In my opinion, Andrew Oldham was as important to The Rolling Stones as Brian Epstein was to The Beatles, yet he seems to be almost entirely air-brushed out by band members and (most) fans alike. Anyway, good to see him at least get a mention in this article:

https://www.radiox.co.uk/features/x-lists/greatest-managers-in-rock-history/

Randy Andy? Big Loog? Oldie?
Was he - and his orchestra and publicity skills and choice of trousers and his production - really air-brushed?

WaiteringOnAFiend wrote on Aug 27^th, 2024 at 12:31pm:

Randy Andy? Big Loog? Oldie? Was he - and his orchestra and publicity skills and choice of trousers and his production - really air-brushed?

Well... how long has this particular message board been going? Sixteen years? Yet, when I did a search earlier, I couldn't find a single reference to him. Maybe I did the "search" function wrong, but if correct, I'd say that he's pretty much been forgotten by most. Hard to imagine A similar situation with Brian Epstein or George Martin on a Beatles message board.

This isn't so much a complaint as an observation of course!  :)

I always enjoyed listening to his radio show on LSUG.
So I guess I am/was a fan of his personality.

I do agree with the Epstein comparison though.
They molded these two young bands that were ripe for the picking for stardom.

Genius

Paranoid Android wrote on Aug 27^th, 2024 at 2:28pm:

So I guess I am/was a fan of his personality.

Me too!  Currently re-reading his books 'Stoned' and
'2Stoned', love the way his mind works.

Both books r excellent

moonie was big on this cat.

Fair enough. But does Big Bill P get enough praise for his delightful tinkles, Jolly Ollie for his suuper percussion, Little William for his incredible throbbing etc.? Onwards and sideways and hopefully upwards, innit?

WaiteringOnAFiend wrote on Aug 28^th, 2024 at 6:02pm:

Fair enough. But does Big Bill P get enough praise for his delightful tinkles, Jolly Ollie for his suuper percussion, Little William for his incredible throbbing etc.? Onwards and sideways and hopefully upwards, innit?

Probably not, but would the Stones have even been the band they are today without ALO? We'll never know for sure, but they could've ended up another Downliners Sect - a semi-obscure British R&B band that made a handful of records with little real success.

Another thing that bugs me: whenever a record ALO was involved in sounded bad, it was his fault - yet if it sounded good, it was because of the engineers! Surely he had SOME use in the studio?

I suspect that Mick has never forgiven him for getting them involved with Allen Klein (Keith is apparently OK with Andrew).

Sleepy City wrote on Aug 29^th, 2024 at 1:42am:

I suspect that Mick has never forgiven him for getting them involved with Allen Klein

From Wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Klein

Allen Klein (December 18, 1931 – July 4, 2009) was an American businessman whose aggressive negotiation tactics affected industry standards for compensating recording artists. He founded ABKCO Music & Records Incorporated. Klein increased profits for his musician clients by negotiating new record company contracts.[1] He first scored monetary and contractual gains for Buddy Knox and Jimmy Bowen, one-hit rockabillies of the late 1950s, then parlayed his early successes into a position managing Sam Cooke, and eventually managed the Beatles and the Rolling Stones simultaneously, along with many other artists, becoming one of the most powerful individuals in the music industry during his era.[2]

Rather than offering financial advice and maximizing his clients' income, as a business manager normally would, Klein set up what he called "buy/sell agreements" where a company that Klein owned became an intermediary between his client and the record label, owning the rights to the music, manufacturing the records, selling them to the record label, and paying royalties and cash advances to the client. Although Klein greatly increased his clients' incomes, he also enriched himself, sometimes without his clients' knowledge.[3] The Rolling Stones' $1.25 million advance from the Decca Records label in 1965, for example, was deposited into a company that Klein had established, and the fine print of the contract did not require Klein to release it for 20 years.[4] Klein's involvement with both the Beatles and Rolling Stones would lead to years of litigation and, specifically for the Rolling Stones, accusations from the group that Klein had withheld royalty payments, stolen the publishing rights to their songs, and neglected to pay their taxes for five years; thus had necessitated their French "exile" in 1971.

Like a scorned lover, I think this is where Jagger got his inspiration for his shrewd and calculated business sense, (song credits, especially come to mind)

Keith (and Ronnie) seem OK with him in this photo from 1998:

https://shop.memorylane.co.uk/p/767/rolling-stones-manager-andrew-loog-oldham-21461430.jpg

Who knooows?
If he'd stuck around maybe he weould have come up with the publicity idea of a Bent-tickler Hackney Diamonds poster, seen differently from  THREE (fairly crude)  angles.
Happy Days