All right, since you guys brought up Ry Cooder, I'll repeat this story Ry told in a Rolling Stone Magazine interview:
After the death of Brian Jones, The Stones auditioned a number of guitarists to take his place in the band, including the great Welshman Dave Edmunds (who does Chuck Berry better than Chuck, and far better than Keith.). For whatever reason, they put off hiring someone. They gave Ry a call, telling him they would like him to come to England and do some recording with them, as a session player. They flew him over, and put him up in a hotel.
Ry showed up at the studio on the first day of recording, and found all the members there save for Keith Richards, whom they said would be in later. They rolled the tapes as Ry played guitar on the material they were working on, hour after hour. Keith never showed. A second day of recording followed, then a third, still no Keith. Ry thought something was fishy, so one day came to the studio unscheduled. There he found Keith, listening to the recordings of Ry playing, learning all the guitar parts Ry had come up with for the songs that ended up on the Let It Bleed album.
Make of that what you will. As for me, that was the end of any respect I had for Keith and The Stones.
