Rolling Stones
Exile on Main Street - Rolling Stones 1972
Tracks: 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 / 7. Shine A Light / 18. Soul Survivor
Comments:
"Exile on Main Street" is considered one of the Rolling Stones' most important albums, which may at first seem a little strange. Rolling Stones band members have on several occasions stated that they did not consider the album as something special. Moreover it contains relatively few of the group's best-known songs; not least considering that it was originally a double album.
The two singles "Tumbling Dice" and "Happy" naturally are well-known favourites and a handful of the other tracks were concert favorites in the 1970s. Among those are "Rocks Off," "Sweet Virginia", "Loving Cup" "All Down the Line" and "Rip This Joint."
Generally, to be real a fan of this album, I believe it is necessary to like horns. The horn section is an important part of the soundscape of the album. I clearly remember that this fact gave me some problem with being really enthuastic with the album.
The classic Keith Richards guitar riff fortunately can be found found on several tracks. This appliy for the opening track "Rocks Off," "All Down the Line" and of course the album's biggest hit "Tumbling Dice".
My personal favorite on the album is the delicate half acoustic "Sweet Black Angel" which has fine vocal harmonies. Also the melodic blues "Sweet Virginia", which in fact could have been a "Beggars Banquet" song and "Loving Cup" are favorites.
"Happy", with Keith Richards, is another significant song and also the quiet "Let It Loose" and the gospel influenced "Shine a Light" stand out positively from the whole.
Some of the very classic blues-inspired songs, I do not find particularly interesting, and although the album may well deserve to be judged as a whole, I believe that some of the less significant blues-influenced numbers could have been left out. In any rate, it is an album you can listen to many times. I have not heard the bonus-tracks, but I thought that the album was long enough as it originally was put together, so I never really considered getting the Deluxe version.
The sound on the remastered version has been criticized. I find it difficult to endorse this. On the contrary, I think the sound has become more open and airy.
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