Exile on Main St.

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