When Mick Taylor Left and Ron Wood Joined: How the Music Press Saw It in 1975-76

The most interesting thing about the press reaction to Ron Wood replacing Mick Taylor is that the harshest critics weren’t always the ones who wanted Taylor to stay — they were often the ones who worried Wood was too much like Keith Richards. The consensus in the British music weeklies like NME and Melody Maker was split down a familiar line: technical ability vs. band chemistry.

Taylor had been celebrated as a precise, fluid guitarist who elevated the Stones’ studio sound, especially on Exile on Main St. and Goats Head Soup. When he left in December 1974, citing frustration with the band’s business decisions and touring grind, many obituaries for his tenure felt like eulogies. NME’s Charles Shaar Murray wrote that Taylor was “the finest guitarist the Stones ever had” and worried his departure signaled a creative decline. On the other hand, the arrival of Ron Wood — a flashy, loose-limbed sideman from the Faces who practically lived in Keith’s pocket — was initially seen as a step down in seriousness. Rolling Stone noted that Wood “lacked Taylor’s depth of invention” but praised his “instinctive rapport” with Keith.

By early 1976, after the Black and Blue sessions and the subsequent tour, the tone shifted. Wood’s integration was increasingly described as positive because he brought back a kind of rowdy, improvisational energy that had dulled under Taylor’s more disciplined approach. The “two Ronnies” lockstep rhythm became a selling point, not a