Spanish Tony, Where Are You? A Review of Up And Down With The Rolling Stones

All photos scanned by me, courtesy of Tony Sanchez except the photo of Bianca Jagger is courtesy of photog Bernard PrimmKeith and John Dunbar at Redlands: Anita and Keith in St. Tropez:

Anita in St. Tropez:

Keith and Anita at Redlands before the drug bust of '67:

Joe Monck, Spanish Tony, Anita and Keith:

Anita and Robert Fraser in the grass at Redlands:

Keith in his moat, Redlands:

Brian at Redlands:

Marianne at the Rock n' Roll Circus, 1968:

Ms. B, 1971:

Keith and Marlon down at the harbor, south of France, 1971:

Keith and Tony in the south of France:

Madeline at Villa Nellcote:

Keith and Tony, St. Tropez, 1971:

Spanish Tony, Keith, Marlon, Madeline and Anita in St. Tropez:

Villa Nellcote:

Switzerland:

I wrote this about a year ago:

"Spanish" Tony Sanchez's 1979 memoir Up And Down With The Rolling Stones is perhaps not the most accurate Rolling Stones book ever written, but it's certainly one of the most entertaining. I suppose Sanchez's goal was to describe his relationship with the band (mainly as friend and drug supplier of one Keith Richards) from the mid ‘60s through the ‘70s, but the book has little to do with him and more to do with detailing all of the sensational and fantastical events that surrounded the Stones camp, catering to the mythology that characterized the band and the times. Music takes a back seat to sheer dramatics, but there are tons of Stones books that can tell you a (reasonably) objective regurgitation of their history, so that did not concern me, as I've already read most of them and so can you. What Sanchez offers is an eye-witness (sometimes), insider's account into the dynamics of the greatest r'n'r band in the world. For any big Stones fan or aficionado, the book is a must-read, but I admit being a bit apprehensive to its factual legitimacy. Keith Richards himself reportedly declared, "Spanish Tony can't even write his own name, let alone a book". Sanchez writes with such detailed authority--about everything--that it's easy to call into question some of what he says. As has been pointed out in several later biographies, Tony wasn't even present at some of the scenes he seems to vividly recall, and certain facts don't measure up, but in the end, that doesn't really matter. His presumptions, often of what Mick, Keith, Anita Pallenberg, Marianne Faithfull, Brian Jones, et al. are feeling make for highly entertaining reading, as they are often soap opera in content (which isn’t to say they aren’t true). In fact, the book is written with very colorful, often elegant language, which in itself is curious especially for an uneducated man with an eventually serious drug habit. Nonetheless, it is a fine tale. I was especially thankful for the fact that Stones goddesses Anita and Marianne were mentioned as liberally in the book as their counterparts, so I would especially recommended this to fans of theirs (Anita arrives in London in Chapter 2, and she’s in the entire book). (Although it’s worth mentioning that in Marianne's 1994 autobiography, she denounces Tony as a vile, low-life, disgusting, hanger-on type person, and there is little doubt that Up And Down was a cash-grab of sorts. But she also had sex with him occasionally to score drugs, so that probably doesn’t make for the happiest memories). All of the group’s juicy gossip and major events are documented here, from the 1967 Redlands drug bust, the filming of "Performance", the Keith-Anita-Brian love triangle, the unraveling and fateful demise of Mr. Jones, the disaster at Altamont, Marianne's Australian OD, Mick and Bianca’s wedding, Villa Nellcote, et al. Could Sanchez be embellishing a bit, painting beautiful pictures of people and things and events in order to appeal to the fantasies of the reader? Well, probably, but I’m just fine with that. At times he comes off a bit patronizing, admonishing the drug use and affairs, but always with a bit of fondness. He tells how Anita Pallenberg would ask him to steal things on the set of "Performance" for her, but once Donald Cammell mentioned to Tony that things were missing, he immediately stopped--plausible, but taking this sort of "moral high ground", as if it’s painfully important to him for the reader to think he's a good guy. And the fact of the matter is, Spanish Tony is absolutely inconsequential. He is interesting about the Rolling Stones, and that is where the interest begins and ends. He was merely another pawn for them to manipulate and discard, and I would reckon that he probably knew that, despite what he would have you believe. The photographs in this book are rare and great, some of which I hadn’t ever seen, as are the little anecdotes you couldn’t read in another text, like shooting water rats at Keith's place (inspiring the "Live With Me" line). The bottom line about this book is--if you're a fan of the Rolling Stones, buy it by all means, but don't let it be any sort of final authority on the band. For me personally, it’s one of my favorite reads.