One of the many beauties of Keith Richards and The Rolling Stones is their imperfections. If you’ve seen them live, then you know that they are not musically tight and or well-orchestrated, and the same goes for several of their records. Again, that is the beauty in their art, their ability to diversify, adapt, improvise, and alter a musical situation on a whim. This is one of the many facets of Keith Richards’ taste, and also the reason why he seemingly didn’t like The Band.
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The Band and The Rolling Stones shared a good deal of similarities. They attracted the same types of fans, sang about similar subject matters, and generally occupied similar roles as cultural icons. Cultural icons that offered a raw and unfiltered sound and character. Despite these similarities, Keith Richards was not a fan of the band. He had no personal problem with them. Rather, he just believed that they were too neat, too clean, too organized, and “too perfect.”
Keith Richards Thought The Band Lacked “Spontaneity”
Politely, yet honestly, Richard divulged why he believed The Band lacked all the musical qualities The Rolling Stones did in a 1969 Rolling Stone interview. The comments came after Richards saw Bob Dylan and The Band in the Isle of Wight. Concerning Dylan’s performance, Richards said, “Dylan was beautiful, especially when he did the songs by himself. He has a unique rhythm which only seems to come off when he’s performing solo.”
Richards had other words for The Band’s performance. He told the publication, “The Band were just too strict. They’ve been playing together for a long, long time, and what I couldn’t understand was their lack of spontaneity. They sounded note-for-note like their records. It was like they were just playing the records on stage and at a fairly low volume, with very clear sound.”
“I personally like some distortion, especially if something starts happening on stage. But they just didn’t seem to come alive by themselves. I think that they’re essentially an accompanying band. When they were backing up Dylan, there was a couple of times when they did get off. But they were just a little too perfect for me,” continued Keith Richards.
A vast number of people like the very thing Richards seemingly detests, and praise that talent, as it is difficult to translate studio recordings to the stage. However, to Richard’s point, why would somebody pay to go see a band that plays their recorded singles note-for-note when they could just stay home and listen to the record? Food for thought, and we can all guess what Keith Richards thinks about that question.
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