Buried Alive: Live In Maryland

Ron Wood first put together the New Barbarians in 1974 to make some appearances in support of his first solo record. The band reunited briefly in 1979 to open a few shows for the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. They played 18 dates in the U.S. and Buried Alive captures the band’s tour stop at the Capitol Center Arena, in Largo, Maryland, on May 5, 1979. The original band employed Donny Hathaway bassist Willie Weeks and Sly Stone drummer Andy Newmark, but in this 1979 incarnation they were replaced by Stanley Clarke and Zigaboo Modeliste, respectively. The rhythm section’s expert playing brings added weight and shades of jazz phrasing to classic Wood songs like “Mystifies Me” and “I Can Feel the Fire.” Though the Barbarians are usually considered Wood’s band, the group actually belonged equally to Wood and Keith Richards. More than Jagger and Richards, Ronnie and Keith formed the strongest fraternal bond in the Stones organization. With its mix of Faces and Stones, blues and soul, and even country (in the form of the Richards favorite “Apartment No. 9”), Buried Alive suggests an alternate reality in which Wood and Richards became the Glimmer Twins.