Exile on Main St.

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