Photo by Claude Gassian
For much of the 1980s, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were on the outs. The pair were feuding about the direction the Stones’ music would take. Jagger wanted to modernize the band’s sound, while Richards wanted to stick with the blues rock formula which had already worked—and worked very well for them indeed—for the past three decades. Subsequently, new music by the Rolling Stones was not forthcoming for several years, and the 1985 sessions for the desultory Dirty Work album were notably strained, with Jagger putting his vocals over the finished instrumental tracks apart from the rest of the group. It was rare that all five band members were ever in the studio at the same time.
Signed as a solo artist on the back of the Stones move to Columbia-CBS Records—something the rest of the group was initially unaware of—Jagger produced She’s the Boss in 1985 alongside a star-studded cast of musical luminaries that included Bill Lasswell, Sly & Robbie, Jeff Beck, Nile Rodgers, Herbie Hancock and Pete Townshend. Richards was pissed about what he saw as Jagger’s lack of commitment to their band. When Jagger refused a tour to promote Dirty Work, choosing to concentrate instead on his solo career, things between the Glimmer Twins deteriorated even further.
Restless at the lack of musical activity, Richards worked as a bandleader on director Taylor Hackford’s Chuck Berry documentary Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll, assembling a supergroup for two concerts that included Eric Clapton, Etta James, Linda Ronstadt and Berry’s longtime songwriting partner pianist Johnnie Johnson. The drummer for the band was a young musician by the name of Steve Jordan who had played in the Saturday Night Live and Late Night with David Letterman house bands. Richards and Jordan got along great musically—Jordan had already performed on Dirty Work—and formed the X-Pensive Winos for the purpose of recording Richards’ first solo album, the well-received Talk is Cheap, and a support tour (documented on the Live at the Hollywood Palladium, 15 December 1988 album.)
Steve Jordan and Keith Richards in 1992, photo by Claude Gassian.
The X-Pensive Winos were put on hold when bridges were finally mended between Jagger and Richards prior to the Rolling Stones induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in early 1989. The tour in support of the Steel Wheels album was their biggest to date, seeing the Stones trekking all over the globe and raking in around $200 million. When the tour ended, Richards, feeling creatively energized, set about writing songs again with Steve Jordan that eventually became 1992’s Main Offender album.
For Main Offender the X-Pensive Winos added guitarist Waddy Wachtel to the group. Wachtel, a musical sideman of some renown who has worked with the likes of Stevie Nicks, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Warren Zevon, Bryan Ferry, and Jackson Browne, was brought in to co-produce the album with Richards and Jordan, and he co-wrote four of the albums songs with them. Main Offender was critically acclaimed, and featured some fantastic performances, but just barely made the bottom rungs of the US album charts. The subsequent tour, however, was a big success, but the X-Pensive Winos were put on ice again when the Rolling Stones regrouped for the Voodoo Lounge album and the $320 million grossing world tour of the same name. The Winos would eventually return in 2015 for the Crosseyed Heart album.
Today marks the release of the Super Deluxe 30th anniversary edition of Main Offender from BMG. The box set is presented in a unique art book format with the album pressed on “smoke” color vinyl. Main Offender has been newly remastered under the supervision of Steve Jordan. Also included is the Winos Live in London ’92 album (exclusive to this set) and an 88-page book with never-before-seen photos, and a packet of reproduction promo materials.
CLICK HERE TO WIN A FREE COPY OF THE MAIN OFFENDER SUPER DELUXE BOX SET FROM BMG.
The 1992 music video for the “Wicked As It Seems” single.