Rating: 
Summary: Great Coffee Table Book on the Stones!
Review: I was interested when I found out Bill Wyman was doing another book on the history of the "Greatest Rock And Roll Band in the World." His first book "Stone Alone" is one the better books I have read on the history of the band. Unfortunately that book ends at the start of the 1970s. Wyman's new book "Rolling with the Stones" follows the exploits of the band through his entire tenure with the band. Fanatics will enjoy the many pictures of memorabilia from Wyman's own collection. There are a number of rare photographs including some from when the band members were only kids. Other interesting items include many magazine covers and articles, tour posters, and pictures of rare import single sleeves. Album and single releases include track listings, chart positions and information about the original versions of songs the Stones covered. A general set list of songs played on each tour is included as well as list of tour dates and opening acts for each tour. Wyman makes the book a good read by spicing the book with quotes and stories from fans, friends, family, other fellow musicians and the Stones themselves. Many of the quotes and stories pertain to the memorabilia and photos included in the book. Another great aspect of the book is that since Bill Wyman was involved that book does not focus almost entirely on Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Brian Jones. The pictures are divided up more evenly among the band members including Ian Stewart. The book is essential to anyone with more than just a passing interest in the Rolling Stones. It was well worth the price especially since I got it on sale.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice Job Bill, Just One Thing. Though...........
Review: I would encourage any serious Stones enthusiast to pick up this book which is full of great photos, many never before seen, and Wyman's insight on their career . It's also a great companion to his Stone Alone autobiography. Just one thing though ; he mentions that "Tell Me (You're Comin' Back To Me)" is one of the least covered Stones tunes in their catalogue, and mentions two groups that have covered it, one a little known 1965 group, and the other, Cleveland punkers The Dead Boys (Stiv Bators RIP). Well Bill,this is one that you just didn't do the homework on. The Beltways (I'm the bass player)covered "Tell Me..." on our 1998 CD Stella On Mars. It's legal and official; we paid the mechanical royalty to put it on our disc and I wrote the check, so Mick & Keef did get paid, it's legit and the disc is still available. I'd be glad to send you a copy,you're still my hero and the Stones are still THE band.
Rating:
Summary: Get this book on the Rolling Stones if you only get one!
Review: I'm also prejudiced as I'm a very strong and longtime Stones fan, e.g. I've got all the new SACD albums and have seen them 6 times on the 2002 US tour! This book is a superb summary of both their off and on stage escapades with lots of details too. Designed as a high end coffee book it is more than its 2,000 photos, 45 two page tour spreads (yes - each tour and every date is listed up to 1993 - when Bill Wyman had left). Plus their are lots of quotes from many who were there and so much more! It literaly starts with where they were born and goes on from there. Definitely easy to dip in to, say for your favorite album or tour, or to read through in one very long sitting. Highly recommended. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: An absolute "must have".
Review: If you're gonna buy one book about the Rolling Stones, this is the one. When it came out, I remembered reading a long time ago that Bill Wyman was "the band's archivist". He did one helluva job!
Rating:
Summary: An absolute "must have".
Review: If you're gonna buy one book about the Rolling Stones, this is the one. When it came out, I remembered reading a long time ago that Bill Wyman was "the band's archivist". He did one helluva job!
Rating:
Summary: This is the definitive Stones book!
Review: Just got my copy & it's wonderful. It's huge. Great photos, alot of text and creative layout of pages. Bill Wyman certainly made good use of his time away from the Stones. This book is a must for all Stones fans.
Rating:
Summary: If you love the Stones, run--don't walk--to buy this!
Review: Let me begin by tempering my comments with the fact that I've long been a fan of the Stones (going back to my garage-band days in the late 60's), so I began this book with a sincere interest in understanding the "phenomenon" we know as "The Rolling Stones". After just a short while, I was absolutely blown away by Bill Wyman's thorough, loving, and fantasically annotated effort. Here it is ladies and gentlemen, the complete history (warts and all) of one of the world's great rock bands. I am amazed that the book comes across as objective, and Wyman never sounds as if he's boasting or bragging...he just lays out the history of the group, song-by-song and performance-by-performance. Information is presented in somewhat of a scrapbook format, but this quickly grows on you, as it allows you to skip over items you might not care to view (lists of each forum where the Stones played on each tour), and savor the tidbits of information that are so insightful. Each page holds an incredible amount of information: photographs, background information, side notes, copies of contracts, mini-biographies, discographies, and so on. Very interesting tidbits of information are found almost everywhere....did you know that the famous "Jumping Jack Flash" riff was NOT a Jagger/Richard idea? Lots of clippings from newspapers and other media of the day, in turn condemning or praising the Stones as a group and as individuals. It's almost like being allowed to view Wyman's day-by-day scrapbook/diary of what happened as the band went from a bunch of school boys to the greatest rock band left standing. The amazing thing is that I never found myself bored with this volume. Maybe that's because I've always been amazed by the Stones, and perhaps that's natural for someone who "grew up" with them. So my advice is aimed at those who are sincere Stones fans or those who have a deep interest in the history of the band. This book should pretty much answer all your questions and provide MANY hours of entertainment as you "roll" with the Stones.
