ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 2, 1995 TAG: 9512040005
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: LARRY McSHANE ASSOCIATED PRESS
They're a pair of perfect hosts, with drastically different styles: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
Jagger, in a sport coat, welcomes a guest to his 50th-floor suite in the posh Four Seasons hotel. ``Have we met before?'' he inquires, a spectacular view of lower Manhattan unfolding behind him. He sits politely for 20 minutes of questions, sipping an Evian water.
Richards, in a black vest over a denim shirt over a silk shirt, immediately steers his guest to the well-stocked bar of his Upper East Side hotel suite, offering this raspy encouragement: ``Help yourself, man. E.M.G.'' What's that, Keith? ``E.M.G. - everything must go,'' he smiles, handing over a bottle of Beck's.
Jagger and Richards, bandmates since 1962, have evolved into rock's yin and yang. Jagger has thrived, Keith has survived, and both were in Manhattan a week apart to plug the band's new live acoustic record, ``Stripped.''
Jagger, 52, still has the lean body of a dancer. He spins amusing anecdotes - one involves the Stones opening for Petula Clark at a Paris theater in the early 1960s. He is alternately funny, charming, witty, self-deprecating.
Richards, 51, chain-smokes between sips of two industrial-sized cocktails parked in front of him. His answers are more stream of consciousness, the questions mere interruptions. He flits from recording studio technology to Louie Armstrong's big bands to the relationship between record companies and arms dealers.
A silver skull ring gleams in the light as Richards waves his right hand to emphasize his words - this time, about the Stones' megabucks deal with Microsoft for the rights to use ``Start Me Up'' in its ``Windows '95'' campaign.
The agreement was a first for the band, which once mocked commercialism in ``(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction.''
``I have no sell-out phobia,'' Richards growled. ``This is '95, baby, and the world's changing. ... I never said, `Buy heroin.' Leave that to me!'' He laughed heartily.
Jagger, who dismissed reports that the Stones collected $12 million from Microsoft, acknowledged that he was not thrilled by the deal.
``I did have concerns, and I voiced them,'' Jagger said seriously. ``I'd rather not go into all the details, but I did have concerns. I think the product you're involved with is kind of important.
``I don't want to do dog food,'' Jagger continued. Then, with a smile coming to his famous lips, he continued: ``Though if you're out there, Purina
The Microsoft flap is one of the Glimmer Twins' few disagreements these days. The band, which appeared on the verge of extinction during the late '80s with sniping between Mick and Keith, is back to its old rocking self, Richards said in what amounted to a ``State of the Stones Address.''
```Steel Wheels,' we were just out of surgery,'' Richards explained of their 1989 album and tour. ```Voodoo Lounge' is like recuperation. And this one is the Stones feeling very good about themselves.''
``Stripped'' is not the typical Stones live package. It offers new versions of old songs done acoustically - some on stage in small European clubs, others during rehearsals, most for the first time in more than 20 years.
There are hits: ``Street Fighting Man,'' ``Angie,'' ``Let It Bleed.'' There are covers: Bob Dylan's ``Like a Rolling Stone,'' Robert Johnson's ``Love in Vain,'' Buddy Holly's ``Not Fade Away.'' And there are rarities: ``The Spider and the Fly,'' the b-side to ``Satisfaction.''
``I thought it was a good idea to get away from doing a `best of' stadium tracks kind of thing, because we did that on the last tour,'' Jagger said. ``And the previous live album was exactly the same. And you know, after a while, you really should do something else.''
Both Jagger and Richards argued this is not simply the Stones unplugged - and they have a point. It's not a greatest hits live, or recorded in a studio for an MTV audience. Richards said taping some songs during rehearsal led to a loose, lively sound.
``Nobody actually thought they were making a record,'' said Keith, cigarette in hand. ``These are rehearsals. It's not, `Giving your all, take 31. Into the trenches, over the top.' Maybe just the `pressure off' thing gave it that extra flavor.''
Jagger said he's not a big fan of ``Unplugged'' albums.
``I think there's one or two things that are good on them, but as a genre, it really doesn't excite me that much,'' he said. ``We didn't want some semantic purity. It's more of an attitude thing.''
The sessions raised some long-forgotten memories. When they sat down to work out a new version of ``Sweet Virginia'' from ``Exile on Main Street,'' the band soon realized that only Jagger had played on the original.
``It was one of those things where we were waiting for people to turn up,'' Jagger recalled of those party-hearty sessions from 1972. ``Jimmy Miller played the drums, and Mick Taylor played guitar and bass, Billy Preston played piano and I sang.
``I think we were waiting for Keith to turn up. So we figured that no one in the room apart from me had played on that.''
It also gave Jagger and Richards a chance to go through their three-decade catalog of songs.
``Sometimes you think, `How did we get away with this? Why was this even successful?,''' Jagger said. An example? He cited the spacey '60s tune ``2000 Light Years From Home.''
Richards surprisingly pointed to the album ``Beggars Banquet,'' which included the classic ``Street Fighting Man.''
``People say, `That's a fantastic record,' '' Richards said dismissively. ``A lot of crap.''
Both raved about new bassist Darryl Jones, who replaced the departed Bill Wyman. Jagger discussed Wyman's departure with a bit of sarcasm, Richards with a touch of menace.
Jagger: ``I didn't miss Bill's ebullient personality.''
Richards: ``He withdrew with gentlemanly grace. That's why he's still alive.''
LENGTH: Long : 111 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. The Rolling Stones latest record offers new versionsby CNBof old songs done acoustically.