Hi all,
I am very interested in the story of Exile Main Street and have been reading up on various forums.

I would love to know which Stones were present at the LA Sunset Sound studios overdub sessions for Exile on Main Street?

It would be great to have some quoted sources and pics please rather than hear-say if possible!

Quote
FP
Hi all,
I am very interested in the story of Exile Main Street and have been reading up on various forums.

I would love to know which Stones were present at the LA Sunset Sound studios overdub sessions for Exile on Main Street?

It would be great to have some quoted sources and pics please rather than hear-say if possible!

This might help

[www.laweekly.com]

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RedRedRobin

Quote
FP
Hi all,
I am very interested in the story of Exile Main Street and have been reading up on various forums.

I would love to know which Stones were present at the LA Sunset Sound studios overdub sessions for Exile on Main Street?

It would be great to have some quoted sources and pics please rather than hear-say if possible!

This might help

[www.laweekly.com]

Lots of interesting little nuggets of info there, thanks for posting.

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northof49

Quote
RedRedRobin

Quote
FP
Hi all,
I am very interested in the story of Exile Main Street and have been reading up on various forums.

I would love to know which Stones were present at the LA Sunset Sound studios overdub sessions for Exile on Main Street?

It would be great to have some quoted sources and pics please rather than hear-say if possible!

This might help

[www.laweekly.com]

Lots of interesting little nuggets of info there, thanks for posting.

You’re welcome. I also like that article regarding the photos, artwork.

great article, tks

Quote
RedRedRobin

Quote
FP
Hi all,
I am very interested in the story of Exile Main Street and have been reading up on various forums.

I would love to know which Stones were present at the LA Sunset Sound studios overdub sessions for Exile on Main Street?

It would be great to have some quoted sources and pics please rather than hear-say if possible!

This might help

[www.laweekly.com]

Thanks for this look forward to reading it!

Nice article. So...Mick and Keith were the only Stones for the overdubs? I really miss the L.A. Weekly. It used to be thick, and would show up, for free, on Thursday afternoons. It carried great restaurant reviews and let you know what groups were appearing where, and other cultural goings on like film revivals. Now it's a sad, thin little throw away of ten pages or so.

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24FPS
So...Mick and Keith were the only Stones for the overdubs?

All five members were there, MJ and KR the most, with MT present at "most sessions", according to the woman organizing and booking for the band. BW and CW came "once, maybe twice" during the winter 71-72, staying "for a few weeks". (This matches what Wyman has told.) She does not recollect spesific tracks.

This is from the Nellcote Chronicles, an interview that was omitted. I will talk with her again soon, however, and hopefully get some more meat on the bone.

Quote
24FPS
Nice article. So...Mick and Keith were the only Stones for the overdubs? I really miss the L.A. Weekly. It used to be thick, and would show up, for free, on Thursday afternoons. It carried great restaurant reviews and let you know what groups were appearing where, and other cultural goings on like film revivals. Now it's a sad, thin little throw away of ten pages or so.

It is a good article. However, "Around 200 reels or so of 2-inch, 16-track tape from the Nellcôte Exile sessions were shipped back to the States for completion in L.A." is a bit ignorant considering tapes recorded at Olympic and Stargroves also make up the content of EXILE.

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RobberBride

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24FPS
So...Mick and Keith were the only Stones for the overdubs?

All five members were there, MJ and KR the most, with MT present at "most sessions", according to the woman organizing and booking for the band. BW and CW came "once, maybe twice" during the winter 71-72, staying "for a few weeks". (This matches what Wyman has told.) She does not recollect spesific tracks.

This is from the Nellcote Chronicles, an interview that was omitted. I will talk with her again soon, however, and hopefully get some more meat on the bone.

According to Taylor and his then wife Rose, Taylor hardly ever went to Sunset to record. In their own words, they stayed in bed for much of the day doing drugs. According to several people who were there (Wyman, Newman Jones) Taylor was very depressed during his stay in LA, staying in a small and very dark rented house, and he often spoke about leaving the Stones.

According to Wyman and Watts they were in LA for business meetings, not for recording. Wyman was disgruntled when he found out many of the bass tracks were done by other people and not him.

Mathijs

Travelin Man found an interview with Andy Johns who seems to imply Taylor was there and contributing.

"Mick Taylor in the studio in France or Sunset Sound was just a shining light"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022-06-20 19:49 by FP.

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RobberBride

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24FPS
So...Mick and Keith were the only Stones for the overdubs?

All five members were there, MJ and KR the most, with MT present at "most sessions", according to the woman organizing and booking for the band. BW and CW came "once, maybe twice" during the winter 71-72, staying "for a few weeks". (This matches what Wyman has told.) She does not recollect spesific tracks.

This is from the Nellcote Chronicles, an interview that was omitted. I will talk with her again soon, however, and hopefully get some more meat on the bone.

Excellent info, that would be great thanks!

Quote
24FPS
Nice article. So...Mick and Keith were the only Stones for the overdubs? I really miss the L.A. Weekly. It used to be thick, and would show up, for free, on Thursday afternoons. It carried great restaurant reviews and let you know what groups were appearing where, and other cultural goings on like film revivals. Now it's a sad, thin little throw away of ten pages or so.

I don't think the article implies only Mick and Keith were there? Great info but not clear who was there really

I am intrigued by this info to find out when Loving Cup was recorded then? I thought it was one of the Exile tracks completely recorded in LA rather than started in Nellcôte and finished at Sunset Sound (despite earlier alternate versions floating about). However everyone's info seems to suggest Charlie and Bill may have only been there briefly and possibly not contributed to the session?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022-06-20 20:03 by FP.

I understand Bill was absent from some sessions due to not wanting to hang around while Keith nodded out on junk until the wee hours. Still, it's a shame he isn't on more cuts. His playing on Rocks Off is incredible. And it sounds like Mick Taylor imitating him on Tumbling Dice.

At the time Jimmy Miller was not functioning properly. I had to finish the whole record myself, because otherwise there were just the drunks and junkies. I was in L.A. trying to finish the record, up against a deadline. It was a joke.
-Mick Jagger, 2003

Listen, if you believe Mick, you'll believe anything. Once again this is the difference between Mick and me. His recollection is quite honestly bullshit. The only things we did in L.A. were things like, you know, We need three chicks to sing back-up on Let It Loose. Or we need a fiddle player. I mean, just extras. You see, the reason Mick says that is because he doesn't think his vocals are loud enough. But lead vocalists never think their vocals are loud enough. I would never take Mick's recollection of anything seriously. If Mick says that we just took a load of 'grungy' stuff out of France, and really made the record in L.A., that's bullshit.
- Keith Richards, 2009

Not all the lyrics were written in a Nellcote environment. That doesn't mean they're not about Nellcote. But a lot of them were written later in L.A. and they don't reflect the Nellcote thing at all. A lot of them are about going on the road, which was actually what was going to happen next. With Tumbling Dice, there's an outtake I've found that has completely different lyrics. It wasn't until we got to L.A. that I rewrote them. The original lyrics were crap. So it was nothing to do with the original experience of recording the album, if you see what I mean.
- Mick Jagger, 2009

[timeisonourside.com]

Keith's petulant remarks came about the time he was finishing LIFE - not much different than when he had his first solo album coming out and he was tearing Mick down left and right about his "jerk off band" or whatever - because the deluxe reissue of EXILE didn't come out for almost another year (it would be interesting to get the full context of what he said - some of the quotes, like from 2003, are from the Rolling Stone magazine interview that year for the LICKS tour, as I recall).

He has such a bizarre attitude at times, very judgmental and biased. He's admitted he was a junkie but he hasn't ever embraced admitting it. It's just an excuse for his projection, which drowned in jealousy decades ago.

And as much as he slags Mick for saying whatever, Mick's always been quite clear that EXILE wasn't just recorded in France.

