Let the Good Times Roll
My Life in Small Faces, Faces, and The Who
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4.3 • 6 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The long-awaited memoir of the legendary drummer's life and times in the bands Small Faces, Faces, and The Who.
From the Mod revolution and the British Invasion of the 1960s, through the psychedelic era of the 1970s, and into the exuberance and excesses of stadium rock in the 1980s, Kenney Jones helped to build rock and roll as we know it. He was the beat behind three of the world's most enduring and significant bands.
He wasn't just in the right place at the right time. Along with Keith Moon, John Bonham, and Charlie Watts, Jones is regarded as one of the greatest drummers of all time, sought after by a wide variety of the best-known and best-selling artists to bring his unique skill into the studio for the recording of classic albums and songs—including, of course, the Rolling Stones's "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It)."
And Jones is no shallow rock star. He may play polo with royalty from across the globe now, but this is the story of a ragamuffin from the East End of London, a boy who watched his bandmates, friends since his teens, die early, combated dyslexia to find a medium in which he could uniquely excel, and later found a way through the wilderness years when the good times seemed to have gone and he had little to fall back on.
Kenney Jones has seen it all, played with everyone, and partied with all of them. He's enjoyed the highs, battled the lows, and emerged in one piece. Let the Good Times Roll is a breathtaking immersion into music past that leaves readers feeling as if they lived it too.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Jones, the drummer for the Who after Keith Moon died, recalls his musical life in this modest and self-effacing rock and roll memoir. Born into a working-class family in London's East End, Jones wasn't much for school ("Everyone around me was a rogue") and at 13 became obsessed with drums. Three years later, in 1965, he was gigging around England with Ronnie Lane, Steve Marriott, and Jimmy Winston , who called themselves the Small Faces. Jones writes with most care about this period, when it was just "four young blokes footloose and carefree... taking on the world," playing rock and roll, and gathering a following of "mainly screaming girls." By 1970, the band had morphed into the Faces, with up-and-coming singer Rod Stewart ("Not only had we lucked out with a fabulous singer who had a powerful voice... he was also a great mate"). Jones had also become friends with the Who's Moon, accompanying him on some of his legendary drunken outings. After Moon died in 1978 of a drug overdose, Jones joined the Who, but other than an argument with Roger Daltrey over payment, there is surprisingly little of note in Jones's recollection of playing for years with the band. Readers will enjoy Jones's journey, told in a companionable, humble voice.
