listened to some other, i think "precious love", "i love ladies" are nice.

You obviously have bland tastes in The Rolling Stones.

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skipstone
You obviously have bland tastes in The Rolling Stones.

It's not bland. It's liking something that you don't, and you always seem to have a hard time understanding that there are no definite truths with this band, and music in general. I have no trouble with somebody voicing an opinion, but to lay it out there, as a definite truth, that the Mick Taylor years was better than anything they did after, is simply wrong, not to mention trollish and... well... stupid.

JumpingKentFlash

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stoneswashed77
Just listened to "Misty Roads", "Munich Hilton", "I Can't Help It".

i am not impressed. .

..and if all you'd ever heard of Jumpin Jack Flash, Satisfaction and Tumbling Dice was an early demo or rough workout, you'd probably feel the same

Why judge a song's quality by the only version youve heard if youve no evidence to suggest it wasnt developed?

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JumpingKentFlash

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skipstone
You obviously have bland tastes in The Rolling Stones.

It's not bland. It's liking something that you don't, and you always seem to have a hard time understanding that there are no definite truths with this band, and music in general. I have no trouble with somebody voicing an opinion, but to lay it out there, as a definite truth, that the Mick Taylor years was better than anything they did after, is simply wrong, not to mention trollish and... well... stupid.

I think you misunderstood. It's partially tongue in cheek but obviously that didn't come across. Mick Taylor years? You lost me there.

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skipstone

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JumpingKentFlash

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skipstone
You obviously have bland tastes in The Rolling Stones.

It's not bland. It's liking something that you don't, and you always seem to have a hard time understanding that there are no definite truths with this band, and music in general. I have no trouble with somebody voicing an opinion, but to lay it out there, as a definite truth, that the Mick Taylor years was better than anything they did after, is simply wrong, not to mention trollish and... well... stupid.

I think you misunderstood. It's partially tongue in cheek but obviously that didn't come across. Mick Taylor years? You lost me there.

In that case I apologize sincerely.

JumpingKentFlash

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stoneswashed77

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skipstone
Stoneswashed77, am I correct in thinking that you'd prefer not to hear/listen to the Stones playing "standard r&b, rock n´roll stuff licks and jams that they could do for days" from the 1970s compared to, oh, I dunno, the 1990s?

The Stones noodlings from the Some Girls (yet alone Black And Blue and Emotional Rescue) sessions that, as far as we know, are not finished are far better than a majority of songs on Dirty Work, Steel Wheels, Voodoo, Bridges and Bang in totality. For example, Misty Roads surpasses anything from any of those albums - unfinished even. Or whatever version of Munich Hilton you prefer. Or I Can't Help It (or whatever it's called, I Need You, the one with Keith and Mick "singing" ).

you are correct i don´t like to hear r&b or R&R music from the stones. i want real songwriting. they released some blues and rock&roll and that´s alright but enouh for me.

i want more than that, r&b and r&r are dead for very long now.

just like punk. :-)

Funny to think of The Rolling Stones without rhythm&blues and rock&roll... What we have then? Calypso? Rap? San Remo ballads? Polka?

The greatest polka band in the world...

- Doxa

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Doxa

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stoneswashed77

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skipstone
Stoneswashed77, am I correct in thinking that you'd prefer not to hear/listen to the Stones playing "standard r&b, rock n´roll stuff licks and jams that they could do for days" from the 1970s compared to, oh, I dunno, the 1990s?

The Stones noodlings from the Some Girls (yet alone Black And Blue and Emotional Rescue) sessions that, as far as we know, are not finished are far better than a majority of songs on Dirty Work, Steel Wheels, Voodoo, Bridges and Bang in totality. For example, Misty Roads surpasses anything from any of those albums - unfinished even. Or whatever version of Munich Hilton you prefer. Or I Can't Help It (or whatever it's called, I Need You, the one with Keith and Mick "singing" ).

you are correct i don´t like to hear r&b or R&R music from the stones. i want real songwriting. they released some blues and rock&roll and that´s alright but enouh for me.

i want more than that, r&b and r&r are dead for very long now.

just like punk. :-)

Funny to think of The Rolling Stones without rhythm&blues and rock&roll... What we have then? Calypso? Rap? San Remo ballads? Polka?

