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Life by Keith Richards: Don’t be daunted by the huge size and duration of this audiobook, and don’t neglect it if you’re not a huge fan of Keith Richards’ band, The Rolling Stones – because that would be a grave mistake. Truth be told, this is such an epic, compelling and entertaining audiobook, that it feels like I’ve been listening to it all summer long.
The major coup for this recording is getting Captain Jack Sparrow himself, Johnny Depp, to read the audiobook – which seems kind of apt, as his Pirate of the Caribbean is based on Richards, who has also guest-starred in the movie franchise. After Richards’ brief introduction, Depp does the first few hours, then hands over to Joe Hurley, then takes the microphone again for the last few hours. And somehow this works – more of which later…
They say that if you remember the sixties you weren’t really there, but somehow, with the prompting of his chum James Fox, some old papers and the ability to recall certain events with amazing lucidity, Keith Richards has achieved the impossible. For if anyone was really there, it was “Keef”. And this audiobook is an excellent guidebook to the decade’s highs (literally) and lows and should be compulsory listening for any students of that crazy, “swinging” time. Not to mention a nostalgic souvenir for his fellow travellers.
Regrets, he’s had a few, but then again, too few to mention. Losing a child, losing his beloved friend Gram Parsons – these are the big blows to Keith’s solar plexus that stop him in his tracks. And when he talks about losing his heart – several times, of course – it’s always mesmerising.
The narrative is also pretty darned good on the mad decades that followed – as the Rolling Stones’ tours got longer, the venues got bigger, the band’s egos clashed, and their appetites for substances and dangerous liaisons in far-flung places snowballed. Crazy times. Albums are recorded. Children are born. Wives and girlfriends, bandmates and chums come and go. But whenever Keith looks up, Mick is always there. And whenever Mick glances across, there is his other half, Keith. A fine romance.
But my favourite part by far is the early section of the memoirs. Keith’s Dartford childhood and adolescence are evoked so vivid that you can almost taste the smog and picture the world in black and white. And Johnny Depp is in his element retelling the story, especially Keith’s admission that being in the boy scouts was the making of him (no, really).
Depp as narrator is just about perfect, as he clearly loves playing his idol and friend. But the only teeny tiny drawback is that as an American, he occasionally struggles with some of the British pronunciations. So when he says “Wool witch” he’s actually talking about Woolwich, south London. And when he talks of “Chow, sir”, he really means our esteemed writer, Geoffrey Chaucer. But this is nit-picking, for Depp’s pacy, passionate performance is otherwise extraordinary. When Joe Hurley takes over, the pace immediately slows. Right. Down. To. A. Crawl. But like Depp, Hurley also clearly relishes the chance to be as laid-back and expansive as the Glimmer Twin himself.
A “must-listen” title.
Life is out now on Audiobook, Hardback and Kindle.
Title: Life By Keith Richards, with James Fox
Read by Johnny Depp and Joe Hurley, featuring Keith Richards
Producer: Michele McGonigle
Unabridged
Distributor: Orion
Running time: 20 CDs (23 hours)
Rating: 10/10