The guitarist who played too much for The Rolling Stones: “We weren’t a gimmicks band”
Less is often more within the realm of rock and roll.
While there is nothing wrong with expansive, mind-bending compositions and pedal boards that take up half the stage, sometimes taking rock back to its rawest roots is the only way forward – something that The Rolling Stones discovered fairly early on in their illustrious career.
When The Stones made their first marks on the musical landscape of Britain, playing blues-heavy rock and roll in the dark and dingy nightclubs of London, they kept their output rather simple. Aside from the wild performance style of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards’ typically confrontational, rebellious attitude, there wasn’t a whole lot separating the group from their blues and R&B heroes from years passed, at least not in a musical sense.
Even as the band progressed, expanding their musical repertoire and briefly experimenting with the ever-expansive realm of counterculture psychedelia on 1967’s Their Satanic Majesties Request, Jagger and Richards always returned to the raw blues-rock roots that had initially inspired them all those years ago.
Keeping their output from ever being overly complex might just be what has afforded the group an unparalleled tenure at the top of the rock and roll pyramid, after all.
Nevertheless, The Stones were operating during a time in which seemingly every other rock and roll outfit were desperate to push the musical boundaries, employing innovative new technologies and production techniques to add multiple new layers to their output. So, when the group were forced to hire another guitarist following the departure of Mick Taylor in 1974, they struggled to find many musicians who would fit their ‘less is more’ attitude.
As bassist Bill Wyman recalled to Classic Rock back in 2009, The Stones auditioned a wealth of different guitarists to take Taylor’s spot. “Jeff [Beck] was just one of the guitarists The Stones auditioned when Mick Taylor left,” he shared. “There was Rory Gallagher, Wayne Perkins and Harvey Mandel, the guy from Canned Heat. They all sort of came around and played for a couple of evenings.”
This selection of legendary guitarists, however, didn’t quite fit the bill when it came to The Stones. “Jeff was good, but Harvey Mandel had too many effects, echoes and foot pedals,” Wyman remembered. “Keith ended up saying: ‘Bollocks to all that, just play the fucking thing.’ We weren’t a gimmicks band. We were just messing with people to see how they fitted, really. And no one quite did.”
Seemingly, nobody could truly fit in with Richards’ no-nonsense approach to guitar playing. Nobody, that is, apart from Ronnie Wood, who was still a member of the Faces when Taylor left The Stones.
After standing in for a tour and recording sections of Black and Blue, though, it was clear that Wood fit in seamlessly with the band’s sound; there were no gimmicks or effects, just raw rock and roll greatness. It is no surprise, then, that Wood has stuck with the band for over 50 years at this point.
