EXILE ON MAIN STREET



Recorded:

June 16-July 27, 1970: Olympic Sound Studios, London, England
October 17-31, 1970: Rolling Stones Mobile Unit, Mick Jagger's home Stargroves, Newbury & Olympic Sound Studios, London, England
July 10-late July 1971: Rolling Stones Mobile Unit, Keith Richards' home Nellcôte, Villefranche-sur-mer, France
October 14-November 23, 1971: Rolling Stones Mobile Unit, Keith Richards' home Nellcôte, Villefranche-sur-mer, France
December 4-19, 1971: Sunset Sound Studios, Los Angeles, USA

Overdubbed & mixed:

November 30-December 19, 1971: Sunset Sound Studios, Los Angeles, USA
January 10-late January 1971: Sunset Sound Studios, Los Angeles, USA
February 15-March 1971: Sunset Sound Studios, Los Angeles, USA
March 24-25, 1972: Wally Heider Studios, Los Angeles, USA

Producer: Jimmy Miller
Chief engineers: Glyn Johns, Andy Johns & Joe Zagarino
Released: May 1972
Original label: Rolling Stones Records (on WEA)

Contributing musicians:

Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, Mick Taylor, Nicky Hopkins, Ian Stewart, Bobby Keys, Jim Price, Bill Plummer, Billy Preston, Jimmy Miller, Al Perkins, Richard "Didymus" Washington ("Amyl Nitrate" ), Clydie King, Venetta Fields, Sherlie Matthews, Jesse Kirkland, Joe Green, Dr. John (Mac Rebennack), Tamiya Lynn, Kathi McDonald.


Rocks Off
Rip This Joint
Shake Your Hips
Casino Boogie
Tumbling Dice
Sweet Virginia
Torn and Frayed
Sweet Black Angel
Loving Cup
Happy
Turd on the Run
Ventilator Blues
I Just Want to See His Face
Let It Loose
All Down the Line
Stop Breaking Down
Shine a Light
Soul Survivor

What are your thoughts on this album?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-26 13:03 by DandelionPowderman.

Often over looked and underrated... Oh wait. That is a different album.


DandelionPowderman we miss you! What do you think of "Trouble"?

I think EOMS is all right. It was 8 seconds into the first playing of rocks off that I realized that my life was Changing.

Is their most american/blues album.
Perfect as Let It Bleed.
Love Stop breakin' down here.

The peak of their producing and the manifestation of Rhythm and Blues. Never before and after they were nearer at their quintessense and more authentic. Rougher and more simple in the arrangement than Sticky Fingers, Mick Taylor restrains his virtuosity, but never this album would have been brought to light without his influence.

I don´t know why this album is so highly praised. There are better Stones-albums before and after it. It is nice indeed, but too long. So at times it gets a bit boring, since some songs are very average. And it has too much horns on it.

To make this album a REAL GREAT ONE you have to remove Shake Your Hips, Casino Boogie, Sweet Black Angel, Turd On The Run, Ventilator Blues and Just Want To See His Face. In the best case these are classic b-sides that should not surface on an album. Mabey Soul Survivor should be excluded too, I´m not sure.

The remaining songs are without doubt outstanding highlights in their career. The Bonus-CD of the Deluxe-Version is really poor, most of the songs on it are not worth to be released. I was really disappointed at first hearing. Never gave them a second chance, it would only be a waste of time. On the other hand, the Bonus-CD that comes with Some Girls is almost better than the original album. But that is another story.

If Exile was a single LP, it would be my second-best loved Stones record. Exile contains at least the maybe best ballads they have ever written: Sweet Virginia, Let It Loose & Shine A Light. Real gems all of them, equalled only by Memory Motel and Losing My Touch.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-26 13:58 by HMS.

Well I did like Exile very much. It was like four single-sided albums - hopefully something for everyone. It wasn't really meant to be played all at once.

Mick Jagger, 1978



ROCKMAN

My favourite album. It is perfect as it is, no song should be taken out (and neither, here I agree with HMS, should any song have been added when they did the deluxe version).
It's the album I listen to most, it never tires.

My go-to album. Never get tired of it. The band on top of their game.

A great album that will always create these marvelous debates about fillers, preferences and wheather it should be a single or double album. For me it´s the fact that it is double that gives the album its scope, depth and atmosphere.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-26 15:37 by RobberBride.

