The Cavern
Rock & Words
EXILE ON MAIN ST. (The Rolling Stones, 1972)
Artist: The Rolling Stones (A)
Recording Dates: Oct ’70 – Mar ‘72
Release Dates: May 12, 1972. UK
Record Label: Rolling Stones
Producer: Jimmy Miller
Rating: 9 (ICONICO ALBUM)
Era: Hard Rock (1968-???)
Subgenre: Hard Rock
Best Song: Tumbling Dice, o rRocks Off, or Shine a Light
Tracklist: 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 Breaking Down; 17) Shine A Light; 18) Soul Survivor.
Wait, WHAT??? NINE? Corvan, now you've really gone off the rails. For many, this is the best Stones album!!! I know. But even though I was looking for reasons to give it a 10, in the end I ended up looking for excuses not to lower it from a 9… I must start by agreeing with a very powerful statement from Starostin: This album was very underrated at the time and is far too overrated today. It has many high-quality songs, no one will deny that, but we must also acknowledge that it has some filler. At the time, critics focused only on that weaker material to argue that the Rolling Stones were finished. Over time, the album gained recognition, but recently, people have focused only on the good material, without noticing the bling on some tracks. It's a very varied album—some will say—it covers all the nuances of black music, it's a kind of equivalent of the White Album… Well, yes; We have Rock & Roll, Blues, Country, Gospel, Soul… The thing is, apart from Keith singing his song brilliantly, it doesn't offer anything new that we hadn't already heard on Sticky Fingers, and better, if you ask me. Here, they insisted on making a double album (to make more money to get out of their financial troubles, perhaps?), when they could have easily made a single, much stronger album.
Furthermore, on at least half the tracks, it sounds like they were jamming in Keith's basement. Wait, that's exactly what was happening! The real achievement is that the other half doesn't sound like that at all. The production is terrible, and it doesn't allow an inspired Taylor to shine, as he gets lost in the mud for long stretches, while the cymbals sound like Charlie was right there beside him. Now, I have no problem with the jams; I even marked "Ventilator Blues" in red. The problem is the bling that pervades the entire album, the excess of pianos, gospel-style choirs, saxophones, and trumpets—that kind of James Brown-esque glamour that I've never felt suited the Stones. And this is the album where they overuse that touch the most. A good melody doesn't need so much fuss, and proof of that is "Tumbling Dice," the best song on the album, and perhaps along with "Happy," the only true classic on the record. I understand the reverence for Exile, but to be honest, while on Sticky, the multitude of problems seemed to unite the band, here, already in French exile, those same problems seemed to be tearing the group apart. And that comes through in the music. When Mick sings, you can almost smell the alcohol. You can picture Taylor with a cigarette dangling from his lips as he plays guitar solos. Keith with his cynical grin as he unleashes riffs. The production contributes to that feeling of being in the room listening to them play, and the album definitely becomes more human, more intimate, though I doubt that was the intention. The lyrics express the kind of emotional breakdown they were going through, fleeing their country, adapting to France, living far from each other for the first time, Mick increasingly immersed in the Parisian jet set, Keith in the stupor of heroin, Taylor raising his hand while everyone ignores him, Wyman more focused on women than on the recording sessions themselves (he only played on 8 tracks), Watts like the older brother who's fed up with getting the younger ones out of trouble and just watches. Sex, drugs, and rock & roll. Perhaps that's what fills it with a mythical aura and puts it on a very high pedestal for many, a mood that defines an entire era.
Another point is that the Stones' story, for the first time in 10 years, ceases to be fun… Well, at least in terms of narrative, since this era is basically defined by the endless party that was the recording sessions in Keith's basement in Nellcote. We left the Rolling Stones, suitcases in hand, leaving the British Isles, heading for France at the end of April 1971.
