Keith Richards – Main Offender Review

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During the break The Rolling Stones were dealt when Mick Jagger went off to carve out a solo career, the rest of its members were keen to continue. Not together, naturally. They had run their course with one another and it was easy to hear the divide. Between Jagger wanting to continue with pop trends which would age his work almost immediately and Keith Richards wanting to keep The Rolling Stones pure, polar opposites were never going to come together on a great record. Yet their time apart seems to have grown their reunion music all the better. Main Offender released at a time of great calm. The band was back together, but the fires of a solo career burned brighter for Richards than it did for Jagger, with the guitarist enjoying the spotlight that little bit longer with his sophomore solo record. It would be two decades of waiting for a follow-up to Main Offender. 

There is good reason for it – and not just because The Rolling Stones became a constant noise of brilliant presence after their break from chasing pop music. Steady blues rock tones and heavy guitar noise are what make these Richards albums such fun. Main Offender has the steadiness of debut effort Talk is Cheap, building on those tones well with a new twist, a sinister sense of throwing the hump and overcoming tensions. Groovy and enjoyable efforts the whole way through – a tight ten-track set of great consistencies and roaring guitar work. You should expect nothing less from the boisterous soul of The Rolling Stones. Though the image of a wicked man with an impressive guitar is brought through Main Offender, the heart of its songs, like Wicked As It Seems, hears a softer side to Richards.  

Charm is the core of this one. Main Offender has plenty of instrumental skill burning through it but the real treats, the true spoils of its genre, are from the occasional consistency in percussion or bass. Backing vocalists do well to echo what Richards is saying, which can often be very little as his focus drifts towards instrumental brilliance. His shortcomings in the lyrics are made up for, covered by the ease of access to his rhythm and tone. A necessary trade-off which toys with sex and lust rather easily. And yet nothing stands out. Richards spreads himself a tad too thinly for this one and makes for an unremarkable, but not insultingly poor set of tracks. They have the wandering spirit of a great musical atmosphere to them but it feels a little too dull at times. 

Those repetitive blows are felt most of all on Eileen, where once again the instrumental flavour has to step up. It is brilliant but weighed down by the lacklustre lyrical sections. A lack of commitment from Richards in these parts truly hinders the record – but it is still a good bit of fun. His soft reggae-like flourishes on Words of Wonder are harmless and, as such, breed an indifference which affects the rest of the album. It is not too different to what Talking Heads were doing in their early days. Through this rather unique style and twist is a welcome change of pace from The Rolling Stones for Richards and his listeners. The likes of Yap Yap are slight standouts, and though it has no phenomenal moments as Talk is Cheap did, there is still much to like about Main Offender. It may be short on brilliance but the consistencies at play make it a surprisingly easy, blues rock listen.