Best album ever recorded.

As good as it gets

Perfection in every way. This would be my desert island album. Not a bad song on it, the Stones at the top of their game. The whole recording is soaked in booze and pills and powders with a sprinkling of sex....just how Rock n Roll should be made.

Quote
RobertJohnson
The peak of their producing and the manifestation of Rhythm and Blues. Never before and after they were nearer at their quintessense and more authentic. Rougher and more simple in the arrangement than Sticky Fingers, Mick Taylor restrains his virtuosity, but never this album would have been brought to light without his influence.

This suggests the album wouldn't have been made or at least released had Taylor not been present.

I'm curious as to what you mean by this: perhaps that without Taylor the band wouldn't have been in existence; they wouldn't have released an album in 1972; they would have produced something so dissimilar to this album that the two products wouldn't be comparable...?

I'm intrigued by your use of the phrase 'brought to light' (revealed, shown).

.....

Olly.

Underrated by many critics and rock-fans alike, though overrated by some fans of the Rolling Stones. Of course, it's a very, very fine album - one of the best, in my opinion - yet, I do prefer the three studio-albums that precede it; Let It Bleed, especially.

My favorite Stones album! It's the best tribute to rock and roll!

I got better albums....

2 1 2 0

Holy Grail. If you don't agree, don't argue, my mind won't be changed, period.

Quote
HMS
I don´t know why this album is so highly praised. There are better Stones-albums before and after it. It is nice indeed, but too long. So at times it gets a bit boring, since some songs are very average. And it has too much horns on it.

To make this album a REAL GREAT ONE you have to remove Shake Your Hips, Casino Boogie, Sweet Black Angel, Turd On The Run, Ventilator Blues and Just Want To See His Face. In the best case these are classic b-sides that should not surface on an album. Mabey Soul Survivor should be excluded too, I´m not sure.

The remaining songs are without doubt outstanding highlights in their career. The Bonus-CD of the Deluxe-Version is really poor, most of the songs on it are not worth to be released. I was really disappointed at first hearing. Never gave them a second chance, it would only be a waste of time. On the other hand, the Bonus-CD that comes with Some Girls is almost better than the original album. But that is another story.

If Exile was a single LP, it would be my second-best loved Stones record. Exile contains at least the maybe best ballads they have ever written: Sweet Virginia, Let It Loose & Shine A Light. Real gems all of them, equalled only by Memory Motel and Losing My Touch.

The day you start to dig Just Wanna See His Face, is the day you'll get it.

Simply a fabulous, legendary and classic album! This album has such a broad musical and unique sound. I rarely skip a song on this album, it's one musical journey.

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Thrylan
The day you start to dig Just Wanna See His Face, is the day you'll get it.

Maybe not even the Stones dig Just Wanna See His Face

I'm one of those who didn't get it when I first heard it. Actually checked it out from my high school library and brought it back the next day after a disappointing first listen.

Since then I totally get it. I wasn't the slightest bit influenced by other peoples reviews but as I started to hear more of this record that everybody I knew had, I started to like it more. In fact I probably like it more now than I ever did.

It's been discussed to death but the fuse on this record is so long I'm still wondering if the final charge has gone off.

I also think this was the last real genius we got of Keith and that it was very much his baby musically. Sure he has written a couple of gems since then but nothing compares to these days when he was the de facto musical boss and everything he touched was golden.

Quote
Naturalust
I'm one of those who didn't get it when I first heard it. Actually checked it out from my high school library and brought it back the next day after a disappointing first listen.

Since then I totally get it. I wasn't the slightest bit influenced by other peoples reviews but as I started to hear more of this record that everybody I knew had, I started to like it more. In fact I probably like it more now than I ever did.

It's been discussed to death but the fuse on this record is so long I'm still wondering if the final charge has gone off.

I also think this was the last real genius we got of Keith and that it was very much his baby musically. Sure he has written a couple of gems since then but nothing compares to these days when he was the de facto musical boss and everything he touched was golden.

More than a couple, Naturalust, surely...

.....

Olly.

Quote
Naturalust
I'm one of those who didn't get it when I first heard it.

Same here. Short story: I was 15 years old when I got a cassette with the (almost) entire record, but at that time I only knew their greatest hits, so when I first heard it I thought "what the heck?!?". It took me some years to fully enjoy this record, and nowadays even Pussy Galore's 1986 version sounds fine to me, on occasion.

