Sympathy for the Devil: The Birth of the Rolling Stones and the Death of Brian Jones

I ordered this book on Sunday Nov 19th. On the Amazon website it said that delivery would likely occur some time between Monday Nov 27th and Tuesday Dec 5th. To my very happy surprise, I received this book, in perfect condition -- mailed directly from the vendor -- on Wednesday Nov 22nd (far ahead of the anticipated delivery date). Kudos to "Inquiring Minds Bookstore & Coffee House" (the vendor, who mailed it to me).I'm only on the third chapter of the book, but it's been a great read, so far, with lots of information that was new to me. (And I thought I really knew a lot about Brian Jones, and the Stones in general, before I ordered this book.) It's well-organized and well-written, and packed with very well-researched historical information, including a lot of first-hand accounts (as remembered by various individuals) that often directly contradict Keith Richards' recollections of those same conversations and events, in fundamentally important ways. (That's okay. My own memories of events in my own life -- looking back on them some 50 or 60 years later -- might not be 100% dependably accurate, either.)

Paul Trynka has previously written biographies of David Bowie and Iggy Pop, as well as books on the Beatles and pop culture and edited UK rock magazines including Mojo, this book tells the story of Brian Jones' early life in Cheltenham and his subsequent move to London and the founding of the Rolling Stones and eventually his death at age 27. The book has a clear agenda and that agenda is that Brian was the true creative spirit behind the Rolling Stones and that Mick and Keith were horrible to him and in recent times have airbrushed Brian from the history of the band - and that agenda seems to colour every facet of the book and made me wonder if other information had been left out because it didn't fit this viewpoint.I became a blues fan in the early 60s because of the Rolling Stones, in particular because of Brian Jones' harmonica playing, and there is no doubt that Brian was the founder of the group and the one with the most playing experience and the greatest knowledge of blues and jazz. I now live in Cheltenham and so I particularly enjoyed reading about Brian's early days in the town (it seemed to have a better music scene in those days than it does now!) although Trynka also details a callous side to Brian's nature at this time and his cavalier attitude to the girls he got pregnant in the town. He also details Brian's strained relationship with his parents and an apparent lack of love, which Trynka keeps coming back to as possibly at the heart of Brian's problems. Elsewhere others talk about him being very polite and personable and a much nicer person than Mick or Keith - although it isn't clear if this is just 'not talking ill of the dead' and contrasts with Mick and Keith's criticisms of his later decent into drug-addled nastiness and unreliability.I found it very sad to read of the later days in Brian's time in the Stones and I agree with the author that as well as Mick and Keith treating him badly, Charlie and Bill (the only Stones to attend his funeral) must also take some of the blame for remaining silent, as well as the Stones' management and hangers on. I tend to agree with Trynka's verdict on Brian's death that it was probably just an accident, rather than a murder or some kind of establishment conspiracy. I did enjoy the book which is well-written and which I felt did try to be fair and objective but ultimately is very much on Brian's side and balances every mention of Brian's bad behaviour with examples of his creativity, straightforwardness and sociability. The book contains an index, a list of acknowledgements, several pages of glossy photographs and a coda "Unreliable evidence; the death of Brian Jones".

Brian Jones deserved this book. As a die-hard Stones fan, I knew he was a brilliant and versatile musician. I was also aware that he was desperately unhappy.I did not realize the extent of his talents.Reading about the depth of his torment, especially by Mick, Keith, Andrew Oldman, enabled by Charlie and Bill (who admitted it) was excruciating. I was shocked that the generally affable Ian Stewart hated his guts.Many people attribute his downfall to the loss of Anita Pallenberg to Keith. It was a variable, but not the true, underlying cause. It was getting kicked out of the band that he started.Brian Jones R.I.P.

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