I was listening to some early Stones this afternoon on my stereo when this track came on. Written by Willie Dixon and first recorded by Howlin Wolf in 1961, Sam Cooke took a crack at it before the Stones cut it in 1964. The lyrics actually reach back to Memphis Minnie and Charley Patton in the early twentieth century. Dead later put out a fairly lousy rendition, the Stones is pretty wonderful and impeccable.
Anyway when I was listening I had the realization that I didn't know who was playing the excellent slide, Keef or Brian? Was Richards capable of such beautiful, lyrical slide? The answer is no, it was Brian, probably the most talented musician in the band, at least until Mick Taylor showed up later. to replace him.
Jones could play anything, guitar, drums, saxophone, sitar, harpsichord, piano and euphonium. But he tangled with the manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, who didn't like his blues direction. But Jones did so much more, baroque, psychedelic, he gave the band a panoply of extra color and texture that they never really got back. Multidimensional. By the way, Oldham is the same bloke that told pianist Ian Stewart that he wasn't good looking enough to be on stage with the band.
Brian Jones helped found the Rolling Stones and his musical contribution can not be overstated.
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