Hidden in Plain Sight - Bill Wyman
I am an appreciator of early Stones. There is a definable quality to the "London years" that owes a lot to the surly lads' original founder Brian Jones (guitar, harmonica), the late "Stu" Ian Stewart (piano, organ), and of course, the "Stone Alone", Bill Wyman (bass).
Brian Jones was the blond-locked "glamour boy" in those early days. Onstage, he drew attention from Mick. He pioneered rock fashion, wearing pinstripe suits and feather boas when his companions kicked it in cardigans and leather. He had his hair done by the stylist that did Lulu, the beehive-sporting singer of "To Sir With Love". If you showed a picture of the Stones to an average person and asked them to pick the lead singer, they would pick Brian Jones.
 Brian Jones |
Jones was a horrendous misogynist, indiscriminate substance abuser, and all-around insufferable wank. He was the first modern-day rock star, with all that baggage that entails. But he was above-board and pure in two important ways. He loved and was loyal to his band, and he worshipped at the altar of the Blues, and his original heroes: Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson. He wanted nothing more than to emulate the essence of what they did, to point listeners to the portal of the magic realm that they created in him. I saw a DVD of the sixties British pop show "Ready Steady Go" recently, and watched as a giddy Brian dropped his cool on nationwide TV, introduced his hero Howlin' Wolf to an uncomprehending audience, and listened with rapt appreciation as his aging hero played. The crowd thought it was about sexy young white boys with long hair, but Jones knew what the real deal was.
Musically, Jones contribution waned as the Jagger-Richards star ascended, due to inter-band politics and his own increasing drug use. But as much as Keefy and Mick forced him into the margins, he emerged on different instruments, sitar, dulcimer, autoharp, infusing each with his own compelling atmosphere of brimstone. He could make a friggin' xylophone sound seedy and disturbing. Then he was fired and drowned in his pool. R.I.P.
 Ian Stewart and Mick |
A lot less glamorous were Bill Wyman on bass and Ian Stewart on piano. Ian was dubbed "too unsightly for rock stardom" by the Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham, and relegated to the shadows, playing on records only and actually serving as the band ROADIE on tour. How reptilian can an organization be? Anyway, Stewart was a pretty accomplished barrelhouse Honky Tonk style player, similar to Ian McLagan of the Faces, and he played on nearly every Stones record until his death in 1985. Bill was also there in the shadows, toiling out of the limelight with Charlie Watts (drums), creating one of the most squirrelly rhythm sections in rock, and one of its most compelling.
Bill had small hands and so was condemned to play short-scale basses, Framus and Gibson EB3s, instruments that tended to have a tubby, undefined sound. Wyman took this liability and made it an asset, always contributing to the mood of a piece, staying put most of the time, but then moving out and opening things up when the song needed it, not before. His selfless playing style contributed to some of the best rock grooves on record. I will point to three tracks that, I feel, define and cement Bill's place in recorded history. These are common tracks and everyone should know them.
 Satisfaction |
"SATISFACTION" from "Out of our Heads" 1965: Drums and percussion set up a clanking, repetitive, machinelike groove that sounds like it started way in the past and ends way in the future. Keith plays the fuzz guitar figure (the BIG HOOK) with an unevenness and weird hesitancy that makes the track sound positively scabby and punk. Pretty subversive for 1965. Brian chunks out a fat rhythm E and D, hooking his thumb around to get an F# in the bass (an old Lennon trick) Wyman then comes in with a walkup intro, continues to pummel the groove with one of the most misquoted bass parts ever. (If you want the bass notes, I will give them to you. chuck@chuckleebramlet.com) Jagger chants over the top, and voila! The Stones are finally on the radar in the states. The song itself is kind of weak, but the track is pure magic. Phil Spector said of "Satisfaction": "A lot of bands have ideas, but Satisfaction is the Rolling Stones' CONTRIBUTION to Rock 'n' Roll..." And he should know.
"PAINT IT, BLACK" from "Aftermath" 1966: Too much going on in this track. Watts plays a floor-tom ride that makes the whole track sound, well, dark. The boys play a cossack-style Russian minor figure that sounds like Morrocan dervishes on crack. Jones plays a blissed-out sitar that contributes overall evil. Wyman plays it straight in the groove because the chaos around him leaves him no choice. During the B part things start to move a little and Watts moves his ride to the open hat, but then it's right back to the black verse. Jagger is again somewhat inconsequential as the downright silly lyrics attest. At the end, bizarre humming background vocals enter and Jagger starts vamping, shouting something recalling the blues. Someone (Keith?) starts up a staccato bolero strum on muted acoustic strings, and Bill, inspired, finally busts out, playing a B to an octave up B swoop on the bass that DOMINATES the song till the end. This figure sounds simple and primitive, until you try and play it. Go ahead. See? The guy was awesome.
"UNDER MY THUMB" also from "Aftermath" 1966: Wyman departs from his usual "holding down the fort" role and does a walk pattern that sets up Stu's marimba hook by adding a perfect but understated counterpoint, moving opposite without making it a big deal. The groove sounds insidious, malevolent and irresistible. The band plays this as a team, never stepping on the volume, careful not to damage the fragile web they are weaving, freeing up Keith to play perfectly messed-up rhythm licks over the top. This song sounds like sex to me, no jive Justin Timberlake tit-grabbing crap, real good adult sex. Fuck the stupid male dominant lyrics.
There are countless other examples that come to mind, but space is short, so I'll finish making my case thusly. Since Wyman left, I wouldn't cross the street to see the Stones. They replaced him with Randy Jackson (of "American Idol" fame, late of Journey. JOURNEY!) and those albums SUCK! They are almost as bad as Jagger's solo stuff. This is the ProTools enhanced sounds of Men making their yacht payments. Who cares? Also, Keith once had a side project called "The New Barbarians" featuring Stanley Clarke on bass. I read an interview published at that time where Stanley explains (and I paraphrase): "Bill's great, if you just want a guy who plays it simple and goes home, I wanna go out there and TEAR IT UP..." Yeah. And Stanley's self-indulgent noodling really helped make the "New Barbarians" a household name. If it's so simple Stanley, do it. That's all I have to say...