I vaguely remember that Bill Wyman played bass in a band that was popular decades ago. They had some pretty big hits, as I recall. They say that the fellows get together again once in a while, when they need money or miss the attention they got during the Johnson administration.
I suspect that it is performance art, however. The old band was very much of its time. The themes were infantile teenage posturing, cool clothes, drugs and lots of gratuitous sex. Skipping ahead fifty years to see how the band members would deal with current times — in which those pursuits are frowned upon and they have become old men — is a tremendous comedic concept. Too bad Peter Sellers is no longer with us. He would have been perfect for the lead role.
Actually, Mick Jagger is aware of all this and has a sense of humor about it. The star of this this short video is Charlie Watts, however.
I think I might like the Rhythm Kings more than the Stones, at least the band as it was after 1980 or so — and certainly more than the recent Stonesmania version.
Bill Wyman has seen it all. The main take away from Patrick Doyle’s excellent interview in Rolling Stone last year was that he was not pleased to be asked to play on only two songs during the concerts in London in 2012. It’s an understatement to say that he has a point. Maybe the powers-that-be in the Stones’ hierarchy wanted to prove that age hasn’t reduced their ability to act like jerks. The entire interview is worth reading.
Above, the Rhythm Kings — with Peter Frampton sitting in — do a great version of Credence Clearwater Revival’s “Green River.” Below is “Chicken Shack Boogie.” I was guessing that it was a Louis Jordan song, but it was written by Amos Milburn.
(Homepage photo: Jacco Barth)
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