Exile on Main St.

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.