LIFE - Keith Richards

Finally we have the true story from the man rather than the legend as written by others.

This co-written autobiography is a must for even the most casual "Stones" fan.

There is 547 pages of Keith from his earliest years up until the end of the " A Bigger Bang Tour."

Whats great about this is the confirmation and clarification of many of the urban myths that have grown up around the Rolling Stones e.g The Mars bar was nowhere near Marianne Faithfull during the police raid,- and when its explained here its perfectly logical. There are lots of examples like this throughout the book.

What this book will do ,as well as entertain, will put an end to the cottage industry that has built up over the years of repeating non-sensical tales - mostly made up by hangers on. This will happen because anyone wanting to publish out right lies will get found out very quickly because of this publication

He's frank about his junkie years and his survival. Its been mainly due to having access to top quality gear and only very rarely having to do the cliche druggy thing of scoring in the tenements.

What is apparent, and will be well known to anyone who has read the serious works on the "Stones", is his absolute commitment to the band, that's his sole purpose, always has been and will be until in his words, he croaks.

Although I am not the perfect father, even I can't help feel that as a dad he was a tad poor in regards to his first two children early on, and he admits this. With mum and dad seriously addicted to heroin the kids had a rather bizarre start to life, but it appears that have grown into pretty cool adults.

This is great considering their old man is one of the most famous people who has ever lived and any upbringing in Keiths world is as about as far from normal life as you can get. But Keith does own a caravan (Winnabago) for family holidays,so hows that for normality, and he uses it.

There are explanations regarding the rifts between him and Jagger, which are on going, but this is to be expected considering they have been together for nearly 50 years.

To readers who understand the mechanics of playing guitar he relates how he gets his sound,its very simple, he just does it extremely well.

We have a book here by a man who has through hard work early on in life, and continued hard work, has been able to live life completely on his terms. Something I am always envious of as there are so very few of us with a talent to be able to do this.

Keith is a big reader,very well read, novels and history, all which gladdens my heart.

And to top it off he even throws in his recipe for "bangers and mash".

Keith Richards, a man if you have him as a friend, he is one for life, but cross him and hell will freeze over very quickly.