“The house lights are still up, stage lights down, as musicians stroll through the shadows, taking a seat on the drum riser or dropping to the floor in a circle. There is chatting and laughter amid drinks and smokes. Then a single, white spotlight hits the leader from behind: Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, now on his feet, assuming the position as he fires up the first riff of the night, the clanging-guitar call to jubilant disorder in ‘Take It So Hard.’”

— From the all-new essay, “The Loosest Tight Band You Ever Heard” by renowned rock writer David Fricke. Featured exclusively in the reissue of Keith Richards & The X-Pensive Winos Live at the Hollywood Palladium, December 15, 1988 from BMG and Mindless Records.