Happy Birthday, Keith Richards: You Shouldn't Take It So Hard

Happy 66th Birthday to Keith Richards, the heart and soul of the Rolling Stones; the attentive apprentice to Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters and Slim Harpo; the epitome and embodiment of elegantly wasted; the rhythm master of the 5-string open-G tuning.

For Rock Turtleneck's annual Keith tribute, let’s take a quick trip back to 1988 and his wonderful solo record Talk is Cheap.

Twenty years ago, the Stones were on the brink of actually breaking up. His mate Mick Jagger, more interested in contemporary pop sounds than the Stones, went on a solo tour of Australia and Japan to support his very 80's-sounding album Primitive Cool and prove to the kids he was as hip as Duran Duran:


Keith, meanwhile, wisely decided that playing well is the best revenge. He put together one of the great ad-hoc bands in rock, with Steve Jordan and Charley Drayton as interchangeable drummer and bassist, Warren Zevon’s fun-loving ace Waddy Wachtell on lead guitar and bayou royalty Ivan Neville on keyboards. Keef named the band the X-Pensive Winos, a reference to their shared love of quality libations.

Talk is Cheap came out on October 3, 1988 and sounded like a lost album from the Stones' Mick Taylor-golden era (Taylor actually plays on Talk as Cheap too, something I just learned from Wikipedia.). And the Winos had a chemistry that was Stones-like yet fresh and new. They took their act on the road for a series of rollicking club shows that were the hottest ticket in town:


Seeing Keith triumph while Mick embarrassed himself must have made Jagger realize he needed Keith after all. Only months later, the Glimmer Twins reunited for the generally well-received Steel Wheels album and tour, heralding in the era of the Stones as oldies act. Keith & the WInos made another solo album, Main Offender, a couple years later, but that was it for his solo career.

Personally, I find the 2009-era Stones a little tired and wouldn’t mind it if they hung it up for good. The world has enough Rolling Stones albums. But it could definitely use a couple more Keith Richards albums. To top things off, another goblet of X-Pensive Winos: