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"Stoned"
By Andrew Loog Oldham
St. Martin' Press, 400 pp. $23.95

"Stoned" has a fabulous setup. A memoir by Andrew Loog Oldham, the first manager of the Rolling Stones and the svengali that molded the Stones' bad-boy image as the anti-Beatles, it promises to be no less than a history of the roller coaster 1960s. It also looks to be a tantalizing peek at the Stones' formative years, a period not covered by such celebrated band bios as "Up and Down with the Rolling Stones" or "The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones," which take us on harrowing rides into the group's decadent middle years.

Unfortunately, "Stoned" doesn't get rolling right away. In fact, Oldham's meeting with the Stones, the erstwhile reason for the book, doesn't even occur until well past halfway into the book - Chapter 10 of 15.

The bulk of "Stoned" is a breathless recollection of late 1950s and early '60s Britain's cultural void, and how Oldham, or ALO, as he's identified, came to disrupt it as a unique dandy working first in the fashion industry and then in pop PR. The story's told in oral histories, primarily by Oldham but also by a host of others, from childhood chums and girlfriends to notable pals/period celebs such as Vidal Sassoon, Mary Quant and Pete Townshend, as well as a bevy of less-known British industry insiders such as musicians, journalists and concert promoters. Some artists, including members of the Stones and Marianne Faithfull, are quoted in passages from their own books instead of being interviewed by ALO's collaborator, Simon Dudfield.

The format's engaging, because the different voices and memories fill the gaps or emphasize points brought up by ALO. The book establishes early on that ALO grew up in postwar Britain enchanted with movies, fashion, music and American pop culture. He modeled himself on actors like Laurence Harvey and Burt Lancaster, and lived his life as a series of movie scenes. Forward and fearless, the young ALO meets and learns from celebrities and those behind the scenes such as producers and managers. He works first in the fashion industry for Mary Quant (who would become one of the premiere designers of the "mod" '60s) handling window-dressing, then becomes a publicist for the emerging rock industry, eventually helping launch Beatlemania before seeing the Rolling Stones in a club on the recommendation of a music journalist. Although most of "Stoned" may not appeal to Rolling Stones fans, it offers a pretty fascinating glimpse into the youth culture of post-beatnik, pre-hippie Swinging London.

The story of his Stones encounter is rich with insights into the business of rock - it was ALO's first experience as a manager and record producer, and he learned as he went. But "Stoned" doesn't have any musical insights to offer fans of the band. As ALO admits the first time he sees the group on stage playing nothing but cover versions of black American rhythm and blues, "I wasn't familiar with the songs or the sound."

And musician and engineer Tony Meehan recalls, "I don't think Andrew's musical background was very wide; how can I say it, he wasn't very deep into music as such, he was into image."

That's the main problem with the book. Ever the fashion-plate, Oldham can't help but emphasize the shallow surface aspects of his relationship with the Rolling Stones. Of one meeting with Jagger, he notes, " I wore a blue herringbone, double-breasted sports jacket, grey-blue, high tab-collared broadcloth shirt and black string tie. And Mick wore a checked, tab-collared shirt without a tie, with mock Prince-of-Wales checked John Stephens trews, a gumbo of patterns that only he would have attempted to pull off."

Despite the unrelenting attention to fashion (and making money), Oldham made indelible contributions to the Stones' career. He made them demote pianist Ian Stewart from a member of the band to a roadie (who played piano on tour and on recordings) because he didn't think Stewart had the right look. He also forced Mick Jagger and Keith Richards to begin writing their own songs, instead of relying on the R&B canon for material.

Just when "Stoned" gets engaging with the rise of the band and the early struggles of recording and touring to establish their career, the book peters out. For making readers wait for half the book, Oldham's relationship with the Stones gets short shrift toward the end. He meanders up to the release of the band's first album (which Oldham insisted should be put out without a title, breaking record-industry taboos at the time but setting an oft-followed precedent), but then never explains much beyond that. He hints here an there about severing ties with the group, and quips that his later career, as head of Immediate Records and his involvement with the Faces, another British band, is another story altogether. But he never explains what happened to his relationship with the Stones, leaving readers to guess that there was a falling-out over money and artistic control - the clichéd breakup excuses of the rock industry.

We're left only with the fact that this precocious, fashion-conscious rebel helped mold the Rolling Stones as we know them today. "People say I mad the Stones," he writes. "I didn't. They were there already. They only wanted exploiting. They were all bad boys when I found them. I just brought out the worst in them."

The story to that point was interesting, though slow in the telling. The rest remains frustratingly, a mystery.

This review was published in the Rocky Mountain News, January, 2001.