Keith Richards : Satisfaction

Rating:
Summary: Can't get no...
Review: Keith Richards is a hard person to tie down into a biography, with his rollercoaster life and career. And not having access to him makes "biographing" even more difficult. Christopher Sandford's meandering focus and lack of new material make this an unsatisfying rock'n'roll experience.

Keith Richards was the pirate bad boy of the Rolling Stones. Without the outright sex appeal of Mick Jagger or the angel-faced nastiness of Brian Jones, Richards carved a niche by being himself -- strong, kind of shy, and devoted to making music. He rose to prominence as the brilliant guitar player and songwriter, ran off with Jones' much-abused girlfriend Anita Pallenberg, had two children, got hooked on heroin and finally turned his life around so he wouldn't lost it.

"Satisfaction" is anything but. Most of the information in "Satisfaction" is recycled from other books. And about halfway through the book, Sandford seems to get bored with his subject, writing a bunch of stuff about Bianca, Mick, and the other Stones, before meandering back to Keith, Anita and Patti Hansen. Not to mention that small errors pepper the text (Brian Jones had two illegitimate children who were older than Julian).

Most annoyingly, Sandford soft-pedals a lot of the controversy and news swirling around the Stones. He avoids talking much about the then-shocking music and statements they made, or the many small ways they tried to rub the anti-rock crowd the wrong way. It's like he doesn't want to admit that they were rock's bad boys at the time.

He does give good insights into different parts of Keith's life, such as his prematurely hard-edged son Marlon, or the appeal of ex-model/actress Anita Pallenberg. But his insights also seem recycled; it's as though he has difficulty understanding what motivates any of the people he writes about. His writing itself is dull and spiritless, almost patronizing, and the anecdotes tend to be either brief or garbled.

Keith Richards was better profiled in Victor Bockris's biographer. In this biography, you can't get no "Satisfaction"...

Rating:
Summary: Can't get no...
Review: Keith Richards is a hard person to tie down into a biography, with his rollercoaster life and career. And not having access to him makes "biographing" even more difficult. Christopher Sandford's meandering focus and lack of new material make this an unsatisfying rock'n'roll experience.

Keith Richards was the pirate bad boy of the Rolling Stones. Without the outright sex appeal of Mick Jagger or the angel-faced nastiness of Brian Jones, Richards carved a niche by being himself -- strong, kind of shy, and devoted to making music. He rose to prominence as the brilliant guitar player and songwriter, ran off with Jones' much-abused girlfriend Anita Pallenberg, had two children, got hooked on heroin and finally turned his life around so he wouldn't lost it.

"Satisfaction" is anything but. Most of the information in "Satisfaction" is recycled from other books. And about halfway through the book, Sandford seems to get bored with his subject, writing a bunch of stuff about Bianca, Mick, and the other Stones, before meandering back to Keith, Anita and Patti Hansen. Not to mention that small errors pepper the text (Brian Jones had two illegitimate children who were older than Julian).

Most annoyingly, Sandford soft-pedals a lot of the controversy and news swirling around the Stones. He avoids talking much about the then-shocking music and statements they made, or the many small ways they tried to rub the anti-rock crowd the wrong way. It's like he doesn't want to admit that they were rock's bad boys at the time.

He does give good insights into different parts of Keith's life, such as his prematurely hard-edged son Marlon, or the appeal of ex-model/actress Anita Pallenberg. But his insights also seem recycled; it's as though he has difficulty understanding what motivates any of the people he writes about. His writing itself is dull and spiritless, almost patronizing, and the anecdotes tend to be either brief or garbled.

Keith Richards was better profiled in Victor Bockris's biographer. In this biography, you can't get no "Satisfaction"...