As noted by a lot of people over the years, Mick has never said a bad thing about Keith in regard to what Keith has said about Mick. Such a weird dichotomy. At least I think that's the right word.

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24FPS
I understand Bill was absent from some sessions due to not wanting to hang around while Keith nodded out on junk until the wee hours. Still, it's a shame he isn't on more cuts. His playing on Rocks Off is incredible. And it sounds like Mick Taylor imitating him on Tumbling Dice.

That was Nellcote and not Sunset Sound, presumably?

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GasLightStreet
At the time Jimmy Miller was not functioning properly. I had to finish the whole record myself, because otherwise there were just the drunks and junkies. I was in L.A. trying to finish the record, up against a deadline. It was a joke.
-Mick Jagger, 2003

Listen, if you believe Mick, you'll believe anything. Once again this is the difference between Mick and me. His recollection is quite honestly bullshit. The only things we did in L.A. were things like, you know, We need three chicks to sing back-up on Let It Loose. Or we need a fiddle player. I mean, just extras. You see, the reason Mick says that is because he doesn't think his vocals are loud enough. But lead vocalists never think their vocals are loud enough. I would never take Mick's recollection of anything seriously. If Mick says that we just took a load of 'grungy' stuff out of France, and really made the record in L.A., that's bullshit.
- Keith Richards, 2009

Not all the lyrics were written in a Nellcote environment. That doesn't mean they're not about Nellcote. But a lot of them were written later in L.A. and they don't reflect the Nellcote thing at all. A lot of them are about going on the road, which was actually what was going to happen next. With Tumbling Dice, there's an outtake I've found that has completely different lyrics. It wasn't until we got to L.A. that I rewrote them. The original lyrics were crap. So it was nothing to do with the original experience of recording the album, if you see what I mean.
- Mick Jagger, 2009

[timeisonourside.com]

Keith's petulant remarks came about the time he was finishing LIFE - not much different than when he had his first solo album coming out and he was tearing Mick down left and right about his "jerk off band" or whatever - because the deluxe reissue of EXILE didn't come out for almost another year (it would be interesting to get the full context of what he said - some of the quotes, like from 2003, are from the Rolling Stone magazine interview that year for the LICKS tour, as I recall).

He has such a bizarre attitude at times, very judgmental and biased. He's admitted he was a junkie but he hasn't ever embraced admitting it. It's just an excuse for his projection, which drowned in jealousy decades ago.

And as much as he slags Mick for saying whatever, Mick's always been quite clear that EXILE wasn't just recorded in France.

As noted by a lot of people over the years, Mick has never said a bad thing about Keith in regard to what Keith has said about Mick. Such a weird dichotomy. At least I think that's the right word.

Mick Jagger is the sole reason we still have the Stones. And in fact, I think that statement has been true since 1970. I love Keith, but you need to remember that he was effectively MIA for most of the 70s. He of course wrote great songs during that period but in terms of getting the Stones organised and active, you have to give full credit to Mick. And to be honest he has been the driving force all along. It’s the same as Paul
On the Beatles - as much as we all may love the other Beatles’ contributions, the only reason that we are hearing them at all is because of Paul.

Quote
GasLightStreet
At the time Jimmy Miller was not functioning properly. I had to finish the whole record myself, because otherwise there were just the drunks and junkies. I was in L.A. trying to finish the record, up against a deadline. It was a joke.
-Mick Jagger, 2003

Listen, if you believe Mick, you'll believe anything. Once again this is the difference between Mick and me. His recollection is quite honestly bullshit. The only things we did in L.A. were things like, you know, We need three chicks to sing back-up on Let It Loose. Or we need a fiddle player. I mean, just extras. You see, the reason Mick says that is because he doesn't think his vocals are loud enough. But lead vocalists never think their vocals are loud enough. I would never take Mick's recollection of anything seriously. If Mick says that we just took a load of 'grungy' stuff out of France, and really made the record in L.A., that's bullshit.
- Keith Richards, 2009

