Classic Pick:-->Keith Richards - Talk Is Cheap (1988)

"It's no longer funny.
It's bigger than money.
You don't move me anymore."
Keith Richards

Occasionally, a member of a rock band will release an album of their own material. This isn’t too unusual. But when everyone in the same band decides to put out a solo record without breaking up the original group…then it becomes a little more uncommon.

Members of The Who might of performed this feat. Certainly the band mates of KISS did. But surprisingly, not The Beatles, The Byrds, Led Zeppelin, ad nauseam.. It happens...just doesn’t happen very often.

When it does occur, I feel fairly certain music moguls are simply trying to massage egos and hopefully keep everyone happy until the band can go into the studio to record their next platinum album.

Enter The Rolling Stones. Believe it or not, everyone in the band has recorded their own solo album. Some more than others. Mick Jagger. Keith Richards. Ron Wood. Bill Wyman(no longer a member, of course). Charlie Watts.

I haven’t heard the CDs from Wyman or Watts, but I have listened to every solo record by the other mates and although not as strong as their collaborative work, they are far from a waste of time. However, one recording does stand out above all the rest. The brilliant freeway friendly “Talk Is Cheap” by Keith Richards.

Richards w/Gibson

“Talk Is Cheap”, released in 1988, was Keith’s first solo album and came out two years after the latest Stones offering at the time. (Dirty Work). This period was the closest the Stones ever came to breaking up as Jagger and Richards were at creative odds. Richards used this time to go into the studio and put together a group of songs that sounds funkier and fresher than anything by the Stones in years.

Opening up with “Big Enough”, Keith declares his independence, letting Jagger and anyone else know that he could make it on his own. “Stretched to the limit honey, Locked in the hole. Hung out to dry. Still on a roll. Ready, willing, able, and big enough“.

The musicians selected were all primo and christened the name X-Pensive Winos by Keith during their time in the studio. One can tell from listening to this album that the band were giving their all for the man.

I can not emphasize how pleasingly funky this album is. With drums sounding like gunshots and Keith adding his churning guitar in his “less is more” style, it is impossible to sit still. In fact, the record is made for a full-throttled road trip.

“Take It So Hard” and “Whip It Up” are riff driven and could have easily fit on a Stones record. “Struggle” rocks harder than anything Jagger put out on his own and though his vocals are not as strong as Mick’s, Keith makes up for it in balls.

There are two slow tempo numbers which are most excellent. The tender “Make No Mistake” with added vocals from blues queen Sarah Dash and gentle trumpets that sound straight out of Muscle Shoals makes this a treat. Even better is the acoustical driven “Locked Away” with a hook that will hang around long after the song.

The best track is “You Don’t Move Me”, a kiss-it-if-you-please number directed to his partner Mick. A number so good and yet impossible to expect the Stones to add to their repertoire. “What makes you so greedy/Makes you so seedy/ Why do you think you have no friends? You drove them all around the bend”. And though Keith will never be confused with Dylan in the lyrics department…that’s not what he’s about.

RS magazine 1971

The hard-living Keith Richards has been labeled “the walking dead man” since he was in his 20’s. Now in his 60’s, it looks like Keith is having the last laugh having survived most of his musical peers. When the Rolling Stones performed at Wichita Cessna Stadium last year...you could find me sitting in section “B” in the nosebleed seats. And though I was watching the celebrated showmanship of Jagger, to be sure…It was Keith that held my fascination.

CASEY

Keith Richards:-->"You Don't Move Me" (Talk Is Cheap) (1988) (Must Own)