#(mt plays loud)

MICK TAYLOR and MICK JAGGER performing at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, December 14, 1981

“There was one moment on tour where Mick Taylor came and played with us on a show, but he was so loud—I don’t know if it was out of nerves or what—that Keith was about to wring his neck. I had to try and block Keith’s path a few times during the songs. He was going, ‘I’m going to kill him’. I don’t know how the two of them managed to make it work as long as they did.”

“He shocked us with how loud he was blasting it... bulldozing through parts of songs that should have been subtle, ignoring breaks and taking uninvited solos.”

PAUL LAURENCE: Would [the Stones] make a distinction between, say, “reverb” and “delay“?

ANDY JOHNS: Mick [Jagger] might. He’s the only one who really gets in on the mixing. Mick Taylor used to come around, but the lead guitar always ended up being too loud, and so they asked him to leave. During Exile, I remember Keith turning around one day and going, "Listen, man, you're great on stage, but you’re awful in the studio. Can you just go away for a bit?" I disagree with that, myself. Mick Taylor never played anything that I disliked and thought shouldn't be there. Whenever he played, I always got a rush.

PAUL LAURENCE: How about Mick Taylor? How does he record?

ANDY JOHNS: Well, Mick Taylor always plays incredibly loud. That’s how he gets all of that sustain. It’s not just for tone alone—he likes that level as well. Because he does play so loud, you have to screen him off a lot. You tend to have him the furthest out of all the musicians, sort of on the outside. More than just level, he has a very penetrating sound. He also has a lot of bottom end, which you don’t really notice so much when you’re listening to him with the other instruments. It goes around the room like mad, though, and we often have trouble with it coming in and through the drums or the piano. This happens even when he's using a Tele, which is a bit surprising.

As far as his equipment goes, he usually uses Fender amps, like a Twin Reverb or something. He also has one of those little Fender Leslies. When we had 16 tracks, I’d often take two channels of him—one the amp and one the Leslie—and send them to opposite sides in the mix. As a general rule, he doesn’t use a lot of effects in the studio. If they’re about, you can ask him to use them and he’ll give it a try, but he’s not totally into it.

It’s really great to work with Pagey and Mick Taylor and people like that. They’re so good that they’ll turn you on every time. Just listen to Mick on something like Stop Breaking Down, he’s about the best white bottleneck player there is! That’s what I really like about it—not the “engineering” as much as working with people who really bring out the best in you. You hear this music coming through and you can’t let ‘em down—you’ve got to try to get the best sound possible because it’s turning you on so much!