The 30th anniversary edition of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards‘ second solo album, 1992’s Main Offender, was released today.
The reissue is available in multiple formats and configurations, including a limited-edition super-deluxe box set featuring remastered CD and vinyl versions of the album, as well as a bonus live album on CD and two LPs.
A follow-up to Richards’ 1988 solo debut, Talk Is Cheap, Main Offender was released in October 1992. The album features 10 songs that Keith co-wrote with acclaimed drummer and producer Steve Jordan, who became The Stones’ touring drummer in 2021. Guitarist Waddy Wachtel, bassist/keyboardist Charley Drayton and backing singer Sara Dash — who died in 2021 — also received songwriting credits on select tunes.
Jordan, Wachtel, Drayton and Dash, along with keyboardist Ivan Neville, all were members of Richards’ side group The X-Pensive Winos. Last week, Keith reunited with most of the group to perform at the 2022 Love Rocks NYC! benefit concert at New York’s Beacon Theatre.
Main Offender peaked at #99 on the Billboard 200, while the songs “Wicked as It Seems” and “Eileen” reached #3 and #17, respectively, on Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock Tracks tally.
The live album featured in the box set, titled Winos Live in London ’92, captures a previously unreleased performance by Keith and his band that includes renditions of select songs from both Talk Is Cheap and Main Offender, as well as of The Stones’ “Gimme Shelter,” “Before They Make Me Run” and “Happy.”
The super deluxe collection also features an LP version of Main Offender pressed on smoke-colored vinyl; an 88-page, leather-bound book offering rare photos and Keith’s handwritten lyrics; and collectibles including a guitar pick, a bumper sticker and posters.
Here’s the Main Offender track list:
“999”
“Wicked as It Seems”
“Eileen”
“Words of Wonder”
“Yap Yap”
“Bodytalks”
“Hate It When You Leave”
“Runnin’ Too Deep”
“Will but You Won’t”
“Demon”
And here’s the Winos Live in London ’92 track list:
“Take It So Hard”
“999”
“Wicked as It Seems”
“How I Wish”
“Gimme Shelter”
“Hate It When You Leave”
“Before They Make Me Run”
“Eileen”
“Will But You Won’t”
“Bodytalks”
“Happy”
“Whip It Up”
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