What an amazing song! Shame Mick's vocals aren't quite strong enough. VERY MINOR critisism.

Yes, a great interesting diversified composition. In my opinion the vocals are okay. It is the only new track which fits in the regular album, I think, and the only one which is worth releasing. The other tracks are all very disappointing - just outtakes.

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RobertJohnson
... The other tracks are all very disappointing - just outtakes.

...wasn't that what we were all craving for??

I think that So Divine is the strongest for now, but it lacks good production and "new stuff - old stuff" don't blend to easily.

Can anyone write down the lyrics?

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Filip020169

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RobertJohnson
... The other tracks are all very disappointing - just outtakes.

...wasn't that what we were all craving for??

If a band opens the archive you have two options: The material is excellent as it is, hear e.g. the Beatles Anthology-albums or the Free new releases with the additional tracks, or you make some new studio efforts to finish the raw material. Unfortunately the new material on Exile doesn't match the old one to any extent (with exception of "Following the River"), nor the studio work could enhance it. I'm sorry, but tracks like Aladdin Story are nothing but embarrassing, a boring load of noise in my opinion.

I miss a solo from Taylor and without the strings it would sound better, this basically fantastic (piano driven) song.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-05-16 21:06 by Muddyw.

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Muddyw
I miss a solo from Taylor and without the strings it would sound better, this basically fantastic (piano driven) song.

I like the strings but agree a MT solo would have fit in very well.

I like the song, although Mick certainly listened to John Lennon's Jealous Guy when writing it.

JumpingKentFlash

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JumpingKentFlash
I like the song, although Mick certainly listened to John Lennon's Jealous Guy when writing it.

And/or his own Shine A Light

Nice song...could have made the Alfie Soundtrack....but why Exile....?

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jamesjagger
Nice song...could have made the Alfie Soundtrack....but why Exile....?

None of these songs (accept of course Soul Survivor) has anything to do with Exile, I think. The production is all different, the songs are quite different.

So I see it like a new Rarities (Bonus) CD, which happens to be released together with an updated Exile On Main St.

Suddenly I knew it: Following The River is an X-Factor song par excellence! If Mick would have performed it in one of those X-factor competitions that take place all around the world he would have won, of course after winning the resit. Everyone in the hall would wave their arms and sing the last lines all together with him, everybody weeping, tears in their eyes at least.

Yes, Following The River has the X-Factor. (I know that because my wife sometimes watches the repeat of that program on Sunday evening and sometimes I keep her company. Mostly I can stand only the last part of it).

Mick has the X-Factor, singing Following The River. Definitely!

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JumpingKentFlash
I like the song, although Mick certainly listened to John Lennon's Jealous Guy when writing it.

....wrong John...try Elton.

"Following the river" is such an evocative line, but Jagger does not have the vision to do anything with it. He only gets so far as to turn it into an ambivalent break up song a la Angie. Jagger hides. He does it in interviews. He does it with his lyrics. He's afraid to take a stand, make a statement. He does it all the time and in different ways. He is an ambiguous character and that does not mean he is interesting. I am sure he is delighted to receive a knighthood, but he fumbles around in an interview and cannot say either I like it or its silly crap. He is somewhere in between, in a nothing zone. Notice his response when he is in Sunset Studios on the Exile video. He is there. He is promoting his product, but he cannot embrace it. He rejects it and says it doesn't mean sh*t. Then why are you there?

Someone mentioned cliches in another post. He thinks and writes in terms of cliches and they generally do not conjure up much for me, they do not resonate any meaning. I think he blew out all his cliches with Exile, but on that record it worked.

Just as point of contrast take for example songs like Dear Doctor or The Spider and The Fly. I know they are "type" songs, but the lyrics are perfectly realized, the vision is clear. Ambiguity is an art form, but it still requires a clear vision of what the words are about.

Interesting and thought-provoking post, pmk251. I pretty much agree with you there.

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Muddyw
I miss a solo from Taylor and without the strings it would sound better, this basically fantastic (piano driven) song.

Agreed. Imagine some gread leads and fills á la Shine A Light or Winter, instead of the strings.

the single worst thing i've ever heard from them. to me this was done by the artist known as Mick out of his mind Jagger.

I like it the way it is.
I was pleasently surprised with all out takes, including FTR.

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JumpingKentFlash
I like the song, although Mick certainly listened to John Lennon's Jealous Guy when writing it.

I just thought of "Don't call me up" when listening to some parts of it.

Beautiful song anyway.

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Beelyboy
the single worst thing i've ever heard from them. to me this was done by the artist known as Mick out of his mind Jagger.

Wow, the single worst ever? That's bad.

What has happened to Jagger's voice. When did this nasal nonsense take over? I do not expect a 66 year old man to sound like he did 30 years ago, but his voice seems to have taken a dramatic turn for the worse in the past couple of years.

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71Tele

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Beelyboy
the single worst thing i've ever heard from them. to me this was done by the artist known as Mick out of his mind Jagger.

Wow, the single worst ever? That's bad.

awful bad. worse than streets of love.

it's awful. Mick sings like on a new ballad.
My opinion is that he sings with too much professionalism. it's not enough lazy like in the 70's.

"we know it's a bit late but we hope you don't mind if we stay"

I loath Jagger's vocals on this track, and I find it very hard to believe it actualy is an Exile-era outtake: the drums do not sound like Charlie at all and the bass is generic at best. The chord structure is also a little too close for comfort to Let it Loose...

Mathijs

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Shawn20
What has happened to Jagger's voice. When did this nasal nonsense take over? I do not expect a 66 year old man to sound like he did 30 years ago, but his voice seems to have taken a dramatic turn for the worse in the past couple of years.

To me, I always felt the nasal stuff started creeping by the middle of the B2B tour in 1998. The Bremen show was the first time I noticed it. It got worse from there on. He started singing at a higher register, more in the back of the mouth/top of bottom of the nose, leaving behind the cool, calm lower voice which I think was at a great spot in 1997.

Then came "Goddess in the Doorway" and here came Mick permanently staying in that area of the voice...picking up a few more new inflections and tricks that he still uses today. "Old Habits Die Hard' was the final nail in the coffin. He hasn't looked back since. To me, he's forcing his voice now to be more in a "soul" realm: adding some vocal riffs to the end of phrasings, playing out vowels in a more "soulful" flavor. All this wouldn't matter so much if he dropped the dry, nasal sound which makes him sound very unflattering.

I can't even listen to him sing "Honky Tonk Women" these days...

I always like the Stones doing Let it loose/ If you really want to be my friend kinda stuff.

So -without too much analyzing- I just like this song. Even like Mick's vocals. He's only bad on Pass the vine!

It's not a first grade song, more like Through the lonely night.
But nice . .

Great song,Great album,Great vocals,Great Stones !!!!!!!

I've only listened to it twice but so far it seems pretty awful. Disregarding the cliched lyrics, lousy singing, and fake soul of the backup vocals, it just isn't much of a song. It wouldn't be interesting as an instrumental either. I can buy it was from the Exile era but they were bound to have written a few turds over the span of recording for so long.

Dancing in the Light never did much for me as an instrumental but it is totally unlistenable now with the vocals.

But So Divine (Aladdin Story) is so great that the shortcomings of some of the other tracks don't matter to me at all. It's a really interesting track and I love what Jagger did with the words and vocals. Some of the lyrics and delivery remind of Dylan in the last decade - it has that sort of old drunken horny bluesman vibe. And Title Five is @#$%& awesome. Would have never guessed that was the Stones if I didn't know.

Following The River is not bad by post 1989 Stones standards. It's listenable to my ears. I wish they had not put the strings on it.