Rolling Stones, “Exile on Main Street”

Chris McJaggerly:

Jim: “What’s your favorite album?”
Me: “Exile.”
Jim: “But which album?”
Me: “What do you mean which album?”
Jim: “Which album by Exile?”
Me: “Exile on Fuckin’ Main Street. By the Stones.”
Jim: “Oh, I thought you meant the band Exile. [Pause] You mean the Rolling Stones?”
Me: [scowl]

That was an actual conversation I had with my freshman-year roommate in college. He deserved worse than the scowl. Exile on Main Street. is one of the best albums ever recorded. If rock music were a dart board, the Stones would be the bulls-eye. And the double bulls-eye in the center would be Exile on Main Street.

I especially love it when Keith sings background. His high, scratchy voice – along with strummy acoustic guitars, lap-steel, and tinkling piano – opens up the music and gives the band that guys-playing-on-my-back-porch feel on the four-pack of country-ish tunes that elevates Exile above every other Stones album: “Sweet Virginia,” “Torn and Frayed,” “Sweet Black Angel,” and “Loving Cup.”

If it weren’t for those four gems, Exile would “only” be as good as “Sticky Fingers,” “Beggars Banquet,” and “Let It Bleed,” which is to say it would only be fantastic. It would have to get by with “Rocks Off,”’ quite possibly the greatest opening song ever, a cacophony of multiple rhythm guitars, a slippery lead guitar part, bass, drums, piano, horns, and talk-sung vocals that all seem to be recorded at precisely the same volume, so you can never focus on anything. Try to follow the lead guitar part – it’s like trying to pick out the taste of the baked carrots in your beef stew. It’s a deliciously frustrating song to listen to. Having heard it about a thousand times, I still get chills when the trippy bridge ends and Mick shouts “the sunshine bores the daylights out of me.” That’s fucking poetry.

It would have to get by with the Stones most under-rated hit single, “Tumbling Dice,” which manages to be sloppy and gorgeous all at the same time, thanks to the chorus of background singers and two classic Keith Richards riffs – the one that opens the song, and the nifty one that carries the chorus.

It would have to get by with one of the all-time great Robert Johnson covers, “Stop Breaking Down,” where the five white blokes from London channel the American acoustic blues legend. And a bunch of other mean old blues songs, with the Stones’ best-ever, and shortest-lived guitarist, Mick Taylor, laying down some stinging lead guitar. Not to mention the best Keith song ever, “Happy.” Don’t worry, Keith, you didn’t end up like papa, working for the boss every night and day. You didn’t work a day in your goddam life.

So, yeah, it would get by just fine. But it’s still that stretch of four tunes that makes the album. If only Mick and the Boys would come over and play that nitty-gritty four-pack on my back porch. What a beautiful buzz.

I give Exile 33 1/3.

Tom Heerman:

You bring up a great point about the country feel. The four songs you called to attention are what I consider the very essence of a term later coined “alt-country.” The term has gone out of favor, replaced by Americana, but I like alt-country. And I have been searching for elusive alt-country gems for over 20 years.

There are great alt-country songs here and there from excellent acts like Steve Earle, Wilco, The Gourds, Whiskeytown, Golden Smog and The Jayhawks that equal the Exile era Rolling Stones, but very little sustains an entire record. There is a band called Deadstring Brothers that to me is a Exile on Main Street soundalike, and I highly recommend them. Of course, their imperfections are different than the Stones’ imperfections, and I always miss the true original. But if you are on a mission to find that alt-country/classic Stones sound, try out Deadstring Brothers.

The Stones were in a varied state of addiction to heroin, booze, women, tax evasion, and complete implosion. That is the state where art meets genius, a place where pain meets boredom. Where exhaustion and exhilaration interact. It’s where country and rock and blues all melt together into the Exile on Main Street.

As for a review of Exile, I love it. Its probably the greatest thing ever recorded, but that sounds too crazy to say, so I won’t. But I will say I have been obsessed with finding more music that sounds like it for half my life. And I have four copies of it, and would buy more if I saw them. I hope to someday find it on 8 track. Just to enjoy another new experience with my old friend.

My rating is 33 1/3.

Kevin Decker:

For me, Exile On Main Street is the entire reason I’m even engaged in this fascinating and at times preposterous discussion with you blokes. Max had been droning on for years about the Stones, a band I had never given any time to. Finally I asked him to recommend an album and he pointed me to Exile, among others. I vividly recall sitting in my office listening to the album for the first time. The opening cords were like a sledgehammer on everything I had previously thought about rock and roll. I was blown away. Not in the sense of,“Oh, this is a really good album,” but more in the sense of utter embarrassment that I had never listened to what obviously was a near perfect album if ever there was one. It was bewilderment mixed with shame. I proceeded to listen to the album a million times (or pretty close).

Having been shown the light, I feverishly dove into 60s/70s rock and roll to see what else I had been missing. More embarrassment, more shame, and more amazement. By previously neglecting (for the most part) those decades I had missed out on the greatest musical era ever. It was a glorious awakening, and it all began with Exile. In a very real respect, my renewed love for music is directly traced to Exile.

It’s pretty difficult to create a review of Exile because nothing needs to be said. Listen to it with an open mind and you’ll be hard pressed to argue with it. You’ll want to listen to it again, again and again. I now have my little boys listening to the album (though I’m not sure how much of an impression it makes) so they will not suffer the same ignorance I did. It is utter brilliance and suggesting otherwise can only reveal your ignorance.

The only downside of Exile is that it shows the rest of the Stone catalog to be lacking. But that’s like saying Bobby Jones winning the Grand Slam illustrates that he didn’t meet his potential in prior years. It’s totally unfair, but it’s burden that genius must bear.

I give Exile 33 1/3. It is perfect.