Exile on Main St.

I'm a complete retard, but I never really enjoyed this record. Too murky (?) and plodding. I mean, I can understand why it's considered a classic, but, sometimes, I dislike it when I have to read the explanation to understand a record's (or any artwork's) greatness. I just can't find anything of myself in it and hence I lost interest. Then again, this is coming from someone who things that David Bowie did his best stuff before he turned glam. (Half-jokingly said.)

"Rocks Off" one of the best album-opening tracks anywhere

the murkiness & sprawl of EOMS will either put you off (cf.Nath) or pull you in. don't listen to the stones much but if somebody put a gun to my head and demanded that I pick 1 album to have on a desert island (haha) this could be it -- something to get lost inside for years.

if the stones weren't such burnouts & venal hacks maybe they'd reunite w/mick taylor and play this album live a la SY & Daydream Nation.

I think the listening experience is what put me off. I should have sat in a dark room, with headphones on, instead of casually listening to this on a sunny day. I do like Rocks Off. I remember liking particular songs, but the rockist in me tried so hard to like the ENTIRE album as a cohesive entity, instead of just letting it grow on me. So I gave up and cast it aside and played Under My Thumb ad nauseam.

it's not my favourite stones album, probably, but amazingly, i can't think of a single song from it i don't like (i can't say that about many albums in general and definitely can't say it about any other double LPs). even a so-called lesser track like "Casino Boogie" is pretty great. i have my definite faves from the album ("Rocks Off" and "Loving Cup" especially), but it's always an enjoyable listen from start to finish (not that I really have the desire to do that anymore--but back in college...).

Building on what John said, "Rocks Off" and and "Rip This Joint" are collectively the best start to an album I've ever heard. Only ones that come close are Who's Next, Enter the Wu, Highway 61 and Sgt. Peppers.

My fave Stones record is Sticky Fingers ... Mick Taylor kills on that record. Jagger/Richard at their finest as songwriters.

i really like it, but a lot of the time when i have an inkling to listen to it, i chicken out and default to 'sticky fingers' or 'beggars banquet' or even 'tattoo you'. really, truly sprawling and ambitious with mostly positive and compelling results. i admire and love the fact that it exists, i just don't play it that often, and when i do i'll invariably spin just a few cuts

it's been said often, but it can't be said enough: you have to live with this album for a few months or years. The mix is the most obvious hindrance, but now I see it as the necessary correlative to Jagger's most ambivalent lyrics and Taylor-Richards' most gnarled guitar lines. Like lots of people on this thread, I don't play it often, yet it's always with pleasure, and I always hear a line or two previously unintelligible (like "Judge and jury walked out hand in hand" on "Casino Boogie") or find new pleasure in seeming throwaways like "Turd On The Run." And "Soul Survivor" says more about the price of decadence than anything on Goats' Head Soup or It's Only Rock & Roll.

the recording lets you visualize the room they were in, somehow, some dank miserable rotting place, shadows shifting in the background.. you never quite know who's in the room, who's going to pipe up out of nowhere, or inject someone else silently, make 'em yelp

I've been listening to this a lot in the 18 months. Usually side two first. "Happy" is my favorite Keith song. I like it just about anytime. I prefer it to people some saturdays.

I always wanna dismiss this one and never can, because as others have already pointed out, it just slays from top to bottom. It never feels like it will, but it always does.

My fave Stones: Let It Bleed, easily and by far, that's the one I'm always reaching for, but Exile will always do in a pinch, though I'd put Beggars Banquet slightly ahead of it too. Never have been able to get into Sticky Fingers for some reason though I adore "Sway" and "Brown Sugar" and "Dead Flowers."

Fave Exile moments: pick-slide right before the drum roll at the top of "Rocks Off." The entirety of "Just Wanna See His Face," best proto-ambient evah. The lusty way Mick sings "I'm the man on the mountain/Come on up," and the way he cuts off "up" while the background singers extend it. The way "All Down the Line" seems to summarize everything that's already happened, then up the momentum. "Got to roll me" over and over followed by concussive Charlie fill. Acres more.

The drumming on this album is like a masterclass; it cuts through as much murk as they pile on, every time.

Watts' work on "Casino Boogie" and "Tumbling Dice" = best ever.

I owned this album for a few years before I was able to hear it all the way through. My ears would switch off right around "Loving Cup". I had bought the album specifically for that track because it was a Phish concert staple, but it also corresponds to the end of the first disc on the lp, so it's no wonder my ears were full.

It's a shame, because "Let it Loose" through "Soul Survivor" is a monstrous block of songs. I finally listened to the album all the way through on a long bus ride and was completely floored at the energy and emotion behind it. I could probably leave behind the rest of side 3, but "Let It Loose" + side 4 is one of my favorite stretches of rock ever.

The Janovitz book in the "33 1/3" series on this book is so excellent, he really does a good job of LISTENING to this record and pointing out the performances that matter. He takes a sprawling record and makes sense of it, one of the few in the series that made me want to put on the album and actually re-listen for things I'd never noticed.

It should be noted that Taylor and Keef acquit themselves well on bass.

I think of Taylor's bass over the last third of "Casino Boogie."

IIRC there's an interview in Cocksucker Blues with Keith Richards at his most wasted where he's asked his favorite song on Exile and he says something along the lines of, "uhhh ... side 2 ..." - Exile at its most strung out and broken down.

I may be wrong but I think Jimmy Miller played drums on Tumbling Dice.

I just checked. I am wrong. I forget the song he played drums on.

It's Happy and Shine a Light. Don't mind me.

Sweet Black Angel too

Casino Boogie = the Stones' fastest song

Actually, "Flip The Switch" is faster (it's alright if this wasn't your first option).

Torn and Frayed=GODHEAD

(I was just goin by what Keef's said)

also, there's a fill Charlie does in the chorus/solo section of Rip This Joint that kills me

"Casino Boogie" is "fast"? Isn't it completely mid-tempo? I can think of at least three or four songs from Exile alone that are much faster. "Turd on the Run," "Rocks Off," "Rip This Joint," "All Down the Line." Maybe I'm not understanding what in it is supposed to be particularly fast...

pick-slide right before the drum roll at the top of "Rocks Off."

Very true. Also they way Mick says awww yeah right then.

Re: Sticky v. Exile, before I had listened to Exile a lot over and over and over, I liked Sticky better, but after awhile Exile blooms and blooms with rewards. Sticky doesn't feel as cohesive. Sticky has moments of greatness but on Exile, all the songs after awhile start to blend together to make this amazing messy kick ass record, the whole album is one big long moment.

arrgh sorry I was thinking of "Rip This Joint" yes. I have trouble keepin these tracks straight without lookin at the record

fastest song the Stones ever cut ... until Flip the Switch, which is a couple of beats faster

xp - Heh, don't blame you--it's that kind of record, in a way! hard to keep track of individual songs. (the truth is, I had to think HARD to remember how "Casino Boogie" went--I always get it and "Ventilator Blues" mixed up.)

One thing I've never fully understood is ILM's fascination with Sticky Fingers, which has a few great tracks and some awful dreck: "Bitch" and "I Got the Blues," especially (the latter of which is maybe my least favourite Stones song up unto Goat Heads Soup).

the organ solo in "I Got the Blues" = UGH!!

(the truth is, I had to think HARD to remember how "Casino Boogie" went--I always get it and "Ventilator Blues" mixed up.)

You need to listen to Exile more! Ventilator has an awesome weirdo beat, Casino Boogie has hardly any bass drum until the end.

No, trust me - I don't need to listen to it more! It's probably one of my most-played records ever. It's just with those two for some reason I always confuse them.

There's nothing on EOMS with the cumulative impact of "Sister Morphine," "Dead Flowers," and "Moonlight Mile," even though it's their best.

i don't know, dead flowers is fun and all, but it's sorta corny and cheesy? sister morphine has always sounded like a joke. i do like moonlight mile, but it's no sway.

Sticky Fingers, which has a few great tracks and some awful dreck: "Bitch" and "I Got the Blues," especially (the latter of which is maybe my least favourite Stones song up unto Goat Heads Soup).

this is so true, esp re: I Got the Blues which is just too painful to listen to. I always find myself skipping around Sticky Fingers as well, the sequencing is weird and its a very draggy, plodding album when listened to all the way through.

Dead Flowers is my favorite Stones song, cuz I like to think of it as Mick's younger self singing to his older self.

"Dead Flowers" is a joke with a sting.

I want to second Matos on the greatness of "I Just Wanna See His Face". I don't get the impression that any of the Stones was anything like a Christian at this time (and for the purposes of this post I don't care), but when I hear that track, I feel longing of the sort you hear Christians talk about. I'd love to find some Pentacostal church where that was their main anthem!

I definitely love "Moonlight Mile," which has to be one of the weirdest sounding songs they've ever recorded. I kind of like Jagger's Dylan impersonations in "Sister Morphine" ("Pleeeeaaase, Sister Morphine..."), but, I dunno the drug obsession all over SF kind of annoys me after a while (it's probably there on Exile, too, but I still don't understand most of the lyrics, so it doesn't get in the way).

Also I love "I Got The Blues", especially for the horns. Yeah, it's a homage that can sound like a parody, just like "Dead Flowers". But on "I Got The Blues" Mick's singing is less corny than on "Dead Flowers", and it's got a pretty dramatic buildup.

I haven't heard anyone praise "Happy," which is, probably, the giddiest Stones song of the seventies and the last Keef song until "Before They Make Me Run" which doesn't sound like he's slurring from underneath a pile of cig ash.