Not all the lyrics were written in a Nellcote environment. That doesn't mean they're not about Nellcote. But a lot of them were written later in L.A. and they don't reflect the Nellcote thing at all. A lot of them are about going on the road, which was actually what was going to happen next. With Tumbling Dice, there's an outtake I've found that has completely different lyrics. It wasn't until we got to L.A. that I rewrote them. The original lyrics were crap. So it was nothing to do with the original experience of recording the album, if you see what I mean.
- Mick Jagger, 2009

[timeisonourside.com]

Keith's petulant remarks came about the time he was finishing LIFE - not much different than when he had his first solo album coming out and he was tearing Mick down left and right about his "jerk off band" or whatever - because the deluxe reissue of EXILE didn't come out for almost another year (it would be interesting to get the full context of what he said - some of the quotes, like from 2003, are from the Rolling Stone magazine interview that year for the LICKS tour, as I recall).

He has such a bizarre attitude at times, very judgmental and biased. He's admitted he was a junkie but he hasn't ever embraced admitting it. It's just an excuse for his projection, which drowned in jealousy decades ago.

And as much as he slags Mick for saying whatever, Mick's always been quite clear that EXILE wasn't just recorded in France.

As noted by a lot of people over the years, Mick has never said a bad thing about Keith in regard to what Keith has said about Mick. Such a weird dichotomy. At least I think that's the right word.

In the olden days, before LIFE, it would be very irritating to hear those types of remarks coming from Keith. Now it's just an 'eyeroll' and you move on.

There's a lot of psychology going on there, clearly jealousy, maybe paranoia of Mick taking over 'his' band, and the 'never stop' attitude that is MJ which must have annoyed Keith to some extent.

Think of the amount of output/number of tours in the last 40 years if Mick hadn't been driving it. He's the leader and while Keith appreciates it on one level on another I'll bet it pisses him completely off.

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Mathijs

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RobberBride

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24FPS
So...Mick and Keith were the only Stones for the overdubs?

All five members were there, MJ and KR the most, with MT present at "most sessions", according to the woman organizing and booking for the band. BW and CW came "once, maybe twice" during the winter 71-72, staying "for a few weeks". (This matches what Wyman has told.) She does not recollect spesific tracks.

This is from the Nellcote Chronicles, an interview that was omitted. I will talk with her again soon, however, and hopefully get some more meat on the bone.

According to Taylor and his then wife Rose, Taylor hardly ever went to Sunset to record. In their own words, they stayed in bed for much of the day doing drugs. According to several people who were there (Wyman, Newman Jones) Taylor was very depressed during his stay in LA, staying in a small and very dark rented house, and he often spoke about leaving the Stones.

According to Wyman and Watts they were in LA for business meetings, not for recording. Wyman was disgruntled when he found out many of the bass tracks were done by other people and not him.

Mathijs

Hi Mathijs, do you have a link to interviews from MT or Rose about this please?

Quote
GasLightStreet
At the time Jimmy Miller was not functioning properly. I had to finish the whole record myself, because otherwise there were just the drunks and junkies. I was in L.A. trying to finish the record, up against a deadline. It was a joke.
-Mick Jagger, 2003

Listen, if you believe Mick, you'll believe anything. Once again this is the difference between Mick and me. His recollection is quite honestly bullshit. The only things we did in L.A. were things like, you know, We need three chicks to sing back-up on Let It Loose. Or we need a fiddle player. I mean, just extras. You see, the reason Mick says that is because he doesn't think his vocals are loud enough. But lead vocalists never think their vocals are loud enough. I would never take Mick's recollection of anything seriously. If Mick says that we just took a load of 'grungy' stuff out of France, and really made the record in L.A., that's bullshit.
- Keith Richards, 2009

Not all the lyrics were written in a Nellcote environment. That doesn't mean they're not about Nellcote. But a lot of them were written later in L.A. and they don't reflect the Nellcote thing at all. A lot of them are about going on the road, which was actually what was going to happen next. With Tumbling Dice, there's an outtake I've found that has completely different lyrics. It wasn't until we got to L.A. that I rewrote them. The original lyrics were crap. So it was nothing to do with the original experience of recording the album, if you see what I mean.
- Mick Jagger, 2009

