The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main St.

greatest american blues album by a non-american, non-blues band

This is, simply, the greatest Stones album and one of the greatest complete albums of all time, period. One can draw a direct line from Robert Johnson to the Stones with no apologies. It takes several listens to fully appreciate the absolute genius but is well worth the time. I bought my first copy around 1980 on the recommendation of a friend who swore if I didn't like it, he'd buy it back from me. At first I was not impressed and almost took him up on the offer but over time I came to understand what he saw in it and now without question list this as my all time favorite album. Boy, am I glad I kept it. This is NOT a rock and roll album, it is a pure blues album. Personally I physically cannot sit still while listening to Ventilator Blues. The herky-Jerky feel and anticipation of the dropped snare shots is classic delta. Buy this album, you will not be disappointed. November 12, 2008

Hey old people! Listen up!

The Rolling Stones are garbage for old dorky hippies! Don't waste your money on this generic garbage. Listen to some awesome music like 50 Cent, Soulja Boy, Carrie Underwood or Green Day instead. You know why this band sucks? Besides every song sounding the same, they never got any MTV or BET airplay. What gives?! November 10, 2008

Rolling like there was no tomorrow

Completing the sequence from Beggars Banquet, Let it Bleed, Sticky Fingers (which was filled with drug references) to Exile (which exuded the stuff).
First off, the LP double is a masterpiece. The CD is not bad, but does not compare, being thin and lacking balls. When this came out, and today a lot of people complain about the muddy, impenetrable sound. Compared to Sticky Fingers or Let It Bleed, Exile on Main Street was tightly wrapped and everything seemed to be coming at you compressed in space. This was the complexity of the arrangements. A high quality turntable and ampflier demonstrate that both the recording of the individual instruments and voices and the mix are superb. The problem is, no cheap turntable and certainly no cheap plastic rack CD player has any hope of making sense of the dense mix.

"Rocks Off", Mick's voice is center stage and in front of the band. If you can't make out the words its because he's purposefully slurring them.
This is one of the great Stones albums, four high energy sides.

Exile shines with a sparkle of cocaine while at hanging under the weight of heroin.

A superb effort, but not what you would call "accessible". November 5, 2008

4.5 Stars - And #3 Of Their Top 3 Albums

I am the Stones Authority. Whenever I listen to this album I cannot help but think of Keith's rented villa in the south of France with the strange comings and goings and open doors and music being created as they passed the time in pleasant weather and decadence wondering what future lay before them after departing England and the oppresive liberal tax regime. If you have never read "Up And Down With The Rolling Stones" by Tony Sanchez, then you should. I think it probably does paint a rather accurate picture of what the atmosphere behind this album was, the atmosphere that shaped what this album became. It is essential reading, I believe, especially if you want to fully understand where this album's genesis came from. The strong reaction of the Stones camp and some of their kep boosters against this book leads me to believe that the book hit a nerve and is probably closer to the mark than any other account of that time.

Now to the album. Really it should be judged as a whole, that is where it stands the strongest. Some people love to cherry pick and nit-pick this album to death and dog it. That is their perogative, but it does miss the beautiful tapestry that is the journey that this album represents. If you don't get it, then you just don't get it. I understand that this album is not as accessible as many would like. I know they like "Brown Sugar", wish there was another "Gimme Shelter" on here somewhere - feel like there is not enough of that Rock 'N' Rolling Stones sound. Sorry, can't help you, you're right. But there is "Tumbling Dice", "Casino Boogie", "Torn And Frayed", "Sweet Black Angel", "Loving Cup", "Turn On The Run", "Let It Loose" and "Shine A Light". These rythms will stick in your head and haunt you after just a couple of listens. In fact, with each hearing of the album you sink deeper under its spell. And then soon you find yourself fully convinced that this is their best work ever. I am not one of those, because I am biased in favor of the Rock 'N' Rolling Stones, but I will say this about the album. It stands alone among all Stones albums. You can compare and contrast other Stones albums, but it is very difficult to do that with this album. It was almost as if they were channeling spirits while they recorded thses tracks. Channeling the spirit of the Mississippi River of the early 20th Century. And though these influences had always been there and would be there even after Exile, they would never quite be as "Under the Influence" as they were for this album. A psychic journey to the Crossroads and back again. October 18, 2008

A Lesson in American Music

What you have here is the Rolling Stones giving us back exactly what we had been missing right under our noses, and taking it to places that the creators never could have possibly imagined. Every element of pure American music is here and there isn't a sour note. From the smoke filled juke joints of the deep south, to the slick blues of Chicago's West Side, to a Texas roadhouse, to a gospel choir, right back to Chuck Berry, it's all here. Everything great about American music deconstructed and built back up to reach places never before imagined.
This is music one could imagine spilling out into Beale Street in 1955 or shaking the rafters of a Mississippi blues hall or belting out of some Baptist church. It's what every Saturday night should sound like. No need to break down each song here. They all have their charms. Needless to say no music collection is complete without it, and if you don't get it, you don't get American music and you surely don't get Rock and Roll. October 13, 2008

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