Mick settled in Paris at the request of his beloved Bianca, who was clashing more and more with Keith, while the others settled on the French Riviera. They were still unpacking when, in May, Mick Jagger called the Stones' London office to announce that he was going to marry Bianca, who was already four months pregnant. He had just given her a diamond bracelet and had ordered matching rings. The idea was to have an intimate wedding with 75 guests, but the press found out and the whole thing turned into a circus. On May 7, a chartered flight took some of the most distinguished guests from London to Nice: Paul and Linda, Ringo and Maureen, Eric Clapton, Keith Moon, Robert Fraser, a certain Ronnie Wood who was playing in the Faces at the time…
On May 12th, shortly before the civil ceremony at Nice City Hall, the then-Bianca Pérez-Mora Macías read the prenuptial agreement, which essentially left her with a pittance in the event of a divorce. The wedding was nearly canceled due to her anger, and she would later say that the marriage was doomed even before it took place. The press swarmed the venue, and the ceremony was almost canceled again amidst reporters' brawls and attempts to clear the area. There were simply too many warnings! That afternoon, they married in a Catholic ceremony, this time privately, at the Chapel of Saint Anne. Mick had been given a crash course in Catholic precepts. The party that evening was a lavish affair (which Mick didn't have) with caviar, champagne, and lobster. Mick wanted the Rolling Stones to play at least a couple of songs, but it was Bobby Keys who organized an impromptu jam session with Nicky Hopkins and other musicians. Keith, who was against the wedding because in his eyes Bianca was a stuck-up bourgeois who would end up adopting Yoko's role, fell asleep in a corner. Bianca left early. Mick stayed to see off the last guests at 4 a.m. Afterward, he and Bianca took a yacht to Cannes, which would take them on their honeymoon to Italy.
While Jagger was on his honeymoon, Keith finished settling into a gigantic villa in Villefranche-sur-Mer, on the Mediterranean coast, called Nellcote. This became the meeting point for the rest of the Stones and their inner circle. During the recording sessions, Keith was paying up to 7,000 pounds a week (which he didn't have either) for rent, cooks, and drugs. Ian Stewart was in charge of finding a house where they could set up the recording studio, but they couldn't find anything near Keith's house, so in the end, without Jagger's approval, they decided to bring the Stones' mobile studio and set everything up in the basement of Nellcote. The house's electrical system couldn't handle all the amplifiers and recording equipment, so they illegally connected to the railway network. Exile became Richards' project from the start.
The Stones' entourage, including backing musicians, producer, sound engineers, and technicians, rented places around Keith, and it wasn't unusual for Anita Pallenberg, already pregnant with her second child, to find herself with more than 25 mouths to feed at midday. The police kept a close eye on the guy who had brought a British invasion of drug-addicted ex-hippies, even though Keith had invited the police chief to dinner at his villa and even given him some records.
The Rolling Stones had been partying every night for a couple of months, jamming in Keith's basement, until formal recording sessions began on July 10th, with Jimmy Miller back producing. Everyone's mind was elsewhere. Mick, who was forced to travel, had his mind on Paris. But besides the endless partying, they had lawsuits against Klein, cash flow problems, and their schedules depended on whether little Marlon Richards had already fallen asleep, since Keith's heroin had already kicked in. The atmosphere was very informal. It was rare for everyone to be there at the same time. Bill Wyman, who didn't like the drug-fueled environment, often didn't show up, preferring to go pick up girls in Marseille, so Mick Taylor and Keith Richards handled bass for most of the album. Charlie, who soon grew tired of the situation, also stopped coming, and Jimmy Miller played drums in his absence. Keith himself was often absent, despite being the host, or he'd make excuses about tucking his son into bed and take three hours to return. Sometimes, he'd be too out of it from the drugs and they'd lose sight of him completely, staring blankly into a corner. More than one person feared they were starting to suffer the same fate as Brian. If Mick couldn't travel, especially after the birth of his daughter Jade in October, they'd keep recording in that informal atmosphere, sometimes without even noticing his absence. Nobody felt comfortable. "You didn't know if you were recording, or living, or having dinner," Jagger would say. "There were too many freeloaders." The group was divided. On one side, Jagger, Watts, and Wyman, who smoked weed but didn't approve of using hard drugs. And on the other, Richards, Taylor, Keys, Miller, and basically everyone else, who used the sessions as an excuse to get high.
