Of all the British guitarists to come of age in the early '60s, none was truer to the spirit of the blues than Keith Richards. Sure, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck were technically more proficient, but it was Richard who captured the genre's soul. If he was American, he probably would have ended up at Stax, or in Chuck Berry's touring band, but being English his outlet became the Rolling Stones. Even so, Richards has lived his life like a true blues artist, with all the excesses that entails. This Stone influenced generations of guitarists, but none have captured his very essence like Snatches in Pink. Note, the comparison is not to the Stones, because Snatches are not re-creating the prettied-up-by-the-producers records of that band, but Richards's hotel room riff/practice space jams from whence the group's music springs. Straight epitomizes that 3 a.m. type of session, riffing on an acoustic guitar, with the rest of the band at first tentatively, then more strongly joining in as the song coalesces. If that's the hotel room riff, Rocks is the ramshackle studio jam, the kind that eventually turn up as a poor quality tape that exchange hands among fans for a fortune. In which case, Just a Girl is a finished demo, still a bit rough around the edges, but mighty close to the eventual cleaned up album version. Opposite of Horse is the one that doesn't make the cut, a little too far removed from the Stones core sound, but it might turn up on a rarities set or a solo album. However, even Richards occasionally turns his hand to something different, as do the Snatches. The War Room, for example, takes the band into Velvet Underground territory, High Plains and On Reservation into hard rock, From the Sun beams into pop, and Alice into Alice Cooper's wonderland via glam. But at their best, the Snatches take another big swig of whiskey, a deep drag of their cigarettes, and lose themselves in the nitty gritty blues, letting the riff take them where it will, reveling in the music's spirit, echoing the past while living it in the present. Yeah, Clapton and Beck played it to perfection, but the Snatches, like Richards, play it from the soul. ~ Jo-Ann Greene, Rovi

1		Rocks
2		Just a Girl
3		From the Sun
4		Straight
5		Smiles
6		Numb Into You
7		Opposite of Horse
8		High Plains
9		The War Room
10		Miscue
11		Parade
12		On Reservation
13		Sol
14		Alice
15		Holster

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