The German-Italian actress/model Anita Pallenberg was no mere girlfriend of the band, and her impact on The Rolling Stones was considerable, influencing the way they looked and the modish circles they moved in. Long-term partner Keith Richards openly admits her sartorial sway over him: “I started to become a fashion icon, for wearing my old lady’s clothes,”he once noted.
A powerful and intimidating muse, it’s strongly rumoured the Beggars Banquet album was remastered after she criticised it, her out-of-the-ordinary life is recounted in detailed and dynamic fashion by music writer Simon Wells.
Pallenberg may have been carousing with Federico Fellini’s Dolce Vita crowd three years before the band had formed, but she will always be inextricably associated with the Stones, notably her relationships with Richards, but also Brian Jones (she left him for Keith after Jones became abusive) and Mick Jagger (they got very close on the set of the movie Performance). Coincidentally, it’s also the second book in this issue of Long Live Vinyl to come with a pair of fetching knees on its cover.
8/10
Gary Tipp