Finally, some songs started to take shape. Gram Parsons ended up showing up at Nellcote in July. During his stay, all the songs for Side B of Disc 1, the so-called "Country Side," were written, but Parsons' presence was so irritating that Keith ended up kicking him out after three weeks. It would be the last time Parsons was in the Stones' inner circle. In October, Nellcote was broken into, and 11 guitars were stolen while everyone was asleep upstairs. Keith broke down in tears. Shortly afterward, they broke in again and took all of Keith and Anita's jewelry and money. Bobby Keys was being kicked out of every casino he went to. To top it all off, Keith's personal chef found out that Anita had given heroin to her daughter and tried to blackmail them. He was fired, but the next day the police arrived to take statements, and they realized they were under surveillance, with a patrol car parked outside the house at all times. This made everyone nervous. At the end of November, with 20 usable songs, they packed their bags and headed to Los Angeles, stopping in Memphis to replace guitars from Keith's collection. In January 1972, they resumed recording at Sunset Sound Studios, polishing the Nellcote versions, recording new tracks, and adding backing tracks with musicians like Billy Preston, who contributed his unique sound to "Shine a Light." Preston took Jagger to a church one Sunday to hear the heavenly choir, and they returned with several of the best backing vocalists, who added the album's gospel sound. For "Let It Loose," they brought in Dr. John and his percussion group. Wyman, annoyed, had stayed in France, so session musician Bill Plummer filled in the double bass on three tracks. They finished the album, whose mix Jagger never liked, planned a spring release, and dispersed into the turbulent Los Angeles scene. Mick, in fact, would complain about more than just the production. Miller was too high to be a serious producer, so he had to do much of the production work himself, but even so, he still says the sound is bad. Besides, it's a Keith album. He set the pace, the direction, and the style. Exile on Main Street is an album where the guitar shines and pays tribute to Black American sounds, a roots album. Jagger was already tired of that and wanted to experiment with other genres. "It was a roots album, you know, and you don't always have to be tied to the ground, I wanted to reach the sky." Mick would take creative control of the Stones on the following albums while Richards sank deeper into heroin addiction.
The album kicks off with “Rocks Off”, a tremendous rocker that begins with a super cool riff from Keith (whose voice is on the left if you're listening with headphones), while Taylor picks up the guitar and finishes off that fabulous intro (on the right), 15 seconds of pure delight. From the start, this pair crackles with energy and complement each other perfectly. The rhythm section kicks in with a fast and fun beat. Mick Jagger starts singing with an irresistible, mid-tempo melody, as if he were just waking up, but with great attitude, before launching into full speed. The problem is that, due to the mix, his voice is barely understandable. But you don't need to be a genius to guess that it's mostly Keith's song, as he sings about a shot of heroin: “I'm zipping through the days at lightning speed. Plug in, flush out and fire the fucking feed. Heading for the overload, splattered on the dirty road, kick me like you've kicked before, I can't even feel the pain no more.” Nicky Hopkins delivers some of the best boogie piano I've ever heard from him, injecting even more energy, while Jim Price and Bobby Keys add the horns, which explode in the choruses and dominate the coda. At 2:10, there's a strange bridge, where Mick basically holds the song up with his voice full of electronic effects as he recites, “Feel so hypnotized, can't describe the scene, feel so mesmerized all that inside me,” before launching the song back at full speed. This device works very well, providing a necessary pause and simulating the sensation produced by heroin. The song has a colossal groove, it's full of energy, it's one of the most structured tracks, the guitars do a great job (although the horns again prevent any solos, or rather, completely drown them out in the final seconds), and overall, it's a great opener. The problem is that the vocals are unintelligible at times, completely so at times. The drums are very loud, especially the horns, which, when they come in, flatten the rest of the instruments. And the coda is rather long. This will be a recurring issue, as they had to unnecessarily extend some tracks, solely to fill a double album. Even so, this song had plenty of ingredients to become a classic for the band.