I've been listening to this a lot in the 18 months. Usually side two first. "Happy" is my favorite Keith song. I like it just about anytime. I prefer it to people some saturdays.

-- Trip Maker, Tuesday, July 31, 2007 2:52 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link

"She Said Yeah" is faster than "Rip This Joint" IIRC (don't know "Flip the Switch" offhand)

YES BUT I WANT HEARTS, FLOWERS, UNICORNS, AND CANDY PILED IN ITS HONOR

(xpost)

Charlie sounds fierce on "Flip The Switch," like a drum machine, and for all I know there's one in there too, since it's one of the Dust Brothers-produced tracks.

I kind of like Jagger's Dylan impersonations in "Sister Morphine" ("Pleeeeaaase, Sister Morphine...")

off-topic a bit, but "Jigsaw Puzzle" might be my favorite Dylan rip ever

Those drum fills Charlie does at the end of Rocks Off are divine. He just kills though out the whole record.

I haven't heard anyone praise "Happy," which is, probably, the giddiest Stones song of the seventies

this is actually the song that made me get Exile on Main Street, cuz I saw the Replacements do a cover version of it

I R A DORK

this is, btw, Mick Jagger's least favorite major Stones album.

Is there a EOMS song poll? I can't imagine any song leading.

xxxp [re Dylan]
I agree that "Jigsaw Puzzle" is better--and probably "she smiled sweetly" too.

I haven't heard anyone praise "Happy," which is, probably, the giddiest Stones song of the seventies

yeah, it could almost be called "Giddy" that song, esp. that four-note repeating high guitar line.

(I think there was an Exile poll, wasn't there?)

linked at the top of this thread

(results unsurprising)

boy, I am not AT ALL on my game today.

I have a few bootlegs of the Mats doing "Happy". Drunkenly.

Of all the late-early-mid era Stones albums, i'd place Exile... in a solid fourth; excepting, of course, if your definition of the late-early-mid era includes titles earlier than 1970's Get Your Ya-Ya's Out! then, i would entertain the possibility of exalting other late-early, early mid, and even late-mid-early titles.

This album fucking sucks.

Nah, it rules.

what a great album! like some other peeps on this thread it doesn't have my fave Stones songs, but as a collection it might be the best one. Used to not be all that into the sides 3 & 4, but i've come around to loving the whole damn thing. the murk rules! it really is a great headphones record -- all kindsa stuff going on beneath the surface.

One of the four or five greatest English-singing albums ever recorded and released. At the time, the way it confounded categories of fatigue and energy, young and adult suggested a beguiling future for rock. Unfortunately, those same confounded categories would prove insufferable as the 1980s rolled around.

Sprawling and messy and just huge. This album takes a long time to digest, and listening to it all at once can be a major undertaking.

As I tend to move back and forth b/t Stones albums depending upon the mood of the day/time of day, EOMS CAN be the greatest. It certainly ain't always the greatest.

And it doesn't have Moonlight Mile, which is my favorite Stones song. But it does have Ventilator Blues, which is my second favorite Stones song.

Great album.

Side 2 of Exile = possibly the best album side ever by anyone.

love it

I've been thinking about Sweet Black Angel. I didn't know it was written for Angela Davis. I wonder what she thinks of this song?

Keith's harmonies on that one are unearthly, aren't they?

Yes, Keith's contribution to the song really uh brings it on home.
See, I can listen to this album first thing in the morning at work.
But I started with side two! I'll go back to Rocks off after Soul Survivor.

'Shine A Light' has the best guitar solo on any record, anywhere.

You can almost guarantee that it's Mick Taylor's handiwork, then.

(The REAL fastest Stones record is "I Just Wanna Make Love To You" or "Surprise Surprise", surely?)

I've always been a bit lukewarm on "Exile" too, because of the couple-three absolute dead spots. I've given "Casino Boogie" 21 years and still think it sucks. But Side Two just kills.

perhaps of interest to those on this thread:
Peter Whitehead's '66 Rolling Stones film "Charlie Is My Darling"

Well I never kept a dollar past sunset,
It always burned a hole in my pants.
Never made a school mama happy,
Never blew a second chance, oh no

I need a love to keep me happy,
I need a love to keep me happy.
Baby, baby keep me happy.
Baby, baby keep me happy.

Always took candy from strangers,
Didnt wanna get me no trade.
Never want to be like papa,
Working for the boss every night and day.

I need a love to keep me happy,
I need a love, baby wont ya keep me happy.
Baby, wont ya keep me happy.
Baby, please keep me

I need a love to keep me happy,
I need a love to keep me happy.
Baby, baby keep me happy.
Baby, baby keep me happy.

Never got a flash out of cocktails,
When I got some flesh off the bone.
Never got a lift out of lear jets,
When I can fly way back home.

I need a love to keep me happy,
I need a love to keep me happy.
Baby, baby keep me happy.
Baby, baby keep me happy.

did nothing for me the first time i listened (borrowed from a video store i used to work at). hated the murk, wasn't really that deep into stones fandom at that stage either so it just passed me by. went back to it years later and it made much more sense.

i wish 'shine a light' went on longer. always seems like it should be one of those big stones epics.

<i>sticky fingers</i> is more fun, i would be more inclined to put it on at a party. it's like <i>the idiot</i> vs <i>lust for life</i>.

oops.

god i don't get the 'murk' complaints about this album. makes it sound more like vu to me, but like a better version.

Watts' work on "Casino Boogie" and "Tumbling Dice" = best ever.

OTM. Most amazingly, he overdubbed himself on "Tumbling Dice," right down to matching every fill and still swinging like crazy.

I've been thinking about Sweet Black Angel. I didn't know it was written for Angela Davis. I wonder what she thinks of this song?

Damn, I never knew that! Pretty strange since "Street Fighting Man" was seen as a counterrevolutionary act by the underground press at the time.

any audio geeks, or sound experts, notice any major differences in the CD reissues of this? I still have my vinyl version and an early CBS issue of the album. My hearing is lousy enough that I've never noticed anything shockingly different. But I've been told it's been remastered and brightened, whatever that means. Does that mean the beloved murk of the record is sacrficed any?

I alays thought teens might not get into this as much as older folk because of the world-weary feel it has. It's easily my favorite album. "All Down the Line" and "Soul Survivor" are the only songs I'm lukewarm about. The first 3 sides flow flawlessly.

I've only got one of the ancient CD versions of this but I plan to get a remastered one. I'm acquiring the Stones remastered catalogue bit-by-bit.

I picked up this in the late 90s I think, and only just got into it in the last year or so. The problem was I kept trying to cherry-pick tracks, but it works better when you let it play as a whole album. (Maybe that's too Geir-like - but there it is)

so are there other albums from this time period that have the 'exile' feel?

Derek and the Dominos

The Gilded Palace of Sin by the Burrito Brothers or Bob Dylan the Band - Before the Flood maybe?

thanks...on a mad stones kick today

The Gilded Palace of Sin by the Burrito Brothers

http://elmanzo.blogspot.com/2006/10/rolling-stones-brussels-affair-1973.html - awesome bootleg

pussy galore's version is better.

yer crazy.

try some Doug Sahm / Sir Douglas Quintet

so are there other albums from this time period that have the 'exile' feel?

Sly's Riot, of course. Donna Summer's Once Upon A Time... from a little later. From way later, Prince's "Strange Relationship."

There's (yet another) storied boot from the time called Philadelphia Special. But as with 99.9% of boots, it's nowhere near as special as so many claim.

THE SUNSHINE BORES THE DAYLIGHTS OUT OF ME

there's a riot goin on in agreement to q above.

this was one of the first "classic" rock albums I bought and it is still among my absolute favourites. I especially love a couple of lesser known songs, like Ventilator Blues (sticky and malevolent as a Faulkner novel) and I just Wanna See His Face - Let It Loose is another fantastic number. Great great album from start to finish.

So amazing. Wanna See His Face is so gorgeous.

Sweet Virginia still slays me. Everything on here.

GOT TO SCRAPE THE SHIT RIGHT OFF YOUR SHOES

oh i didn't say, i thin k 'sweet black angel' and 'happy' are my fav songs on thsi ri now.

happy is like fuck everytnhing

so are there other albums from this time period that have the 'exile' feel?

first Little Feat album maybe, the Stones were pretty into them I think in the same era that they made Exile and I feel like the production and overall vibe are comparable.

thakng you

The Royal Trux album? Would second that.

How about the Allmann Brothers Band?

LET IT LOOSE
(M. Jagger/K. Richards)

Who's that woman on your arm all dressed up to do you harm
And I'm hip to what she'll do, give her just about a month or two.
Bit off more than I can chew and I knew what it was leading to,
Some things, well, I can't refuse,
One of them, one of them the bedroom blues.
She delivers right on time, I can't resist a corny line,
But take the shine right off you shoes,
Carryin', carryin' the bedroom blues.
Oo...

In the bar you're getting drunk, I ain't in love, I ain't in luck.
Hide the switch and shut the light, let it all come down tonight.
Maybe your friends think I'm just a stranger,
Some face you'll never see no more.

Let it all come down tonight.
Keep those tears hid out of sight, let it loose, let it all come down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BckM9vU3haU

^^^ My favourite.

Oddly, I listened to this yesterday while mowing the lawn. I love the sound of this album; the vaunted murk, the subsumed vocals and dominant drums. "Torn and Frayed" is just fabulous.

Steve you are en fuego of late.

Hey, where is that version from Steve Shasta? Really good!

Might actually pull the trigger on this...

The Rolling Stones are to reissue their 1972 album 'Exile On Main Street' with 10 previously unreleased tracks.

