Inspired by the thread about The Beatles White Album Gutted: Not that I have ANY complaints about Exile On Main Street in it's entirety, I thought this might be fun. Some critics have complained that Exile suffered from being a double album and that it would be super killer if whittled down to single LP length. Hmmm...How to choose which songs would survive the cut to make a great single LP out of Exile. I'm sure I'll want to change my list within seconds of doing this but let's give it a bash....

1 - Rocks Off
2 - Rip This Joint
3 - Casino Boogie
4 - Tumbling Dice
5 - Happy
6 - Torn and Frayed
7 - Ventilator Blues
8 - Shine A Light
9 - Stop Breaking Down
10 - All Down The Line

That was not easy....I'd be curious to hear other's whittled down lists...just for fun...

Too hard...I like it too much the way it was..

In fact i miss not having it on Lp as i got into
the mood to play side 2 of the 2nd lp
or side 1 of the 1st lp...

Good luck picking...haha..

Rocks Off
Rip This Joint
Tumbling Dice
Sweet Black Angel
Loving Cup
Happy
All Down The Line
Let It Loose
Ventilator Blues
Shine A Light

EDIT:... No, it has to be 11 songs on: Sweet Virginia



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-02-10 17:02 by DandelionPowderman.

Impossible. You can't cut off half of the Mona Lisa either.

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DandelionPowderman
Rocks Off
Rip This Joint
Tumbling Dice
Sweet Black Angel
Loving Cup
Happy
All Down The Line
Let It Loose
Ventilator Blues
Shine A Light

EDIT:... No, it has to be 11 songs on: Sweet Virginia

Good list!

I would include "I Need You" as a bonus track

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stonesdan60

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DandelionPowderman
Rocks Off
Rip This Joint
Tumbling Dice
Sweet Black Angel
Loving Cup
Happy
All Down The Line
Let It Loose
Ventilator Blues
Shine A Light

EDIT:... No, it has to be 11 songs on: Sweet Virginia

Good list!

Likewise!

Why not just an EP ?

it should have never been released, thus preserving it as the greatest lost album of all-time.

For every double album, I think, there's a lot of people saying it should have been a single LP. Exile is no exception, though I believe 99% of the people here on IORR love it exactly for what it is. I for one think it's perfect, possibly the Stones best and most well assembled bunch of songs. Excellent balance between variation and coherence.

Since they made every side almost like an album of its own, you could easily make a single LP out of just side 1 + 2. The other two sides would be a little less commercial, perhaps, but they'd work as a single album as well.

Rocks Off
Rip This Joint
Casino Boogie
Tumbling Dice
Happy
Turd On The Run
Ventilator Blues
Let It Loose
All Down The Line
Soul Survivor

The 5 ABCKO Music songs would go on Sticky Fingers since some of them were recorded for that album's sessions and that's what the copyright is for (Shine A Light, Sweet Virginia, Stop Breaking Down and Torn And Frayed and for that matter Loving Cup).

Rocks Off
Tumbling Dice
Happy
Sweet Viginia
Let It Loose
All Down The Line
Soul Survivor
Loving Cup
Rip This Joint
Stop Breaking Down
Shine A Light

B sides
Following The River
Plundered My Soul

Yes, let's settle for only 50% of one of the greatest albums anyone ever produced in rock & roll. Brilliant.

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71Tele
Yes, let's settle for only 50% of one of the greatest albums anyone ever produced in rock & roll. Brilliant.

It's interesting to listen to it without the songs on it that were recorded for Sticky Fingers and included in the tracks for SF - which makes SF even longer and better.

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WeLoveToPlayTheBlues

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71Tele
Yes, let's settle for only 50% of one of the greatest albums anyone ever produced in rock & roll. Brilliant.

It's interesting to listen to it without the songs on it that were recorded for Sticky Fingers and included in the tracks for SF - which makes SF even longer and better.

Haha, 71Tele nailed it.
But yeah, it could be an interesting geeky experiment (for people with too much spare time) to make a "Nellcote only" kind of album. But I don't think it would be all that good anyway.

Too hard to do, I see your point though.

Less is more?

"How can less be more? More is more!" --Yngwie Malmsteen

lol

This could be a single album and still be considered one of their greatest.

01 Rocks Off
02 Tumbling Dice
03 Sweet Virginia
04 Torn and Frayed
05 Loving Cup
06 Happy
07 Ventilator Blues
08 Let It Loose
09 All Down the Line
10 Shine a Light

Yeah 71Tele did nail it for sure! But I got The White Album down to 12 songs, so...

Rocks Off
Rip This Joint
Tumbling Dice
Torn and Frayed
Loving Cup

All Down the Line
Stop Breaking Down
Shine a Light
Soul Survivor
Let It Loose

(No "Happy" here, Keith Vocals are always the first to go when cutting back...)

[thepowergoats.com]

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jamesfdouglas
Yeah 71Tele did nail it for sure! But I got The White Album down to 12 songs, so...

