Re: Keef vs. Pete

[ShawnMckelvey@cs.com]

In a message dated 8/11/00 10:45:15 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
TheWho-Digest-Owner@igtc.com writes:
[O'Neal, Kevin W.]
> Keith is a very good guitar player however most of
>  his style has to do with open tunings ; be it open E ,G or D. These
>  alternate tunings are so easy to play my dog could come up with a tune.

Everybody always brings this up; how easy Keith's playing is to replicate, 
but how come I'm not listening to your Fido's greatest hits right now? This 
is a huge part of  his (misunderstood) genius. He takes a seemingly simple 
framework and adds perfectly placed "simple" bits, that are magically just 
right. This can't be measured by notes per minute or whatever, but is 
something more intangible and ephemeral (is that the right word?). Almost 
like, well,  ART.

>The only reason people often say Keith is a better guitar player and the 
Stones
>are a better band is simply because of more commercial success.

Are you sure 'bout this? The Stones have never sold that many albums. What I 
consider their greatest attribute is their unwillingness to be a golden 
oldies act (at least in theory; I'm only too well aware of hearing Honky Tonk 
Woman for the 10,000 time). They have never done any of the box set or or 
live retrospective stuff (although that is partially a by-product of the 
Allen Klein situation), and continue to put out new stuff. Whether you're 
that wild about their recent work is another thing (I honestly think a lot of 
is quite good), but at least they keep trying. I hate the, "We're getting out 
while we're still on top", Michael Jordan type attitude. You keep on going 
until your performance level drops to the point where you're not contributing 
to the team anymore. That's the way that humanity works, and that's why the 
Stones are the most realistic band out there. They keep showing up to work, 
year after year (or decade after decade), and fuck Jay Leno and his jokes.

>I saw the Stones quite a few times and almost fell asleep twice. Besides 
Keith Richards can barely hold a guitar these days let alone rip the way Pete 
is these days.

Did you see (or hear) any of the shows from thir most recent tour, No 
Security in 99? I saw them 3 shows (my 10th, 11th and 12th shows) and they 
were accurate, energetic, and generally awesome. I get the feeling you saw 
them in some massive football stadium and yes, I agree, this is not 
acceptable for any kind of real fan involvement.
    Furthermore, (all in good fun, remember), I can't see how you can't see 
the overwhelming connection to something deep in the human consciousness that 
Keith has tapped into. Have you heard Can't You Hear Me Knocking? The opening 
riff of that song is as awesome a slice of pure animalistic rhythm as anyone 
has ever done. How about the acoustic on Street Fighting Man? This is 
marching on the embassy, overthrowing the government type music. Another 
thing, Keith mainly handles all the guitars on everything from Beggar's 
Banquet and Let It Bleed, which have some of the greatest acoustic work 
anybody of any genre has ever done. Plus, you get Gimme Shelter which isn't 
complicated to play, but it was kind of a different type of playing than 
anything else before it. What about Bitch, Start Me Up, Brown Sugar, JJ Flash 
and on and on. They might all be simple, yet one guy keeps coming up with 
these simplistic pieces of perfection, again and again-KEEF. Peace, Shawn M. 
McKelvey