“I always hoped it would go on”: Keith Richards and the musician who should have never left The Rolling Stones
The greatest dynamic in a band is the musical equivalent of a musical family. Everyone helps bring out the best in each other, and even if they manage to fight like cats and dogs behind the scenes, it’s normally all for the greater good when they are able to compromise and put out something that leaves everyone spellbound. Although Keith Richards was more than happy to work with any lineup of The Rolling Stones, he knew that some magic was lost whenever one of the guys left the fold.
But as far as the public is concerned, the main bond in the band has always come from Richards and Mick Jagger. Many people have come and gone throughout their history, but it’s important to realise the kind of brotherhood they have built up together, with Richards normally fleshing out tunes that Jagger adds the words to or the frontman taking the crux of a riff and flipping it on its head when he’s ready to sing.
And while Hackney Diamonds is far from the greatest record they have ever made, it’s important to feel that camaraderie on display. It’s a shame that Charlie Watts wasn’t there to play on the entire record, but Steve Jordan was the best person to replace him since he understood Keef’s playing style so well. But whereas the rhythm section was a core part of The Stones, it all came back to the guitars.
After all, Brian Jones was the one who was supposed to lead them through their entire career. He had named the band and had come up with a lot of their cover tunes, but once he started to realise how much the ‘Glimmer Twins’ were taking hold of the group, it didn’t take him long before he wanted out. While that was the first major blow to their musical brotherhood, Mick Taylor was like giving them a shot of adrenaline.
Despite being far from the kind of player that Jones was, Taylor was much more fluid with his leads. Since Richards had played most of the lead guitar on Beggars Banquet, the albums from their classic period like Exile on Main St and Sticky Fingers gave off the feeling of a loose jam the band captured, like the relentless groove of ‘Monkey Man’ and Taylor soaring through ‘Moonlight Mile’.
Ronnie Wood has done a fantastic job ever since Taylor’s departure, but while Richards may love his new bandmate, he has often wondered if things could have been different, saying, “His touch and his tone and his melodic ideas wow me. I never understood why he left. He’s always been a little restless and a little uneasy inside his skin. If he had to leave, 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. But that’s what happened, and then we got Ronnie.”
Wood certainly does justice to what Taylor did, but certain tunes never sounded as well as they did on their recorded counterparts. Richards has never stuck to a regimented style of playing, but he never sounded more freewheeling than on a song like ‘Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’ with Taylor taking the reins on the lead lines.
It’s hard to claim ownership over someone who doesn’t want to be in a band with you, but that regret doesn’t come from Richards wanting to restrict Taylor by any means. He served his purpose as one of the fine guitarists to join the ranks of The Stones, but while it’s easy to carry on after those sessions, no musician is ever going to forget the way you made them feel during those few years.