Rating:
Summary: ROLL CALL
Review: Once again, DK Publishing raises the bar, forever influencing the way the best pop culture biographies will be handled by the rest of the book industry. This time, the noted non-fiction publisher applies its unique visual encyclopedia approach to a bigger-than-life biographical subject, The Rolling Stones, making all previous celebrity bios pale by comparison. As such, this sophisticated coffee table production -- "Rolling With The Stones," written by none other than former Rolling Stone bassist Bill Wyman himself, with the help of his "Bill Wyman's Blues Odyssey" partner, Richard Havers and a staff of DK editors -- is a thoroughly engaging insider story of the world's legendary bad-boy rock and roll band. Judging the book by its cover, one might mistakenly suspect it's a common as-told-to remembrance. To the contrary, the hefty book is a virtual mini-museum providing everything anyone could possibly want to know about the band, its history, its inspiration and its affect on cultural and social history. Drawing from his massive personal collection of Stones memorabilia, Wyman provides hundreds of one-of-a-kind artifacts, personal photos, and entries from decades of daily journals that he began writing as a child. There are more than 3,000 images here in all, amid hundreds of press clippings, set lists, quotations by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Brian Jones, Mick Taylor and Ronnie Wood, as well as their famous peers, political pundits and journalists. Wyman's personal account links the historical analysis, anecdotes and images, as if he's personally guiding readers through a scholarly scrapbook of sorts.
Rating:
Summary: The Holy Grail for the Rolling Stones fan
Review: So much has been written about the Rolling Stones over the years, but as shown in his autobiography Stone Alone, Bill Wyman's accounts carry much weight because he was there. This massive book is a huge collage of trivia, photos and memorabilia of the band's long reign. Still, the written content is just as valuable, and Wyman packs every page with inside information and personal observations which makes this priceless. All the famous and not so famous moments of the Rolling Stones' career are highlighted, and the reader is spared the pretensions of the boring rock critics who usually suck the life out of their subjects. Particularly enjoyable (as in Stone Alone) are the anecdotes about the early Stones and their unlikely rise to fame. Lots of tidbits all over; for example, Wyman still seems pissed 30 years later about Keith Richards overdubbing the bass on "Happy". There's trivia, like the story behind the cover shoot of Get Your Ya-Yas out and Andy Warhol's disapproval of the Love You Live cover, as well as detail like the typical set lists from all the tours. Ticket stubs and concert posters are everywhere, now if only I could find my 1979 Oshawa concert ticket that's pictured in the book! Wyman still manages to convey the excitement of the whole experience, and its obvious that he loves being an integral part of the Rolling Stones' legacy.
Rating:
Summary: The Holy Grail for the Rolling Stones fan
Review: So much has been written about the Rolling Stones over the years, but as shown in his autobiography Stone Alone, Bill Wyman's accounts carry much weight because he was there. This massive book is a huge collage of trivia, photos and memorabilia of the band's long reign. Still, the written content is just as valuable, and Wyman packs every page with inside information and personal observations which makes this priceless. All the famous and not so famous moments of the Rolling Stones' career are highlighted, and the reader is spared the pretensions of the boring rock critics who usually suck the life out of their subjects. Particularly enjoyable (as in Stone Alone) are the anecdotes about the early Stones and their unlikely rise to fame. Lots of tidbits all over; for example, Wyman still seems pissed 30 years later about Keith Richards overdubbing the bass on "Happy". There's trivia, like the story behind the cover shoot of Get Your Ya-Yas out and Andy Warhol's disapproval of the Love You Live cover, as well as detail like the typical set lists from all the tours. Ticket stubs and concert posters are everywhere, now if only I could find my 1979 Oshawa concert ticket that's pictured in the book! Wyman still manages to convey the excitement of the whole experience, and its obvious that he loves being an integral part of the Rolling Stones' legacy.
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