nicely written article:

[www.theatlantic.com]

I'll give chitterchatter from keno.org the credit for finding this.

very moving piece. thank u.

Moving, indeed...

Thank you for posting this article. It is insightful look at the music - "the sound of a slow implosion."

I think overall it is a good article with real insight into the music. But the title does not fit the article's premise. The sensationalstic title implies that making EOMS was the cause of the band's decline (to be fair probably some stupid headline writer rather than the author). But the part about the lack of black people at Woodstock tied into the Stone's "racial politics" being the most significant part of EOMS etc. is a bunch of crap that undoubtedly has more to do with the writer's biases than the Stones point of view.

Thanks for the comments. Obviously a lot of 'reviews' of exile since the rerelease, but this article put it nicely in terms of a historical perspective.

They were 'Rock Gods' and now they are merely 'Rock SuperStars'.

I added 'super' to 'superstars'...I didn't think 'Rock Stars' gave them enough credit.

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livewithme
I think overall it is a good article with real insight into the music. But the title does not fit the article's premise. The sensationalstic title implies that making EOMS was the cause of the band's decline (to be fair probably some stupid headline writer rather than the author). But the part about the lack of black people at Woodstock tied into the Stone's "racial politics" being the most significant part of EOMS etc. is a bunch of crap that undoubtedly has more to do with the writer's biases than the Stones point of view.

Well it is compelely unsubstantiated, so I would have to agree with you. If it were anyone else, I could maybe even see the point, but RS's have supported black musicians from the get go.

yeah this is a good piece on the Rolling Stones. Some Girls isn't mentioned but the song is. How many more great albums, after the 4 year run the Stones had, would any band have in them? The Beatles lasted less than ten years. Only Dylan has matched the Stones in longevity and great records to mark the times, the zeitgeist, the eras they were made in.
A band is hard thing to keep going. Good God they've managed to do it for so long. And one of their songs says : "Baby break it down, we got a long way to go..."

Whoa; IMO a really well written piece. While I have seen these sentiments a million times, have thought them a million times - it never fails to rile me up.

I never knew the Stones determine who shows up at their shows.

Huh.

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treaclefingers
nicely written article:

[www.theatlantic.com]

I'll give chitterchatter from keno.org the credit for finding this.

Brilliant piece. Thank you very much for posting.

Thank you.

>> Only Dylan has matched the Stones in longevity <<

ah but if Dylan were a band he would have broken up a few times by now :E

The Buggles - Exile Killed the Rock Star!

It's an ok piece with some valid points, but ain't it simply stating what many have said before? Typical crap focusing on 1968 - 1972 as well. zzzzzzzzzz

I am not the least impressed by this article. To me it seems the author wanted to make
some kind of point about Afro-American origins of the music on Exile, but he absolutely
fails to make clear whatever his point is.

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marcovandereijk
I am not the least impressed by this article. To me it seems the author wanted to make
some kind of point about Afro-American origins of the music on Exile, but he absolutely
fails to make clear whatever his point is.

I quite liked the article overall, but I agree that he was 'light' in this area.

.....just another sugar-loaded journo tryin' to complicate Exile .....



ROCKMAN

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Rockman
.....just another sugar-loaded journo tryin' to complicate Exile .....

Well you can't assume every Stones/Exile article written is written for 'Dear Doctor-Stone-Philists', like the goobers with a Stones PhD on this board have.

Also, as this topic has been written about extensively, as disappointing as it may be, it would be unreasonable to expect a flood of new information, to 'shine a light' on the subject.

Brilliant article

I wish Exile would kill BP.

debated for awhile if i wanted to read it because of the title but it was a good read

I don't think it killed anybody. on the contrary it has revived interest.

I wish all these Exile reviews would get the facts straight. Only a handful of the songs were done in Nellcote, everything else was recorded somewhere else. But hey, it adds to the mystery and myth.

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with sssoul
>> Only Dylan has matched the Stones in longevity <<

ah but if Dylan were a band he would have broken up a few times by now :E

100% true, LOL

Nice read, thanks for the link

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duke richardson
I don't think it killed anybody. on the contrary it has revived interest.

I don't believe the title was referring to 'our interest', but rather, the 'killing of the band' itself.

I think he does make some valid points in that regard.

Besides the drugs, the world weariness and all the other reasons given, I think the negative initial reaction to the album was a major factor in why the band didn't do far more 'exile-style' music following that album.

Mick seems sensitive to criticism, as I'm sure we all are...the album initially was labeled as muddy and inaccessible and Mick's defense is that he would prefer to have it remixed (which is heresy, I agree).

