Included are scandal, controversy (the fabled Redlands bust and drug trial, Brian Jones's mysterious death, Altamont) and some curious contractual machinations, as well as plentiful recording and touring tales. This chronologically organized encyclopedia is a marvel of information ordering, though the writing tends to matter-of-fact recitation, albeit rich with detail. There are itineraries for every club and concert tour the Stones did from the early '60s to the end of the '90s (with a catalogue of opening acts and sample set lists - including a facsimile of the Stones' first performance at the Marquee July 12, 1962, from road manager Ian Stewart's pocket diary).
Thankfully, it's augmented by a wealth of contemporary press clips and manifold visual riches: posters and music paper ads tickets and tour passes album, singles and magazine covers concert, rehearsal and behind-the-scenes photos. A diarist since the age of 9, Wyman first drew upon those sources for his 1990 autobiography, Stone Alone: The Story of a Rock and Roll Band, and his dutifully dry record-keeping approach is also in evidence here. Wyman began collecting memorabilia in 1962 as future proof for his then-baby boy that he'd once been in a rock-and-roll band he reportedly now has 500,000 Stones-related items filling several warehouses. "Mick, Keith and Charlie are forever telling people to check things with me, as I'm the only one who really remembers what happened," writes Wyman, but the band's long-time bassist (he quit in 1993) is less blessed with prodigious recall than with a packrat-archivist mindset.
Now, the other two megagroups to come out of England in the '60s, the Rolling Stones and The Who, get the same coffee table treatment.īill Wyman's Rolling With the Stones (DK Publishing, $50) is an astounding collection, with 3,000 photos and illustrations that capture the band's hardscrabble early years under the influence of American blues, r&b and rock-and-roll, and trace its inexorable evolution into a rock institution now celebrating its 40th anniversary. The Beatles Anthology (published in 1997 and just out in paperback) established a new standard for exhaustively researched, obsessively detailed, copiously illustrated (and appropriately priced) band chronicles.
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