The greatest polka band in the world...

- Doxa

Let It Polka...
It´s Only Pop´n`Poll...( IOPP )
...

There's been another price drop on Amazon U.S. for the Super Deluxe Edition... Now $87.99.

Any word if there'll be Japanese pressing of Exile with exclusive bonus track ???



ROCKMAN

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Rockman
Any word if there'll be Japanese pressing of Exile with exclusive bonus track ???

They still do that thing in Japan? Always thought it was weird, yet funny. Why do they do it? I never understood.

JumpingKentFlash

Why do they do it? I never understood

Kent possibly to entice the Japanese to buy their own product and keep the
yen in town rather than purchasing the usually cheaper US/European pressings.....



ROCKMAN

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ajc68
There's been another price drop on Amazon U.S. for the Super Deluxe Edition... Now $87.99.

That's about £60. I can't find it in the Uk for less that £110. Rip off!

Is the DVD going to be broadcast on the BBC or will that be a different program?

I've got an information today.(not about super deluxe edition)
May 19 is the release date.

Ladies and Gentlemen (DVD)

Making of Exile (DVD)

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Smokey
Is the DVD going to be broadcast on the BBC or will that be a different program?

The interview/documentary that is included on the DVD appears to be an edited version of a documentary that will be broadcast on the BBC (and I believe in the US) around the time of the album's release.

[www.rollingstone.com]

I am getting anxious, and I must say that I now envy Don Was for been able to listen through all that baked tape.

WOW thanks loudie .... Yeah them Stones are gonna lever rock onta the rails....Shakin' stuff!!!!



ROCKMAN

maybe it's the concrete, or maybe it's the dirt,



ROCKMAN

Let's hope it's not an anti-climax. Beatles fans were really excited about Free As A Bird but it never quite matched expectation.

Thanks for teh link!

Re EXILE lacking hit singles: It looks like that both Mick and Keith have a bit forgotten the nature of their 60's albums. There is no a single hit at all in LET IT BLEED, and one cannot call "Street Fighting Man" of BEGGARS any big single hit either... In fact, only STICKY FINGERS of the those four big ones (when they were really hitting as Keith recalls) is based around a hit single. And in fact, from a British point of view none of their 60's albums had any single hits on them...

One way to explain EXILE's non-hit nature is that they didn't plan at all to release a hit single a'la "Jumping Jack Flash", "Honky Tonk Women" and "Brown Sugar", and just decided to take one song out of the album... I don't quite believe that: they still worked their asses off for "Tumblin' Dice"... perhaps Mick's remark is the most honest one because the single didn't turned to be such a great hit. Its sales must have felt disappointing after those three HUGE singles.

- Doxa

Great interview!

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Doxa
Thanks for teh link!

Re EXILE lacking hit singles: It looks like that both Mick and Keith have a bit forgotten the nature of their 60's albums. There is no a single hit at all in LET IT BLEED, and one cannot call "Street Fighting Man" of BEGGARS any big single hit either... In fact, only STICKY FINGERS of the those four big ones (when they were really hitting as Keith recalls) is based around a hit single. And in fact, from a British point of view none of their 60's albums had any single hits on them...

One way to explain EXILE's non-hit nature is that they didn't plan at all to release a hit single a'la "Jumping Jack Flash", "Honky Tonk Women" and "Brown Sugar", and just decided to take one song out of the album... I don't quite believe that: they still worked their asses off for "Tumblin' Dice"... perhaps Mick's remark is the most honest one because the single didn't turned to be such a great hit. Its sales must have felt disappointing after those three HUGE singles.

