I was originally going to do a full Stones’ solo set but quickly realized that it would become mostly a Mick Jagger-Keith Richards-Ron Wood show, with some dips into Charlie Watts’ jazz excursions, and I actually had such a set in the works, including solo material from former Stones guitarist Mick Taylor and bassist Bill Wyman.

Then an old remark from Richards occurred to me. “Nobody leaves this band except in a coffin” Richards once said, miffed when Bill Wyman quit the band in 1993 and, before that, when Taylor left in 1974 although if memory serves Richards said ‘pine box’ instead of coffin, when Taylor left. Original founder member Brian Jones had been dismissed from the band in 1969 and died later that year.

So, perhaps a Jagger-Richards-Wood-Watts set (which if memory serves I’ve done before, actually) at some point but for this Saturday’s show, solo Stones featuring two former members who are still alive. I don’t think their solo music measures up to that of the other members, neither of them are at the same level in terms of songwriting, certainly with respect to Jagger and Richards in my view, but there is quality music within their catalogs.

My track-by-track tales follow the bare-bones list. Audio log of the show to come after it airs.

1. Mick Taylor, Giddy-Up
2. Bill Wyman, Apache Woman
3. Bill Wyman, Ride On Baby
4. Mick Taylor, Baby I Want You
5. Bill Wyman, A New Fashion
6. Mick Taylor, Leather Jacket
7. Bill Wyman, Visions (single version)
8. Bill Wyman, Every Sixty Seconds
9. Mick Taylor, Broken Hands
10. Bill Wyman, I Wanna Get Me A Gun
11. Bill Wyman, Like A Knife
12. Bill Wyman, Blue Murder (Lies)
13. Mick Taylor, Slow Blues
14. Mick Taylor, S.W. 5
15. Bill Wyman, Mighty Fine Time
16. Bill Wyman, Peanut Butter Time
17. Bill Wyman, Nuclear Reactions
18. Bill Wyman, Monkey Grip Glue (single version)
19. Bill Wyman, Soul Satisfying
20. Bill Wyman, Stuff (Can’t Get Enough, 12-inch single extended version)
21. Carla Olson & Mick Taylor, Silver Train
22. Carla Olson & Mick Taylor, Sway
23. Carla Olson & Mick Taylor, Winter
24. The Rolling Stones with Mick Taylor, Midnight Rambler, (from Grrr! Live, 2012 concert from Stones’ 50 & Counting tour)

My track-by-track tales:

1. Mick Taylor, Giddy-Up . . . Bluesy instrumental from Taylor’s debut self-titled solo album, issued in 1979, five years after he left The Rolling Stones. Little Feat’s Lowell George features on slide guitar.

2. Bill Wyman, Apache Woman . . . From Wyman’s second solo album, Stone Alone, released in 1976. His first one, Monkey Grip, came out in 1974 and received far more positive reviews but Stone Alone (also the name of a later Wyman book on the Stones) is the one I’m more familiar with, likely because it’s the one I bought first, when it came out. Decent funky-type rocker but as with Mick Taylor, Wyman is not the most compelling singer. What’s most impressive about Wyman’s first two albums, particularly Stone Alone, is the who’s who of rock stars of the time who helped him out on the albums, among them: pianist/singer Leon Russell, Lowell George, well-regarded session guitarist to the stars Danny “Kootch” Kortchmar, Dr. John, Van Morrison, Joe Walsh, Stones’ mate Ronnie Wood, drummers Jim Keltner, Joe Vitale and Dallas Taylor, regular Stones’ session pianist Nicky Hopkins and, on this song, The Pointer Sisters on backing vocals.

3. Bill Wyman, Ride On Baby . . . Not the Stones track which was recorded during the sessions for the 1966 album Aftermath and later released on the US compilation Flowers. This is Wyman’s own song, a bouncy number released on his 1982 self-titled album that yielded the hit single (Si Si) Je Suis Un Rock Star. Brian Setzer, who later formed the Stray Cats and then The Brian Setzer Orchestra, plays guitar on the tune.

4. Mick Taylor, Baby I Want You . . . Taylor sounds, to me, almost like Peter Green in his singing on this one, a mid-tempo tune from his 1979 album. Taylor, of course, replaced Green in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers in the late 1960s, before Taylor joined the Stones, when Green formed the first, blues-oriented version of Fleetwood Mac.

5. Bill Wyman, A New Fashion . . . A nice love song, a ballad from Wyman’s 1982 album.

6. Mick Taylor, Leather Jacket . . . Perhaps Taylor’s best known solo song, again from his 1979 debut. Originally an instrumental worked on by the Stones in 1970. According to Martin Elliott’s book The Rolling Stones Complete Recording Sessions (at least up until 2012) lyrics and vocals may have been intended for the song, as a Stones’ piece, but it was left on the shelf until Taylor added lyrics to it, essentially describing his time with the band:

Rock and roll circus, it’s the best I’ve ever seen
All your leather jackets and your faded jeans
All you have left of your rock and roll dreams
Whoa, put your leather jacket on
Now it’s time to be movin’ on

7. Bill Wyman, Visions . . . Another love song from Wyman’s 1982 album, similar to some of the stuff issued during the early- to mid-70s period of Bob Welch-era Fleetwood Mac, to my ears, anyway. Chris Rea of Fool If You Think It’s Over (but so much more) fame guests on guitar.

