The Rolling Stones are a legendary rock and roll band. After 50 years they are still touring, making albums, and playing their many hit songs. A few years ago the Stones guitarist Keith Richards published a well received memoir. There was one former Rolling Stone who didn't get mentioned very much in Keith's book, a guy named Brian Jones.
Paul Trynka makes the case that if there had not been this guy named Brian Jones that the Stones probably would never have happened. Trynka, a long time British music journalist, takes readers back to the roots of this band and reveals how critical and crucial the vision of this somewhat forgotten man Jones was to the very essence of the early Stones.
Brian lived a very fast life and he died young. He was only 27 when he was found dead, floating in his swimming pool. Sure, he had drug problems and lots of flaws but according to Trynka he also had the vision and the drive that led to the formation of the band, their early sound, even their bad boy look. This book attempts to write the mysterious Brian back into the Rolling Stones history. Jones doesn't come off as a very pleasant fellow in some instances but he was a gifted musician and his stewardship of the blues changed the very sound of rock and roll.
This book had to be written.
The Book Nook on WYSO is made possible by five local library systems in southwest Ohio: the Greene County Public Library, Washington-Centerville Public Library, MidPointe Library System, Clark County Public Library and the Dayton Metro Library.
