Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Unselfish Keef!

I blogged about Keef's other band a couple of posts ago.  I've been immersing myself in the X-pensive Winos live album recorded at the Hollywood Palladium.  It really is a great record, a revelation.  If you are a Keith Richards fan it's essential.


It stands up better than the Keith solo album Talk is Cheap.  That record is good (I own the original vinyl copy), and it provides the bulk of the songs in the live set, but the overall sound of the studio version seems dated. It's very 1980's. 


I think the prime culprit is the sound of the drums.  Was it the recording technology of the day?  Or was it just the sonic fashion of those cocaine years?  There's a falseness, a hollowness, an antiseptic quality to the drum sound that just does not sit well.


Anyway, the band sounds better live.  They really groove, they swing, and there's no studio sheen to contend with.  Keith is an amazing ensemble player.  And a great rhythm player.  Keith is known as a rascal, a pirate, an outlaw, but he's also a gracious, unselfish musician.  Here they do a cover of a reggae song. They nail it...