8. Bill Wyman, Every Sixty Seconds . . . One of the songs, a bluesy, horn-drenched shuffle that immediately grabbed me when I bought Wyman’s Stone Alone album.

9. Mick Taylor, Broken Hands . . . Up tempo bluesy rocker, again from his 1979 album. Taylor only has two solo studio albums, and being the completist I am I have the other one, 1998’s A Stone’s Throw but alas I haven’t got round to putting A Stone’s Throw into the station’s computer system. So, Saturday’s being a programmed show, I don’t have anything from that album available. So, I may play something from A Stone’s Thrown on my Monday live in studio show at some point but, trust me, aside from myriad live albums and session work with various members of the Stones like Keith Richards and Ron Wood, and with Bob Dylan on Dylan’s Infidels and Empire Burlesque albums, Taylor’s best solo stuff is on the 1979 album. Speaking of Dylan, while putting together this Wyman-Taylor show I happened upon a YouTube clip of Dylan, Richards and Wood chatting backstage before their performance at the 1985 Live Aid show and Dylan mentioned Broken Hands as one of Taylor’s finest. Interesting also in that chat is Richards reiterating, in a positive way, that Taylor, like many musicians, was best as an accompanist, not as a solo artist/frontman. I’ve always agreed with that assessment because the proof is out there. There’s no doubt the Stones did some of their finest work when Taylor was in the band from 1969-74 but did they benefit from him, or vice-versa? Lots of both, really. Taylor hasn’t done much since, great guitarist obviously but . . . and the Stones were hitmakers long before him, Satisfaction and so on, during the early- to mid-1960s and on into the classic album Beggars Banquet and most of Let It Bleed. And the Stones have had hits, and continue to roll on, after him. As an old friend once said, it’s all about songwriting.

10. Bill Wyman, I Wanna Get Me A Gun . . . One of the best tracks, just a good rock song, from Wyman’s solo debut, Monkey Grip, 1974. Dr. John on piano.

11. Bill Wyman, Like A Knife . . . A funky tune from Wyman’s 1992 album Stuff.

12. Bill Wyman, Blue Murder (Lies) . . . Another funky, disco-type tune from the Stuff album, with longtime Stones’ henchman Nicky Hopkins helping out on piano and Ray Cooper, noted for his work with Elton John among many others including the Stones, Paul McCartney and George Harrison to name just a few, on percussion.

13. Mick Taylor, Slow Blues . . . Exactly what the title suggests, a slow blues number featuring Taylor’s exquisite playing.

14. Mick Taylor, S.W. 5 . . . S.W. standing for southwest, one of the highlights of Taylor’s 1979 album.

15. Bill Wyman, Mighty Fine Time . . . Nice groove on this one from Monkey Grip, 1974. Leon Russell (piano), Danny “Kootch” Kortchmar (guitar) and Dallas Taylor (drums), perhaps best known for his work with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and some of their solo projects, are among the personnel.

16. Bill Wyman, Peanut Butter Time . . . The Pointer Sisters on backing vocals on this one from Stone Alone.

17. Bill Wyman, Nuclear Reactions . . . An interesting Kraftwerk-like piece from Wyman’s 1982 self-titled album.

18. Bill Wyman, Monkey Grip Glue (single version) . . . Somebody on YouTube commented that it sounds like early 1970s Ringo Starr. True.

19. Bill Wyman, Soul Satisfying . . . Reggae and disco type tune from Stone Alone.

20. Bill Wyman, Stuff (Can’t Get Enough), 12-inch single extended version) . . . A nearly seven-minute remix of a funky tune that originally appeared on Wyman’s Stuff album, 1992. Not the Stones’ song Hot Stuff, although ‘Can’t Get Enough’ is the refrain in that tune that opens the Stones’ Black and Blue album.

21. Carla Olson & Mick Taylor, Silver Train . . . The first of several in the set highlighting what Mick Taylor arguably does best, besides straight blues; that being Stones’ songs, either with the band, or covering their tunes. He teamed with Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter/producer Olson for a couple live albums in 1990 and ’91, arguably the highlights of which were Stones’ tracks sung by Olson. Silver Train, also done by Johnny Winter, is from the 1973 Stones’ album Goats Head Soup.

22. Carla Olson & Mick Taylor, Sway . . . Fiery live version of the terrific track from Sticky Fingers.

23. Carla Olson & Mick Taylor, Winter . . . And another, this one a near-12 minute epic treatment of one of the highlights from Goats Head Soup.

24. The Rolling Stones with Mick Taylor, Midnight Rambler, (from Grrr! Live, 2012 concert from Stones’ 50 & Counting tour) . . . All of the boys got back together, with Taylor (and Wyman for selected shows just in the UK; Wyman doesn’t like flying) touring with the Stones and appearing on one or two songs per set on the band’s 2012-13 tour. I saw the Toronto show, great stuff.