My favorite song on the first side of "Exile On Main Street" is "Casino Boogie".

I know, I know, we’re supposed to be enraptured by "Tumbling Dice" and "Rocks Off".  But I found "Rocks Off" to be a disappointing opener.  It had the right attitude, the right speed, it just wasn’t a great track, not like "Gimmie Shelter".  Do you remember dropping the needle on THAT?  Great records are an invitation, to another world, and "Gimmie Shelter" was fully realized, it drowned out everything else in your head, even though it started out so quietly.  It demanded attention.  And got it.  Whereas "Rocks Off" paraded, but you could ignore it, skip it, lift the needle past it.  And the best version of "Tumbling Dice" I ever heard was live, at the Fabulous Forum, in the summer of ’75.  The Stones were about as uneven in concert as the Dead.  But when they locked on, your inner tuning fork was set off and you resonated.  "Tumbling Dice" is all about the groove.  But the version on "Exile" is a record, it’s got a verse and a chorus, the hypnotic hook is not the dominant element.  But "Casino Boogie"…on that, the band got the groove down on wax.

"Exile On Main Street" was an impenetrable album.  Four sides long, with only one semi-hit, mixed murkily, with the vocals incomprehensible, everybody bought it, but almost nobody listened to it.  It was number one.  For weeks.  But when the tour was over, it stopped selling completely.

But it was all about that ’72 tour.  ’69 was definitive.  But most people didn’t know the Stones were the World’s Greatest Rock Band at that time.  But by ’72, after "Sticky Fingers", the public was primed.  Then the band dropped "Exile"…

You’ve got to understand, no, maybe you can’t understand how big "Brown Sugar" was.  It kicked off the weekend.  Classes were done. You walked down the halls of the girls’ dorm and blasting out of every other door was this ditty that caused us all to raise a glass and cry WHOO!  It was cranked up to the point of distortion, it greased our high.  And we never grew tired of it.

But none of those women ever played "Exile".  It came out during the summer, when classes were done, and by time we got back to college…it was over.

But in between semesters was that tour.  Which I had a ticket to.  So I had to play "Exile On Main Street".  I had to know it.  To enjoy the show.

I spent long hours at night in my parents’ house listening on headphones until…the door opened and I GOT IT!

The first track I got was the very last, "Soul Survivor".

And from there, starting again at the top, "Casino Boogie" hooked me.

Then there was "Loving Cup" on side two.

And ultimately the trio on side three, the heart of the album, "Ventilator Blues", "I Just Want To See His Face" and "Let It Loose"…

When your spine is CRACKIN’!  Buried right smack dab in the middle of the side, "Ventilator Blues" sounded like the work of a chain gang, slaving to the point where the shackles have unlocked, where the criminals have taken charge, are now dictating to the guards.

And then where in the hell did "I Just Want To See His Face" come from?  This seemed to be cut after the main session was over, just before dawn, in that time when nothing makes sense, when the rest of the world doesn’t exist and you’re running on pure emotion and adrenaline.  Stripped down to the point where it sounded like old bluesmen were singing in the next room, "I Just Want To See His Face" was both creepy and exciting, you felt privileged to be able to hear it.

And then came "Let It Loose".

There was that letter in "Rolling Stone"…  The guy who said he wanted to marry the girl wailing in the background as the song wound down…  I’ll never forget it.  Because I felt the same way, but I’d never heard another person mention it.

You’ll read about the aforementioned "Rocks Off" and "Tumbling Dice".  "Sweet Black Angel" and "Happy".  And maybe "All Down The Line" and "Sweet Virginia".  But they were not the essence of the album.  Made one wonder if anybody ever listened to all four sides, from start to finish.

Believe me, "Exile On Main Street" is about the album cuts.  You can’t needle drop.  Maybe you could play a side.  But it was not about a specific cut so much as the whole damn thing.  A dark piece of wax that sounded like nothing before and nothing since.  Yes, the Stones albums that followed were a return from the brink.  As if having tested the limits, the band no longer wanted to live on the edge, no longer wanted to risk its reputation, wanted to play it safe, wanted to insure its live business.

They were never this good on wax again.  They couldn’t afford to be.  There was too much money involved.  But one last time, spurred on by the insanity of leaving England and recording in a house in the South of France, the Stones could risk.

And you don’t want to listen on CD.  Nor MP3.  "Exile" is a vinyl album.  There’s nothing cold and calculated, nothing sterile about it. Digital is about precision, analog is about being loose, about having soul.  And one thing "Exile On Main Street" has got is soul.

Go to an island without Internet access for a week, or lock yourself up in a basement and spin "Exile" endlessly.  You’ll either end up a drug addict or believe you’ve seen the light or both.

Which makes me wonder what the endless hype about this remaster is really about.  It’s certainly not about music.  It must really be about money.

You can tell by the bonus tracks.  One listen is enough.  Except for "So Divine (Aladdin Story)".

The vaunted version of "Soul Survivor" featuring Keith on vocals…what a disappointment.  And the alternate takes of "All Down The Line" and "Loving Cup" are insignificant.

But, "So Divine (Aladdin Light)" is almost right.  You see, it’s about the groove.  Keith’s guitar pours out of the speakers and you’re shocked.  This is the essence of "Exile".  The intro sounds eerie, like something from the "Paint It Black" era, but the track is positively seventies.  When the band no longer had anything to prove and could just be musicians.  The chorus is a disappointment, still…

So, where does this leave us?  Why did I write this?

Because there was a clarity to "Casino Boogie" that was previously lacking.  It’s like someone scrubbed away the dirt and you could hear all the instruments, especially the bass.  If you’re an aural archaeologist, it’s fascinating.

And then there was the rush of "So Divine (Aladdin Story)".  You know it when you hear it, and it’s in this track.  It’s like being winked at by your girlfriend.  Doesn’t matter if she looks like the babes in the magazine, you’re titillated.  Mick Jagger wasn’t the best-looking guy, but he exuded sex.  And Keith Richard exuded cool.  And both are present on "So Divine (Aladdin Story)".

So, we’ve been subjected to endless ink promoting this rerelease.  A few copies will be sold.  And still, almost no one will listen to the album.  Because no one wants to put in that amount of time.  But in order to get "Exile", you’ve got to dedicate yourself.

So what we’ve got is another twenty first century exercise.  A ton of hype which will pass as the underlying work is forgotten.

But if you’ve spent time with "Exile" it’s in your DNA.  You can never forget it.  But you’ve got to come to it.  It doesn’t entice you, doesn’t send an invitation.  You’ve got to open the door, you’ve got to hang around long enough to feel comfortable.

You can hear "So Divine (Aladdin Story)" here:

Don Was Revisits ‘Exile On Main Street’

The track they’re working is "Plundered My Soul".  Which sounds like classic Stones, but isn’t.  When are purveyors going to stop overthinking and just release the BEST track, not the one that is closest to what came before, but the one that succeeds on its own terms.