The reissue is set to come out on May 17, coinciding with a newly filmed documentary called Stones In Exile, which will be broadcast in May.

As well as the original album, the new release also features 10 previously unreleased Rolling Stones songs from the period that were unearthed while working on the reissue project.

Those tracks include the likes of 'Plundered My Soul', 'Dancing In The Light', 'Following the River' and 'Pass The Wine'. Meanwhile, alternate versions of 'Soul Survivor' and 'Loving Cup' are also included.

The release will be available as both the original 18-track release, and a deluxe edition with the 10 bonus tracks. Meanwhile, a super deluxe package also includes vinyl, a 30-minute documentary DVD, and a 50-page collector’s book.

sounds cool! those outtakes aren't actually familiar to me (unless they're different titles from the bootlegs, which is possible).

real question: will Cocksucker Blues be included

will i be able to buy the unreleased songs as a seperate vinyl album? cuz i would buy that. don't need no book or video and i already got 2 nice copies of exile.

i actually have a 12 inch single of cocksucker blues!

dunno if the links are still working here, but this is killer: http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=305

Man, you weren't kidding, these are great. Thanks for the link.

cocksucker blues??? not nearly as good/signif as Charlie Is My Darling... of course that's from an earlier period...

xpost yeah! that's by far the best Rolling Stones outtakes bootleg I've got ... a lot of them are pretty boring, but there's tons of cool stuff on there, and in good sound quality.

Oh my goodness. as soon as I wipe off the keyboard I'm gonna download this. Many many many thanks.

will Cocksucker Blues be included

― dead clown handjob (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 25 February 2010 21:01 (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Unlikely, it was the last track the Stones owed Decca before they completed their contract, wasn't it? Didn't it get a white label release with a Decca box set, somewhere obscure (italy?)

Unlikely, it was the last track the Stones owed Decca before they completed their contract, wasn't it? Didn't it get a white label release with a Decca box set, somewhere obscure (italy?)

― Mark G, Saturday, February 27, 2010 12:36 AM

I think they're talking about the movie of the 1972 tour, in which case the answer is no way, it will never be released

Oh right. And someone has it on 12" single...

I've fallen in love with 'Hillside Blues' - recommend me some more tunes like it please (not necessarily by the Stones)

Oh right. And someone has it on 12" single...

― Mark G, Saturday, February 27, 2010 12:57 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

it's a song and a film. the song came out a couple of years before the film.

Strangest edition of "Give us a clue" ever.

Shock and horror -- there are new Mick Taylor overdubs on the Exile outtakes due soon. As well as Mick and Keith overdubs. It sounds like one instrumental track has been fleshed out into a complete song with new lyrics.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/32635178/the_secrets_behind_the_rolling_stones_exile_on_main_street_reissue

RS: I heard a rumor somewhere that you guys brought in Mick Taylor to overdub some things. Is that true at all?

Don Was: I'm not saying it's not true. I'm simply not going to deny.

what the hell is Don Was doing here

hopefully not walking the dinosaur

thx to whoever posted this (tylerw?)

"ventilator blues" outtake has been blowing my mind

http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=305

He selected the outtakes, apparently. Check the last page of that RS article.

xpost

I've really been enjoying Mick's singing on that bootleg. I'm not usually that impressed by him, but he sounds very committed there.

yeah, the bootlegs are cool, because Mick's kinda just going for it, even if he's singing marble mouthed dummy lyrics a lot of the time ...

Jagger's interviews, I gotta admit, are consistently entertaining.

Anyone know if they are they going to remaster Sticky Fingers and Tatoo You soon? I'm stoked to hear a remastered EOMS.

i will download these bonus tracks illegal-like.

this album is fucking best.

or best for fucking, i forget which.

it's always disarming to read interviews w/ jagger and richards. they (but particularly richards) have this slovenly, hang-loose public personae, but then you remember that they are both kind of intellectuals.

I read a Richards interview from the early nineties in which he alluded to Spengler. Jagger once said his favorite novel was Greene's Travels With My Aunt.

nerds

I'm not sure I ever have read any of their interviews. Care to recommend something?

hey tyler how does one find the 5th track on that boot from BigO you linked to above?

The best Jagger one ever.

That one's my favourite xp. Clicking the link took me through to another page with a big blue 'download now' button, which led in turn to another page with the actual link appearing after 15 seconds.

Thanking you, Colin Firth.

Next year Tom Cruise will blow himself up on top of Oprah when he receives his Thalberg.

ha -- wrong thread

yeah, that long "Hillside Blues" is pretty nasty! even more exile-y than exile! minor key, blues lurch.

That interview looks the business, thanks. I wouldn't normally have thought of Jagger as the withholding type, but a friend of mine recently went for an early dinner in some unfamous restaurant up by King's Cross, and when they got there Mick and lady friend were the only customers in the restaurant, leaving not long after my pal sat down, and for some reason it makes sense.

I just scanned it and saw a reference to a difficult, paranoid Brian Jones, which reminded me of a story from Paul McCartney's book:

I remember being in Hyde Park, coming back from John's house in his big chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce. John had a microphone he could use with the speakers mounted underneath the car. We were driving through the park, and ahead of us was Brian's Austin Princess ... We could see his big floppy hat and blond hair and we could see him nervously smoking a ciggy in the back of the car. So John got on the mike and said, 'Pull over now! Brian Jones! You are under arrest! Pull over now!' Brian jumped up. 'Fucking hell!' He really thought he had been busted. He was shitting himself! Then he saw it was us. And we were going 'Yi, yi, yi. Fuck off!' giving V-signs out of the car window.

Seems unnecessarily cruel, really.

I wouldn't normally have thought of Jagger as the withholding type

Most of the best Jagger interviews require the reporter to mediate between Jagger's disdain for interviewing itself and penchant for airy generalities, and his exhibtionism.

I would like to second Ismael's request for suggestions about good Jagger interviews, anybody?

Tell you what..

Get the Rutles DVD, and check out Jagger's full interview there.

He's talking about the rutles, but he's really transposing his opinions (and tales) of the Beatles there.

(any other interview, he's always been supportive/matey regarding them. He's not exactly cutting, but he does let slip a few)

Hillside Blues = rattlesnake of a song.
Can't wait for the reissue.

I've fallen in love with 'Hillside Blues' - recommend me some more tunes like it please (not necessarily by the Stones)

― Ismael Klata, Sunday, February 28, 2010 10:56 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

also: is it just a discarded outtake, or did they record a proper version later?

Not a Stones expert, but I don't think it was properly recorded later.
In the Rolling Stones review, Jagger alludes to a "very, very long song" titled Pass The Wine edited down for the reissue. Maybe it's the same song?

yeah, i was wondering the same thing ... either way, it's safe to say that the new reissue will *not* render the bootlegs obsolete!

Anyone know if they are they going to remaster Sticky Fingers and Tatoo You soon? I'm stoked to hear a remastered EOMS.

came out last year
xpost

i'm not an audiophile, but those Virgin reissues (from the 90s) always sounded fine to me ...

and the reissues of the earlier stuff were incredible sounding ... Beggar's Banquet was gorgeous, in particular.

I d/l'ed a vinyl rip of Exile that burned my mind, man, in a good way.

it is a pretty cool album to have on vinyl -- sound aside, I think it's their best packaging.

i'm not an audiophile, but those Virgin reissues (from the 90s) always sounded fine to me ...

― tylerw, Thursday, March 11, 2010 3:58 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

and the reissues of the earlier stuff were incredible sounding ... Beggar's Banquet was gorgeous, in particular.

― tylerw, Thursday, March 11, 2010 3:59 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah the early one are AMAZING sounding...

I just hope they do not mess around with Exile's original sound.
Other recent reissues sound quite good though (Sticky Fingers included).

The crispness of the drum sounds on the vinyl rip were revelatory.

glad Mick gave props to Watts in that RS interview: "Charlie [Watts] didn't need to come in. The drums were all perfect."

how is charlie doing these days? wasn't he pretty sick a while back?

tyler, you're right. i picked up the most recent some girls, and i think the diference is negligible compared to the 1990's issue. LOVE the sound on the abkco series

A lot of my friends who first listened to Exile on CD just didn't seem to "get it" until sitting down with the LP.

This should be worth celebrating, but the notion of adding new instrumental tracks is extremely alarming, Mick Taylor notwithstanding. Hope the results are unobtrusive...

No way I'm gonna buy this again (they don't need my $) but I'll certainly check out the downloads - see if I can't assemble for myself an alternate improved "Exile" after a substitution or two.

I just picked up Exile on vinyl this weekend....good shape copy for $15 and yeah it's AMAZING compared to the Virgin CD from the 90s...

i'm kinda surprised at how much "bigger" it sounds, the drums are huge

here's this vinyl rip of it: http://zambonisoundtracks.blogspot.com/2009/12/rolling-stones-exile-on-main-st.html

'Plundered My Soul' from Record Store Day is pretty great.

Not an instant killer tune, but very nice nonetheless. What's the deal with the reissue - this is just one of ten additional tracks, did I pick that up right?

holy fuck it's great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB5i38QzFIw

I would quite like a proper write-in poll for this album, maybe when the reissue's had a month or so to bed in.

those are definitely recent vocals and i think i read somewhere that the song didn't even have lyrics--those are new too? i guess the new guitar parts are mick taylor though..

yeah this new songs ok but definitely not all that old. A bit slick.

"song's"

Are we sure 'plundered' is the one with the new overdubs? I thought those were the other 'new' tracks. And I would be embarassed if I wasn't able to pick this out after a couple listens. And hasn't Mick T been pissed off at J and R for awile now re: money? Anyway the song grooves. Charlie teeters back and forth with the tempo like a drunk driver next to the white line.

