''Main Offender'' is the second studio album by

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943), often referred to during the 1960s and 1970s as "Keith Richard", is an English musician and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-princi ...

, released in 1992 between

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

' '' Steel Wheels'' and ''

Voodoo Lounge ''Voodoo Lounge'' is the 20th British and 22nd American studio album by the English rock band The Rolling Stones, released on 11 July 1994. As their first new release under their new alliance with Virgin Records, it ended a five-year gap since th ...

'' projects. Richards teamed with '' Talk Is Cheap'' collaborator Steve Jordan and added

Waddy Wachtel Robert "Waddy" Wachtel (born May 24, 1947) is an American musician, composer and record producer, most notable for his guitar work. Wachtel has worked as session musician for other artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks, Kim Carnes, Randy ...

to the mix both in composing and producing ''Main Offender''. Sessions with Richards' group of musician friends known as "The X-Pensive Winos" took place in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

from March to September 1992, with touring in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

's autumn and early 1993 in North America. ''Main Offender'' was released in October 1992 to generally positive reviews. However, it failed to match the commercial success of ''Talk Is Cheap'', reaching No. 45 in the UK, and No. 99 in the US. After the ''Main Offender'' tour, Richards returned to recording exclusively with the Rolling Stones and did not release another solo album until '' Crosseyed Heart'' in 2015. In 2022 the album was reissued to mark its 30th anniversary.

Track listing

#"999" (

, Steve Jordan,

) – 5:50 #"Wicked as It Seems" (Richards, Jordan,

Charley Drayton Charles Leslie Drayton (born May 9, 1965) is an American multi-instrumentalist and producer, known primarily as a drummer. Artists he has recorded or performed with include The Cult, Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Mi ...

) – 4:45 #"Eileen" (Richards, Jordan) – 4:29 #"Words of Wonder" (Richards, Jordan, Wachtel) – 6:35 #"Yap Yap" (Richards, Jordan, Wachtel) – 4:43 #"Bodytalks" (Richards, Jordan, Drayton,

Sarah Dash Sarah Dash (August 18, 1945 – September 20, 2021) was an American singer and actress. She first appeared on the music scene as a member of Patti LaBelle & The Bluebelles. Dash was later a member of Labelle, and worked as a singer, sess ...

) – 5:20 #"Hate It When You Leave" (Richards, Jordan, Wachtel) – 4:59 #"Runnin' Too Deep" (Richards, Jordan) – 3:20 #"Will but You Won't" (Richards, Jordan) – 5:05 #"Demon" (Richards, Jordan) – 4:45 #"

Key to the Highway "Key to the Highway" is a blues standard that has been performed and recorded by several blues and other artists. Blues pianist Charlie Segar first recorded the song in 1940. Jazz Gillum and Big Bill Broonzy followed with recordings in 1940 an ...

" ( Charlie Segar,

Big Bill Broonzy Big Bill Broonzy (born Lee Conley Bradley; June 26, 1903 – August 14, 1958) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s, when he played country music to mostly African American audiences. In the 1930s ...

) – 3:21 (Japanese issue bonus track)

Personnel

*Keith Richards –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

*Steve Jordan – drums, conga, percussion, castanets, Farfisa organ,

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

*Waddy Wachtel – guitar,

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

, celesta, percussion, backing vocals *Charley Drayton – bass guitar, piano, Hammond B-3 electric organ, baritone guitar, backing vocals * Ivan Neville – piano, organ, harpsichord, clavinet, vibes, bass guitar, backing vocals *Sarah Dash – vocals on "Bodytalks", backing vocals *

Bernard Fowler Bernard Fowler (born January 2, 1960) is an American musician. He is known for a long association with The Rolling Stones, providing backing vocals since 1989 and on their studio recordings and live tours. Fowler has been a featured guest vocali ...

– backing vocals *Babi Floyd – backing vocals *Jack Bashkow –

woodwind Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and re ...

*Crispin Cioe – woodwind *Arno Hecht – woodwind ;Technical *Don Smith, Joe Blaney - recording *

Niko Bolas Niko Bolas is an American music producer, sound engineer, and consultant and business developer in the fields of virtual reality and Internet radio. In 1989, Bolas founded Fakespace Music with Mark Bolas, Ian McDowall and Christian Greuel, which, ...

, Don Smith, Joe Blaney - mixing *Mick Haggerty - art direction *Dewey Nicks - black & white photography *

David LaChapelle David LaChapelle (born March 11, 1963) is an American photographer, music video director and film director. He is best known for his work in fashion, photography, which often references art history and sometimes conveys social messages. His pho ...

- colour photography *

Ted Jensen Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' ''Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''. Biography T ...

- mastering

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1992 albums Keith Richards albums Virgin Records albums Albums produced by Waddy Wachtel