Ringo Starr May Not Have Much Of

The Faces Do Not, As Some Have Recently Alleged, Play Badly. They Are More Than Competent, Especially At Creating A Mid-sixties Rolling Stones-styled Groove, As Their Excellent Version Of 'memphis' Proves.

Sly Stone Doesn't Make Good Albums: Only Good Records. His Style Is So Infinite And Revolves Around So Many Crucial Aspects That It Has Only Come Together Perfectly On A Handful Of His Singles.

James Taylor May Be An All-american Boy But He Isn't Horatio Alger, And The Lionizing Of Many Rock Stars By The Rock Press Has As Much To Do With Old Fashioned Rags-to-riches Stories As Does The Straight Culture's Deification Of Its Idols.

Bob Dylan Has Always Sealed His Decisions With The Unexplainable. His Motives For Withholding The Release Of The Magnificent 'basement Tapes' Will Be As Forever Obscure As Brian Wilson's Reasons For The Destruction Of The Tapes For 'smile.'

The Rolling Stones Have Been The Best Of All Possible Worlds: They Have The Lack Of Pretension And Sentimentality Associated With The Blues, The Rawness And Toughness Of Hard Rock, And The Depth Which Always Makes You Feel That They Are In The Midst Of Saying Something. They Have Never Impressed Me As Being Kitsch.