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71Tele

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Sleepy City
A big reason why I think Exile is so much weaker overall than the previous 3 albums. Should've remained an outtake.

No! Fantastic atmosphere. Gritty, soulful, swinging. Sometimes on a work like Exile, the "minor" songs are a key part to why the thing works so well. This is a case in point. As for Exile being weaker, fuggedaboutit.

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Sleepy City

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Stoneage
Come on, it's not even a song, it's a sketch to a song never completed. Ask Mick jagger what he thinks about Exile and you will get a more sober answer than what you will get here.

Some of the comments here remind me of Beatles fans praising The White Album for "songs" such as Wild Honey Pie and Why Don't We Do It In The Road.

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BeforeTheyMakeMeRun
This song seems almost like a demo, as if they only used a cheap cassette recorded which had a covered-up microphone, listened back, and thought, 'Good enough'...Not awful, but definitely one of Exile's (only) low-points.

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BeforeTheyMakeMeRun
This song seems almost like a demo, as if they only used a cheap cassette recorded which had a covered-up microphone, listened back, and thought, 'Good enough'...Not awful, but definitely one of Exile's (only) low-points.

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Mathijs
It defines Exile in a way -you imagine them sitting there in this swampy basement, jamming on tracks like this. Funny thing though that it was completely recorded in LA.

Mathijs

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peoplewitheyes
nice reminiscences, Relms

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DoomandGloom
Whitlock has started publicly campaigning for writers credit. He claims he initiated the groove and chords. Bobby's dad was a preacher and Mick got the idea from that. Whitlock says he turned down an offer to "join" The Stones to form Derek and The Dominoes with Clapton, where he was a full partner. Bobby infers he is not credited because he rejected The Glimmes. One of the most unique tracks they've ever done. At first easily dismissed, Mick can be a great producer.

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RawIguanaCologne

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BeforeTheyMakeMeRun
This song seems almost like a demo, as if they only used a cheap cassette recorded which had a covered-up microphone, listened back, and thought, 'Good enough'...Not awful, but definitely one of Exile's (only) low-points.

hey, ya got a pont, but: if this sounds to you like a throwaway, then exile, white album, aloha from hawaii make no sense to you at all.....

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drbryant

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BeforeTheyMakeMeRun
This song seems almost like a demo, as if they only used a cheap cassette recorded which had a covered-up microphone, listened back, and thought, 'Good enough'...Not awful, but definitely one of Exile's (only) low-points.

This is another example where Jagger's "recollections" seem implausible. He calls it a "jam" with Jagger singing vocals thought up on the spot. Let's think about that. The basic track was done in Nellcote. Parts were then worked out for studio musicians (Whitlock, presumably, and Plummer), and fairly complex background vocals, and recorded in LA. The song structure and feel of the track must have been deliberate - there was too much time and expense put into it to come to any other conclusion.

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Naturalust

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DoomandGloom
Whitlock has started publicly campaigning for writers credit. He claims he initiated the groove and chords. Bobby's dad was a preacher and Mick got the idea from that. Whitlock says he turned down an offer to "join" The Stones to form Derek and The Dominoes with Clapton, where he was a full partner. Bobby infers he is not credited because he rejected The Glimmes. One of the most unique tracks they've ever done. At first easily dismissed, Mick can be a great producer.

I wouldn't say he is campaigning for credit as much as just trying to share his memories of how the song was created. I generally think anybody who was involved with writing a song with the Stones is likely to remember it, and since Mick has said he doesn't even remember who was playing on it, I tend to believe Mr. Whitlock's version of the story. No doubt Mick was instrumental in making the tune as well so not to take any credit from him but I would say Jagger/Whitlock would probably be a better description of the writers here.

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Sleepy City

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Amused
truly one of the best songs they did. the ultimate proof they can play everything.
if anyone can recommend me an album full of songs like this, I'd appreciate that!
I used to play Blind Boys Of Alabama to death... by the way, they did a great cover:

This is much better than the Stones version!

Maybe if the RS version had a proper mix (& a proper intro) then I'd enjoy that more too.

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relms
Great track from what was the soundtrack to our summers at the lake.

We always left this cassette on our boat, permanently stuck in the player and used to just let it play over and over and over and over. It was a perfect long album for the lake. That is mostly what Exile is to me. Some of the other songs have grown life memories of their own, but this track, actually it is more just a "groove" is firmly stuck at the lake in my mind.

To me this groove feels like hot weather, warm sun, blue skies, summer breeze, cold beer, water skiing until we were worn out and then just hanging out on the speedboat, drifting around doing nothing but smiling ya ya ya... fine,fine,fine seeing the warm sun glisten on my beautiful long term girlfriend(long gone now). Listening to this track brings back vivid memories of her standing on the small front part of the boat slow dancing while this groove played... sipping my cold beer and loving life. I can still see her moving to this groove, like a movie in my head, it is just that kind of groovytrack. ya ya ya.... fine,fine,fine... ya ya ya... fine,fine,fine... ya ya ya... ya ya ya... fine,fine,fine...


Can we get that time machine working already?

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71Tele

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Rockman
4 Exile On Main St. by Rolling Stones (Rolling Stones Records) 1972X

'I Just Want To See His Face' - that song had a big impact on me, particularly learning how to sing in that high falsetto, the way Jagger does. When he sings like a girl, I go crazy. I said, 'I've got to learn how to do that.' I couldn't really do it until I stopped smoking. That's when it started getting easier to do. [Waits's own] 'Shore Leave' has that, 'All Stripped Down', 'Temptation'. Nobody does it like Mick Jagger; nobody does it like Prince. But this is just a tree of life. This record is the watering hole. Keith Richards plays his ass off. This has the Checkerboard Lounge all over it.

Tom Waits ---- It's Perfect Madness -- The Observer. March 20, 2005

And who better to know than Tom? People who don't like Exile because it doesn't have "hits" or has a "muddy" mix are missing the whole juke joint atmosphere and gritty, twangy Southern swamp that I am convinced is the closest thing to what the Stones heard in their heads than any other record they have done. Exile is juke joints, pool halls, black churches, sweating dancers, whiskey in a cup, and a blade hidden in the sock. If someone doesn't get Exile I am sure they also don't get Howling Wolf or Tom Waits either. Probably prefer boring "rock" music - which Exile certainly isn't. Tom knows his shit, man.

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andrewt
The moment when Ventilator Blues fades into Just Wanna See His Face is like being drawn through a vortex into a strange and mystical world.

To go from the dark heart of human nature into gospel like that is a stone cold trip.


You don't wanna walk and talk about Taylor, just wanna hear him play...