- Doxa

Good points once again Doxa. I think the reason they worked their sox off on Tumbling Dice is that Jagger - the one with the business acumen - realised the album was not immediately commercial and they desperately needed to make money on the road in America so needed the radio stations to help them sell out the arenas by plugging a single. It was a question of needs must rather than a departure back to the Loog Oldham factory days of churning out hit after hit. They wanted to get off that treadmill and they did so after Loog Oldham left in 68.
Looking back now they never really tried that hard to break into the singles market again with the odd obvious exception like It's Only Rock'n'Roll and Miss You. These had hit written large all over them.

You know, I just thought of something after reading this. Finally, new Stones stuff with Bill on it.


[thepowergoats.com]

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Silver Dagger

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Doxa
Thanks for teh link!

Re EXILE lacking hit singles: It looks like that both Mick and Keith have a bit forgotten the nature of their 60's albums. There is no a single hit at all in LET IT BLEED, and one cannot call "Street Fighting Man" of BEGGARS any big single hit either... In fact, only STICKY FINGERS of the those four big ones (when they were really hitting as Keith recalls) is based around a hit single. And in fact, from a British point of view none of their 60's albums had any single hits on them...

One way to explain EXILE's non-hit nature is that they didn't plan at all to release a hit single a'la "Jumping Jack Flash", "Honky Tonk Women" and "Brown Sugar", and just decided to take one song out of the album... I don't quite believe that: they still worked their asses off for "Tumblin' Dice"... perhaps Mick's remark is the most honest one because the single didn't turned to be such a great hit. Its sales must have felt disappointing after those three HUGE singles.

- Doxa

Good points once again Doxa. I think the reason they worked their sox off on Tumbling Dice is that Jagger - the one with the business acumen - realised the album was not immediately commercial and they desperately needed to make money on the road in America so needed the radio stations to help them sell out the arenas by plugging a single. It was a question of needs must rather than a departure back to the Loog Oldham factory days of churning out hit after hit. They wanted to get off that treadmill and they did so after Loog Oldham left in 68.
Looking back now they never really tried that hard to break into the singles market again with the odd obvious exception like It's Only Rock'n'Roll and Miss You. These had hit written large all over them.

...Whatever EXILE lacks in 'hits/ singles', it makes up for genuine (Stones) classics imo. Tumbling dice, Rocks off, Sweet Virginia, All down the line, Happy, Shine a light: all definitely timeless pieces of rock'n'roll work, classics in their own right, constant (& consistent) live material, real crowd pleasers, with some 'Warhorse' quality even. (In fact there's at least one each record side; clever-clever...)

Furthermore I agree completely with Doxa's point about BEGGARS & BLEED not being 'hit'-albums either.

Overdubs? Me worry.

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Rockman
maybe it's the concrete, or maybe it's the dirt,

...marvellous, innit...

In the new issue of Rolling Stone, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards talk about plundering their vaults for the upcoming rerelease of their 1972 masterpiece Exile on Main Street. Here's more from our conversations with the two Rolling Stones and producer Don Was.

Mick Jagger:

Tell me how this new edition of Exile on Main Street came together.
Universal wanted to rerelease Exile, and they asked me if there were any tracks that we didn't use when we released it originally. And I said, "Well, I doubt it very much." One, 'cause I thought we probably used most of the tracks anyway, 'cause it was a double album. And secondly, 'cause I couldn't really be bothered. But then they said, "Please, will you look?" I was quite surprised to find the tapes in such a good state. They all had to be baked in ovens [to] last forever. I added bits and pieces here and there.

What sort of bits and pieces did you add?
I added some percussion. I added some vocals. Keith put guitar on one or two. I added some acoustic guitar and some other things. Charlie [Watts] didn't need to come in. The drums were all perfect. "Pass the Wine," for example, was very, very long, so I edited it down. In the spirit of Exile we added some girl background vocals on "Tumbling Dice" and "Shine a Light." We had some nice background vocals on the originals. But I think in the end it's very much sounding like it was in those days, so to speak.

