Keith Richards 4: Crosseyed Heart

Decades after the mid-‘80s derailment and subsequent realigning of the Stones, both Mick and Keith have kept their solo output minimal. But on the four studio albums plus the handful of new songs stuck onto anniversary compilations, Keith’s lead vocals have generally been the standouts, and the songs that have endured. Being allowed a regular outlet likely tempered his need to record on his own, but perhaps the Stones’ reliance on older material played live to cash in on whatever anniversary they were celebrating inspired him to call Steve Jordan and reunite the X-Pensive Winos.

However, while a Keith vocal is generally a welcome respite from Mick, Crosseyed Heart doesn’t prove that all Keith, all the time is the answer. Cut down to maybe ten songs, the album would be much stronger.

The title track is an engaging snippet of acoustic blues, right down to its charming conclusion. “Heartstopper” and “Trouble” pile in like you hoped they would. “Robbed Blind” is something of a country weeper, complete with pedal steel and Keith himself on piano. (We checked the credits, thinking it just had to be somebody else.) “Nothing On Me” could be a single in another era, though the lead guitar going throughout should have been pulled back a bit. He goes all out reggae on a cover of “Love Overdue”, giving up a lyrical influence for “All About You” in the process. Late saxman Bobby Keys is featured on “Blues In The Morning”, a great blast of Chuck Berry via Chicago, while “Illusion” gets a surprise lift from Norah Jones. Towards the end of the album, “Substantial Damage” bubbles with funk and “Lover’s Plea” melds reggae and soul.

That leaves “Amnesia”, “Suspicious” and “Something For Nothing”—good, but not up to the level of their brothers. Likewise, “Just A Gift” is one slow song too many. While he avoids the cliché of closing with “Goodnight Irene”, this albeit pleasant rendition doesn’t add much to the song’s history.

Again, most of Crosseyed Heart is enjoyable, and if it scares Mick into rocking out again, then maybe we haven’t heard the last of the Stones. And since there’s no better place to mention it, even a casual listen to what passes for country music these days reveals a debt to Keith’s riffs. Whether it’s a guy with a twang or a blonde with a yodel, today’s country sounds like either a Stones ripoff or pancakes and sausage.

Keith Richards Crosseyed Heart (2015)—3

Keith Richards 3: Vintage Vinos

One of the more enjoyable rock ‘n roll memoirs of any era was Life by Keith Richards, wherein he frankly rambled about all the years most people were surprised he could remember so well, much less at all. Alternately defiant and humble, it reminded everyone who already agreed that he was and would always be cooler than Mick.

A retrospective album was released as a tie-in, but rather than simply collect all his lead vocals from various Stones album, Vintage Vinos concentrates on the two studio albums by his X-Pensive Winos side band, with a few from the live album to split the program. To say the set leans heavily on Talk Is Cheap is putting it mildly, with all but one song from side one, and one from side two. By contrast, three songs come from Main Offender, and the live songs provide a sideways nod to the Stones via “Too Rude”, “Time Is On My Side”, “Happy”, and “Connection”. The big draw and only rarity is “Hurricane”, a short acoustic tune credited to Jagger/Richards and performed with Ron Wood, supposedly from the Forty Licks era, previously available as a giveaway.

Musically, of course, it’s solid; the photos are nice and the booklet even includes lyrics. Still, it’s a missed opportunity. By now diehard fans have compiled their own “Keith Sings” mix tapes and CDs covering his best lead vocals on Stones albums, but certainly any “best of Keith” should include his cover of Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run”, as well as its B-sides “Pressure Drop” and “The Harder They Come”. Then there’s “Key To The Highway”, which was a Japanese bonus track for Main Offender and B-side elsewhere, and “Oh Lord, Don't Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb On Me” from a Charles Mingus tribute. Operators are standing by.

Keith Richards Vintage Vinos (2010)—3½

Keith Richards 2: Main Offender

Another Stones lull made way for the return of the X-Pensive Winos. While Main Offender offered more of the same formula as Keith’s first, and best solo album — plus or minus some reggae and R&B — for some reason it just doesn’t have the breadth, excitement and enjoyability as Talk Is Cheap.

Not to say it’s bad, in the least. Mick’s desire to keep the Stones hip and contemporary only kept Keith true to his roots and the guitar. The first three tracks alone are excellent; “999” is nice and dirty, “Wicked As It Seems” would be reworked as the opener of the next Stones album, and “Eileen” makes for one peppy love song in the mode of “She’s So Cold”. But things slow down big time on “Words Of Wonder”, six-and-a-half minutes of lazy reggae, and “Yap Yap” doesn’t quite catch either.