Rocks Off
Rip This Joint
Tumbling Dice
Torn and Frayed
Loving Cup

All Down the Line
Stop Breaking Down
Shine a Light
Soul Survivor
Let It Loose

(No "Happy" here, Keith Vocals are always the first to go when cutting back...)

Them's are fighting words

The White Album can easily be reduced to a single album, but not Exile. The suggestions above show it. The sketch-like magical tracks like Shake Your Hips and Just Want to See Your Face are gone - I think the result would be that Exile wouldn't have been seen as one of the big four. The greatness og Exile is primarily the overwhelming totallity, and not the singular tracks. BB, LIB and SF are stronger according to standout tracks. And Exile would be judge on that if it was reduced. If the meat was cut and only the bones were left.

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Koen
Impossible. You can't cut off half of the Mona Lisa either.

you could actually...the body is ok, but the face isn't much to look at.

Here it goes , 1 Rocks off ( a mandatory start ) 2 Tumbling Dice 3 Sweet Vagina 4 Torn and Frayed 5 Shine A Light SIDE 2 1 . Happy 2. Rip This Joint 3 . Ventilator Blues 4 Sweet Black Angel 5 Casino Boogie 6 All Down The Line ( with an extended ending ) Now thaT WOULD BE A list but I love the album just as it is and besides with MP3 and Ipods you can make it your own , thank you Steve Jobs .

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71Tele
Yes, let's settle for only 50% of one of the greatest albums anyone ever produced in rock & roll. Brilliant.

Ya kinda missed my point. I'm totally opposed to taking ANYTHING away from Exile. I was just wondering just for fun, what tracks people would choose if they HAD to whittle it down to a single LP length. Just curious what people's faves were. I would never propose actually DOING such a thing to Exile. It's perfect as is!

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stonesdan60

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71Tele
Yes, let's settle for only 50% of one of the greatest albums anyone ever produced in rock & roll. Brilliant.

Ya kinda missed my point. I'm totally opposed to taking ANYTHING away from Exile. I was just wondering just for fun, what tracks people would choose if they HAD to whittle it down to a single LP length. Just curious what people's faves were. I would never propose actually DOING such a thing to Exile. It's perfect as is!

EXILE ON MAIN STREET is primarily a vibe, as opposed to just really great individual songs. The songs in a sense fit together like a jigsaw, and when any number are taken away, the album begins to lose its unique spirit. Some songs can be considered great, perhaps, on their own terms in a more conventional sense - eg, 'Tumbling Dice', 'Happy' etc, while others display a less commercially accessible approach like 'Casino Boogie', I Just Want To See His Face', and 'Ventilator Blues', yet in a sense they are all equally vital to contributing to EXILE'S greatness. To truly appreciate the greatness of EXILE it really is best not to judge the individual tracks in terms of how conventionally well they stand up as songs, because that's not really what EXILE is all about. I find the sentiment within the title of this thread severely misguided.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-02-10 20:45 by Edward Twining.

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kittypoo
Here it goes , 1 Rocks off ( a mandatory start ) 2 Tumbling Dice 3 Sweet Vagina 4 Torn and Frayed 5 Shine A Light SIDE 2 1 . Happy 2. Rip This Joint 3 . Ventilator Blues 4 Sweet Black Angel 5 Casino Boogie 6 All Down The Line ( with an extended ending ) Now thaT WOULD BE A list but I love the album just as it is and besides with MP3 and Ipods you can make it your own , thank you Steve Jobs .

interesting pussypoo, I mean kittypoo

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stonesdan60

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71Tele
Yes, let's settle for only 50% of one of the greatest albums anyone ever produced in rock & roll. Brilliant.

Ya kinda missed my point. I'm totally opposed to taking ANYTHING away from Exile. I was just wondering just for fun, what tracks people would choose if they HAD to whittle it down to a single LP length. Just curious what people's faves were. I would never propose actually DOING such a thing to Exile. It's perfect as is!

I know, but cutting Exile in half misses the point of Exile. It is a "vibe" album, as was stated above.

blasphemy and sacrilege

It's not really necessary to cut it down THAT far. It was already short for a double LP. It's really about 3 sides worth of music, but since you probably don't want a blank side it is spread out. An LP can hold 25 minutes a side without compromising sound quality, so I tried to get Exile down to 50 minutes. I cut 4 songs (Casino Boogie, Turd On The Run, I Just Want To See His Face, Soul Survivor) which I could live without but wouldn't want to, but was still running at about 54 minutes. At that point I could not make any decision on what to sacrifice. Everything left seems TOO vital to the record. So I'm going to pussy out on this game.

Of course some Beatles fans probably felt the same way about the White Album, but I don't like a bunch of songs on that one, so I had no problem shrinking it down, although I understand that even the songs I'm not fond of are part of what makes it a great overall album. But I just can't make up my mind on this.