Next up is “Rip This Joint”, which is a kind of continuation of “Rocks Off.” In fact, the main riff is basically the same one that opens the album, but sped up and used throughout the entire song. It’s also one of the Stones’ fastest songs, at least until 1997, when Flip the Switch surpassed it. “Rip This Joint” is essentially 1950s rock and roll, even down to the same lyrical slang: “Mama says yes, Papa says no, Make up your mind 'cause I gotta go.” The thing is, Mick’s singing attitude isn’t typical of rock and roll; it foreshadows the violence and recklessness of punk. In the end, he ends up screaming himself hoarse, practically blowing his lungs out. Again, you can't understand a word he's saying, but the point of this song is the attitude: "Mister President, Mister Immigration Man, Let me in, sweetie, to your fair land..." The song works, even though it's a jam, because it doesn't drag on too long, because it's energetic, and because, being at the beginning, you don't get tired of that sound muffled by the sax yet.
Next up is “Shake Your Hips”, a Slim Harpo cover, with Charlie keeping the beat by hitting the snare drum with his drumsticks. The guitars do a phenomenal job, weaving a dense web, and really shining in the solo at 1:30. Mick does a good job, this time with more echo, trying to sound as soulful as possible, and still not understanding a word he's saying. The problem, in my opinion, is still Bobby Keys, who by this point clearly felt more indispensable than Keith himself and kept adding horns when they were completely unnecessary. The cover is good, without being monumental, but I think it would have sounded better if they had kept the basic guitar and drum structure. By the way, doesn't that riff sound vaguely familiar? Something like LA Grange? In any case, a year later, ZZ Top would take more influence from the Stones' version than from Slim Harpo's.
“Casino Boogie” is, well… a blues song about a casino. It’s a 3:30 jam in which they tried to capture the excitement of being in the Monte Carlo casinos, which were quite close to them. Jagger couldn’t come up with lyrics he liked, so they put random phrases in a bag, and each member took turns drawing a slip of paper. The recording reflects the order in which they drew each slip. In LA, they added female backing vocals, which, in my opinion, were unnecessary. Keys does a good job this time, with a great sax solo that suits the song. Towards the end, Mick Taylor struggles with the guitar solo that fades the song out.
“Tumbling Dice” is the best track on the album. Here we have the band as a cohesive unit, creating structured songs and not just jams. And when they do that these days, they're simply phenomenal. It's not exactly a ballad; Mick sings without shouting too much, but with great intensity. Nor is it exactly a rocker. It's a kind of mid-tempo soul track, in which Richards shines on the guitar. By that time, the band was sleeping during the day and working in the basement of Nellcote at night, from 10 pm to 5 am. Mick had written the lyrics while chatting with Nellcote's housekeeper, who liked to go to casinos and play dice. Jagger wasn't much of a gambler, so he got all the information he could from her to draw an analogy between love and gambling slang. Keith had come up with the main riff, and Mick thought the lyrics were perfect for creating a great song. On August 3rd, they recorded the basic track for “Tumbling Dice.” Bill Wyman didn't show up that day, so Taylor played bass (hence those unusual pentatonic scales for Bill) and Jagger played rhythm guitar, letting Keith shine on guitar. In LA, they added the female backing vocals, which give the song great character and complete it perfectly. It kicks off with that riff, a drum sound that seems to be stretching as the song picks up speed, and Mick singing with a killer melody, sounding truly desperate, yet furious at the same time, closing the verses with a slight vocal break. Ian Stewart does a great job on piano, but this time he gets buried in the mix. There are hooks everywhere. Those “But baby, BABY!” Sung at full volume, they're addictive, and the way they close the choruses makes stadiums tremble: “You got to roll me and call me the tumblin' Diiiiiiiiice,” I say this because I experienced it. Taylor's bass playing is spectacular, Watts' drumming is passionate, even the horns stick to doing exactly what they should, without trying to hog the spotlight. Everything is in perfect balance. At 1:50 we have a guitar solo from Keith, and my favorite part is that false ending, with which they slowly bring back “Got to roll me, Got to roll me,” creating a slow crescendo until closing in the middle of a climax. A powerful song, very well structured, with magic in every instrument, and emotion in the performance… one of the few tracks from Exile that would become classics.
