| The continous issue of live bootlegs, especially from the USA 75 tour, in this period has prompted me a question I had someway left behind since a long time. While listenin' to, say the <i>WHORES IN THE NIGHT</i>-set, one thing instantly comes to the listener's mind: the lead guitar solos aren't played by the same guy! In fact, while on the 75 USA tour Ron Wood was a "guest" and maybe hadn't a big amount of time to merge with the others during the rehearsals in Montauk, he was somehow obliged to get into Mick Taylor's shoes, adocting his staccato style and filling with high notes those songs the former had helped to develop in the studio. Also, if you can listen to Faces LPs or better, live gigs' tapes even from after the US tour 75 by the Stones, you will notice that Mr. Ron Wood <i>can</i> play solos with long & fluid notes, despite his attitude on rhythm playing. Just compare the solos on "You can't always get" in 75 & 81 shows. In the former live gigs Ronnie played exactly like Mick Taylor did, starting a slow take and goin' on while more space has been given to perform by the rest of the band; in the 81 version of the same song the RW solo is merely a remembrance of a guitar solo, just a few seconds and then the light spot is given to the brass which does the real solo. Why this? Is Woody no more able to play hot solos? I don't think so, maybe the continous trying partnership with Keith has started a new interest in his guitar playing (after all his latest solo albums aren't full of guitar solos!) while trading rhythm licks with him. But on 75 & 76 tours there was also space for experiments whilst playing live shows, on some dates Carlos Santana, Harvey Mandel, Wayne Perkins and Eric Clapton went on stage to perform, adding a 3rd guitar to the sound. Due to particular circumstances (impossibility to repeat a 72-alike tour with brass <i>and</i> guitar solos) in 1978's US tour (new music and its politics of "No dinosaurs bands!" had prevented the Stones in this direction) which was a real basic tour with just the five members of the band plus two keyboarders and rarely a sax, just for "Miss you"'s topic moments. Going on through the years, the 81 & 82 tours showed a return to brass as lead instruments. Usual friend Bobby Keys was sandwiched between Ernie Watts and Gene Barge, both in the USA and Europe. But lead guitar had always to be performed live, especially in older songs, and so also to add something to the "show", Mr. Mick Jagger himself - from 78 thru 82 - embraced a guitar for adding a substantial rhythm to some songs while Ron & Keith went into brief solos one after another. While approaching to a new USA tour this autumn, maybe followed by a European and Asian tour in 1986, I think a new kind of approach could be taken by the band: what sense could it have to take the same 81/82 set of musicians on the road? I mean, just Bobby Keys on sax could be useful for late 70's or early 80's songs that feature solos. And what about a stable 3rd guitarist, a guest who could let Ron & Keith exchange their rhythm licks they want, or would just play slide guitar in slower songs / blues? It should be an able guy, of course, and also used to play live gigs; but it wouldn't substantially be his ability of kidding around, he could stand there, near Bill, not moving more than he does. Well, who else could it be if not Mick Taylor? After the 81 surprise gig in Kansas City he played intensively with John Mayall and then with Bob Dylan 'thro Europe, not arriving at the end of every set as tired as in Kansas City, where he had to play a 3 hours set, which he wasn't used to. I think he could easily integrate with the guys he knows so well, after all almost everything could fit and it wouldn't have to be a nostalgia operation at all; it certainly could please every fan to see Mick Taylor with the Stones again and I believe CBS could be interested too. Why not?
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