Exile On Main St. (studio album) by The Rolling Stones

This is a much more bluesy attempt from the Rolling Stones who do a great job of mixing it into their classic style. The result of this is a more energetic and frantic blues record that has a lot of highlights which stand out due to their infectiousness. A few examples of this are Shine A Light, Tumbling Dice, Sweet Virginia and Rocks Off. As a whole the record runs very smoothly with the music anchored in that blues style which makes it a cohesive listen. It is so easy to just stick this release on and get lost in the music on here as the group never really break their stride. However, the issues I have with this release start when you take a closer look at some of the songs. There is a lot of filler on here which come in between some of the better songs meaning they can be easily missed if your are just casually listening. A few examples of these are Stop Breaking Down, Turd On The Run, Casino Boogie, Sweet Black Angel and a few more. In my opinion, there just isn't enough content on here to warrant the nearly 70 minute run time leading to a record that feels stretched and bloated. Overall, if this album was closer to the length of Sticky Fingers or Let It Bleed it would be their best as it has some of their greatest ever songs but unfortunately this release is too dragged out for my liking.

I get where you’re coming from wizardalien. Undeniably There are some great tracks but there are quite a few that just ramble on a little too long and feel a little lost. Not too surprising when you consider the environment in which they were conceived. Still a quality album overall but could have been so much better. See sticky fingers for an example of a classic stones album. No filler there anywhere

Love the Stones but this album disappointed me. Tumbling Dice is one of their greatest songs. Soul Survivor, Let It Loose and Shine A Light are great too. But the rest of it is mostly just the generic type of blues rock songs that I generally don't enjoy. And 18 of them is a bit too much for me. I don't think this one comes close to Let It Bleed or Sticky Fingers, for me.

It’s how the songs hang together that’s the key here. Dipping in and out for tracks won’t reveal the albums greatness. It’s also highly unlikely you’ll get it with the first listen, which is why it wasn’t particularly well received at the time.

After a while the atmosphere of the sessions, a bluesy back end of the party feel…an end of the 60s love and hope vibe, will take you over heart and soul.

Good album

Overall, as an album, the best Stones album.
Not the biggest "radio hits", but not one bad song. Ok "I Just want to see his face" is not their greatest song ...
If i had to pick one Stones record to listen for the rest of my days, it would be this one.

From pedro1976 04/27/2022 12:22

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Album of the year. 1972. Easily in the top 3 Stones LP's for me.

I can't really find why people think this is the best Stones album, some good songs on here, but songs like Sweet Virginia, Turd on the run, Sweet black angel just are not good. I Also think Let it Bleed and Sticky Fingers are better, due to the variation on these albums, not just 1 genre. Still good, but 3. best from Stones for me

Favs: Tumbling Dice, Rocks Off

Low Points: Sweet Virginia, Sweet black angel, Turd on the run

Absolutely classic stones album. Every track works together with the rest. They are all unique but all work together. And an interesting back story about the making of it. Love it.

Definitely best, most consistent Stones effort and only Sticky Fingers comes close. They do here what is hard to do, they maintain to entertain you through the over hour of listening with no bad tracks. There isn't one obvious highlight on here like Gimme Shelter (Let It Bleed) or Paint It Black (Aftermath) but all of the tracks make this album collectively great. Even as not the biggest Stones fan I have to admit this is very good album.