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Loading... Charlie’s Good Tonight: The Life, the Times, and the Rolling Stones: The Authorized Biography of Charlie Wattsby Paul Sexton
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. This biography of Rolling Stones' drummer Charlie Watts narrates the life of a man who was a walking contradiction: a car collector who didn't drive, a horse fancier who didn't ride, a Rolling Stone who rarely heard the group's music. Fans of the group will know him by reputation as a modest, unassuming, uxorious niceguy, something of an anti-Stone, along with Bill Wyman , the well-behaved Stone. As the author puts it, "if you're looking for controversy, you're looking under the wrong Stone". Yet the man did end up surprising me in several ways, notably that he was a talented artist who became the designer for the group when it needed stage sets or advice on its photography or various other of its "looks". As for the book, it has little authorial voice, and is framed largely by interviews with Watts, his family and bandmates, and various musicians with whom he worked over the years both in the band and in the jazz career which was his first love. It's a real lovefest, both in the others' plaudits for Watts and his own opinions of others. It's a genial book, a hagiography really, but Watts deserves it as much as anybody. no reviews | add a review
"The fully authorized and official biography of legendary Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, one of the world's most revered and celebrated musicians of the last half century. Charlie Watts was one of the most decorated musicians in the world, having joined the Rolling Stones, a few months after their formation, early in 1963. A student of jazz drumming, he was headhunted by the band after bumping into them regularly in London's rhythm and blues clubs. Once installed at the drum seat, he didn't miss a gig, album or tour in his 60 years in the band. He was there throughout the swinging sixties, the early shot at superstardom and the Stones' world conquest; and throughout the debauchery of the 1970s, typified by 1972's Exile on Main St., considered one of the great albums of the century. By the 1980s, Charlie was battling his own demons, but emerged unscathed to enhance his unparalleled reputation even further over the ensuing decades. Watts went through band bust-ups, bereavements and changes in personnel, managers, guitarists and rhythm sections, but remained the rock at the heart of the Rolling Stones for nearly 60 years--the thoughtful, intellectual but no less compelling counterpoint to the raucousness of his bandmates Keith Richards, Mick Jagger and Ronnie Wood. And this is his story."-- No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)786.9The arts Music Keyboard, mechanical, electronic, percussion instruments DrumsLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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I enjoyed this biography, and it simply strengthened my resolve that Charlie Watts was interesting in that he was the literal antithesis of the stereotypical rock drummer. He was polite, dignified, kind, exceptionally well-dressed, and loyal to his wife from the day they met until the day he died.
In short, he was not the kind of guy who's going to make for a gripping, gritty biography. He was a fascinating collector, an man who raised championship horses, but never rode one, who collected classic cars, but didn't know how to drive, a drummer who's love was jazz, but made a living as one of the top rock drummers. He was just a really cool, understated man, who never craved the spotlight.
So, while it uncovered a lot of interesting aspects of Charlie, the biography is very much an "on this date" and "on this date" and "on this date" type of biography that relays a fair amount of information, but doesn't really dig much beneath the surface.
Which makes sense in this case, considering how private Charlie Watts was. ( )