Mindless Records

The biggest problem I have with Vintage Vinos – a new “greatest hits” of Keith Richards’ solo years, if you will – is I remember the first time I threw a cassette of Richards’ then-new Talk Is Cheap into the stereo back in October of 1988, you see.

Oh, yeah – that slashing keyboard nose-diving straight into a roaring upper-fret bass whoop and in-your-frigging-face-Jack drum slam; with the whole works immediately tumbling into a nasty snapping/biting/barking guitar-and-bass funk workout. And there wasn’t even time to say “What the hell?” before Keith started belting out “No time for weepin’ baby/No tears need flow/Let no one tell you/How you should grow – yeah!” in a voice that wasn’t anything like his vocal on “Happy” or “Before They Make Me Run” or any other Stones song … but it was Keef, no doubt. And it was Bootsy Collins on bass, for Chrissakes. And Maceo Parker – Maceo-I’m-talking-James-Brown-Parker – blowing too-cool alto sax. And Bernie Worrell laying down those fine, fine, fine nasty keys.

Goddamn.

And then it was over and you were ready to hit “rewind” just because you’d never heard Keith quite like that, baby – when the BIGGEST GUITAR CHORD IN THE WORLD came rumbling out of the speakers (complete with the stray hiss of a cymbal that couldn’t help but quiver) and – BAM – all hell broke loose with what you always imagined it would sound like if Keith was playing every instrument at once – badass bass/dead-nuts-on drum/spilt beer and cigarette-eye-squint piano/plus both guitars at the same time and all the voices in the barroom chorus – with that total groove-to-the-core abandon.

Effin’ A.

So, that was what it was like to hear “Big Enough”, followed by “Take It So Hard” back in 1988. And that’s the way I’ve been hearing it ever since, you see. So to have the order of the two reversed at the beginning of Vintage Vinos just doesn’t work in my head, okay?

But that’s me, and I digress. You – you’ll probably be okay. Especially if you’ve never experienced the three albums Richards and the Expensive Winos released between ’88 and ’92. Now that was a band: Steve Jordan on drums and Charlie Drayton on bass (and just as killer when they swapped berths), Ivan Neville on keyboards, and Waddy Wachtel providing co-guitar in a manner that no one – no one – has done with Keef before or since. Ronnie Wood may weave well with Richards, but Wachtel got inside him. The proof’s on Vintage Vinos, from the workouts already mentioned to the well-smoked reggae skank of “Too Rude” and a just-can’t-quit joyous romp through a live version of “Happy”.

Soul sister Sarah Dash, if not an outright Wino, was at least a MVP guest back then: her vocal performance on “Make No Mistake” inspired Richards to get downright sexy in an Al Greenish sort of way. (Don’t worry – it’s on here; I wouldn’t tell you about it and leave you hanging with that mental image without proof.) And when she takes the lead on a live version of “Time Is On My Side”, she totally claims ownership of that old Stones classic – make no mistake about that.

Besides the tunes from Keef and the Winos’ three original albums (a total of 13 cuts), there’s the added carrot of “Hurricane”, a song that was only available previously as a premium in post-Katrina relief efforts. This one is as bare-bones as it gets: just Richards on finger-picked acoustic guitar and vocals with bandmate Wood on bottleneck.

In all honesty, I have to tell you that Vintage Vinos is no replacement for the three complete albums from Keith Richards and the Winos – but as an anthology, it does a damn fine job of picking some tasty berries out of a big field. And with a fresh remastering, there are subtleties on some tunes (Keef? Subtle?) that will tickle even the veteran ear.

And me, I’m getting used to the order of those first two songs. I mean, I shouldn’t take it so hard, right?