The Rolling Stones All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track by Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon

Informative record-by-record career retrospective

In The Rolling Stones All the Songs, first published in 2016, authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon systematically go through the Stones’ recording catalog giving due consideration to each individual track. The two Frenchmen have compiled similar books on the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin. I previously read the Bob Dylan volume, but I liked their Rolling Stones book better. The authors exhibit a more comprehensive knowledge of the Stones history than that of Dylan. The Rolling Stones All the Songs delivers an entertaining and informative tour through the career of the World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band.

Each album-devoted chapter opens with a detailed introduction about the making of that album and what was going on in the lives of the band members at that time. This is followed by brief encyclopedic entries on each song, including full production credits. The authors then discuss the meaning behind the lyrics of the song in question and how it was written. In the Stones’ case, at least 90 percent of their songs are about love and sex, so there is no need to go into a great deal of depth in this department. This is followed by a discussion of the production of each song in great detail, often down to the specific brand and model of instruments played. The performance of each band member is commented upon, and much information is given about the guest artists—pianists, saxophonists, percussionists, etc.—who contributed to the songs. One surprising revelation that comes to light is just how much Mick Jagger has played guitar on the Stones’ recordings, at least since the late 1970s. Even avid Stones aficionados are sure to find some obscure trivia here.

I have the 2016 ebook edition, which covers up to the 2012 compilation album GRRR! Margotin and Guesdon have organized the contents of this book according to the United Kingdom releases of the Stones’ recordings, which differs from the United States releases, so there’s no 12 x 5 or Rolling Stones, Now! albums, for example. All the songs are present, but they are shuffled in different packages, which is not a big issue in this age of digital playlists. Unlike the Bob Dylan volume, Rolling Stones All the Songs does not cover all the outtakes and B-sides. One of my favorite Stones songs, “Everything is Turning to Gold,” is mentioned as the B-side of “Shattered” but not deemed worthy of discussion in detail. Meanwhile, however, the Mick Jagger solo single “Memo from Turner” from the movie Performance is granted a detailed profile, as is its B-side, “Natural Magic,” an instrumental by Jack Nitzsche and Ry Cooder on which Jagger merely played maracas. Even harder to understand is why the authors don’t cover the bonus songs released on the Exile on Main Street and Some Girls deluxe reissues.

I own the coffee-table print version of the Bob Dylan volume, which is loaded with pictures and a pleasure to browse through. For the Rolling Stones volume, however, I snatched up a bargain deal on the ebook, which doesn’t contain any photos. I can’t say I really missed the images all that much, however, since the information is what I came for. I really did learn a lot from Margotin and Guesdon’s track-by-track retrospective. It was fun to listen along while reading, and the book did increase my appreciation for the Stones’ music, even their worst albums (a “bad” Stones album is still better than the best records of most other bands).
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