Exile on Main Street

Never heard it until today and I did enjoy it! But man, double albums are so long.

Overall I don’t think it’s toppling my personal favourite Stones album which is Beggar’s Banquet. Although for a long time it was Let It Bleed on account of how much I loved Gimme Shelter and You Can’t Always Get What You Want. But I think as an album Beggar’s Banquet is more together.

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Just gonna rock up here to say Stones > Beatles and rock off again until later

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Stop breaking down then into Shine a light is the high point for me ,magic .

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Glorious. The opening of Shine a Light is just brilliant in its own right.

According the Keith’s book its a miracle this album was ever made .

Think I still have this unread, should get round to it

Think i gave up on the book after the exile on main street period ,was a bit of a struggle to get through for some reason .

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Brilliant album, had it on most of yesterday and it’s still amazing front to back. The little odd tracks in between the big hitters, it just flows and grooves along so well, doesn’t feel too long at all.
Favourite tracks are probably Let it loose & Sweet black angel. The latter is about Angela Davis apparently.

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A brilliant album no doubt. Think Beggars Banquet will always be my favourite though as that’s my dads favourite. There’s a family video somewhere of me and my brother rocking out to sympathy for the devil when we were aged 5 and 8.

I think Let it bleed is the weakest of the big 4 fue to having midnight rambler and you can’t always get what you want on it. Although it does have gimme shelter and monkey man (their most underrated song).

But yeah Exile on Main Street is brilliant. I’ve always thought of it as a summer album too. Sounds even better when the weathers a bit sticky.

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Interesting that everyone is citing a different track as their favourite- I think that says a lot about a record.

Not sure what my favourite is, but I think Soul Survivor is a track that needs more love. That riff!

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No ones even said Happy yet!

It’s been mentioned- I love that song. It’s striking what a good singer Keith is. Surprising he didn’t do more lead vocals. I think on one of the (many) special editions of the record there is a version of Soul Survivor with him singing lead.

Beggar’s Banquet & Let It Bleed are also amazing records. The Stones run of albums from '68 to '72 (Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers. Exile) is incredible. I also like 1973’s ‘Goat’s Head Soup’, however, it isn’t in the same league as the previous four.

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“I’M A MONKEY!!!”…amazing song.

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The 50th anniversaries have highlighted what an amazing year 1972 was for great albums:

Exile on Main Street
Ziggy Stardust
Music of My Mind and Talking Book (wow)
Superfly
Transformer
Harvest
Pink Moon
Can’t Buy a Thrill
Roxy Music
Ege Bamyasi
Neu!
The Slider
On the Corner
Still Bill
Amazing Grace
#1 Record
For the Roses
Vol 4

Feels like a year where people were stretching out and trying different things.

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Goats head soup has Winter on, which imho is their best song. A worthy inclusion on any Christmas playlist as well.
Agree the album is decent but not a patch on the previous run

Gonna try not to ‘DiS’ a nice thread here but…The Stones were absolutely gross. Watched them playing Brown Sugar and really relishing in it on TV the other night after I’d had a few and just felt like they were massively problematic bastards. Couple with a legacy of diminishing returns and outright damage to peoples experience of live music (see the obscene ticketing thread) I can’t come in to bat for them. IDK maybe it’s just about offset by a tonne of great singles in the grand ‘seperate the art from the artist’ stakes but I find it very tough…

…but if there’s a saving grace, it’s Exile…and there’s a tonne of grace about it. All the things that people love them for in one giant messy package. even their allegedly tight albums had meandering mess on so the sprawl is on brand and I like the balls out approach of bunging 17 tracks out there just cause they had that much gold. Mick Taylor is the absolute heart of this thing for me and elevated them to their absolute best. Loving no-one being able to choose a best track.

Mucky classic. Still feel a bit guilty though.

It’s awesome. I do think I prefer Beggars Banquet though. Even though Martin Scorcese ruined the opening track

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Go on then

  • Rocks Off
  • Rip This Joint
  • Shake Your Hips
  • Casino Boogie
  • Tumbling Dice
  • Sweet Virginia
  • Torn and Frayed
  • Sweet Black Angel
  • Loving Cup
  • Happy
  • Turd on the Run
  • Ventilator Blues
  • I Just Want to See His Face
  • Let it Loose
  • All Down the Line
  • Stop Breaking Down
  • Shine a Light
  • Soul Survivors

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Great album but as others have said, I also prefer Beggars Banquet…and Let It Bleed, and Sticky Fingers. So of those 4 I may consider it my least favorite, but that’s probably because of its length and being less focused than the others. Those contributed to it taking longer for me to appreciate than the others. That could mean in time I’ll come around, too, who knows. I’m due for a revisit, I think my last listen was in August last year.

I like all albums from 64-74 but those 4 definitely rank the highest.