[timeisonourside.com]

Keith's petulant remarks came about the time he was finishing LIFE - not much different than when he had his first solo album coming out and he was tearing Mick down left and right about his "jerk off band" or whatever - because the deluxe reissue of EXILE didn't come out for almost another year (it would be interesting to get the full context of what he said - some of the quotes, like from 2003, are from the Rolling Stone magazine interview that year for the LICKS tour, as I recall).

He has such a bizarre attitude at times, very judgmental and biased. He's admitted he was a junkie but he hasn't ever embraced admitting it. It's just an excuse for his projection, which drowned in jealousy decades ago.

And as much as he slags Mick for saying whatever, Mick's always been quite clear that EXILE wasn't just recorded in France.

As noted by a lot of people over the years, Mick has never said a bad thing about Keith in regard to what Keith has said about Mick. Such a weird dichotomy. At least I think that's the right word.

Great collection of quote, thanks for finding!

Hard to tell the truth really between what Mick and Keith both day, adds to the confusion

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FP
I am intrigued by this info to find out when Loving Cup was recorded then? I thought it was one of the Exile tracks completely recorded in LA rather than started in Nellcôte and finished at Sunset Sound (despite earlier alternate versions floating about). However everyone's info seems to suggest Charlie and Bill may have only been there briefly and possibly not contributed to the session?

To date it is for most tracks still difficult to really confirm where they were recorded. My personal best guess is"

Nellcote:

Rocks Off, Rip This Joint, Casino Boogie, Tumbling Dice, Happy, Turd on the Run, All Down the Line, Ventilator Blues, Soul Survivor

Olympic Studios:

Shake Your Hips, Sweet Virginia, Sweet Black Angel, Loving Cup, Torn and Frayed, I Just Wanna See His Face, Let it Loose, Stop Breaking Down, Shine A Light

If there is any distinction to be made it appears that what are considered more 'Keith' songs came from Nellcote and the more 'Mick' songs from Olympic.

Overdubs were done in LA, with session people like Billy Preston and especially Dr.John really important. I think Dr. John's influence and network of musicians is vital for the atmosphere of Exile -much of what we consider the 'Nellcote' vibe is more due to Dr. John than the tracks being recorded there.

Mathijs

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FP


Hi Mathijs, do you have a link to interviews from MT or Rose about this please?

I can hardly imagine that Taylor and his ex wives share their bedroom stories.

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TheflyingDutchman

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FP


Hi Mathijs, do you have a link to interviews from MT or Rose about this please?

I can hardly imagine that Taylor and his ex wives share their bedroom stories.

Some info they did gave, Taylor himself in interviews, Wyman in his books, Glyn Johns, Chris Kimsey, and Rose Millar has articles posted on her webpage 'Millenium 3 Music'. Although she comes across (at least to me...) as a religious fanatic, in between the lines the message is clear.

Mathijs

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Mathijs

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FP
I am intrigued by this info to find out when Loving Cup was recorded then? I thought it was one of the Exile tracks completely recorded in LA rather than started in Nellcôte and finished at Sunset Sound (despite earlier alternate versions floating about). However everyone's info seems to suggest Charlie and Bill may have only been there briefly and possibly not contributed to the session?

To date it is for most tracks still difficult to really confirm where they were recorded. My personal best guess is"

Nellcote:

Rocks Off, Rip This Joint, Casino Boogie, Tumbling Dice, Happy, Turd on the Run, All Down the Line, Ventilator Blues, Soul Survivor

Olympic Studios:

Shake Your Hips, Sweet Virginia, Sweet Black Angel, Loving Cup, Torn and Frayed, I Just Wanna See His Face, Let it Loose, Stop Breaking Down, Shine A Light

If there is any distinction to be made it appears that what are considered more 'Keith' songs came from Nellcote and the more 'Mick' songs from Olympic.

