Still one of their best songs as far as I am concerned ... love it!

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TravelinMan

Between Keith and Mick Taylor who is playing what parts. My take is Keith the repeating riff. Keith slide/bottleneck. (Ry Cooder - I took him for what I could get)

MT finally joins in (overdubbed), in the last 60 seconds.

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triceratops

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TravelinMan

Between Keith and Mick Taylor who is playing what parts. My take is Keith the repeating riff. Keith slide/bottleneck. (Ry Cooder - I took him for what I could get)

MT finally joins in (overdubbed), in the last 60 seconds.

It's hard to say for sure, except I believe Richards is playing the looping riff in the left channel (because that's what he did live) and the slide down the middle sounds like him as well.

The acoustic and/or the other slide in the right channel could be Taylor from the basic track, but it could easily be Richards overdubbing both. Taylor played a different counter-rhythm live and then went into more melodic playing.

I think the only time I've heard Taylor play the riff straight ahead (around 3:33) is this version with the late Barry Goldberg:





BTW this is from an excellent record and I encourage you all to check it out if you haven't already. Barry Goldberg played with Mike Bloomfield, Charlie Musselwhite, Harvey Mandel, and other Chicago blues artists from that later generation.

And let's not forget how "Ventilator Blues" bleeds into "Just Wanna See His Face" on the Exile album. When you list to the song on vinyl, there isn't a break between "Ventilator" and "Just Wanna." I always think of these two songs as two movements in the same piece.

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Pietro
And let's not forget how "Ventilator Blues" bleeds into "Just Wanna See His Face" on the Exile album. When you list to the song on vinyl, there isn't a break between "Ventilator" and "Just Wanna." I always think of these two songs as two movements in the same piece.

Oh I'll never forget that they made those two songs bleed together and make having Ventilator Blues not useable for any kind of playlist. Can't believe they didn't think of such a thing when mastering the album.

Mix tape, certainly - it can be faded out before the noise starts. Or some kind of whatever digital work station can fade out before the noise for one's very own playlist or burning a CD.

The run by Taylor at the end is awesome

A fantastic muddy, grimy song. If any song catches the humid tension of that basement in Nellcote this is it for me. Exile, over the years, has risen to my favourite album...it's just sensational.

My introduction to it was not a smooth love at first hearing. It was 1974 and I used to purchase albums from a small second hand record shop in a small town in the north of England. I only had my weekly spend that my mum and dad gave me and it would take me 5 weeks to save enough to buy an album new. So I frequented this little shop and bought them second hand at a knock down price.

The guy who ran the shop used to sit up against his heater chain smoking, the air was always thick with smoke from him and the other customers who like me perused the boxes of albums looking for a bargain. He got to know me and it was him who recommended Exile to me, He had a virtuallky new copy which still had the postcards inside...I handed over my money and trusted his judgment, he'd never let me down before.

I cycled home with the record shove up the front of my coat and with massive expectation put it on my record player. Now, up to this point I was playing Get Yer Ya Yas out, Let It bleed and Sticky Fingers so given this mans huge praise for Exile I was ready to have my tiny mind blown.

To cut it short, I was disappointed, I tried the first few songs, it didn't grab me at all, I skipped though the four sides and only found Tumbling Dice enjoyable. So the next day I went back to the shop and told him I'd played it and wasn't for me and could I switch it for something else. He said of course, he even offered me my money back...but thankfully he gave me some great advice which has stuck with me through my life when it comes to music. He said take it back and listen a few times to all the songs...don't judge it against their previous records , judge as a stand alone.

I reluctantly did what he suggested and I kept playing it and slowly, I began to have a few more favourites and this continued for weeks and months and even years until it became my favourite stones record...it was the first time I'd come across the concept of a 'grower' in the musical sense...up until then I expected records to hit me straight away and I'd know whether I liked them or not.

Over the years this process has born many fantastic albums for me. Albums my younger self would have likely dismissed...and these are the records that often stick with you for life...Exile is a masterpiece and Ventilator Blues a classic song.

like ALL Stones tracks ....

Play five times before ya listen ......



ROCKMAN

Great story, Crumbling Mice.

I recall my dad—a Stones fanatic who turned 20 in May 1972—telling me he did not enjoy Exile upon his first listen either. He shared the sentiment that it sounded "muddy" or "lo-fi", as many other folks did. I think Sticky Fingers set an incredibly, actually impossibly high bar, and Exile doesn't have those clean hits. But Exile is an experience best enjoyed front to back.

Little Indian Girl really only needs playing half way through once before it is consigned to the rubbish bin of music. (sorry forgot to quote Rockman in this)





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026-06-08 14:39 by crumbling_mice.

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TravelinMan
Great story, Crumbling Mice.

I recall my dad—a Stones fanatic who turned 20 in May 1972—telling me he did not enjoy Exile upon his first listen either. He shared the sentiment that it sounded "muddy" or "lo-fi", as many other folks did. I think Sticky Fingers set an incredibly, actually impossibly high bar, and Exile doesn't have those clean hits. But Exile is an experience best enjoyed front to back.

That's absolutely my view, too.

I remember receiving the record as a Christmas gift and being much excited to hear, for the first time, this supposed masterpiece; at this point, I had only heard Tumbling Dice. Whilst a cranked-up Rocks Off had the desired effect, the rest of the album was - largely - met with a feeling of being somewhat underwhelmed; none of the other recordings particularly leaped-out at me, and I was left disappointed. In fact, it'd be a few years until I learned that the only way to truly unlock the greatness contained within, is to play the album from start-to-finish - which is still what I do today. So, whilst I do agree with many that this is indeed the Stones' finest work, I would be inclined to recommend Sticky Fingers as a more friendly introduction; in my opinion, Exile's predecessor is the most accessible, high quality, and concise collection of tracks they've ever released.

I received Exile on my 12th birthday, and I mainly remember that it was a 'sides' record -you played the side that you were in the mood for over and over. The acoustic side 2 was always the most popular, then side 1. Sides 3 and 4 were mixed listening's mostly at the time, with side 4 the least popular mainly due to Soul Survivor which to date I still find the least interesting track.

Mathijs

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Mathijs
I received Exile on my 12th birthday, and I mainly remember that it was a 'sides' record -you played the side that you were in the mood for over and over. The acoustic side 2 was always the most popular, then side 1. Sides 3 and 4 were mixed listening's mostly at the time, with side 4 the least popular mainly due to Soul Survivor which to date I still find the least interesting track.

Mathijs

That's interesting you feel that way about Soul Survivor, because there's something about that one that just doesn't do it for me either. I can't quite put my finger on it.