Exile on Main Street (1972)


 

  1.Rocks Off
  2.Rip This Joint
  3.Shake Your Hips
  4.Casino Boogie
  5.Tumbling Dice
  6.Sweet Virginia
  7.Torn and Frayed
  8.Sweet Black Angel
  9.Loving Cup
 10.Happy
 11.Turd on the Run
 12.Ventilator Blues
 13.I Just Want To See His Face
 14.Let it Loose
 15.All Down the Line
 16.Stop Breaking Down
 17.Shine A Light
 18.Soul Survivor
 
 -Bonus Disc 2008 Release-
  1. Pass the Wine (Sophia Loren)
  2. Plundered My Soul
  3. I'm Not Signifying
  4. Follow the River
  5. Dancing in the Light
  6. So Divine (Aladdin Story)
  7. Loving Cup
  8. Soul Survivor
  9. Good Time Women
  10.Title 5

 

This one tends to show up at the top of most Rolling Stones album rankings—and with good reason. Exile on Main St. is a double album that doesn’t try to prove anything, yet ends up doing just that. The band sounds like they’re simply having a great time playing music, and in some strange twist of fate, that nonchalance is exactly what gives the record its power. There’s a loose, ramshackle feel to much of the material here, which draws immediate comparisons to Dylan’s The Basement Tapes or even Springsteen’s Pete Seeger Sessions. It’s as if someone hit the record button during an epic house party and accidentally captured greatness.

Despite all the praise, you won’t find many major hits on here. Tumbling Dice is probably the most recognizable tune—covered by many artists since—and Keith Richards gets his shining moment with Happy, which might just be his signature vocal moment with the band. Beyond that, though, it’s a parade of gritty, funky, playful jams—none of which seem written with the radio in mind, which again might be why it all works so well. Even with song titles like Turd on the Run, there’s a charm to how unfiltered the album feels, especially when compared to the more “in-your-face” sleaze of Sticky Fingers.

There’s the obligatory country singalong Sweet Virginia, the breakneck pace of Rip This Joint, and the bluesy stomp of Ventilator Blues, all of which beg for repeated listens. On the flip side, songs like I Just Want to See His Face and Shine a Light find the band slipping into gospel territory—again, not something you’d expect them to pull off so convincingly, but they do. By the time you get into the back half of the record, things settle down just a bit. The raw looseness gives way to slightly more structured material, and while these tracks aren’t as often celebrated, they still hold their own.

Even if you don’t consider Exile on Main St. their best record, it might be the one you’d want to take with you if you were stranded on a desert island. It’s not a greatest hits, but it somehow plays like one.

NOTE: The 2008 reissue added some unreleased tracks, some of which—like Plundered My Soul—are excellent. Others, like the overdubbed Following the River, don’t quite fit the original vibe. Still, it’s a welcome bonus to what was already a pretty unbeatable album.


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