Tell me the process of sorting through all this old material.
Keith and I listened to it. We picked things that we rather liked. And then I started doing research on my own and I found out that quite a lot of these pieces were really not from the Exile period at all. They were either earlier or later. Some of them much later. There was one moment where Keith said to me, "God, I think Mick Taylor sounds really good on that one" and I said, "Yeah, it sounds fantastic." Then I went online and found out that it's actually B.B. King playing on it and it was done like 10 years ago.

Exile was recorded over quite a long period. Some of it was recorded in Olympic Studios in England, some was recorded in France, and then there was stuff done in L.A. So I set myself a sort of time frame for it. The first recording was "Loving Cup" in 1969, and then the last sessions for Exile were done in 1972. So that was my time period.

Are there songs on the set that you just couldn't recall making in the first place?
I recall making it all. It was just where and when and with who was another matter. Who's playing what? It wasn't always put down who's playing guitar and who's playing keyboard and that sort of thing. There are still a few mysteries. Most of it was recorded on an eight-track, some of it was recorded on a 16-track. We kind of figured it out because of that.

Tell me about "Following the River." That's a brand new vocal, right?
I just started from nothing on that. The core tape of it was the piano and the drums, bass, and guitar. There was no top line or lyric. I started from scratch — I mean, that's what I do, and I've done it many times before. And it's daunting in the beginning, but after a while you get into it.

So how do you go about writing lyrics?
You just sit down and write it as you would anything else, you know? Sometimes you write the lyrics while you're sitting down playing the piano or guitar, and the lyrics come to you while you're writing the song. And sometimes you write the melody first and you have to write all the lyrics. And sometimes you get half the lyrics. And sometimes there's a track that you didn't turn up on the session. And they say, "Mick, we've done this great track. Will you write the words?" And that was this one.

I've heard you say in the past that you thought Exile is a bit overrated. Do you still feel that way?
Well, that was like maybe when people started saying, "Is this your favorite album?" I was one to say, "Well, I don't think it really is. I'm a great fan of Sticky Fingers." This is very different album 'cause it's so sprawling. It doesn't contain a lot of hit singles for instance. Over the years a lot of the songs have been played onstage and they've acquired another life. So it's a very different kind of album than Sticky Fingers or Let It Bleed in that way. The production value is a different. It's just a different vibe. But, I mean, there are really great things on it. And I spent the last six months living with it, so I know it pretty much inside out now.


Do you have more respect for it after those six months?
Nah, I always had a lot of respect for it. It was difficult, because people didn't like it when it came out. I think they just found it quite difficult because of the length of it. People didn't access it quite so easily at the time. It got kind of mixed reviews. People found it a bit impenetrable and a bit difficult. Everyone said, "It's my favorite, it's my favorite, I love it!" and I said, "Well, it's not mine." It was just sort of toss off remark and it's come back to haunt me, really.



Keith Richards:
How did this new Exile set come together?
Well, basically it's the record and a few tracks we found when we were plundering the vaults. Listening back to everything we said, "Well, this would be an interesting addition."

Are these songs you had forgotten about?
I must say yes, it's been quite awhile. That's what longevity does to you. "Start Me Up" we'd forgotten about for five years before we put it out.
And you and Mick added new parts to some of them?
There wasn't much to be done and I really didn't want to get in the way of what was there. It was missing a bit of body here and there, and I stroked something on acoustic here and there. But otherwise, I really wanted to leave them pretty much as they were. Mick wanted to sort of fix some vocal things, but otherwise, basically they are as we left them 39 years ago.

Do you think the basement cuts from France sound different than the songs you recorded in the States or in England?
Oh, definitely. That was pretty unique way of recording. We did a lot of work on the stuff when we took it to L.A., 'cause we did a lot of overdubs and stuff on it there, but there was something about the rhythm section sound down there — maybe it's the concrete, or maybe it's the dirt, but it has a certain sound to it that you couldn't replicate if you tried.


