My favorite song on the first side of "Exile On Main Street" is "Casino Boogie".<\/p>\n
I know, I know, we’re supposed to be enraptured by "Tumbling Dice" and "Rocks Off".\u00c2\u00a0 But I found "Rocks Off" to be a disappointing opener.\u00c2\u00a0 It had the right attitude, the right speed, it just wasn’t a great track, not like "Gimmie Shelter".\u00c2\u00a0 Do you remember dropping the needle on THAT?\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 It demanded attention.\u00c2\u00a0 And got it.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas "Rocks Off" paraded, but you could ignore it, skip it, lift the needle past it.\u00c2\u00a0 And the best version of "Tumbling Dice" I ever heard was live, at the Fabulous Forum, in the summer of ’75.\u00c2\u00a0 The Stones were about as uneven in concert as the Dead.\u00c2\u00a0 But when they locked on, your inner tuning fork was set off and you resonated.\u00c2\u00a0 "Tumbling Dice" is all about the groove.\u00c2\u00a0 But the version on "Exile" is a record, it’s got a verse and a chorus, the hypnotic hook is not the dominant element.\u00c2\u00a0 But "Casino Boogie"…on that, the band got the groove down on wax.<\/p>\n
"Exile On Main Street" was an impenetrable album.\u00c2\u00a0 Four sides long, with only one semi-hit, mixed murkily, with the vocals incomprehensible, everybody bought it, but almost nobody listened to it.\u00c2\u00a0 It was number one.\u00c2\u00a0 For weeks.\u00c2\u00a0 But when the tour was over, it stopped selling completely.<\/p>\n
But it was all about that ’72 tour.\u00c2\u00a0 ’69 was definitive.\u00c2\u00a0 But most people didn’t know the Stones were the World’s Greatest Rock Band at that time.\u00c2\u00a0 But by ’72, after "Sticky Fingers", the public was primed.\u00c2\u00a0 Then the band dropped "Exile"…<\/p>\n
You’ve got to understand, no, maybe you can’t understand how big "Brown Sugar" was.\u00c2\u00a0 It kicked off the weekend.\u00c2\u00a0 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!\u00c2\u00a0 It was cranked up to the point of distortion, it greased our high.\u00c2\u00a0 And we never grew tired of it.<\/p>\n
But none of those women ever played "Exile".\u00c2\u00a0 It came out during the summer, when classes were done, and by time we got back to college…it was over.<\/p>\n
But in between semesters was that tour.\u00c2\u00a0 Which I had a ticket to.\u00c2\u00a0 So I had to play "Exile On Main Street".\u00c2\u00a0 I had to know it.\u00c2\u00a0 To enjoy the show.<\/p>\n
I spent long hours at night in my parents’ house listening on headphones until…the door opened and I GOT IT!<\/p>\n
The first track I got was the very last, "Soul Survivor".<\/p>\n
And from there, starting again at the top, "Casino Boogie" hooked me.<\/p>\n
Then there was "Loving Cup" on side two.<\/p>\n
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"…<\/p>\n
When your spine is CRACKIN’!\u00c2\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
And then where in the hell did "I Just Want To See His Face" come from?\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
And then came "Let It Loose".<\/p>\n
There was that letter in "Rolling Stone"…\u00c2\u00a0 The guy who said he wanted to marry the girl wailing in the background as the song wound down…\u00c2\u00a0 I’ll never forget it.\u00c2\u00a0 Because I felt the same way, but I’d never heard another person mention it.<\/p>\n
You’ll read about the aforementioned "Rocks Off" and "Tumbling Dice".\u00c2\u00a0 "Sweet Black Angel" and "Happy".\u00c2\u00a0 And maybe "All Down The Line" and "Sweet Virginia".\u00c2\u00a0 But they were not the essence of the album.\u00c2\u00a0 Made one wonder if anybody ever listened to all four sides, from start to finish.<\/p>\n
Believe me, "Exile On Main Street" is about the album cuts.\u00c2\u00a0 You can’t needle drop.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe you could play a side.\u00c2\u00a0 But it was not about a specific cut so much as the whole damn thing.\u00c2\u00a0 A dark piece of wax that sounded like nothing before and nothing since.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, the Stones albums that followed were a return from the brink.\u00c2\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
They were never this good on wax again.\u00c2\u00a0 They couldn’t afford to be.\u00c2\u00a0 There was too much money involved.\u00c2\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
And you don’t want to listen on CD.\u00c2\u00a0 Nor MP3.\u00c2\u00a0 "Exile" is a vinyl album.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s nothing cold and calculated, nothing sterile about it. Digital is about precision, analog is about being loose, about having soul.\u00c2\u00a0 And one thing "Exile On Main Street" has got is soul.<\/p>\n
Go to an island without Internet access for a week, or lock yourself up in a basement and spin "Exile" endlessly.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ll either end up a drug addict or believe you’ve seen the light or both.<\/p>\n
Which makes me wonder what the endless hype about this remaster is really about.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s certainly not about music.\u00c2\u00a0 It must really be about money.<\/p>\n
You can tell by the bonus tracks.\u00c2\u00a0 One listen is enough.\u00c2\u00a0 Except for "So Divine (Aladdin Story)".<\/p>\n
The vaunted version of "Soul Survivor" featuring Keith on vocals…what a disappointment.\u00c2\u00a0 And the alternate takes of "All Down The Line" and "Loving Cup" are insignificant.<\/p>\n
But, "So Divine (Aladdin Light)" is almost right.\u00c2\u00a0 You see, it’s about the groove.\u00c2\u00a0 Keith’s guitar pours out of the speakers and you’re shocked.\u00c2\u00a0 This is the essence of "Exile".\u00c2\u00a0 The intro sounds eerie, like something from the "Paint It Black" era, but the track is positively seventies.\u00c2\u00a0 When the band no longer had anything to prove and could just be musicians.\u00c2\u00a0 The chorus is a disappointment, still…<\/p>\n
So, where does this leave us?\u00c2\u00a0 Why did I write this?<\/p>\n
Because there was a clarity to "Casino Boogie" that was previously lacking.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like someone scrubbed away the dirt and you could hear all the instruments, especially the bass.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re an aural archaeologist, it’s fascinating.<\/p>\n
And then there was the rush of "So Divine (Aladdin Story)".\u00c2\u00a0 You know it when you hear it, and it’s in this track.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like being winked at by your girlfriend.\u00c2\u00a0 Doesn’t matter if she looks like the babes in the magazine, you’re titillated.\u00c2\u00a0 Mick Jagger wasn’t the best-looking guy, but he exuded sex.\u00c2\u00a0 And Keith Richard exuded cool.\u00c2\u00a0 And both are present on "So Divine (Aladdin Story)".<\/p>\n
So, we’ve been subjected to endless ink promoting this rerelease.\u00c2\u00a0 A few copies will be sold.\u00c2\u00a0 And still, almost no one will listen to the album.\u00c2\u00a0 Because no one wants to put in that amount of time.\u00c2\u00a0 But in order to get "Exile", you’ve got to dedicate yourself.<\/p>\n
So what we’ve got is another twenty first century exercise.\u00c2\u00a0 A ton of hype which will pass as the underlying work is forgotten.<\/p>\n
But if you’ve spent time with "Exile" it’s in your DNA.\u00c2\u00a0 You can never forget it.\u00c2\u00a0 But you’ve got to come to it.\u00c2\u00a0 It doesn’t entice you, doesn’t send an invitation.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to open the door, you’ve got to hang around long enough to feel comfortable.<\/p>\n
You can hear "So Divine (Aladdin Story)" here: <\/p>\n
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