Exile on Main Street (Deluxe Edition - Includes 12 Page Booklet)

I first bought this double album in 1978 on vinyl (I still have it) and also bought it on cd a few years back. I deliberated on buying it again for the extra tracks when it was re-issued again last year, but never got around to it. However, on seeing the price of £3.00, yes £3.00 for the whole original album plus the bonus tracks, I just could not resist such a great offer. Amazon show much more imagination, that iTunes never seem able to do, with their pricing policies. Yes, but is it any good I hear you say.....I have been a Stones fan for a number of years and this is the one album I always come back to. I have read numerous reviews of this album and they vary greatly. However, I am in the camp that says that this is the culmination of the essential run of albums starting with Beggars Banquet in 1968 through to Exile in 1972. All Stones albums after Exile are measured against their last great release. Yes, subsequent albums have great tracks but none have ever matched the brilliance of Exile. Throughout there are just wonderful songs. One of my favourite Stones tracks has always been Let It Loose - one of Jagger's best moments but it seems to be underrated. Because I originally bought it on vinyl, I still think of the album as 4 separate sides. If I had to pick, my favourite would be "side 4" - the four final tracks leave me speechless each time I play them. This is just an enjoyable album. Not too sure about the bonus/extra tracks as yet. The demo versions of Loving Cup, Tumbling Dice and Sole Survivor are very interesting to hear though, to see how the songs evolved and end up in their final form. What I do know is that the original album is one of the best rock albums ever made and for £3.00 you just cannot go wrong!

If it had not been for the British tax man this album would probably never have been created so it might be regarded by some as the greatest contribution by the Inland Revenue to world culture.It was originally released in 1972 to mixed reviews from both the music press and even some of the band. Nonetheless, the public realised something more significant was taking place and made it a commercial hit. The album is a back to basics R&B classic that pre dated punk and new wave music by at least 3-4 years. In a era when the concept album with tracks running to complete sides or more was becoming the norm Exiles On Main Street bucked the trend by having no song longer than 5 minutes 16 seconds and over 5 tracks under 3 minutes. It also had a raw and spontaneous feel that few studio albums of the era could match. Of course, much of this achievement as with so many significant works of art was largely unplanned. Half of the band and much of the production team were off their heads on drugs when it was recorded and the other half only turned up briefly to make their contributions. Given these circumstances it is hardly surprising the songs sound a bit rough around the edges at the time. Nonetheless the sheer quality and energy of the band always shines through. Despite the fact the album was largely recorded in France I rate this the work where the Stones have most integrated and authentically expressed the Black American musical influences that inspired them. Finally, whatever, its short comings this is the Stones most influential album because it is the one that most musicians use as a reference point. As a consequence whether some Stone fans like it or not that makes it their cultural and artistic high water mark .

Absolutely as expected.

I've owned Exile for years. It is a fantastic piece of work and deserves its classic status. I recently gave in to buying the remastered 2 disc edition after holding off for a while. The packing is a tad disappointing: the booklet doesn't have a holder, so it just falls out. There's no reproduction of the infamous Exile postcards which is a big oversight. Also, the credits on the songs are bit revisionist, crediting certain musicians on songs that they didn't play on. The sound is very good, although it's not that much different than the previous remaster from 1994. The 10 track bonus disc is good stuff. "Plundered My Soul" is especially excellent, Jagger's additional vocals are splendid and it's heartening to hear Mick Taylor working on a Stones project again. It seems that the Stones recent remaster series has been a bit of a missed opportunity, what with so many great songs, such as "Criss-Cross Man" and "Fast Talking, Slow Walking..." from the Goats Head Soup sessions, remaining in the vaults. Perhaps they wouldn't want to have to pay the likes of Mick Taylor any further royalties? So, overall: a 5 star album, 3 star packaging. However, it must be said: if you don't own this album, buy it.

