Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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250 of 264 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A place, not a CD, February 26, 1999
By A Customer
I came to terms with Exile when asked by a friend what I thought the five all-time greatest Stones songs were - songs that will still be alive 50 years from now. My response was fairly quick - Satisfaction, Gimme Shelter, You Can't Always Get What You Want, Wild Horses, and Sympathy for the Devil. Just my opinion. But I realized immediately none were from Exile, which I think is the Stones' all-time best album. Yes, Tumbling Dice and Happy are up there, and some cuts on Exile are, IMHO, absolutely awesome (viz their cover of Robert Johnson's Stop Breaking Down) - but clearly Exile is not not rich in standout hits. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Like few other albums, Exile is a world, a place I immerse myself in - a distillation of American blues and gospel and country and rock - a funky smokefilled bar or afternoon fishfry or steamy bordello, with beer and bourbon, pianos and slide guitars and hard-partying working people letting it loose, shining a light, shaking their hips, boogieing, scraping the sh*t off their shoes, rocking the joint all down the line. Exile critics cite no outstanding hit songs and too much "fill" and murky production/garage band sound. But that's the point, the genius of the album. The album IS the song - I love that murky sound - I listen more to my scratchy old vinyl than to the new cleaned up CD I just bought from Amazon - Exile is where the Stones perhaps peaked, where, catalyzed by Taylor's sinuous guitar playing off Richard's rythmn funk and Hopkin's/Stewart's honky tonk piano, they finally came home to the country blues where they began, when Brian Jones, God rest his soul, alias Elmo Lewis, played slide guitar in a London bar and 18 year-old Keith actually thought he was seeing Elmore James - smokey, funky, rockin, wailing, torn and frayed poor white trash and juke joint black, the soundtrack of Saturday night, til my late night friends leave me in the cold grey dawn. Hang out in Exile. Accept it on its own terms. It will be, I firmly believe, the Stones ALBUM (not song) that will stand the test of time. Pass me the bourbon - quick- the band's coming on for another set and the night's still young.
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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
In The Gutter With The Stones, October 6, 2000
Exile On Main St. is a murky, muddy, brilliant album. It sounds like it was recorded at four a.m. after spending a night curled up with a bottle of Jack Daniels or Jim Beam. The band at the time was spiraling down into a pit of drug addiction and complete decadence and the album takes us into that world. The way the album was recorded and produced give us the feeling of despair and dirtiness. The vocals are all down in the mix and it sounds like Mick & Keith are singing underwater at times and other than the horns, the instruments are layered on top of one another with no distinction between them. This doesn't take away from the performances, it only enhances them. The Stones have always been fascinated by and included elements from the music of the American Deep South. Those influences show up all over the album. From the gospel sound of what very well may be their greatest single "Tumbling Dice", the Memphis horns on "Rocks Off" & "Happy", the Mississippi Delta blues of "Torn & Frayed", "Turd On The Run" & "Venilator Blues", the Alabama dirges of "Loving Cup", "Sweet Virginia", & "Shine A Light" to the electric boogie of "Rip This Joint" & "All Down The Line", the band takes us on a musical tour-de-force. This album is least commercial of any Stones release, but it may well be their best.
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58 of 70 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Greatest Rock'n'Roll Album Ever, February 29, 2000
If I had to play one CD for someone from another planet who had never heard rock'n'roll before, this would be it! On "Exile on Main St." the Stones synthesized Chuck Berry-style guitar rock, blues, and country influences to create a new and previously unheard of hard rock style. In essence the Stones invented, on "Exile on Main St.," an original style of hard rock that neither they, nor anyone else, has duplicated since. This CD contains some of the most exciting hard rock music ever cut-"Rocks Off," "Rip This Joint," "Tumbling Dice," and "All Down the Line." This is only time the Stones approached the magic and excitement of their late 60s and early 70s concerts on a studio recording. A word of caution to the uninitiated: the murky sound mix will require multiple listenings, but this is part of "Exile's" greatness-the slamming drums, the chaotic guitars and horns, and the best "slurred" vocals of Mick Jagger's life. The dense sound is due, in part, to the fact that the album was recorded in various parts of Keith Richards home in the south of France. It is this dense and murky sound that gives "Exile" its claim to greatness. No rock CD collection is complete without it.
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