I could see leaving it off, but i'm glad to hear it now.

oh yeah, plundered has all new mick vocals for sure--so different to my ears that it just does not sound like an exile track much at all (and the background singers are all new too, not sure about keith's backing)

Sounds like a new Stones track, which for all intents and purposes it is. A good one too.

i agree, i like it

is anyone getting this Super Deluxe Edition that is coming out next Tuesday May 18, 2010?:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41mvpYHaD8L._SS400_.jpg
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51NCIYiZrNL._SS400_.jpg

Exile on Main Street will be available in two CD formats: the original 18 track release; a deluxe CD edition with the 10 special bonus tracks; and a super deluxe package that also includes vinyl, a 30-minute documentary DVD with footage from Cocksucker Blues, Ladies and Gentlemen... the Rolling Stones and Stones in Exile, and a 50-page collector's book with photos from the Exile era. The 10 unreleased tracks were produced by Jimmy Miller, The Glimmer Twins and Don Was.

from Wiki:

Re-release

Universal Music, which has just remastered and re-released the post 1971 Rolling Stones catalogue, plans a new remastering of Exile on Main St. in a deluxe package for May 2010.[15] New tracks include 'Plundered My Soul', 'Dancing in the Light', 'Following the River' and 'Pass the Wine'.[15] The package will also include new versions of 'Soul Survivor' and 'Loving Cup'.[15] On the selection of tracks, Richards said, "Well, basically it's the record and a few tracks we found when we were plundering the vaults. Listening back to everything we said, 'Well, this would be an interesting addition.'"

Most of the tracks were left as originally recorded at the time, with Richards continuing, "There wasn't much to be done and I really didn't want to get in the way of what was there. It was missing a bit of body here and there, and I stroked something on acoustic here and there. But otherwise, I really wanted to leave them pretty much as they were. Mick wanted to sort of fix some vocal things, but otherwise, basically they are as we left them 39 years ago."

Jimmy Fallon announced on his show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, that he would mark the re-release of the album with a week's worth of musicians performing songs from the album. Phish, who had played the album in its entirety live in concert before, were the first confirmed act to join the salute.

Most of the tracks were left as originally recorded at the time, with Richards continuing, "There wasn't much to be done and I really didn't want to get in the way of what was there. It was missing a bit of body here and there, and I stroked something on acoustic here and there. But otherwise, I really wanted to leave them pretty much as they were. Mick wanted to sort of fix some vocal things, but otherwise, basically they are as we left them 39 years ago."

wait...what? Did they overdub the original tracks?

what the fuck???

'basically they are as left them 39 years ago'

BASICALLY??

I'm a complete retard, but I never really enjoyed this record. Too murky (?) and plodding.

this is how i felt, too. otoh, i'm not much of a stones fan to begin with, and what i love most -- e.g., emotional rescue; undercover of the night -- is way past the band's "prime."

wait...what? Did they overdub the original tracks?

I think he's talking about the bonus tracks so *shrug*

I heard Dizzee puts down a guest verse on 'Torn And Frayed'

came to exile in my late teens as a half-assed stones fan. my brother gave it to me for christmas one year, along with steely dan's can't buy a thrill and the buffalo springfield record with the "stop, children, what's that sound" song, all bought used someplace. at that point i liked the few stones records i'd heard, especially hot rocks and the recent tattoo you, the pop hits, but was more curious than devoted. at first i liked the raw, upbeat rock tracks and heartfelt ballads: "rocks off", "shake your hips", "sweet virginia", "torn and frayed". a lot of the 2nd half, however, seemed a mess - an oppressive, murky soup of underdeveloped ideas. the whole record had a strangely compelling vibe, though, and it went VERY well with bad weed and cheap beer, so i wound up listening to it a fair amount, in spite of my reservations. after a few weeks, i had this epiphany where i realized that "sweet black angel", "ventilator blues" and (especially) "i just want to see his face" were by far my favorite tracks on the album. though they weren't as immediate as the songs around them, they had this deep, visceral fascination that seemed novel to me. they felt like these giant, alien spaces i could get lost in. i loved the way the disembodied ghost of a gospel song seemed to coalesce out of misty nothingness right before my ears on "...see his face". the slashing, seething head-trapped anger of "ventilator blues". the album's bleary alienation synched up with my feelings and state of mind as a stoned, cynical and rather naive young man. it seemed worldly, bottomless and thick with unarticulated, all but unarticulable feelings. it's an album about wanting to cut through something you can't name to get at something you don't even believe in, and i could seriously relate. because of that, it'll always be a great record in my eyes, even though the sounds and attitudes that once seemed so authentic and rich now strike me as somewhat shticky. taken down a notch in retrospect due to jon spencer proximity (certainly not mick's fault) and my own increased awareness of the sources the band were drawing on. still love every minute of song.

I don't think these guys ever had much truck with "authenticity" so it's not shocking that they'd be open to tinkering with their past too. I've heard at least three rounds of Stones "remasters" over the years and they each sound pretty different, fwiw: guess the idea is that they want something that sounds good for its time so that they can make optimal bank; leave whether it's "real" to the scholars.

xp to whether they fucked with the tapes

"...every minute of every song."

there was some blog that had an exile outtakes boot up for download a couple of years ago, and the intro blurb was probably the most otm piece of music writing i've ever read: the first ten times you listen to exile on main street, it sounds like a fucking mess.

I hate to say this, but the "new" tracks smoke, especially "Plundered My Soul."

it's an album about wanting to cut through something you can't name to get at something you don't even believe in

OTM. I finally "got" the album after playing "Just Wanna See His Face" and "Sweet Black Angel" a lot (I owned the remastered cassette released in the early nineties, which was just as murky as the original LP, no doubt). I liked how Jagger's inflections project skepticism tinged with yearning, while the music is precise yet murky; for a long time not knowing how I was supposed to respond was a large part of the album's charm.

And whatever else, Jagger remains one helluva harmonica player. Listen to "Pass The Wine (Sophia Loren)."

I can't believe I'm going to buy yet another Exile On Main Street CD. But since it's the greatest album ever released by anyone, I guess I don't have much of a choice.

i think you're forgetting one little album that rocks harder than anything on exile

http://content.answers.com/main/content/img/amg/pop_albums/cov200/drg500/g518/g51894dz5c6.jpg

I like the Pony's old stuff, before they got so little.

I hate to say this, but the "new" tracks smoke, especially "Plundered My Soul."
stop making me want to buy this!!

"the "new" tracks smoke"

think the same, after listening to them I felt less stupid for having bought it (again).

gah!

haha, yeah!

I'm pretty happy with my original vinyl copy. Such a well-designed record.

yeah, it's endlessly great on vinyl, you see different things every time you pick it up.
was just lol-ing at this description on amazon: "The Digipak is printed in reverse board double white to keep an 'uncoated' feel like the original LP release."
thank god.

LA Times: Keith Richards, Mick Jagger and recent producer Don Was discuss the band's 1972 album and the rerelease's previously unheard material

This one's just as good:

http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/turn_it_up/2010/05/mick-jagger-interview-exile-on-main-st-revisited.html

there's going to be a documentary on the bbc in a couple of weeks

that q&a session from Chicago Tribune is great, thanks Alfred for pointing it out. i think i might re-buy this after all, haven't replaced any of my old Stones CD's as of yet.

Does the "murk" vanish with repeated listenings I wonder? When I was first exposed to on cd in the late 80s / early 90s, yeah it sounded murky as hell. But i've been listening to it a lot lately (actually, the shit-hot vinyl rips alluded to (presumably) upthread)and these days, I dunno, it doesn't sound murky at all.

A long train journey + the 33 1/3 book + exile on ipod + beer = well, as good as it gets really.

Yeah - now that's the way to travel.

I've never used the word "murky" to describe this album, fwiw.

I'd love to hear a remixed version of this album. Remixed as in more obvious instrument separation, less noise and Jagger's voice much louder.

I know Mick Jagger would too.

noooo thank you

i mean, i think it's funny that these Q&As still have questions about the "murkiness" of the production. sure it's murky -- and it's awesome! we're not talking about a Steely Dan record here. The whole idea is grittiness, right?

lol geir that is prob the worst idea i have ever heard

would love to hear impressions of anyone who has the original vinyl and how that sounds vs. the new 180gram vinyl

replace mick jagger with damon albarn and all is well in Geir's world.

Is there a way to buy the new vinyl for less than $150?

My local store has the vinyl for $32. Only the silly version with the book and such is $150.

When Mick Jagger says "It's really not that expensive", you know it is.

Oh awesome... I had checked Amazon earlier and they only had the CD and the super deluxe vinyl thing, but looks like they have the vinyl only now. Will probably but this now.

This has never been one of the easier Stones albums to find cheap on used vinyl in good condition, for some reason.

Yeah I picked up a copy a few years back, but it sounds pretty bad in places.

I'd love to hear a remixed version of this album. Remixed as in more obvious instrument separation, less noise and Jagger's voice much louder.

I know Mick Jagger would too.

No longer true. From David Gates, "Torn and Frayed in the South of France" in the current issue of Rolling Stone:

"Back in 2003, Jagger said he'd love to remix Exile, 'not just because of the vocals, but because generally I think it sounds lousy.' Today he just seems resigned. 'I was right there in the room, so I'm just as much to blame for it as anyone else. If you want to hear the vocals louder, then I should stick it all up on iTunes so you can mix it yourself.'"

lol

I love Jagger interviews

the vocal mix is perfect on Exile, this is madness.

