The Mammoth Book of the Rolling Stones by Sean Egan

Author:Sean Egan
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781780336473
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group

EXILE ON MAIN ST.

Sean Egan

UK release: 26 May 1972; US release: 22 May 1972

Produced by: Jimmy Miller

Charts: UK no. 1; US no. 1

Tracklisting:

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 Survivor

The Rolling Stones never did much with their own label. Although they evidently had fairly grand plans for it – in the early days it distributed a band called Kracker in some territories – in the end it became, beyond their own releases, merely a means by which to issue the product of a few selected friends. Brian Jones Presents the Pipes of Pan at Joujouka appeared in October 1971. Jones had prepared the Moroccan field recordings before his death – even the artwork was finished – but it was another project bogged down by the incompetence of Klein. The project having no significant commercial prospects, it was a sweet and sentimental gesture for the Stones to sanction its release on their own label. Ditto two solo albums by Wyman (in 1974 and 1976), and a series of albums by original Wailer and Richards’ friend, Peter Tosh. Then there was Jamming with Edward, a bizarre release from February 1972 of Let It Bleed vintage in which Jagger, Wyman, Watts, Nicky Hopkins and Ry Cooder farted around in the studio in the absence of a Richards, who, according to Roy Carr, had taken a dislike to Cooder. The results are of the standard one would expect of such high-calibre musicians bereft of a purpose: often easy on the ear but not bearing a second listen. Jagger’s buffoonish album sleevenotes (“As it cost about $2.98 to make the record, we thought that a price of $3.98 was appropriate for the finished product. I think that that is about what it is worth”) exhibited a contempt for the consumer worthy of Decca.

Exile on Main St. – at least at first glance – seems to exhibit the same contempt: a grotesque freak-themed cover, scrawled annotation, a musky sound quality and the fact that it was recorded in Richards’ basement didn’t on the face of it add up to product of a professional standard, even if the album did initially come with twelve free postcards. That there was a whole double album of this stuff seemed further evidence of self-indulgence. For those offended by such, the occasional profanities in the lyrics – the first on Stones fare, although the risqué “COC” catalogue number prefix was a tradition begun on Sticky Fingers – added to the air of vulgarity and decadence, an air summarized by the affectedly lazy murmur by which Jagger opens the album. Adding to a suspicion of insubstantiality is the fact that there are no signature songs present, no iconic numbers like “Brown Sugar” whose quality are doubted by nobody. Some hate the album to this day as much as they did on its release. Others were simply disappointed with it.

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