If the album had been universally loved at that time, I doubt whether we'd have gotten Goat's Head Soup, IORR and Black and Blue.

If you look at their disco 'comeback'; Miss You and the huge sales, and the follow-up with Emotional Rescue, it kind of makes sense (maybe only to me).

They are a successful band and prefer being successful. Sometimes the music has sucked because of it, because it is 'pandering' to a certain extent.

Luckily they are good enough writers that for the most part, most whatever they do I like!

I also wonder why maybe that's why they've done so much touring over the last two decades, compared with new material release. If these albums were selling 5+ million copies every time, I would guess they might be motivated to record more.

Nice to see a story that didn't get wrapped up in the Exile myths. Typical of The Atlantic to get it right.

(OT--there's a great article for anyone interested in art or cultural preservation in the new issue :[www.theatlantic.com] )


The thing about the music on Exile, the way people write about it now it's as if it were a sound that the Stones created all by themselves. I was listening to some Joe Cocker yesterday (and then surprised to see him pop up on American Idol last night! ) and remembering how much I loved "Cry Me A River" from Mad Dogs and Englishmen when I was in junior high.

That loose, American R&B sound was a first cousin of Exile. You've got Jim and Bobby of course, plus Leon who was huge at the time and I think a great influence on the feel and texture of Exile.

These are all "Friends" from Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, who I think laid the groundwork for the popularity of Exile with their R&B music that used horns, gospel-type piano and singers, etc.

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loog droog

The thing about the music on Exile, the way people write about it now it's as if it were a sound that the Stones created all by themselves. I was listening to some Joe Cocker yesterday (and then surprised to see him pop up on American Idol last night! ) and remembering how much I loved "Cry Me A River" from Mad Dogs and Englishmen when I was in junior high.

That loose, American R&B sound was a first cousin of Exile. You've got Jim and Bobby of course, plus Leon who was huge at the time and I think a great influence on the feel and texture of Exile.

These are all "Friends" from Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, who I think laid the groundwork for the popularity of Exile with their R&B music that used horns, gospel-type piano and singers, etc.

The above is one of the reasons I'm not totally comfortable with Exile, it shares a bit too much similarities to that whole scene/sound.

Circa 1969/70 there seemed to be a lot of US musicians coming over here(UK) and playing Exile like music, there's even a series of backing singer solo albums in which Leon and Friends all play on which are reminiscent of Exile sound/material.

Clapton fell for that kind of sound big time too, although he did it in a more subdued way cos he's kinda boring heh.

The stones still had trump card via mostly better songwriting, but this thing of Exile being the quintessential stones sound, zzzzz.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-05-27 19:49 by His Majesty.

I've always thought that with Exile the Stones had pretty much gone about as far as they could with their interpretation of blues and R&B. Could they have kept mining the same vein after four brilliant albums? Of course, although when you think about it, most of their post-Exile efforts, although often quite good, did not approach the power of purity of Exile.

And as great as Exile is, it doesn't contain any ballads or, when you think about it, any radio-ready hits. (As a single, I've always considered Tumbling Dice to be a bit of an anomoly and I bet not many radio listeners would choose it as their favorite Stones song, even though it may be their very best performance). So with their next album, they mixed things up a bit, recorded a violin-backed ballad, and moved a little towards the commercial or pop side. Although Exile fans may not have liked the changes, it was probably better than trying to endlessly recapture the magic of Exile.

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gimmelittledrink
I've always thought that with Exile the Stones had pretty much gone about as far as they could with their interpretation of blues and R&B. Could they have kept mining the same vein after four brilliant albums? Of course, although when you think about it, most of their post-Exile efforts, although often quite good, did not approach the power of purity of Exile.

And as great as Exile is, it doesn't contain any ballads or, when you think about it, any radio-ready hits. (As a single, I've always considered Tumbling Dice to be a bit of an anomoly and I bet not many radio listeners would choose it as their favorite Stones song, even though it may be their very best performance). So with their next album, they mixed things up a bit, recorded a violin-backed ballad, and moved a little towards the commercial or pop side. Although Exile fans may not have liked the changes, it was probably better than trying to endlessly recapture the magic of Exile.

I think "Shine A Light" is a bit of a ballad, a Gospel-Ballad.

As far as Tumbling Dice is concerned, even Linda Ronstadt had a hit with that, so it is definitely single-worthy...I would bet today it would be a country-crossover hit.

I know I'm in the minority here, but I don't really like Goat's Head Soup. It had it's moments, but it spends the least amount of time on the turntable (well, excepting Dirty Work, which hasn't been on the turntable since 1986).