Track Listing

1. Rocks Off
2. Rip This Joint
3. Shake Your Hips
4. Casino Boogie
5. Tumbling Dice
6. Sweet Virginia
7. Torn And Frayed
8. Sweet Black Angel
9. Loving Cup
10. Happy
11. Turd On The Run
12. Ventilator Blues
13. I Just Want To See His Face
14. Let It Loose
15. All Down The Line
16. Stop Breakin' Down
17. Shine A Light
18. Soul Survivor

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13582 in Music
• Released on: 1994-08-15
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered

Amazon.co.uk Review
Before Keith Richards' bad habits took over for a time in the mid-'70s, his work ethic was quite high. Stories abound of the long, if somewhat off-schedule, hours he spent working on this classic album in the basement of his home in France. Hanging together as much because of great songwriting ("Rocks Off," "Soul Survivor") as its fabled grungy atmosphere, Exile caps the Stones' great 1968-'72 run with a force that belies their supposed spiritual tiredness. What some of these songs are about is anybody's guess--Keith claims "Ventilator Blues" was inspired by a grate, while the song plays like an ode to a pistol--but that's just part of this album's hazy game. --Rickey Wright

CD Description
Still inspired by their STICKY FINGERS recording sessions in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, EXILE ON MAIN STREET found the Rolling Stones sounding more like a Southern fried juke-joint band than ever before. That EXILE was recorded in a basement is no surprise, either--much of it sounds as if it was recorded live at a gospel revival, with a final mix that gives nohierarchy to specific instruments. The result is a swampy, most exhilarating chunk of rock & roll euphoria.
EXILE sharpens the country, blues, and gospel tendencies the Stones began exploring in the late '60s on albums like BEGGAR'S BANQUET. Here, armed with an assortment of backing musicians and vocalists, the band virtually inhabits the spirit of each style, distilling the whole to a ragged, soulful perfection.From the escalating, horn-driven vamps of "Rocks Off" through the back porch singalong "Sweet Virginia" to the mean blues stomp of "Ventilator Blues" and the church-like strains of "Shine a Light", EXILE's double-album length plays like a weary, boozed-up sermon on the very meaning of rock music. This is the closest the band ever came to religion, and it still has the power to convert.

Customer Reviews

If narcotics made noise, this is what they�d sound like
The roughness of punk, melody of pop, attitude of rap, poetry of folk, humour of ska, poignancy of country and integrity of blues...oh, and a bit of gospel too.

What other band, of the stature The Stones were in 1972, would be brave enough to produce a record with so many rough edges? When you first listen to Exile you'd think this was a local band who need a bit more time to rehearse. As with so many good things in life though, this record grows on you. I've owned this record for over 15 years and still hear new things every time I listen to it. We all have albums we thought were great for the first few listens, but very quickly become sickly sweet. It's the warts-n-all roughness of this that makes it great. Eventually you will begin to hear the controlled musicianship, and this, mixed with top quality songwriting, means they pull it off brilliantly.

Few albums have a character uniquely their own. Most are carriers for singles with a 4/5 extra tracks to flesh them out, and too little thought is given to the overall result (please don't mention "concept" albums). Even given that The Stones' previous four albums were classics, and nearly ten years of superb singles went before it, this is still their masterpiece. It's quite simply the most together piece of rock'n'roll you'll ever hear.

Compared to Exile, much of what we hear today sounds bland, characterless and pointless. Not to mention tacky. Mind you, against this album, most of the popular music in 1972 probably sounded like that too.

If you're new to The Stones, this isn't the best place to start. More immediately accessible are Beggars Banquet, Let it Bleed and Sticky Fingers. This though, is the album that will change the way you look at, and listen to, pop music.

PS. For those of you who like the bar-room country style of Exile, you must get "The Band" by The Band. It's their first LP, and followed a period as Bob Dylan's backing group.

Five Star Grit
God this is a good album. Or should I say bad?? It is The Stones at their dirtiest grittiest best. Double albums have a special place in my heart because they are so adventurous and daring. In the 1970s,long before CDs clocked in at over an hour on a regular basis, these double albums cost fans a lot of money and were anything but a record company's commercial blockbuster selling dream. Hats off therefore or maybe Rocks Off to the Stones for putting this record out. As with all double albums there is a certain amount of tedious debate about how it could have been trimmed or truncated. But I say Boo to these tiresome people. This album saw The Stones at the absolute peak of their powers. The harmony between Jagger and Richards has never reached these levels. It seems as if Keith was simply born to sing top part harmony. Stories abound as to how Jagger was absent for much of the sessions. But when he does turn up he delivers the goods. To render such snide comments utterly irrelevant.
The first track Rocks Off is about as powerful a rocker as The Stones ever produced. With a hilarious lyric to boot. 'The sunshine bores the daylights out of me' for example!!
'Tumbling Dice' is here, possibly their greatest single ever. What drumming at the end from Charlie! What a performance all the way through! 'Sweet Virginia' is so great....in the same way that 'Far Away Eyes' was 6 years later. Both contain Jagger singing in his best irreverant fashion....and how timeless is the scrap that shit right off your shoes line???? Mick Taylor is fantastic throughout....most songs contain great slide guitar work from him. Most of the songs are great. Very little filler. Even Ventilator Blues is brilliant. And songs such as 'Let It Loose', 'Torn And Frayed' and 'Loving Cup' are bona fide Stones classics. I didn't used to rate Side 4 so highly before but I listened to it loud in the car yesterday and realised something. I was wrong.
For while Sides 1 and 2 are close to 10 out of 10, the other two sides are not far behind. They create a gritty mood on this album and never venture from it. Thank you Lord for Double Albums. And Thank You Lord for this inspired collection. Today I rate it even better than its tumultous predecessor 'Sticky Fingers'

A masterpiece
This album takes a while to assimilate, or it did for me anyway.
The mix is murky, the songs are less anthemic rockers than weary, bleak blues, and I was actually a bit disappointed when I first heard it.
But give it a chance, and each subsequent listen will reveal something new, eventually revealing "Exile On Main St." not only as the Stones' best album, but as one of the best records of the 70s.

It's got plenty of obvious masterpieces, like the thumping, bluesy rockers "Happy", "Rocks Off" and "Tumbling Dice", and the swinging ballads "Torn And Frayed" and "Sweet Virginia", but lesser-known songs like the gospel-like "Shine A Light", Robert Johnson's "Stop Breaking Down", and the stylish amalgam "Sweet Black Angel" are great as well.

There are too many highlights to mention, really, and this superb collection of blues, rock, soul, country and R&B remains the Rolling Stones' finest hour as well as being their most diverse album.