no expectation has his slide right? he sounds so damaged though. It seems he could barely play so they hid it. He sure looks awful to me.

It was Dec. '68, nobody understood alcoholism or Drug Addiction back then, you could tell by just looking at his eyes, he was totally wasted, it was treated as mick said by humoring him, it was very sad situation, Keith was the same way but was more stronger then Brian, who was in a lot of pain, more pain then we could imagine probably.

Brian is more audible on a bootleg version and also on the outtakes of Parachute Woman and YCAGWYW with Mick on acoustic guitar so he was probably audible in the venue at the time, but they simply mixed him really low for the official release aside from slide on No Expectations and maracas Sympathy for the Devil.

I wish they had mixed him higher because although he doesn't play anything special in the songs he isn't really audible in, he doesn't seem to play anything bad either. Parachute Women would have benefited from having his chuck berry style rhythm guitar louder for example, but most of all having him mixed so low just makes their set look and sound odd.

Putting Brian at the R&R Circus in context...  his second drug bust in May 1968 and the drawn out wait for the trial in September really seems to have taken it's toll on him and his enthusiasm for playing with The Rolling Stones.  It is my long held opinion that the May 68 drug bust and wait for the trial had far greater damaging effect on him than anything from before. He seems to have bounced back well enough to musically make a difference even right after the May drug bust, but in late 1968 he seems more distant and damaged than ever before. I think late 1968 is the lowest point of his life whilst he was still alive.

I rarely watch the Rock and Roll Circus because it's pretty much just sad, uncomfortable viewing and not that great a performance by any of the stones aside from Jagger.  The game is cleary up regarding Brian being a member of The Rolling Stones! They clearly need a new guitar player and Brian clearly needs to sort himself out...  Sadly, only one of those came to be.

Philip wrote on Dec 31^st, 2011 at 9:11am:


Thanks for all the info...I feel very bad for Brian. He does look weary, tired and sickly at the show, compared to the young energetic Mick and Keith. I mean he was all about their age but his eyes are those of a man who has 'too much in too few years.' The cycle of his life which you talk about--I mean, that you say the bust in May '68 is probably what led to his decline more than anything else--is sad, and it parallels another rock star of the era: Jim Morrison.

Like Brian, Morrison was very talented at his craft; Both were icons of the psychedelic 60s. The beginning of the end for Morrison came in March 1969 when he was busted in Miami...And the long arduous wait for the trial and then the trial itself (he was arrested in March '69 but not sentenced until September '70). If you look at Morrison throughout '69 and '70, you see him getting progressively worse, more depressed, more unhealthy and worn out looking, more uninterested in his band (like Brian was by December '68 as you note). Compare The Doors' 1970 Isle of Wright show to one of their shows from 1968. Jim ruined his body with alcohol and other drugs; Brian ruined his mind and seemingly his skill with the alcohol and drugs.

Ironically, both Brian and Jim died just when things were seemingly looking up for them. From all I've read, when people visited Brian in that all too brief period between his departure from the Stones and his untimely death, he seemed happier and more lively than usual, looking at new opportunities and making new plans. One person compared him to a man free of a burden. In Paris, Jim from all accounts seemed to find some peace in being away from fame, loved Paris as a poet, he had stopped drinking for the most part, had lost weight and looked like his old self again in the last pictures of him. Both Brian and Jim died---at the start of a seemingly new chapter and more positive in their lives--of an "accident" (depending on what you believe about Brian's death) on July 3rd 1969 and July 3rd 1971, respectively, both age 27.

And with Brian's death, so too died the Stones of the 60s, and so too a piece of their spirit. Despite how Keith downplays things now, Brian WAS a founding member and basically led the band up until 1966/1967. IMO, he more than any other in the band was responsible for the creative shift to the experimental and psychedelic from '65-'67. While they'd find a great lead guitarist in Mick Taylor, and then later a good guitarist and buddy in Ron Wood, they would never have someone in the band with as much all around talent as Brian had.