Gotta hold that Mott story for a second because I was just recently at the Modern Art Museum for the premiere screening of the new Exile On Main Street documentary! WOW! Is all I can say—I’d buy the deluxe package just for the movie!!
A very human story about how Exile was made and how it was to live in that mansion in the south of France with the Rolling Stones!
I think the thing that moved me the most was being reminded of how truly great music is made. These guys would just go down into the basement of Villa Nellcote whenever the muse struck and just start jamming. According to Keith, he just wanted to see what would come out—the true essence of art—just paint and don’t get too hung up on any other distractions, like trying too hard to create a hit single, or thinking marketing before music, etc., etc..
The whole experience was surreal. One of the people interviewed was an 8 year old boy at the time (can’t remember who he was related to in the recording clan) who said that seeing cocaine, scantily clad women, and a lot of other things were just “normal” life for him. In fact, his job was the joint roller!! He said that he and the other kids who were around would try to stay awake as long as they could to hang out in the basement to hear the “magic” that was being made there.
I loved Charley Watt’s description of how that record was made and how the Stones work in general. It’s something like–“We follow Keith who makes us play each song about 20 times, then we ‘marinate’, and afterwards play the song 20 more times. Eventually we decide to do a take, and then the magic happens.”
After the screening there was a cocktail reception and the boys were there to say hello.They have always been my favorite band, and having had the pleasure of working with them on and off since the 70’s, my heart never ceases to skip a beat every time I get to talk with Keith Richards. He is my biggest rock hero along with Dylan. I learned how to play guitar listening to those early Stones albums and Keith himself taught me G tuning.
He said that he didn’t want to doctor up the new-found trax too much cuz it would be like “messing with the Bible.” And it was great to finally meet Don Was who told me that some of the extra leads that we do hear on “Plundered” were laid down by Mick Taylor—how cool is that.
The movie also reminded me of just how off the hook the rock and roll life style was in those days. I remember spending a week on the road with only half of them (Woody, Keith, and Bobby Keys) on Ronnie’s New Barbarians Tour, and it was like Better Living Through Chemistry. Well it was the 70’s after all and it’s all been documented well enough in many books, so I’m not really telling any tales out of school here. But one of my favorite stories is about one of the gals on the tour who was so loaded, she had fire in her purse!! Yes, a fire in her purse! And,…she needed help to put it out! Can’t say I’d ever seen a fire in a purse before or since, really.
I actually was the one who came to her rescue asking if it was OK to dump the contents of her purse out on the floor. She nodded and when I did, out came three girly things—one of which I recognized and two that I didn’t! Never mind—the rest of what was in the purse were all matches!! Tons of matchbooks collected from all the clubs and hotels they had been in for the last month. OMG, if I hadn’t dumped that purse out the whole rehearsal hall would have gone up in flames.
Anyway back to Exile. This new release featuring the original album plus10 newly unearthed tracks is some of the greatest rock and roll music ever made, and arguably, could be the greatest rock album ever made. If you are younger (or older) and you’re not familiar with this album, immediately go out and buy it! Then, crank it up, and watch your body and your mind just slip into that fabulous place of losing all your inhibitions as you just can’t keep yourself from dancing around the room.
That’s all for now.
Keep rockin’!
Rap~