Side 2 of the record is the "Country Side" and begins with the beautiful ballad "Sweet Virginia". Most of these songs were recorded under the influence of Gram Parsons during the three weeks he spent in Nellcote. It starts with a gentle acoustic strum by Taylor. Then Jagger plays a melancholic harmonica arrangement, Keith joins in with his guitar tuned to G, adding a mandolin effect and then playing gorgeous high-pitched slide guitar riffs, and Charly comes in strong around the 0:45 mark. The song immediately evokes the American South. Mick sings with nostalgia, and this time the rough equalization helps give it a more retro feel, while Keith continues to create fantastical arrangements. The melody of the chorus is even more moving, and it's impossible not to be captivated by the line that binds it: "Got to scrape the shit right off your shoes." The backing vocals from the band and the girls, which give it a gospel feel, work well and end up giving it an even more gritty, working-class vibe. My only complaint, and forgive me for harping on about it, is the saxophone. It's not that it's bad, but it doesn't fit the song at all. When have you ever seen a saxophone playing in a saloon in the Old West? Anyway, I maintain that Keys seemed to own the band more than be a backing musician. Otherwise, the song is fantastic; I don't know if it can be considered a classic, but it would certainly be one of the hits on the '72 and '73 tour.
Next up is “Torn and Frayed”, a country blues jam with soul influences. It's about a tramp who plays guitar and wears a torn and worn coat. The melody isn't bad, but it gets repetitive after a while, as unlike the previous two tracks, it doesn't have many memorable hooks. The band simply repeats the pattern, lowers the intensity, stops, and starts again. There's a slide guitar solo around the 1:40 mark, courtesy of Al Perkins, formerly of Parsons' Flying Burrito Brothers. Taylor again plays bass. It's nice, but let's face it, it's a three-note jam that lasts over four minutes.
“Sweet Black Angel” returns to an acoustic foundation, with an arpeggio that blends Eastern and folk influences. More than drums, Charlie uses cowbells for percussion, while someone plays a güiro, giving it a bluegrass feel. Jagger also plays harmonica. Towards the end, there's even a marimba (Brian must have been turning in his grave). The melody is weak and, again, repetitive. It sounds like it was recorded in a damp, 40-degree basement… wait! The song is one of the Stones' few political tracks, dedicated to Angela Davis, a Black Panther activist. They had started writing it during the Stargrooves sessions for the Sticky sessions, but discarded it. This led Allen Klein to sue for the rights to this and other earlier songs, win, and release the compilation More Hot Rocks. It also gave us the idea that there were several Sticky outtakes on this album. It's a song with good intentions, but it doesn't quite hit the mark, so it ends up becoming annoying. It's not catastrophic, but it's one of the weaker tracks on the album that could easily be highlighted in blue.
Side 2 closes with “Loving Cup”. Besides the beautiful melody, this ballad features one of Nicky Hopkins' best performances, proving he's not just a boogie-woogie artist. The song is built on a piano foundation, with Taylor's acoustic guitar providing delicate arrangements and Richards on electric. Around the two-minute mark, there's a very emotive bridge, showcasing excellent horn work that avoids overpowering the song, before returning to the verses. The track wasn't recorded in France, but entirely in Los Angeles. However, it was composed during the Let It Bleed sessions, making it another of the four tracks that prompted Allen Klein's lawsuit. The song should have ended at 3:20, when Keith starts playing some killer guitar riffs. But they extend it with an unnecessary, farcical coda, with Price and Keys again ruining everything with their funky flourishes. Without that extra minute, it would be one of the album's strongest tracks, and even with it, I might one day paint it red.
