Did any guitarist better define the job of rock star than Keith Richards, and did he, and the Rolling Stones, ever do better work than ‘Exile On Main Street’?
The answer to both questions is ‘no’ and ‘no’, as any fule kno, which is why the October 1997 edition of Guitar World tracked down Keith himself to talk about the then new Stones album, ‘Bridges To Babylon’, before heading into an in-depth feature on ‘Main Street’, then celebrating its 25th anniversary.
Talking ‘Babylon’, Keef was in bullish mood, “I feel like it’s the first one where we’ve really been able to push the boundaries since we’ve come back together after the five years of World War Three between Mick and me.”
Reflecting on Mick Taylor, there was hint of regret: “His touch and his tone and his melodic ideas wow me. I never understood why he left. I’d always hoped it would be to go on to bigger and better things than he did. I thought it was an impetuous move.”
Meanwhile, on Main Street, engineer Andy Johns recalled the sessions. “They were the worst band on the planet, but they could transform almost instantly from this dreadful band into the Rolling Stones, and blow you away. It was almost magical.”
You can read more from Keith and about ‘Exile On Main Street’ here.