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Olly

Quote
RobertJohnson
The peak of their producing and the manifestation of Rhythm and Blues. Never before and after they were nearer at their quintessense and more authentic. Rougher and more simple in the arrangement than Sticky Fingers, Mick Taylor restrains his virtuosity, but never this album would have been brought to light without his influence.

This suggests the album wouldn't have been made or at least released had Taylor not been present.

I'm curious as to what you mean by this: perhaps that without Taylor the band wouldn't have been in existence; they wouldn't have released an album in 1972; they would have produced something so dissimilar to this album that the two products wouldn't be comparable...?

I'm intrigued by your use of the phrase 'brought to light' (revealed, shown).

I mean that Mick Taylor was deeply influenced by his membership in John Mayall's Blues band. So he reinforced the tendency to the Blues, which took place in the band again from Beggars Banquet onwards. So Exile becomes an album without any commercial compromise. I doubt that this anticommercial radicalness would have been possible without the second Mick. Please, bear in mind that in 72 the Stones were the undisputed number one in the world of music. Thus there was a massive temptation to go on the safe side in producing some mechantable average.

"bring sth. to light". Yes, in the sense of revealing or to make a manifestation. Maybe it is a little bit German English ...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-27 22:44 by RobertJohnson.

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HMS

Quote
Thrylan
The day you start to dig Just Wanna See His Face, is the day you'll get it.

Maybe not even the Stones dig Just Wanna See His Face

It's my best metaphor for the whole thing- to most, it is the most inaccessible track. I like others skipped around the 4 sides a lot for awhile. Then it happened, I was probably stoned, and wham! I realize I am groovin like a Mofo to this and other deeper cuts. Then you start picking up on the nuances- The way TD rls, and sort of "summarizes" the first side......etc.

One of their best-if not the best- studio album they recorded, especially when I'm a bit drunk.

Yes Dande what do you think of Trouble and how do you have the the willpower not to join in to our bikkering lol. Your missing all the fun

But seriously Exile is a master piece, its the blueprint of classic Rock as it should be IMHO
AS much as i love it, it comes third best to me after Sticky Fingers and Tattoo You. Cheers buddy

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Thrylan

Quote
HMS

Quote
Thrylan
The day you start to dig Just Wanna See His Face, is the day you'll get it.

Maybe not even the Stones dig Just Wanna See His Face

It's my best metaphor for the whole thing- to most, it is the most inaccessible track. I like others skipped around the 4 sides a lot for awhile. Then it happened, I was probably stoned, and wham! I realize I am groovin like a Mofo to this and other deeper cuts. Then you start picking up on the nuances- The way TD rls, and sort of "summarizes" the first side......etc.

it is the turning point brilliant observation.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-27 01:26 by DoomandGloom.

I didn't even listen to it when it first came out and I'm glad for that because I wouldn't have gotten it back then. I think most people need some life experience before they can truly appreciate the brilliance of Exile on Main Street...and that's my humble opinion.

Exile and blood on the tracks 2 albums that never grow old love them both!

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DandelionPowderman
EXILE ON MAIN STREET

Recorded:

June 16-July 27, 1970: Olympic Sound Studios, London, England
October 17-31, 1970: Rolling Stones Mobile Unit, Mick Jagger's home Stargroves, Newbury & Olympic Sound Studios, London, England
July 10-late July 1971: Rolling Stones Mobile Unit, Keith Richards' home Nellcôte, Villefranche-sur-mer, France
October 14-November 23, 1971: Rolling Stones Mobile Unit, Keith Richards' home Nellcôte, Villefranche-sur-mer, France
December 4-19, 1971: Sunset Sound Studios, Los Angeles, USA

Overdubbed & mixed:

November 30-December 19, 1971: Sunset Sound Studios, Los Angeles, USA
January 10-late January 1971: Sunset Sound Studios, Los Angeles, USA
February 15-March 1971: Sunset Sound Studios, Los Angeles, USA
March 24-25, 1972: Wally Heider Studios, Los Angeles, USA

Producer: Jimmy Miller
Chief engineers: Glyn Johns, Andy Johns & Joe Zagarino
Released: May 1972
Original label: Rolling Stones Records (on WEA)

Somehow you left out 1969 (Shine A Light, Let It Loose, So Divine, Loving Cup, All Down The Line)...