Side 3 opens with “Happy”, the most iconic song ever performed by Keith. It’s a very cheerful rocker, written entirely by Richards. One afternoon, when they had a recording session scheduled, no one from the band showed up at Nellcote. Keith started messing around with riffs; Jimmy Miller liked one in particular and told him to keep playing it, while he instructed the engineers to run the tapes and grabbed his drumsticks. Bobby Keys, who seemed like part of the house furniture, picked up the saxophone, and the song began to take shape. Keith added the bass, Bobby the maracas, they added backing vocals, guitar overdubs, a vibrant guitar solo… They started jamming around noon, and by 4 pm they had the basic track, to which they would add Taylor’s other slide guitar, Jagger’s backing vocals, Price’s trumpet, and Hopkins’ piano in LA. The song lives up to its name. Keith sings his autobiography with complete nonchalance: “Well I never kept a dollar past sunset, It always burned a hole in my pants.” The chorus is incredibly catchy, and I remember that moment at Foro Sol when Keith got us all singing “I need a LOOOVE to keep me hapyyyyy.” It’s one of the album’s best-known songs, one of the most upbeat in the entire Stones catalog, and one of the most popular to sing along to in concert, perhaps because of the affection people have for RiffMeister Richards. A song with a lot of energy and groove, in which he also sings like never before, pouring his heart and soul into it and roaring, especially at the end. It’s still a jam, but it’s a big one.
Next up is “Turd On The Run”, which could have been on side 2… or cut altogether. I understand when they did these jams live, half Rhythm & Blues, half Shuffle, in the early 60s. But here it feels completely out of place. First, because it's very similar to the superior “Shake Your Hips.” Second, because of the lyrics, which are ridiculously stupid. And third, because it's an overly simplistic jam, basically a single tone, basically a frenetic Keith riff that repeats itself over and over for more than 2:30. Not even Jagger with his great harmonica work can save it. I have nothing against jams, but while the previous track is an example of a high-quality one, this is filler, which I don't think anyone will remember once the album is over.
Fortunately, "Ventilator Blues" arrives, a dense, dark, sweaty blues, recapturing that raw malevolence that some songs from '66 and '67 possessed. Mick Taylor must have done almost everything, as it's the only track on which he's co-credited alongside the Jagger/Richards duo. The riff is brutal, ascending a scale before descending back to the starting point, creating a circular and hypnotic effect. Nicky Hopkins does incredibly complex work during the verses, laying down an intricate rhythm. Charly and Bill (miraculously) form the rhythm section, providing their characteristic solidity and restraint, with Watts delivering magnificent off-beat guitar work. Taylor plays a fine guitar solo during the coda. Jagger does a great job, sounding furious, replicating the sound of Muddy Waters, and using double tracking, something unusual in the Stones' discography. The horns contribute to that humid, stifling atmosphere, providing good arrangements, but at times they replicate the main guitar riff and overwhelm it, instead of letting it shine. The song originated in Nellcote, as the basement sometimes reached temperatures as high as 40 degrees Celsius, and Taylor refers to the only fan they had, hanging above Charlie's drum kit. They only played it live once, because, according to Watts, it's incredibly complex to play and never sounded the same as the studio version.
“I Just Want To See His Face” is… Well, I’m not even sure it’s a bad joke. Is it gospel? Is it soul? It has a religious feel to it. This jam came about during a session with just the two Micks and Charlie, who are the ones playing. The vocals are even muddier than on the rest of Exile, perhaps trying to sound like Robert Johnson. In Los Angeles, they would add the female backing vocals. It lasts almost three minutes of aimless sounds.
Then comes “Let It Loose”, a beautiful and emotive gospel-soul song in which Taylor shines thanks to the aquatic effect she creates on her guitar through a Leslie amplifier. Hopkins plays a melancholic piano, dripping notes, while Jagger begins with the beautiful melody, in a slow crescendo that ends somewhat haphazardly, but with one of Mick's best vocal performances. The lyrics are enigmatic. When Jagger was asked about them, he said he didn't really know what they were about, since Keith had written them, and it was, in fact, impossible to replicate, which is why they never played it live. Although it remains a mystery, perhaps the opening lines hint at a possible reproach to Mick for his marriage to Bianca. While it doesn't have much depth, the form, the intensity, Mick's voice and the girls' vocals, the guitar, the piano, make this an emotional and majestic track. Starostin is right that it's generic gospel, without a strong identifiable melody after the first verse, and almost entirely sung at full volume, but the performance of the two Micks is incredible.
