Our story begins one ass-freezing night in January 1974, in the soundproofed basement of The Wick, a splendid Grade 1-listed Georgian townhouse in Richmond, London designed in 1775 for Lady St Aubyn. Two centuries later its owner was 26-year-old cool-as-fuck Rod Stewart/Faces guitarist Ronnie Wood, hawk-nosed member of a new English aristocracy: old-money rock stars.
At the time he bought The Wick, in 1971, Woody was coddled in cash from the double-whammy success that year of Rod’s Maggie May solo single and Every Picture Tells A Story album both going to No.1 in Britain and America simultaneously. Ronnie played guitar and bass on both and co-wrote the title track to Every Picture. He bought it for a suitcase of cash and began filling the basement with recording equipment.
