The Rolling Stones and Brian Jones
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The Rolling Stones and Brian Jones
Magnolia
92 min. NR
There are watershed periods of time throughout history the change the course of world progress. Not the least of which would be the 1960s and one of the reasons for that is the coming of age of what we now call the Baby Boomers. Young people are more likely to want to do something different than the previous generation and nowhere in World culture is that more evident then the British Invasion in rock and roll. For those who care to remember there were the Beatles and The Rolling Stones and dozens of other who were virtually indistinguishable to the untrained eye; meaning well, our parents. Another subgroup of opinions deal with which of the two vanguards of the generation was the most important. I will leave that up to you, but THE ROLLING STONES AND BRIAN JONES from Magnolia films takes that one step further as to which era of the Stones fame may or may not have been the most important. To the casual fan of the Stones, Brian Jones probably wouldn't be the first name that comes to mind. That honor goes to Mick Jagger and Keith Richard who, as the front man and song writing duo, the face of the band as time went on. Those with a deep understanding of the history of the band know that in the beginning there was Brian Jones an earnest middle class boy who wanted nothing more than to start his own band and play the music he loved. He did the promotion he enlisted the musicians he booked the dates he did the leg work and the promotion. But he didn't write the songs and he didn't front the band. Still some people might forget how important his contribution to the music was. While not a virtuoso he was intuitive and creative and many of his embellishments made Stones songs great. Think of Ruby Tuesday without the flute, Lady Jane without the counter melody or Paint It Black without that sitar riff. While all young people struggle mightily with perceived rejection it can have a devastating effect on someone with instantaneous fame and money losing his grip on the empire that he created. As the Rolling Stones image became one of faux rebels Brian became more estranged from the other members and found solace in the crazy sexual drug alcohol and fashion culture of swinging London. In the film these situations treat Jones with more sympathy than the Richard autobiography and that's fine with me. Unfortunately few people remember him or understand how he became a metaphor for the 1960s which began with such great promise and tragically came to an end as the world and it's culture moved on.
Thanks to the good people at Magnolia for the Press screening. Kindest wishes for a best documentary statue.
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