Friday Night Videos

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You might have seen that Telegraph story from a week or two ago, detailing how Keith Richards “became everybody’s favourite Rolling Stone.”

I read the story, but there was really no need to — I know exactly when Keith became my favorite Stone.

Fall of ’88, sophomore year at Mizzou, I picked up his just released solo* album, Talk Is Cheap, on a whim. The album is a solid effort with tons of big names performing on it, including Ivan Neville, Steve Jordan, Mick Taylor, Bootsy Collins, Patti Scialfa, and more.

I got hooked by the opening of the first track, “Big Enough,” just as soon as I’d pressed play on the cassette deck. That funk-reggae-rock sound — not sure I’d ever heard anything like it before, and it was good. Halfway through the song I might have paused just long enough to wonder, “Mick who?”

“Big Enough” has more hooks in it than a Bass Pro Shop, and it maybe never sounded better than when Keith and the X-Pensive Winos played it live on the album’s promotional tour — and so that’s what you’re getting tonight.

P.S. Charlie Watts is also a perfectly acceptable choice for your favorite Stone.

*Richards recorded Talk Is Cheap with the X-Pensive Winos and co-wrote much of the material with Jordan, but for some reason it was released and credited as a solo work.