Overdubs were done in LA, with session people like Billy Preston and especially Dr.John really important. I think Dr. John's influence and network of musicians is vital for the atmosphere of Exile -much of what we consider the 'Nellcote' vibe is more due to Dr. John than the tracks being recorded there.

Mathijs

Thanks Mathijs,
So it looks likely that no songs were recorded completely from scratch in LA which is interesting. I have read many conflicting accounts, including people sayings entire tracks had to be rerecorded in LA. Sounds like actually a lot of the basic tracks were usable and then LA was mainly session overdubs. Thanks!

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FP
Thanks Mathijs,
So it looks likely that no songs were recorded completely from scratch in LA which is interesting. I have read many conflicting accounts, including people sayings entire tracks had to be rerecorded in LA. Sounds like actually a lot of the basic tracks were usable and then LA was mainly session overdubs. Thanks!

I myself have long believed they recorded entire tracks at Sunset, but it appears they didn't at all. Jimmy Miller stated in an interview (I believe in 1973) that for years they would record the music in Olympic and take the tapes to Sunset for vocal overdubs as Sunset was much better equipped for vocals recording. I think the first time since Beggars they recorded the entire band outside Europe is Jamaica in 1972, and then Nassau in 1979.

Mathijs

I too had thought that some tracks had been done entirely in LA. And now I also don't think so anymore. I base that on the remarks by people who were there; the same ones that have already been quoted. Also on the genesis of certain songs. E.g. we know that "Lovin Cup", and ADTL had been kicking around. "Virginia" had also been around.
'All Down the Line" is an interesting question. It is such a rocker; it was started before Nellcote. It has a Keithian feel. It stands to reason that they would have hit that one early on. Jagger is a fan of the song too. Yet - the sheer quality of the recording; the tightness of the Bass/Drums/ Rhythm guitar points to a more sophisticated studio setting.
'Stop Breakin Down' is another odd one out. No Keith; and a cover. Wonder when it got in there.

Edit - I just realized this has nothing to do with original question.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022-06-21 21:32 by Palace Revolution 2000.

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john lomax

Mick Jagger is the sole reason we still have the Stones. And in fact, I think that statement has been true since 1970. I love Keith, but you need to remember that he was effectively MIA for most of the 70s. He of course wrote great songs during that period but in terms of getting the Stones organised and active, you have to give full credit to Mick. And to be honest he has been the driving force all along. It’s the same as Paul
On the Beatles - as much as we all may love the other Beatles’ contributions, the only reason that we are hearing them at all is because of Paul.

I think that's overstating it. John, like Brian, was the fuse that ignited them to begin with. Brian fell away early, ceding to Mick. But John guided them through the first half of the Beatles. I think his drug use made him less aggressive and Paul took over a spot John was no longer interested in.

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john lomax


Mick Jagger is the sole reason we still have the Stones. And in fact, I think that statement has been true since 1970. I love Keith, but you need to remember that he was effectively MIA for most of the 70s. He of course wrote great songs during that period but in terms of getting the Stones organised and active, you have to give full credit to Mick.

I'd venture say that if Mick had had enough of the stones in the mid-70's and had gone solo, Keith would have started a solo band and... he would have probably ended up like Johnny Thunders (broke, dead from OD in a seedy hotel room in the middle of nowhere).
Keith knows very well what he owes Mick, hence the never-ending ressentment.

(sorry about being so OT).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022-06-21 23:18 by dcba.

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FP
Hard to tell the truth really between what Mick and Keith both day, adds to the confusion

From what I've seen over the years, while Mick is often reluctant to say anything substantive in interviews, when he does cough up information it's generally pretty close to what actually happened.

My impression is that Keith is only reliable in a general sense. If he describes a fistfight in the studio, you can probably safely assume that there was some sort of disagreement between the parties under discussion at roughly the point in time in question, perhaps even in the same city where the studio was located.