Brian Jones

October 1, 2014
A lively biography of the enigmatic founder of the Rolling Stones, who was dethroned and died just as the band approached its artistic peak.Raised in the conservative enclave of Cheltenham, Brian Jones' (1942-1969) family life was the epitome of middle-class English repression and conformity. However, the bureaucratic culture of Cheltenham would mold Jones' complex, roguish personality. Music journalist Trynka's (David Bowie: Starman, 2011, etc.) portrait is that of a young man determined to get what he wanted, flaunting conventions and consequences and exhibiting little conscience as he cemented his ambition to become a professional musician. His obsession with American blues led him to London, where Jones immediately made a name for himself and soon met Mick Jagger and Keith Richards through the circle of musicians that hung around impresario Alexis Korner. It was Jones who corralled the members of the Rolling Stones, named the band after a Muddy Waters lyric, and influenced the band's musical style by teaching Richards open G tuning, a blues staple that would define the Stones' sound. There was no question that Jones was the Stones' unrivaled leader. As they began charting success, they quickly became infamous for their infighting and drama, and the power struggles between Jones and the Jagger-Richards axis, often involving women, were well-documented. Eventually, Jones was dismissed, and several weeks later, he was found dead in his swimming pool, the exact details of his death still a controversy. Trynka expertly explores the paradoxes of Jones' inner life, drawing on countless interviews of friends and fellow musicians, but there are times when the author comes across as righteously defensive of Jones, despite correcting many of the apparently erroneous claims made by Richards in his own autobiography. Occasionally, Trynka's evidence creates a he said, she said situation that fails to definitively set the record straight. There is no disputing, however, that Jones was the mastermind of the Stones, and Trynka's well-researched biography rightly reclaims his legacy. An intimate portrait of the multifaceted and beguiling Jones, who forever changed popular music and culture.

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October 15, 2014

Brian Jones died at age 27 in 1969, after being kicked out of the band that he formed in the early Sixties. In this biography, journalist and author Trynka (David Bowie: Starman) attempts to bring him back to the forefront of the Rolling Stones's story as an essential part of the band's formative years, as well as to highlight his influential contributions to rock, such as bringing African American R&B and blues to wider audiences and in his later years embracing music from other cultures. Jones's tragic story is one of musical virtuosity hampered by a fragile personality, drug abuse, and, according to the author, victimization by authority figures, the establishment media, and even his fellow band members. Trynka interviewed dozens of Jones's contemporaries and those who knew him well. The book is especially effective at evoking the social scene of Swinging London and the tumult and dysfunction of the Stones's inner circle. VERDICT Not delving deeply into the music of the band once they achieved fame, this work will be essential to those wanting a full chronicle of the Stones. While the author treats Jones's story fairly and describes both his talents and his flaws, in the end, the musician remains a somewhat enigmatic and elusive figure. [See Prepub Alert, 4/14/14.]--James Collins, Morristown-Morris Twp. P.L., NJ

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November 1, 2014
The history of the Rolling Stones, the author tells us, isn't quite what its chroniclers make it out to be. As told by the band over the years, the history of the Stones rarely mentions Brian Jones, who died in 1969 and who was the band's founder and original leader. Jones was already an accomplished guitarist when he met his future bandmates; he brought the Stones together, even thought up their name (it comes from a song by Muddy Waters). The book is based somewhat on previously published sources and draws heavily on extensive interviewsthe list of interviewees includes Keith Richards, Pete Townshend, Bill Wyman, Marianne Faithfull, and dozens of others (although Mick Jagger's name is absent from the list). One of the author's goals is to trace the short, tragic, incredibly influential life of Jones, who was ousted from the band shortly before he died; but perhaps his bigger goal is to reposition Jones as the Stones' founder, as the man without whom there would have been no Rolling Stones. He succeeds admirably.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)