The Rolling Stones single-handedly redefined the rock performer, the rock concert and the rock song. They are arguably the greatest rock and roll band of all time, and for at least forty years they remain the only constant in a music scene that has seen bands, musical styles and fashions come and go. The groups contribution to rock music is immense. They invented the idea of the rock performer as the sexy shamanic figure; they revolutionized each of the classical instruments of rock music: the drums incorporated the lascivious tom-tom of tribal folk, the martial pace of military bands and the sophisticated swing of jazz; the guitar amplified the raw and ringing style of Chuck Berry; the bass invented a depraved sound, the singing turned the sensual crooning of soul music in an animal howl, half sleazy lust and half call to arms; and the arrangements of keyboards, flutes and exotic instruments completely misinterpreted the intentions of the cultures from which they were borrowed. In an era crowded with performers of melodious pop music inspired by the vocal groups of decades earlier, the Stones represented a generational trauma - a revolution that was as thorough as it was radical. It is not an exaggeration to say that after them, not only rock music but western civilization itself would never be the same again. The Stones were the legitimate heirs to the rockers of the 50s like Chuck Berry who the recording industry had systematically foresaken to the bland teen matinee idols of the period. The Stones radically upped the game of the rockers adding their unique explosive violent impulses of blues-rock to the mix. Nobody ever did the blues like the Stones, and perhaps nobody ever will. It is a style of blues that is at the same time metaphysical, political and mystical. The Stones style of blues-rock has become a fundamental structure of most modern genres, from hard rock, that the Stones de-facto invented in 1965, to grunge, that the Stones invented in 1968. From Led Zeppelin to Nirvana, directly or indirectly, they're all children of The Rolling Stones. 'Exile On Main Street' (1972), is the groups masterpiece. It's a work that represents the completion and maturation of their sound. It's an album that concentrates on their infernal nature and abandons all pretenses. The songs are luxuriously bacchanalian, syncopated and droll. But the album is also self-referential, a sort of museum of the styles absorbed by the Stones sound, from the hiccuping gospel of 'Tumbling Dice' to the visceral, percussive and stentorian funk of 'Rocks Off'. It's a multi-voiced shouting style mostly derived from gospel, with a rumbling jump-blues rhythmic counterpoint of swooping horn blasts and heavy drum rolls. Percussion dominates, albeit in different styles from song to song, along with suggestive instrumental combinations and rhythmic patterns that go well beyond their legendary syncopation. Exemplary are the saraband 'Happy' and the choral decadence of 'All Down The Line'. The solemn and martial blues 'Torn And Frayed', the frenetic and possessed boogie 'Turd On The Run' and the tribal and demonic serenade 'Black Angel', are quieter songs that are nevertheless counterbalanced by a sinister aspect. Slim Harpo's 'Hip Shake' is captivating. The autobiographical choral hymn 'Soul Survivor' seals the work. 'Beggar's Banquet' is a close second, but 'Exile' is the Stones at their brilliant best.

For a change I'll keep this brief. Most people buying Rolling Stones records will probably buy Hot Licks or some other compilation in the hope that this will cover all the bases needed to gain an appreciation of this legendary band. Understandable, but of course as any buyer of a greatest hits will find, these compilations do not have the relevance of a complete work, an album created for a single release. I don't confess to be a rock historian, but Exile looked like a suitable place to begin a trek into the Stones back catalogue and how right I was. In essence it has a real deep blues feel to it, with Jagger on tremendous form really showing off the true extent of his vocals whilst the band, in masterful form, back him up with some amazing playing. The band often cite this album as not having any singles on it, but in a sense, that's the beauty of any true great work, it does not lend itself to the culling of a Greatest Hits, it works as a whole, a timepiece for the year of its release and is full of tracks that will worm your way into your psyche. So, if you have the urge to develop your understanding of the Stones a bit more than endlessly playing Satisfaction or Brown Sugar, then this is a brilliant place to start.

Great

It is easy to consider Stones as band of youngpeople who take drugs and party having good time. Exile is one of those incredible stories that people who make art have to make brilliant thing to survive. Being thrown out of thier country Stones became a band without roots. They couldn't be american band or some european. They were band on the run. Tricky thing, because you have to set up your art in certain contecst. When you go out of your country you have to set up larger contects. Can you be truthful outside of your country? Going to France and working on a project not changing thier habits shows guts and commitment. And the album. Double? Sounds like a joke bofore you hear it, but when you do it's only an admiration. Kieth Richards is not some loose guy who tries to play guitar. He is acomplished composer, because to write such music is not something which comes by chance. And the lirics? "Yeah you talking when I'm on the street" what starts the album. Who is that you, the lirical subject? Serious stuff, still valid. Musicaly and verbally. Awesome album!