For those who wonder about compression and the like, this proved interesting. All the shots are from the 2:00 mark, where the song gets trippy and quieter.

A needledrop of the original vinyl:
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_9fcPb-VtKkc/S_IK9pHmAYI/AAAAAAAAASg/0v5rUTvTlJo/s720/Rocks%20Off%2072.jpg

The 1994 Remaster:
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_9fcPb-VtKkc/S_IK99na_nI/AAAAAAAAASk/GKO_TbEfab8/s720/Rocks%20Off%2094.jpg

The 2010 Remaster:
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_9fcPb-VtKkc/S_IK9wQeRzI/AAAAAAAAASo/Jsyk84ibua0/s720/Rocks%20Off%2010.jpg

The latest version isn't quite brickwalled (it doesn't clip or plateau), but definitely missing some of the dynamism of the prior remaster. I don't hear the differences through speakers - this remaster actually seems clearer in many points - but I think headphones might be a different story.

The idea of mixing the vocals behind in the mix is always a bad one. After all, the vocalist carries the main tune, and the main tune is the most important element of the music. Plus being low makes him scream and screaming vocals are also always a bad idea.

Whispering Jay Hawkins..

The idea of mixing the vocals behind in the mix is always a bad one.

Unless it's Bobby Gillespie.

Even Bobby Gillespie sounds better a bit higher in the sound.

He's high enough, I thangyew....

new tracks sounding pretty awesome so far!

Plus being low makes him scream and screaming vocals are also always a bad idea.

this isn't even remotely true unless you're talking about mixing live sound

cause see when the singer is tracking, he's tracking to an unmixed track; where he's put in the mix is an after-the-recording-session decision

maybe geir is a stickler for studio headphone mixes?

who knows, would like to live in your world for like 20 minutes geir

might look something like this
http://www.scene-stealers.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/being-john-malkovich-001-1.jpg

"following the river" pretty much blows :/

http://old.trmw.org/uploads/2005/12/ymo.jpg

(xpost) Sorry, wrong thread...

Pretty close, though.

"would love to hear impressions of anyone who has the original vinyl and how that sounds vs. the new 180gram vinyl"

me too

would like to see some soundwave comparisons too

listening to rocks off....at the very beginning, i hear a weird organ sounding part! i don't think i've heard that before

That second disc is some weak shit. Can't imagine wasting my time listening to it again. I'll take the boots of murky outtakes over these crisp, clear outfakes.

^yeah they aren't great, but I like Keith's mumbling through "Soul Survivor"

I'm glad I heard the whole thing once. And yeah, Keith's "Soul Survivor" was at least interesting.

thank god they didn't use that alt take of "loving cup" though...that version is so slow and doesn't have the greatest drum fill ever

^^This.

was listening to this on vinyl yesterday -- SIDE 2! Best side.

No doubt about it. I think it was polled.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/arts/music/23stones.html?hp

oy vey....

That was one of those "OK then" stories.

"exile" remastered sounds great. GREAT. "Torn And Frayed" especially sounds like layers of grit have been lovingly polished off the pedal steel and drums. Gorgeous. Can't give the tracks with new Mick vocals more than a couple more listens - they're pretty inconsequential - but "So Divine" and the Keef version of "Soul Survivor" rule.

only listened to the re-ish in the car so far, which undoubtedly comprises my opinion... this cd SOUNDS loud (i.e. "my ears hurt") but doesn't FEEL loud (i.e. "that riff trembles my ribcage"). my beef is mainly w/the vocals, i think. probably need to give it a go in the house.

i listened to the new remaster and a rip of original vinyl pressing back to back. i'm decidedly NOT a vinyl purist but the rip sounds way better. sorry dudes, try again. or don't.

I love the way the og vinyl press sounds. I don't feel like I need a new remaster but I ~REALLY~ want those bonus tracks.

just download them. mick jagger does not need your money.

*whistling suspiciously*

This has never been one of the easier Stones albums to find cheap on used vinyl in good condition, for some reason.

― Mark, Monday, May 17, 2010 5:37 PM (6 days ago) Bookmark

LOL - I bought this album on vinyl, used, for $0.99 about 5 years ago. I have no idea why it was so cheap, but I just figured there were used copies of this album everywhere. Apparently I was just lucky.

Yeah I expected to pay a solid $15 or so bcz people always say that and I got it in a lot of 5 other albums for $7!

If (like me) you think the mid-90s Virgin Records edition sounds fantastic and don't want a new remaster of the original disc, Target is selling a CD of just the new tracks for, I think, $9.99.

That's the one I bought; I burned the bonus tracks on an extra CD.

Damn, my T@rget didn't have ANY versions of it when I checked today.

would love to hear impressions of anyone who has the original vinyl and how that sounds vs. the new 180gram vinyl

i've got the orig. vinyl. anybody want to send me the new pressing in the interests of science?

Amusing bit in that documentary about the making of the album when Don Was says that at the time the Stones were recording the album, Coppola was making "Apocalypse Now"... errrrrr, I think not, Don

It's the number one selling album in the UK apparently: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment_and_arts/10144577.stm

Amusing bit in that documentary about the making of the album when Don Was says that at the time the Stones were recording the album, Coppola was making "Apocalypse Now"... errrrrr, I think not, Don

― Wenlock & Mandelson (Tom D.), Monday, May 24, 2010 7:24 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark

it's true! and in the middle of the recording sessions, kennedy was killed! very memorable era IMO.

Keef sounds great on that other version of "Soul Survivor," but thank goodness he didn't write lyrics for whole albums.

That NY Times Ben Ratliff piece kinda bugs me, right from the opening sentence:

A LESSER-KNOWN version of the Rolling Stones’ “Loving Cup,” found on the bonus disc of the new reissue of the band’s 1972 album, “Exile on Main St.,” seems to me the best thing the Stones ever did.

This should be a poll question.

At least he says "seems to me"

I'm surprised the song "Exile on Main Street" from the NME flexi hasn't been added at all.

xxpost, yeah that really irked me too, Loving Cup is my favourite track on the album.

I'll take "Tumbling Dice"

jagger is so hilarious on live versions of tumbling dice
"Wymma thin ahm tastah, aways tryna wase muh, may muh burna canda righ dowwwww!"

That's how it's written in the lyric sheets.

He's a proto-Amy Winehouse.

For the record, this is awesome. Keith's singing on Soul Survivor is AWFUL though.

Really love the alt take of Loving Cup. Love "Pass the Wine". Love "Title 5", could almost be a Jon Spencer track (?!)

I haven't got to the extras, but I do wince *for* Keith during his verses on "Happy"

Haha yeah that's a good way to put it. I wish there was a Mick version of that song (heresy! blah blah).

(I mean an ALL Mick version)

u crazy

Definitely. Keith is perfect on "Happy." I wouldn't want him to sing an entire album though.

I like his solo stuff I've heard!

"Main Offender" was the album. I'm not recommending it to all my friends with glowing reviews but was way, way more rockin than anything I expected from a Stones member as late as 1992.

There's a track called Exile On Main Street that was on an NME flexi and.. nowhere else since?!

Hey you know the original Hollywood billboards were amazing weren't they?

http://rockandrollreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/billboard.jpg

cool

i remember those, j/k. they are pretty awesome, could imagine driving down Sunset Blvd., seeing them and thinking i have to buy that.

well, sure, especially after remembering the good times you had last summer jamming out to 'Sticky Fingers' up in the hills with your bros

Pretty amazing... actually kinda surprised that the Rolling Stones corporation would put something so obscure rather than a pic of the dudes with Jagger out in front in some wacky pose.

i bought that rarities edition of the outtakes, many of which I've heard before (like most of ya) they were polished up, and it's kind of a dud. i guess i'll take anything by them, but other than plundered my soul, which sounds just like a great stones hit that could have been made yesterday--and the wildly overrated but still good alternate take of loving cup--it's meh. the keith vocals on soul survivor are stupefyingly bad...and I LIKE when he sings on the canonical records.

Most of the extras are nice, but I could have lived without them. As for the alternate Loving Cup that Ratliff lost his shit over, it's nice in a good B-side sort of way, but saying it's the best thing they ever did is chaloppy crazy talk. I wish instead of the outtakes we had gotten a good concert from 72. There's a lot of stellar stuff floating around on the intertubes.

anyone know what concert they showed clips of in the exile docu is?

Really loving "So Divine (Aladdin Story)".

Yeah. And I think Pass the Wine is phenomenal. You can see why all this stuff didn't make it onto the album but shit, I love shambolic boogie rock.

It makes you wished they'd worked up some of these songs for Goat's Head Soup ala the Some Girls stuff that went onto Emotional Rescue.

Alternate Loving Cup is fine enough...but it's like the 'heroin' take. Slow and droney and just a bit messier. A nice oddity but there's no way it outshines the album take. Ratliff is high.

So Divine is great...and I really like Soul Survivor. I actually don't half mind Keith's vocals, there's a vague Lou Reed tone to his voice that I kind of dig. I mean, he sounds like a mess but I like it anyway. Maybe I'm too soft on him, I'm sure I'd hate it if I didn't know who he was, lol. Was thinking about picking up Talk Is Cheap....ill advised? y/n?

Don't like the new vocals much...almost wish they'd put them out as instrumentals so you could play 'what if'...rather than banging new stuff over top. But the grooves are pretty nice for the most part. Bit of shine back in the day, they coulda been somethin.