Exile was initially greeted with mixed reviews.
Oh, at first, yeah. We kind of expected that just from the fact that it was a double album. First of all, the record company wanted to cut it in half. So we said, "Oh, this is not looking good." But also we insisted, "No, this is what we did. This is Exile on Main Street, and we insist that it's a double album." So it kind of got a slow take-off, but ever since then, it's been up there. Also, it's the first album with no particular single on it, you know? There was no "Brown Sugar" or whatever. We made it as an album, rather than looking for a hit single.


Many now consider it your best album. Do you agree?
I would put it up there with 'em. It's very difficult for me to pick my babies apart, you know? But, Beggar's Banquet, Exile, Sticky Fingers, Let it Bleed — I mean, it was part of that period where we were really hitting it, you know?


As you and Mick started work on these old songs, did you start thinking about new songs?
Oh yes. You're always thinking of new songs. Or rather, the new songs are thinking of you. I never sit down and say, "Oh, it's songwriting time." But every now and again, a certain note or a certain chord sort of rings a bell, and you sort of grab a guitar and go, "I must remember that."


Does Mick want to cut a new album?
Hey, you're asking me? You better ask Mick that one [laughs]. But my feeling is that, generally, people get itchy at a certain time. I'm sort of waiting for a phone call, you know?


Don Was:
How did the process of sorting through the Exile outtakes begin?
They just sent me hundreds of hours of multitracks to go through, which was the best gig ever. It was all mixed up. It was labeled by number code and it wasn't an accurate directory of what it was. You'd be listening to some blues jam and then all of a sudden there's a version of "Wild Horses" with a string quartet, then another reel with all the takes of "Honky Tonk Woman" leading up to the final one. It was mind-blowing for a Stones fanatic such as myself.
I also got very involved with the guys who bootlegged the stuff. I wanted them to have some surprises too, not just better mixes of stuff that they were very familiar with. We found songs that had vocals, for example, where only instrumental tracks had ever surfaced.


Why did you have to bake the master tapes?
It's not really like a solid piece of tape, like you think of Scotch tape. It's more like sandpaper. You have all these oxide particles and they get moved over the magnetic recording heads and rearranged into patterns that when it passes over the playback head — the playback head recognizes those patterns and transduces it into sound waves. Tapes from the '50s and '60s are OK. But I guess they started saving money, and tapes from the '70s, '80s, '90s — the particles tended to coagulate together and fall off the surface. So baking somehow makes them adhere to the surface without altering the pattern. It holds the particles in place at least for one time through so you can transfer it to something digital.
How much new overdubbing did the band do?
The essence of these things never got changed from 1969 to 1971. Beyond finding the best stuff to put out, the second responsibility was really to make sure nothing happened to alter the spirit of Exile. On "Following the River," the vocal was there but he knew what he wanted to do with the words — he just never got around to it. So he sang it again. And in one case there is a great ballad that never had lyrics. He wrote it and finished it.


I heard a rumor somewhere that you guys brought in Mick Taylor to overdub some things. Is that true at all?
I'm not saying it's not true. I'm simply not going to deny.


What else can you tell me about the unheard songs?
Well, as a bass player, I can tell you that Bill Wyman is a genius. He blew my mind, the stuff I heard him play here. He really doesn't get enough credit. The drums were amazing, but everyone knows that Charlie's the greatest.


How do you pick one alternate version of "Tumbling Dice" when they spent hours and hours working on that song?
It's hard to do. That version of "Tumbling Dice" was chosen because it's got the other lyric. The actual version that's on Exile, it's got to be one of the top five all-time great rock & roll singles. There's so much wrong with it. Now a lot of the things that happened somewhat randomly, like the vocals being mixed down low, people have imitated. It's become part of the vocabulary of rock & roll record-making. But it's wrong, by all standards. But it's absolutely perfect. It's a perfect record.



ROCKMAN

Excuse my n00bness, but what track did B.B. King play on?

The hottest news is that Mick stated that Sticky Fingers is his favourite album, not BB.