of dirt and disturbance from the Keith Richards’ annals to fill an encyclopedia set. A few of the stories are a bit interesting, but they get old in a hurry. When he talks for more than two pages about one of his drug dealer’s German upbringing but then talks less than a half of a page on the making of an album such as “Sticky Fingers”, you may see where some, like myself, come away disappointed. On a related note, perhaps he was too stoned to remember the making of many of the classic albums?

For those who are somewhat familiar with the individual, you know that his whole existence of late seems to be tongue in cheek. Every interview you see with him has him mumbling and giggling throughout. He’s comprehensible during his rants, and can be somewhat entertaining, and that’s the general atmosphere throughout this book. You definitely feel like ‘Keef’ is telling you his life story. For that, you need to give him credit. I’ve always been a believer, though, that when you’re a celebrity writing an autobiography (who else would write an autobiography??), you should write mainly on the comings and goings of yourself in the spotlight, since this is what your fans are the most familiar. A little bit of your upbringing and influence is o.k., but stick to the interesting stuff please.

It also doesn’t help that he comes across as an unrepentant former junkie. If you’re a parent and you want to keep your children away from drugs, you should not use this man as an example. It’s a bit bothersome, for example, when Keith recalls a car crash where he was stoned and fell asleep at the wheel. Since none of the seven people in the car (fortunately) are killed, he looks back at the episode and slags the whole thing off with the attitude of “Hey – I’m a good driver. I just made a mistake. So get off my case.” You can’t help but feel as though one minor twist somewhere around, say, 1971 could easily have killed the man, and history would remember him very differently (see ‘Brian Jones’).

Still, I’m glad I read the book, and he does a very good job accomplishing what he set out to do. There were parts when I would get to his umpteenth drug binge where I would just scan the pages, but there really is enough here to keep you interested. Just be warned – there’s more in this book on his recipe for a Shepherd's Pie than there is about his second solo album (Nothing at all. Why??) So as long as you’re cool with expectations not being too high, you’re probably o.k. to pick this one up.
I thought the biography was well written and kept my interest. I would suggest having access to the internet while reading it since you will be tempted as I was to put the book down and listen to the singers, musicians and Rolling Stones songs cited in the work. This would be particularly true of someone not familiar with the music or artists cited by Richards. James Fox was listed as a 'contributor' to the book. I do not know it contributor equals ghost writer but if it was a biography using a ghost writer to fill in, structure or edit the work, it was done very well. I found myself wondering who wrote what and if you told me Richards wrote the whole thing...I would believe it. Prior to reading the book, I had a completely different impression of Richards, the book caused me to look at him as more than a guitar player. How much of the evidence justifying that change in impression is for others to verify but for me it was an entertaining read. I always ask if I would want to know the people who are subjects of the books I read. Of all the biographies and autobiographies I have read, this was one of the toughest judgements I had to make. My best answer is I would not like to know or meet or talk to the Keith Richards of the first 145 pages of the book, but would be very interested to know the man who wrote the last two pages of the book.
This is the book of the season. Should we be surprised? The surprise, Keith implies (tongue in cheek) is that he remembers it all. The surprise for me was the skill with which he has developed an authorial voice. Of course, he's a creative artist, but a 3-minute song is different from a 550 page book. Even though the book was written with the help of his old friend, James Fox, the voice comes across as pure, unadulterated Keith.

Some snippets of the book have been publicly discussed, in particular his comments on Jagger, but they are incidental to the story. The short shrift given to Bill Wyman is equally interesting and the praise lavished on Charlie Watts comes as no surprise. Fundamentally, this is Keith's story, from his beginnings in a gritty London suburb to the final image of him in his Connecticut library.

That life has always been about the music. The drugs are a distant second; they helped (for a time) facilitate the music--not to inspire it, but to enable the long hours and the metering out of energy. Sex is a distant third. This is a book about a man, his musical aspirations, his idols, his struggles and his triumphs. It combines rock-solid honesty with a sense of fundamental decency and intelligence. Who knew that KR was a great reader?

The book is long, but it is a joy to read. The inside scoop on the source of the song titles and album titles, the Stones' methods of composition and technical details on such matters as open guitar tunings are the book's gems. A friend of mine was married to a prominent rocker close to the Stones. She told me that whatever you read in the tabloids about sex and drugs should be balanced by the realization that, first and foremost, it's always about the music. That is the Stones' first and last obsession. That comes through loudly and clearly in KR's autobiography.

He is also, of course, a man of family and we meet his mum and dad, his children and his loves, but fundamentally this is a book about the sixties and seventies and some of its greatest music.

Read and enjoy.