The Stones in Exile doc is quite excellent! I was wary of it, but it is really very good. Lots and lots of new footage (and I've watched CS Blues and Ladies and Gentlemen many times!), new visuals at least, with excellent (some of them old probably since jimmy miller is deceased i believe) interviews with jimmy miller, andy johns, anita. but the buck o'neil award goes to bobby keys who is really, really great. Who knew the Glimmer Twins used Burroughs' cut-up technique for the lyrics to Casino Boogie? (They have film of it, amazing) The only cringeworthy moments are the celeb talking heads at the beginning talking about EOMS...cultural luminaries such as Benicio del Toro, Sheryl Crow, and Will.I.Am talking about the record, just wow.

will.i.am's opinions are always welcome.
is it available any where else except on the super deluxe dvd?

yeah, it's a stand alone dvd, i got it through amazon--highly worth it for diehards. it's also going to be on pbs sometime, probably in the fall?

will.i.am's opinions are always welcome.

well, they are always there, in any event.

Not really related to Exile On Main Street (or maybe yes?!), but the official dvd of "Ladies and Gentlemen...the Rolling Stones " (filmed live in 1972) was just released here in Italy.
And it is great.

you know what i'd love to see again? the 25x5 documentary they put out in the 80s.

I went to Nellcote today! Obviously I didn't get inside, just up to the gates. The weirdest thing is how close it is to civilization; I'd wrongly thought it was far away from the world. But no, it's right off the train tracks that connect Nice & Monaco, about seven minutes by train from Nice, & about a five minute walk to a popular beach. Gorgeous villa, though; the tree in front is gargantuan.

that's so cool, I wonder who lives there now?

Someone extremely rich, since they're presently doing massive expensive work on the villa (the cost was on a sign outside the gate, for French bureaucratic reasons). But there was a motorcycle parked outside the gates. The house is at the base of a peninsula on which many of the world's richest people own villas. I took pics & I'll post a couple once my net connection is more reliable.

secret weapon on this LP: Nicky Hopkins

Going to see Cocksucker Blues in a theatre Saturday night!

what do you want from this band? this is the best album ever right?

Tom Waits, in an interview i read from the late 80s this week, said he quite fancied doing a cover of I Just Want To See His Face.

all the guitars at the end of "torn and frayed" >>>>>

This is a particularly good/interesting thread (just read the whole thing). Could never really get into this album, though, beyond a few key songs (I’ve owned it for years). Maybe I should try once more...

It's a pretty great record.

It's one of those unique popular Classic Rock albums that didn't get run into the ground by radio.

True. "Tumbling Dice" accounts for 80% of airplay, "Happy" for the other 20%. I've never heard a single other song on the radio.

I still need a physical copy of the mid 90s Virgin reissue, which to my ears remains the best sounding version.

I owned it on cassette for many years, and it sounded wonderful, especially in the car.

Tom Waits, in an interview i read from the late 80s this week, said he quite fancied doing a cover of I Just Want To See His Face.

― piscesx, Saturday, March 3, 2018

that song and production invented Rain Dogs.

I owned it on 8-Track for a while...

It's a good record indeed, but I'd still reach for Aftermath, Between the Buttons, Let it Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Goats Head Soup, Some Girls and even Tattoo You over it.

I’m always thrown by “Rocks Off” when the horns come in... like, where were the horn players hiding in this grungy cave? lol

Their most consistent album

Minus Let It Bleed maybe

I suppose I don't have much time for 'Casino Boogie', 'Turd on the Run' and 'I Just Want to See His Face', but everything else is good to great. I don't know why I don't feel like digging it out more often.

The entrance of the horns on 'Rocks Off' is such a great moment.

So many good things in "Casino Boogie": the slide, the epicene Keef harmonies, Charlie on the hi-hat for the outro, "Judge and jury/walkin' hand in hand."

and the best bobby keys sax solo

You can tell the Decca era was over. Somehow I don't think they would have allowed 'em to put "Kissing cunt in Cannes" in the lyrics, let alone the direct references to cocaine, morphine, needles and spoons on Sticky Fingers ...

there was a song on sticky fingers called 'sister morphine'

That's exactly what I mean.

Their most consistent album

Yeah, I dunno. I think its inconsistency is very much of a piece with other classic "inconsistent" albums, from the White Album to Sandinista!, where the (relative) ups and downs are more than the sum of their parts. It's also maybe a reason why it's less overexposed, since it's not some monolithic slab of radio staples but more of a mysterious beast that evinces more surprises with every listen. And I don't mean inconsistent as in some stuff is better than others, more that sonically it's kind of all over the place.

Sticky Fingers, fwiw, is probably the most consistent, imo. Of the classic albums of the era, I'd say Beggars Banquet is the most inconsistent.

It’s gonna be the death of maaay

this is maybe my favourite record when i'm listening to it, everything about it screams to me. it's funny how Pussy Galore's version, which is fine, is no more scabrous, inspired, fucked up, story of yr life than the original. the *sound* of the thing, that thick, trebly reverie. tbh this shd've been the end of rock music.

Agreed. It's consistent in the way a whirlwind of scum feels consistent when you're caught up in it.

The way "All Down the Line" seems to summarize everything that's already happened, then up the momentum.

I think about this description a lot

Speaking of which, I've been meaning to go though their entire discography in chronological order for a while now. I might as well get around to it.

The demos for this album are so great:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJcDdLB_DLs

Side 4 feels different, sonically. It demurks a bit, sounds like an encore or a victory lap. I like that, now, but there were times when i felt like "Let It Loose" should be the climax.

(It is, sort of.)

i love side 3 so much, everything falls apart and more

come on, shine a light is the real climax.

Xp Yeah, 3 is an epic of its own

Don't get me wrong i love the whole album and listening again this morning there's something about the way the clouds part on 4 that's great but

i love side 3 so much, everything falls apart and more

Side 2 > Side 4 > Side 3 > Side 1.

i'd switch side 3 and 4, but otherwise, i can agree with that ranking

3 > 2 > 4 > 1 for me.

1 is brilliant, this is crazy talk

On ILM tbf

I mean in reality it's closer to 1 = 2 = 3 = 4.

That's more like it.

Well, yeag

YEAH

Aet hierarchies are bollocks, twist my arm it's 1-3-2-4 but

Don't matter where you are
Everybody's gonna need a ventilator

3>4>2>1

Just Want to See His Face > Let It Loose is my favorite 8 minutes by them.

absolutely agree

i love the end of "all down the line." best fade ever, mick trying to scream the song back into existence.

and "loving cup," man, still a mystery how it gets from point a to point b. there's a point early on where keith's rhythm anticipates the horn charts. i think that's the key.

I think the key to the whole thing is the breakdown in Rocks Off, when it goes from a huge horny riff monster into this strange amorphous druggy off-kilter psychedelic thing. A tip off.

Another oddity: Charlie is not playing drums on either of the best known radio songs!

Also something I just got: is the album title a drug reference?

That's my favourite part of 'Rocks Off' - I love the sheer sickness of Jagger's croaky vocal. You can still hear the drumming buried very quietly in the mix.

The general narrative goes that the Stones were crap at psychedelia and stopped being psychedelic after Their Satantic Majesties' Request, but I personally love The Stones' take on psychedelia and they nodded to that area of their sound every now and then. 'Can You Hear the Music?' on Goats Head Soup is another one.

There's something hinky happening in there, in "Rocks Off," because while the drums quietly play along in 4/4 I think the guitar goes into something like 6/8 against it. Gives it that queasy vibe.

Charlie is not playing drums on either of the best known radio songs!

Charlie is on the first part of "Tumbling Dice". Jimmy Miller stepped in for the coda.

It's a good record indeed, but I'd still reach for Aftermath, Between the Buttons, Let it Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Goats Head Soup, Some Girls and even Tattoo You over it.

― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Tuesday, April 16, 2019 7:50 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

one of those rare stopped clock turrican posts

I'm not sure I need to listen to more Stones at this point but my favourite album by them and the only one I would still want to listen to is Exile.
Especially on a hot summer holidays evening !
There are some great extra tracks on the deluxe version of the album (I made myself a playlist with these : "Exile on... Backstreet" !

Exile is my favourite, though I've never listened to any Stones album beyond Goat's Head Soup, an album that does not thrill me too much tbh. I'm not much of a Stones fan, I suppose.

You're not missing much, but Some Girls is really good, and some tracks on Tattoo You and Bridges to Babylon and stuff are good, too.

not to mention Out of Our Heads, Aftermath, Between the Buttons, Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed....

.. I did say after Goat's Head Soup.

I know, but too often we -- I include myself -- forget they had an exemplary pop career before 1971.

after 1971 you need Some Girls and Emotional Rescue, maybe Tattoo You, definitely Dirty Work.

I don't forget any of that stuff, simply because I was familiar with the '60s Decca singles long before I heard Sticky Fingers or Exile on Main St. in full, but I agree that it often feels that American rock critics bizarrely overlook a lot of the Stones' 1963-1967 work.

dirty work?

After '73, you need Some Girls, Tattoo You, and a compilation of selected highlights from the other albums (bar Emotional Rescue, which has none) from 1974-1980.

The Stones were pretty much done after Tattoo You, but A Bigger Bang is a worthy late career record.

Dirty Work is a much better record than its reputation or its horrendous sleeve would have you believe, but it's still nowhere near prime Stones.

I've heard it, it's ok

bar Emotional Rescue, which has none)

"Summer Romance," "Let Me Go," "Dance Pt. 1," "All About You," and "Where the Boys Go" beg to differ. All would've fit in beautifully on SG, most benefit from Jagger on third guitar.

Why isn’t it called “Exile on High Street”? Dudes are British...

Well, they were exiled from Britain when they were making the record

Exile on Rue Principale

"Exile on the High Street", to be properly Britishes.