What we’d call side two is competent, but not stellar. “Bodytalks” compiles some stray riffs, and is mostly notable for Sarah Dash’s sultry cooing just under the mix. “Hate It When You Leave” extends the soul feel of “Make No Mistake” with some vintage-sounding horns and winds, just as “Runnin’ Too Deep” and “Will But You Won’t” are from the same cloth as “Take It So Hard”. “Demon” limps along to a close.

Main Offender was not a big seller, and while Keith would always get a song or three to sing on future Stones albums, for the next couple decades he limited his solo work to the occasional guest appearance. Because these things had become common, the album’s 30th anniversary would be commemorated with a deluxe set including the album on vinyl and CD, as well as two records (and one CD) devoted to Winos Live In London ‘92, newly supervised by Steve Jordan, plus a leather-bound book and various paraphernalia. (A simpler two-CD version of just the album and the bonus live disc sufficed for those of us without Keith’s money. Fun fact: the discs aren’t silver, but black.) The live album—culled from two consecutive nights, one of which was both Keith’s and Bobby Keys’ birthday—gives the band the chance to stretch in a club-sized venue. Plus, it’s got a slightly plodding “Gimme Shelter” but a strong version of “Before They Make Me Run”, which weren’t included on the Hollywood Palladium set from 1988.

Keith Richards Main Offender (1992)—3
2022 Deluxe Edition: same as 1992, plus 11 extra tracks

Keith Richards 1: Talk Is Cheap

While Mick went off to do another solo album, Keith stewed for a while, and decided to do his own. Talk Is Cheap reminded the world how good the Stones had been, on an album where the only other Stone present was Mick Taylor. Several other guests appear, from Buckwheat Zydeco to Johnnie Johnson, but the nucleus is a band of session veterans dubbed the X-Pensive Winos. These guys managed to mesh so well together you can practically hear Keith smiling on every track.

Much of the credit should go to Steve Jordan, the onetime drummer for the band on Late Night With David Letterman, who co-produced and co-wrote the entire album with Keith. Most of the bass comes from Charley Drayton, who could ably switch spots with Steve Jordan at the drop of a dime; no other rhythm section can do that. Keyboards, mostly in the form of clavinets and electric pianos, are handled by young Ivan Neville, while Waddy Wachtel, known mostly for his work with the likes of Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon and Stevie Nicks, is Keith’s six-string foil. (He had no misconceptions of his place in this particular pantheon; when asked which guitars on the album were his, Wachtel replied, “The other ones.”) Several notable musicians stopped by, including Joey Spampinato of NRBQ, the legendary Johnnie Johnson, Bobby Keys, and in a massive middle finger to a certain lead singer, Mick Taylor even showed up. (Several jams featuring this crew would appear on the bonus disc to the belated 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition, along with two further unreleased originals.)

What made the album so satisfying wasn’t just the guitar work, though “Struggle”, “How I Wish” and “Whip It Up” certainly delivered the goods. Quite simply, the songs were all there. “Big Enough” is James Brown funk (think “Hot Stuff”), “Make No Mistake” brings back the sound of sexy soul with Sarah Dash cooing alongside him, “Locked Away” is a sneaky slow burner, and “I Could Have Stood You Up” is all early Chuck Berry. A lot of critics drooled over “You Don’t Move Me”, an attack on Mick so obvious it could be used as a windshield. But the clear winner is “Take It So Hard”, which some also took as a swipe; it’s just terrific.

Obviously empowered, Keith took the Winos on a theater tour, filling his sets with tracks from the album and well-chosen Stones classics. One of the gigs was filmed, recorded and released three years later (after making the rounds as a popular bootleg, naturally). Live At The Hollywood Palladium survives as an artifact of a time when, even though we might never see the Stones again, at least we’d have Keith, and he’d be just fine. (This too was reissued three decades after the fact, but only the box set edition included three extra tracks and the companion video on DVD.)

Keith Richards Talk Is Cheap (1988)—4
2019 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition: same as 1988, plus 6 extra tracks
Keith Richards and the X-Pensive Winos Live At The Hollywood Palladium (1991)—3
2020 Super Deluxe Box Set: same as 1991, plus 3 extra tracks