Average Rating: 
Rating:  - What hard rock is all about.
The double LP Exile On Main Street is a very interesting entry in the Rolling Stones canon. A member of the uninitiated will wonder why this album is held as Mick and Keith's masterpiece--there's no big radio hits. No Sympathy For The Devil, no Satisfaction, no Gimme Shelter, no Jumping Jack Flash to be found here. The only two commercial successes from the album are Tumblin' Dice and Happy. Exile On Main Street is not about the singles. It's all about the weary, dirty ambience. You could almost picture a red-eyed and exhausted Mick and Keith in a trashed bar with a pack of cigarettes and a bottle of Jack Daniels as they were writing and recording revamped blues songs. All the songs bleed together, and sound samey. Mick's singing is pushed back in the mix and the lyrics are near-indecipherable. However, the lousy production is what makes Exile On Main Street so memorable. There's no denying that the songs are all grade-A material. The albums opens with three classics--Rocks Off, Rip This Joint, and the Bo Diddley rewrite Shake Your Hips. Then come Tumbling Dice, Sweet Virginia, Torn And Frayed, Loving Cup, Happy, Ventilator Blues, Let It Loose, All Down The Line, Stop Breaking Down, and finishes with the soul of Shine A Light and Soul Survivor. Exile On Main Street is an acquired taste. It took me at least 10 listens straight through to really get into this album. Compared to the other entries in the canon, there are few mainstream concessions or attempts to be accessible. Even Mick couldn't understand what all the fuss over this album was about, and they rarely perform Exile material at concerts. Which is too bad, because the fans both new and old are missing out on a real gem, albeit an unpolished and rough one. If you're looking for the commercial singles, go buy the compilation Hot Rocks 1963-1971 or Beggar's Banquet through Sticky Fingers. I'd start with those first before getting into this one. The Stones would never make an album approching Exile On Main Street again.
Rating: - The classic era ended, but what a way it did!
After coming up with the rather quiet STICKY FINGERS, the Rolling Stones decided to get rowdy & raunchy again with what every rock band's history is not complete without: a double album. EXILE ON MAIN ST. is surprising simply for the fact that it was critically savaged on its release & fans weren't all that impressed either. Only two songs on here became hits, the biggest one being the delightfully bluesy "Tumbling Dice". It only reached #7, but it's a song that deserves more attention in the Stones' history. Because Mick Jagger's vocal was practically unintelligable, it wasn't until Linda Ronstadt recorded her more understandable version that the lyrical genius of this song came through. And who can't resist singing "You got to roll-oh-oll me & call me the tumbling dice"? The other hit was "Happy", a horn-drenched rocker coming solely from Keith Richards. His vocal bears an uncanny resemblance to Dylan & the fact that he plays bass on here instead of guitar shows that he's more talented than one may think...at least when he put down the heroin needle for a bit. The rest of the album is what a double album should be, a variety of many different songs that weave into each other well. Some may complain that it's all filler that could easily have been edited, but EXILE is an album that is meant to be listened to from beginning to end, that's when you'll get the album the way the Stones intended it to be. Unfortunately, while EXILE was in fact a masterpiece for the Stones, they may have taken the bad reviews it received very personally, for except the above-mentioned two songs, the rest are rarely, if ever, performed live. The next time the Rolling Stones head out on tour, they may want to dig back as far as this album for material, because if they insist on proving they still have the rocks, this should prove all the doubters wrong.
Rating: - Love and "EXILE" will keep you happy
The Stones previous album, the spectacular STICKY FINGERS, sounds like it was recorded in the world's greatest studio, with engineers perfecting it's every detail, taking each song individually. EXILE ON MAIN STREET sounds also like it was recorded in the world's greatest studio, but in it's basement, and during one long night. And that's why it's so great. It's pure passion. On 1972, the Stones decided to pay a tribute to blues, country, gospel and rock music. Nobody could have done it better.You don't fall in love with EXILE the first time you listen to it. It's a process. EXILE seduces you. Each new listen is an invitation by EXILE to discover it's secrets, it's details, it's sensations. And you can't help falling in love with it. Just listen to VENTILATOR BLUES and imagine them playing it in Keith Richards' basement in Nellcote, France, with only a little window in the room, on a steaming hot day, with their shirts off, sweating and sweating..."gonna fight it.....gona fight it....." Yeah, those endings!. They could go on and on. The horns on ROCKS OFF, the sexy guitar play at the end of CASINO BOOGIE, the girls' voices on TUMBLING DICE, the end of LOVING CUP (the horns and the "gimme litlle drink....gimme little drink..."), the same with HAPPY...etc. With every song you can feel a different sensation in your mind, but EXILE as a whole has the same effect, passion.
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