Posted by Vacendak on May 29, 1999 at 12:11:36:
In Reply to: Re: New Keith vs. old Keith posted by steel driving hammer on May 28, 1999 at 20:40:37:
Very good points made by all concerning Keith's guitar playing. Personally I could come up with outstanding Keith performances SOMEWHERE on every tour,and I think it's fairly accurate to say that his playing "quality" has often depended upon the venue, the crowd (only a crowd!), and the vintage of whatever he's ingested. Hard to say, because some of his WORST, druggy performances came during his younger days(see Hyde Park). While he's had his peaks and valleys, so have the other Stones. I know that Keef has pointed out before on other posts that people don't like to hear criticism of Keith Richards, and if it's a personal attack from some Elton lover then I'll be the first to defend him. But he does seem to warrant some complaints if you go way back with Stones concerts like many of us do. I myself wonder if some of this "sloppy" play now has to do more with simple aging and boredom than wear and tear of alcohol, though. Mick sings many songs and song parts in lower keys, and often skips parts and lets the backup singers fill in, but nobody has called Mick lazy. It's just that he's got to compensate for what he's lost to time. The same thing is going on with Keith, I believe; no, he's not an arthritic monkey, but the fact remains that as someone approaching 60, the manual dexterity of his hands and his sense of rhythm cannot be what they were at age 25. We've seen this happen to Mick, times where he loses the rhythm or starts a verse late or early. And I also believe that Keith often tries to find renewed enthusiasm for songs he's played 10,000 times by riffing different; sometimes this works good, sometimes not. Anyway, I think fans should expect some songs to be far looser than the originals, especially if they are older songs. Hey, who knows how long it's been since Keith even listened to the originals? Some, like HTW, may have just progressed (regressed?) over years played onstage into their current state simply because Keith hasn't heard the original for ages and just keeps repeating what he's been playing all along. Whatever the reason, I don't believe Keith's play is due to laziness; in fact, if he did do every original riff and solo as done on the originals, he might only be able to make it through 15 songs or so. This way, he can pick a riff here and there, save enough energy for the encore, and still have enough juice to keep Charlie awake all night!! .............Rock Onnn...............Vacendak