They were too rebellious to pay taxes is it!

almost unthikable that the stones would use an american idiom right enough

There's also a cultural appropriation issue (among many others) imo.
These guys wouldn't survive 5min in today's context !

Sorry that is just how i feel

makes u think

No love for black & blue? I gave it a listen recently and thought it had a pretty nice 'we're just fucking around here, don't worry about it' vibe... I daresay with a different title it has some real "I've got my own album to do" energy

"Memory Motel," "Crazy Mama," "Hand of Fate." C'est tout.

as Keef acknowledged, it exists as their we-auditioned-guitarists album.

ahhh did not know, that's fantastic

xps Black And Blue is the only one pre-1984 that I don't own and have never heard, someday I'll find a cheap copy

i hadn't heard black & blue in full til earlier this year, and it's definitely a worthwhile part of the stones catalog. there's some filler, but the high points, like "memory motel" and "hey negrita" and "fool to cry," are excellent and it's got an appealingly loose vibe.

"Summer Romance," "Let Me Go," "Dance Pt. 1," "All About You," and "Where the Boys Go" beg to differ. All would've fit in beautifully on SG, most benefit from Jagger on third guitar.

― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 18 April 2019 13:04 (one hour ago)Permalink

They beg to differ, but I don't like any of 'em! They bizarrely feel more like outtakes to me than the stuff on Tattoo You!

As for Black and Blue, I like about half of it. I've plenty of time for 'Hand of Fate', 'Fool to Cry', 'Memory Motel' and the "we're just fuckin' around and jammin'" vibe of 'Melody' ... 'Hot Stuff', too, if pushed.

I bought a really nice reissue of this album that's supposed to just be a straight replication of the originals from 1972. No bells and whistles, just the album in its original packaging. This purchase was made at least two years ago.

It's still sealed. I've yet to ever hear this album in its entirety; I certainly know songs from it.

3 > 1 > (2 or 4)

"Ladies and Gentleman: the Rolling Stones" live record/film from the Exile tour is really good and features Nicky Hopkins playing some total madcap piano. Well worth checking out.

and "loving cup," man, still a mystery how it gets from point a to point b. there's a point early on where keith's rhythm anticipates the horn charts. i think that's the key.

― Thus Sang Freud, Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Interesting, do you have a timecode on that?

To my ears, the piano and drum lines tie it together (assuming you’re talking about the transition into the final “outro” section with the horns).

It’s def. a good example of a song with three heterogenous-feeling sections (main, bridge, outro) that somehow cohere really well.

No bells and whistles

the deluxe version of this is a real enhancement, tho

Exile on Rue Principale

― pplains, Thursday, April 18, 2019 9:06 AM (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i like this post a lot

Except there are no rue principale in France !

I was just about to say – it's a French Canadian thing. The idea of Jagger, et al. exiling themselves to Quebec pleases me even more.

Obligatory:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVDT02kwD-g

Except there are no rue principale in France !

:)

Mercí. The sum of my French is basically only what I've gotten from living within six hours of the Cajundome.

https://i.imgur.com/7yStCY5.jpg

Interesting, do you have a timecode on that?

most explicitly, i'm hearing it around 1:14 and again around 1:30. electric guitar (telecaster?). the five fast downstrokes that mimic the "gimme little drink" line and that little answering pulloff thingie.

i can't get enough of this thing lately. all of it except for "let it loose"... everyone has to let one loose from time to time i guess lol.

i'm hearing / connecting with a lot of tenderness in the songs this go-around.

I love Let it Loose. What makes it the exception for you?

i think the chord progression is bland, the tempo is leaden, and the scrunch-faced vocals sound over-wrought and constipated as a result.

i pretty much love every other song though and find it easy to overlook.

It's the vocals I really love! Jagger sounds more honest to me in this song than anywhere else - the way he sort of plunges into this emotional whirlpool of longing and jealousy and self-reproach as he's watching his friend (Keith, I guess?) fuck up yet again, until it doesn't even matter what lyrics he's singing, it could just be nonsense words and I would still get the same meaning from it, that we're all struggling through this terrible, flawed, difficult world, and the bedroom blues (but it could be anything, really) are the burden the world has laid on us that's almost too heavy to carry, and just when we've been pushed to the absolute edge of endurance, here comes Mick to bring us catharsis and preach us the gospel of letting it loose.

But then to me the whole album is about trying to push through the noise and muddle of the world around you and get some kind of meaning and beauty out of it - people at the end of their rope somehow finding a way to endure. And so "Let it Loose" feels to me like the moment on the album where all that crystallizes. But maybe that's just me.

well that's a very appealing description, i'll have to give it more chances.

the best stones album, easy

agree

This remains the greatest album in the history of ears, and it's my favorite work of art by anyone in any medium. I only play it a few times per year these days (after a thousand or more spins in the first decade or so of discovery), which is silly because it'll never grow old, but there are more new bits that pop up the longer you wait before playing it again. It feels like spending time with a close friend from high school you don't see often anymore, but when you do, you hit it off without missing a beat. Seems fitting this was released in May: when the weather breaks, it's one of two albums I reach for each year on the first day the windows are opened (house)/down (car).

I've never seen much (if any) criticism of "Let It Loose"--it seems to be a beloved tune, especially by Stones fans--and find it wild that someone would love the other 17 songs but not "Let It Loose." Not a criticism/understand it's subjectivity, et. al. However, it's consistently struck me as one of Mick's greatest vocals on any song, ballads in particular. (Scorsese also used it to great unobtrusive effect in "The Departed" during a scene with Nicholson & DiCaprio chatting in a bar.)

"Exile" is also the best Stones album for lyrics alone, numerous phrases heavily quoted because they read so well out of context. And as has been mentioned above, the drumming is outstanding throughout (plus "Loving Cup" indeed has one of the all-time great fills). "Tumbling Dice" is in a never-ending battle with "Beast of Burden" for my favorite Stones tune and seeing "All Down the Line" performed live in 2005 remains one of my most cherished concert memories.

The album is so sublime that I have seven copies of it on vinyl (three unipak first pressings, two gatefold second pressings, the 94 remaster, & the 10 remaster plus a bootleg LP of the CD bonus tracks), the CD, the double CD, the Japanese mini LP replica CD, the cassette, the 8-track, a weird little mini album replica (Musidor 1983) with a piece of bubble gum in the still unopened packaging, the Pussy Galore LP and limited edition numbered cassette (#475 out of 550), and a bootleg CD of the Phish Halloween show with artwork (plus the "Phishbill"). My girlfriend has rolled her eyes in too many record stores whenever I've giddily found a first pressing with intact postcards as if I need another set. No other album elicits such outlandish indulgence from me. Yet I'm certain my "Tales from an OCD Exile Collector" anecdotes are far from uncommon. I know it's a problem but can't help it because the album is just that phenomenal. Simply writing these few paragraphs about it has cheered me up after a shitty day.

I always think of what Tom Waits said about it: "This is just a tree of life. This record is the watering hole." Amen.

Saw the Stones a couple days ago in Seattle, I had floor seats and they came down the to the b-stage and did an acoustic "Sweet Virginia," it was pretty great.

You lucky duck! Saw 'em in Foxborough last month & was grateful they did "Dead Flowers," one of the night's highlights. "Sympathy for the Devil" seems to be the tune they nail better than anything else live (at least from the times I've seen 'em). How was it at Centurylink?

I really enjoyed it. They did "Dead Flowers" on the b-stage as well, right after "Sweet Virginia." That and Keith singing "You Got the Silver" and "Before They Make Me Run" were my favorite moments of the night, but it all sounded pretty good to me. Liked "Sympathy for the Devil" a lot as well - it's never been my favorite of theirs, but I thought it was great live, and seeing Jagger strutting around in his glittery jacket with the tails certainly added to the effect.

beautiful post Wally, it's this kind of thing which keeps me coming back to ILX

I was about to post the same thing.

Add me to the "I cannot wrap my head around someone loving this album except for 'Let It Loose'" camp... someone posted the demo upthread a while back, that song might be my favorite on the album.

"Let it Loose" is my favorite song in the world. I want it played at my funeral. Jagger is so dismissive of it in interviews, and it's hard for me to believe he can't tell how good it is. I wonder if the level of genuine emotion he brought to it makes him uncomfortable.

lol at genuine emotion
I think this is one of the weaker tracks on the album

Unless you’re taking the piss “lily” and “Wally” in which case I salute you

The Best Track On The Album Is Whatever's Playing

Stones should have covered “ramble tamble”

Imagine the Taylor solo over that middle section

I'm kind of honored that anyone might think my encomiums to "Exile" could be misconstrued as containing even the slightest hint of irony. That would've been a helluva commitment to faux praise.

I think Lily's noise: muddle:: beauty: meaning is as heartfelt and flawless a one-sentence take on the album as it gets. Now inextricably linked with Tom Waits whenever I think of "Exile."

And thanks to MatthewK & pplains for recognizing the sincerity from the get-go.

calstars is probably drunk, don’t mind him

The Worst Post On The Thread Is Whatever Calstars Is Posting

Aww

<3

Right back at you bro 🚶‍♂️

Calstars just letting it loose.

"Casino Boogie" is my favorite these years. Those off-key Keith harmonies and bits of nonsense ("open for bidness").

