Exile On Main Street - Rolling Stones (The)

Advantages: Probably their most consistently good album, excluding compilations
Disadvantages: None

In 1971, the Rolling Stones moved to France because they were unable to pay their UK tax bills. (It must be tough having all that money.) The Beatles had just dissolved rather messily, and for a while Mick Jagger & Co really were the world's greatest rock'n'roll band. 'Exile On Main Street' was first issued in the spring of 1972 as a vinyl double album, but unlike the Beatles' 'White Album', with 67 minutes playing time, it's short enough to fit ...
...difficult to get their head round such a hefty set, but with hindsight it has since been acclaimed as probably their best. The group's three previous studio albums had been pretty amazing, but 'Exile' possibly topped the lot. They certainly never sounded quite this good again. Was it their 'White Album'? In a sense, maybe. Having four sides of vinyl at their disposal instead of two gave them a chance to experiment more with different styles. On ... Read review

Advantages: Subtle, sublime, chilled and cool
Disadvantages: No obvious hits

...yes, all of them! – Exile is my favourite. Every time I listen to it the songs just sound better and better. There is something about it, something so relaxed and laid back and yet so striking and vibrant. It was recorded with the Stones in exile in France, in a massive old house owned by Richards, and is musically a reflection of the band’s status as outcasts and wanderers. Released as a double album (a risky move in the 70s), it is ...
...Exile is a very cohesive album in that it doesn’t really contain a bad song. I have always thought that a great album is an album on which every track is listenable and contains brilliance. Exile is like this. While it may not at first appear to contain any “great” songs (like Brown Sugar on Sticky Fingers or Sympathy for the Devil on Beggars Banquet), after becoming familiar with its tone you soon realise that this is one of the ... Read review

Advantages: Great rootsy, dirty-sounding rock
Disadvantages: Can't always hear the words - hardly a disadvantage?

This is not the obvious Rolling Stones album to choose when confronted with their huge back catalogue in the record store, it hasn't got many hits on it - if you look at the track listing, there's only the song "Tumbling dice" that will be familiar to radio listeners and Top 20 devotees. "Tumbling dice" is a great song, of course but there are many, many more great songs on here. Even though I know it so well, I've never been able to work out what ...
...on Main Street", the vocals are a bit on the 'muddy' side, and seem to be in the background, even Jagger's, but I find that it doesn't really matter at all. First up is "Rocks off", and is a brilliant opener, with driving guitars, growling vocals, and the horn section really gets things going even more. There's even some wordplay in the lyrics ("the sunshine bores the daylights out of me"). The influence of gospel, Southern soul, Dixie blues and ... Read review

Advantages: If you own this album knowbody can critise your taste in music!
Disadvantages: NONE WHAT SO EVER!

This is one of my favorite Stones albums, this is the Stones at their finest as a group. This album has just about something for everyone and has been said to be their best album ever! This album was ground breaking stuff at the time and was a sell out success world wide. it features 18 rocking tracks and has every thing from country to gospal with a good mesure of blues and rock thrown in. The original artwork was great and even included 10 postcards ... Read review

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...reviews upon its original release, Exile on Main Street has become generally regarded as the Rolling Stones' finest album. Part of the reason why the record was initially greeted with hesitant reviews is that it takes a while to assimilate. A sprawling, weary double album encompassing rock & roll, blues, soul, and country, Exile doesn't try anything new on the surface, but the substance is new. Taking the bleakness that underpinned Let It Bleed and ...
...first listen, but each subsequent listen reveals something new. Few other albums, let alone double albums, have been so rich and masterful as Exile on Main Street, and it stands not only as one of the Stones' best records, but sets a remarkably high standard for all of hard rock. ... Read review