The Key Player That Helped The Rolling Stones Create Their “Best Records”

Albums are rarely ever created merely by band members or lone musicians. Has it been done? Yes, but not very often. That being said, it takes a whole team of people to create an album. A team that consists of the band, session musicians, songwriters, audio engineers, mixing engineers, master engineers, and arguably the most important creative role, the producer. To an extent, it is a thankless role, as the contributions of a producer often reside only in the studio and on the album’s credit list. That is the case for many producers, including Jimmy Miller, one of the producers for The Rolling Stones.

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When you’ve been in the music industry as long as The Rolling Stones, you’ve likely gone through more producers than you can count. Some memorable, and some not so memorable. Arguably, the most memorable and effective producer for The Rolling Stones was Jimmy Miller. We can’t vouch for his tactics, but we can vouch for his results.

During his time with the Stones, Miller produced Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main St., and Goats Head Soup. To many fans, these are the five greatest Rolling Stones albums of all time. All five of these albums reached the top five on the Billboard 200, three of which went to No. 1.

Keith Richards on the “Enthusiasm” of Jimmy Miller

To an extent, a producer is like a coach. Sometimes they coach the musicians on musical form and tactics, and other times they are simply there to bring the best out of them. Per Keith Richards’ comments in the Anatomy Of A Song book, Miller did a bit of both. He knew when to be hands-on and when not to be.

“To his credit, our producer, Jimmy Miller, brought incredible enthusiasm to what we were doing on ‘Street Fighting Man.’ He was one of the warmest guys and an incredible friend,” said Richards. “We made our best records with him. He always knew when to engage and when to stay out of the picture. He knew I was going for something special on the song and interjected only when he thought we were losing it and needed a break,” he added.

Miller’s acclaimed work is not just with The Rolling Stones. In addition to recording those five albums with the Stones, Miller also worked with Blind Faith, Motörhead, Traffic, and numerous other big-time bands.

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