Maybe I’m wrong? But in re listening to this extra medium like warm turd I honestly can’t discern what makes this track so laudable. Like if you consider this so great do you spontaneously combust when “memory motel” comes on? Cause it’s far superior for sure

*luke warm turd

I love this album - my favorite Stones record by far - and "Let It Loose" and "Shine a Light" are the two tracks that I find least memorable on the whole thing. In fact, after reading this whole discussion, I had to call "Let It Loose" up on Spotify just to remember what it sounded like at all. Listening to it now, it's weird; musically, it sounds like early '70s Elvis attempting to cover Led Zeppelin's "No Quarter," with the horns and the female singers and stuff. It's Jagger's performance, so mannered it's like he's singing it into a full-length mirror, that wrecks it for me. Especially since it comes in between two songs I like a lot better, the almost Tom Waits-level weirdness of "I Just Wanna See His Face" and "All Down the Line," which is halfway to being the Pussy Galore cover of itself.

Yup. Coulda left those two on the cutting room floor along with All down the Line and Stop Breaking Down to get closer to a single killer LP

Man, the way y’all talk about this record makes me jealous... I wish I could hear even a piece of what you hear in it. Maybe it’ll hit me someday...

Just Want to See His Face > Let It Loose is my favorite 8 minutes by them.

― The Mod Who Banned Liberty Valance (WmC), Wednesday, April 17, 2019 4:56 PM

Wally think I'm going throw this on tonight

it’s the fkn best imo

@upper mississippi sh@kedown: Right there with you! Gonna pour a gimlet & make the speakers bleed in a few.

calstars suggesting they drop All Down the Line is straight-up trolling, right?

lol was gonna say

His comment on "Stop Breaking Down" must be trolling too. It contains what has to be one of the least praised bits of facemeltingly transcendent Mick Taylor guitar playing.

challop: "Ventilator Blues" is my favourite on this album

That's hardly a challop.

Xp that’s the one I go back to with the caveat it includes “I just want to see his face.”

I’ve been occasionally noticing lyrics that I think David Berman would’ve liked and “rocks off” struck me as one, “the sunshine bores the daylights out of me” in particular.

Misread that as I just want to eat his face

Listened to "Ventilator Blues" a lot during a long stretch of terrible air quality last year.

The nitpicking in this thread seems really counter to the spirit of this album which is sprawling but in a way that makes it feel like if you cut anything that something was missing

otm

the sloppiness of the album in its entirety is essential, similar in some respects to ‘tonight’s the night’ not in terms of thematic purpose but in terms of just the right set of circumstances creating a sound that both artists never quite precisely achieved before or since.

^^I always link up Exile and There's A Riot Goin' On for that reason.

"i feel so humble with you tonight just si-DANG in front of the fire.
see your face dancing in the flames, feel your mouth kissing me again, what a beautiful place..."

^this lyric just destroys me, especially the "feel your mouth kissing me again" line.. there's a yearning for romance and connection that is thwarted by experience, just so beautiful and heartbreaking

"I Just Want to See His Face" takes me to the same place that the best Spiritualized moments do.. hypnotized euphoria

As a person who has never been religious, I find that the older I get, the more I seek out secular things that feel like a religious experience, and this album is one of them.

^^^ I totally connect with that search, Lily. Exile seems like a weird choice though as it has a very down to earth vibe going on. That may have to do with the strong rhythm'n' blues component. But in general I also look for musical experiences which feel like religious ones. "Spirit of Eden" for example would be an album which to me has a stronger religious feel. But Exile is still one of the most amazing records of all-time. And there definitely is something deep and mystical going on there.

lol the gospel backup singing might have something to do with it

D'oh!

To imagine this particular double album boasting "filler" breaks my brain.

Yeah, it’s an example of some kind of standard logical fallacy.

Put this on this week while playing poker with my kids, on the grounds that it is the best-ever album to play poker to. Which is true, but I mostly wanted it imprinted somewhere in their brains.

The sequencing on side 3 is just great, especially how "I Just Want to See his Face" segues into those gospel chords on the start of "Let It Loose".

Just want to add to the praise for Lily's praise for 'Let It Loose'. Definitely one of those Stones tracks that really threw me for a loop the first time I heard it, pre-conditioned to the usual radio singles and whatnot as a kid and not yet intimately familiar with all of the albums as a whole. It's sort of the mirror-'Moonlight Mile', if only because both tracks meander in such a beautiful way musically, yet one is ripe with warmth and yearning to return home to intimacy, while 'Loose' is the dissolution and blurry post-impact of that end. The lyrics are great, even though what I heard/thought they were for years was apparently way,way off to what they were written as, which is usually the case for the Jimmy Miller-era stuff.

Another minor bit of useless trivia is that the basic track for Let It Loose was probably recorded in 1969 during the Let It Bleed sessions, evidenced by the brief bit of Mellotron in the beginning and the sound of Charlie's drums.

There was a tape that surfaced a few years back of rough mixes given to Nicky Hopkins that I thought I'd share a link to, in case anyone hasn't heard it before. Here's a brief rundown of some cool things in it:

-You know that swirling keyboard-esque part buried in the middle of the mix in Rocks Off? That's actually Taylor's guitar part that Keith buried when he put a second rhythm guitar down. You can hear it a lot clearer on this.
-Rip This Joint has Taylor's original slide part, and you can understand why Keith removed it and put a simpler one on as it would've cluttered the mix with vocals
-All Down The Line has somebody hacking a lung before the drums kick in, and Nicky is way up in the mix. It's stereo too, unlike the final version. No vocals but you can hear Mick yelling guide ones deep in the back
-Soul Survivor has Bill's original bassline, which Keith replaced as it was too busy for the song once he put all the other guitar parts on
-Another totally different version of I Ain't Signifying, not the same as the guitar-bootleg version or the Exile Deluxe version
-There's an untitled/unknown instrumental that's really, really good. A long ballad that could've easily been a contender for Side 3.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/oy1bf0acss4kao3/AADtjas2HEDqTuFsAm2cjJLLa?dl=0

I think when we got to Casino Boogie, Mick and I looked at each other and just couldn't think of another lyrical concept or idea for the song. I said to Mick, You know how Bill Burroughs did that cut-up thing - where he would randomly chop words out of a book or newspaper and then try to sort them up? That's how we did the lyrics for Casino Boogie, and that was Bill Burroughs' biggest influence on the Rolling Stones.

- Keith Richards, 2010

“Judge and jury walked out hand in hand” is a pretty Burroughsian line tbh.

Memo From Turner has a more direct nod too - "You're the man who squats behind the man who works the soft machine"

I fell in love with this album as a whole before a started making out individual songs. During my early listens, Tumbling Dice was a problem, simply because it was already familiar from the radio, so it sounded clearer and hookier and broke the soupy flow of riffs and Jagger sneer.

I can't really quibble about individual songs within the sprawl, any more than with Double Nickles or Trout Mask Replica or Tago Mago. The feel is the thing.

I'm in a "vinyl"-themed bar for a work gathering; they're currently playing Exile in its entirety. I ain't complaining!

Perfect soundtrack for drinking, playing pool or planning your next heist.

all three at once the true ideal

otm - Exile yahtzee

I’ve been stuck on this album lately. The guitar part in the final section of “Tumbling Dice” is A+++

...& moving on from there — how do they get that vat-of-syrup feel on “Sweet Virginia”? It’s like you can literally hear the humidity weighing down their strings. (I know it sounds like I’m stoned, tho I’m not)

Really obsessed w/this album. What's, like, the *second*-best Stones album to listen to (for fans of this one)?

my fav is exile, my second-fav is beggars' banquet

i would say sticky fingers is your next stop morrisp

Thanks, y'all...

We only had the Stones' '80s albums at home when I was growing up, and I never really dug in later.

my fav is exile, my second-fav is beggars' banquet

i keep trying to work 'turd on the run' into a techno mix. it's 120 bpm and the drums are straight up motor rhythm.

Nothing tops Exile imho but Sticky Fingers comes closest.

Yeah Sticky Fingers def. it’s like a condensed, tighter version of Exile imo & it comes closest to that same feel.

like, except for maybe Brown Sugar or Wild Horses, almost everything else could slide on over pretty easily.

Some Girls is so much fun, and "Just My Imagination" >>>> "Beast of Burden"

When I ranked'em two weeks ago, I came up with this:

Good to Great

Between the Buttons
Beggars Banquet
Let it Bleed
Exile on Main St
Some Girls
Sticky Fingers
Out of Our Heads (US)
Aftermath
December’s Children
Dirty Work
Emotional Rescue

hot take: the rolling stones are a band with a lot of great albums

alfred -- no ranking for their debut?

hotter take: the rolling stones are a band with a lot of albums

(a bunch of which are totally shitty! some are great though)

They're no Jandek, though.

So they are a bit like Brian Aldiss, Shakey?

you really want me to do that poll don't you

For what it's worth, Exile is my favorite Stones album and my second favorite is probably Let it Bleed, although it's a pretty close race between that and Sticky Fingers.

Probably doesn’t fit the bill for the revive exactly but Some Girls is probably my second favorite (most days)

I love the dead beetle crunch of the guitar mix.

I listened to Sticky Fingers, and now I'm listening to Tattoo You — per absolutely no one's recommendation — but will work my way back to the others.

no joek some days Tattoo You is my 3rd

ok maybe a little bit joking by it really is top tier for me. second side hits just right

but it

second side >>> first side

Yeah, this is one of the Stones LPs I would hear as a kid... some of these songs are great, and the "sound" is enormous (I'm apparently listening to the "Remastered" ed., whatever that's worth).

you really want me to do that poll don't you

Second side of "Tattoo You" all day! "Worried About You" is one of the least mentioned yet absolutely outstanding Stones tunes. Plus the "Waiting on a Friend" 45 sleeve contains one of the funniest Mick & Keith photos ever. Glad to read others prefer the ballads more too.