With “All Down The Line” we return to the rockers. It’s an energetic, powerful track with a great opening riff. However, it sounds like a generic Stones rocker, one that could easily have been on Tattoo You or Bigger Band. Perhaps that’s why they love playing it live. It’s a jam, very energetic, yes, and with some good solos from Taylor, but it ends up being repetitive, clocking in at almost four minutes. And while Jagger shines vocally on “Let It Loose,” here all the shouting starts to sound tiresome.
Next up is “Stop Breaking Down”, a Robert Johnson cover that they give a tremendous treatment. Mick Taylor, in particular, shines with his slide guitar, while Jagger plays harmonica, and Keith sets the pace with a dirty, distorted guitar sound. They make it almost unrecognizable, with an air of malevolence and great power. They extend the coda a bit, but I think it's worth it for the way Taylor dazzles with his guitar solo, plus there are no horns at all! Jack White would later base his cover on this version for the White Stripes' 1999 debut album.
We approach the end with “Shine a Light”, a gospel song with a bombastic choir, in which Jagger still manages to outshine a Daltrey or an Ian Gillan. It begins with a note that sets the tone for Mick, who starts singing almost a cappella, with just a few piano notes from Billy Preston, and ends in an orgasmic celebration with a full choir, reminding me a bit of “Hey Jude.” Billy Preston also plays the organ, which eventually becomes the dominant instrument. Female vocals gradually begin to join in, especially in the catchy choruses. Jimmy Miller plays drums in Watts' absence, and although Taylor is credited on bass, Wyman swears it was him who played it. Taylor delivers some devilishly heavenly solos toward the end. The song is about Brian Jones. In fact, Mick wrote it in early 1969, when Brian's addiction was worsening. The song was then titled “Get a Line on You,” and they recorded a demo in October of that year, after Jones's death, with Leon Russell on keyboards. Although it would appear on Russell's debut album, it was never released until the 1990s. The Stones dusted it off in 1972, at Olympic Studios, where Mick slightly changed the lyrics to turn it into a tribute, adding organ and backing vocals that give it a gospel feel. The song is simply beautiful, emotional, with great lyrics, which Mick seems to feel in every word. The chorus is melodic, an absolute anthem that could get stadiums singing: “May the good Lord shine a light on you, Make every song you sing your favorite tune.” They wouldn't perform it live until the Voodoo Lounge tour, more than 20 years later. My only problem with this song is its placement on the album. It could have been a perfect album closer, ending on a high note, but no…
The legendary Exile on Main Street closes with the lackluster "Soul Survivor", another one of those generic Rolling Stones tracks that doesn't offer much. The main riff is moderately interesting, but they repeat it ad nauseam. In some ways, it sounds more like slow punk, and Mick keeps screaming like a madman. Unfortunately, it makes for a weak and anticlimactic ending, the opposite of what "Shine a Light" could have been.
Anyway. Exile is a big album, I won't deny it. With some trimming, it could have been the same size as Sticky Fingers. However, it's too long, too ambitious, and has too many tracks… and musicians on some tracks. I maintain that Keys and Price ruin some things with their stubborn insistence on being in the spotlight unnecessarily. There are too many jams, some of a very high standard, but others simply leave much to be desired, and not just because the sound is muddy. It's random and inconsistent. You barely recover from the beauty or power of one track before you're hit in the face with a generic one. Mick has some of his best vocal performances, but on others, it's just shouting for the sake of shouting. If you ask me, 10/10 albums have most tracks with at least something damn interesting. And, risking being pelted with tomatoes or burned at the stake, in that respect, I still consider Aftermath superior to Exile. But I won't be the one to shatter its mystique. It remains one of the Stones' most outstanding works, which, according to many, shines thanks to its collection of roots rock featuring Keith at his peak, just before his decline began. The aura of Exile would grow over the years, establishing it as one of the Rolling Stones' "Big Four" albums, the one that closed their classic period, upon which most of their current reputation is based. Mick would oversee the preparation of a super-professional and spectacular tour. For many, the '72 tour would be the best in the Rolling Stones' history, further enhancing the myth of Exile. Jagger would take control of the band, while Keith began to fade into the background, as Brian had done before him… but that's another story.
By Corvan
Sep/13/2016
