Exile on Main St.

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FlyBikes

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I do like Sticky Fingers but I don't listen to it enough to qualify myself as a fan but I should really give Exile a listen. There are a few gaps in my collection that need to be addressed.
 
Exile on Main St​

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The first thing I want to note is that when I came into this album, I was biased. I wanted to listen to albums critically considered classics, so I went to Rolling Stone
 
Sticky Fingers is probably the Stones album from that era I listen to the least.

I'd say it's more of the Stones doing a stadium rock album whereas Exile is more of a roots album.
 
I always get the sense that you're speaking directly to me when I read your posts Davey. Something to do with your writing style maybe?
Had anyone else written a review on this particular album, I probably wouldn't have bothered reading it.
Glad you're back.
 
I think the Stones are overrated but they are still good. The reason why I don't rate them as high as most fans is because, for me, they haven't made a great album.

That isn't to say that I think their best albums aren't any good, not at all. But they always seem lacking to me, making them consistent but sometimes 'meh'.

Exile, for instance, doesn't have any bad tracks, but nothing that makes me think, 'wow, what a great album, I'm gonna listen to it again straight away'.

They have had great songs, both singles and un-released, but spread out over their albums.


But.....

......very good review. I don't have to agree with it to like it. I especially appreciated you writing about how it made you feel etc rather than just saying 'this song rocked' 'wow that was good'.
 
I really appreciate it. I write for my local school newspaper and want to be a writer, and I sort of write down my thoughts as they come to me when I listen to albums.
 
I enjoyed the review immensely and consider it spot on. FWIW I consider the Stones an all time great of Rock & Roll music from the 1960's and 1970's and have an immense regard for most their albums up until 1978's Some Girls. All to me are very good to excellent but after that I think that it was all a bit downhill. I would also suggest that they have become a bit of a stadia cabaret act in recent years along the lines of say Kiss and Andre Rieu and that may make a younger generation unaware of their standing as premier rockers of their early years.
 
It's just what I have always said.

People are far too interested in trying to compare the Stones to whatever else was around at the time rather than appreciate their work for what it was.

This album isn't groundbreaking or innovative. It's roots , it's ballsy , it rocks and it has a swagger to it and on their day nobody comes within light years of doing this as well as the Stones. THAT'S why it's a great album.
 
The album is raw and really captures what the Stones were about, especially in the early 70's. Although I prefer Beggar's Banquet and Let It Bleed, mostly for ''Gimme Shelter'', Exile is their '70s Centrepiece. They always played second fiddle to The Beatles in the '60s and Led Zeppelin in the 70's but The Stones are still around and embody what is simple, raw, and dangerous about rock 'n' roll. Cheers!

Gopal (The Musical Mad Scientist)
 
This was the first Stones album I heard, and it convinced me that they weren't just another crappy mainstream band, although I could really live without side 3. Replace Stop Breaking Down with Happy and you've got three perfect album sides.

...but as good as most of the tracks are, I'll still take Let It Bleed or Sticky Fingers.
 
I am not a big Rolling Stones fan at all, but I have never heard this album. Perhaps I should give it a listen and reaqauint myself with them. I did put Forty Licks on at work in the week and turned it off about 8 songs in. I was bored :(
 
Thanks for the great review. One of my favorite tracks on Exile is the minimal, hauntingly beautifully, "I Just Want To See His Face", which boils the trademark Jagger/RicharRAB swagger down to a simple piano riff, tribal drumming, angelic background vocals and yet another fantastic vocal by Jagger, who on Exile, delivered one of the great rock vocal performances. Oh...and by the way, the Stones played second fiddle to no one.
 
Exile is the greatest. Everything the Stones did between Beggars Banquet and this was brilliant, and actually makes up for all the crap they've put out since. I feel like theres two types of people:

1. People who think the stones are overrated-they havent listened to Exile.
2. People who appreciate the Rolling Stones-they have heard Exile.


Liz Phairs' "Exile in Guyville" is great too. Its supposovely based on Main Street, but other than the number of songs, it has nothing in common with it really.
 
The Stones in Exile: An Imagine Special
BBC 1
Sunday, May 23rd, 2010
10:25pm to 11:30pm

Alan Yentob introduces a revealing documentary which tells the story of the making of The Rolling Stones' acclaimed 1972 album, Exile on Main Street. Facing huge unpaid tax bills in Britain, the band fled to the French Riviera. Life was crazy and chaotic there, yet the band still managed to make one of the seminal albums of rock and roll history.

Can't wait to see this. :D
 
What about people who have'nt heard Exile but don't think they are overrated i.e-me? Generalisations like that are short sighted. It's not all black and white. I'm just indifferent to the Stones.
 
I must remember to watch this. Anyway in relation to the thread Exile On Main Street is an album I've never really been able to fall in love with, I mean I like it but I wouldn't say 10/10. Maybe watching a documentary on it may make me appreciate it more. :D

My favourite is definitely Sticky Fingers followed closely by Let It Bleed.
 
Well theres obviously exceptions, I generalize alot but I always realize nothings black and white. To me, at least, alot of people seem like that when discussing the stones. They know the radio hits (which exile has very few-I hear "tumbling dice" and once in a blue moon, "Happy"), and dismiss the band as overrated. There are clearly other people as yourself, however.
 
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