Exile on Main St.

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