The Rolling Stones: Exile On Main Street

The Rolling Stones: Exile On Main Street - Part 1

Album #195 - May 1972

Episode date - April 14, 2021

The Top 500 of The Top 40
    0:00
    0:00

    “Exile On Main Street” was strange beast when it appeared, and all these years later, it still stands out as a different animal from the rest of the Rolling Stones catalog.

    The studio albums that preceded it (“Beggar’s Banquet”, “Let It Bleed” and “Sticky Fingers”) now stand as the high point in the band’s fifty-plus year long career, and those that came after “Exile” are usually critiqued for displaying a slow decline in quality from their predecessors. This album sat squarely on the fulcrum of the band’s creative shift. Some view it as the climactic statement of their glory years, and its longevity seems to prove that it may well qualify as the Stones’ best album ever.

    Even so, it’s an unusual representation, because, either before or since, the Rolling Stones never made another album like this one. For starters, it’s a bit short on all-time classic hits, especially when you consider that it’s a double album. It’s also the band’s only double album of new material, despite having a catalog of thirty studio albums. Most significant, though is that it’s also a bit of a mess, with muddy mixes that make the songs difficult to decipher, and vocals that are mixed low and buried beneath the sludge.

    Despite these shortcomings – maybe because of them – the album has taken on an air of unsurpassable greatness. It comes off as a mysterious, loose and dark collection of songs, all characteristics that play to the strengths of a band that redefined rock and roll for the next generation.

    May 1972 - Billboard Charted #1

    Related Shows

    Grateful Dead - From The Mars Hotel

    The Grateful Dead: From The Mars Hotel

    Album #233 - June 1974

      0:00
      0:00
      Lynyrd Skynyrd: Second Helping

      Lynyrd Skynyrd: Second Helping

      Album #232 - April 1974

        0:00
        0:00
        Frank Zappa: Apostrophe (*)

        Frank Zappa: Apostrophe (*)

        Album #231 - March 1974

          0:00
          0:00
          A New Life  - The Marshall Tucker Band

          The Marshall Tucker Band: A New Life

          Album #230 - February 1974

            0:00
            0:00
            Steely Dan: Pretzel Logic

            Steely Dan: Pretzel Logic

            Album #229 - February 1974

              0:00
              0:00
              Paul McCartney and Wing - Band on the Run

              Paul McCartney and Wings: Band on the Run

              Album #227- December 1973

                0:00
                0:00
                The Who: Quadrophenia

                The Who: Quadrophenia - Part 2

                Album #226 - October 1973

                  0:00
                  0:00
                  The Who - Quadrophenia

                  The Who: Quadrophenia - Part 1

                  Album #226 - October 1973

                    0:00
                    0:00
                    Elton John: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

                    Elton John: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Part 2

                    Album #225 - October 1973

                      0:00
                      0:00
                      Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John

                      Elton John: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Part 1

                      Album #225 - October 1973

                        0:00
                        0:00
                        Poco - Crazy Eyes

                        Poco: Crazy Eyes

                        Album #224 - September 1973

                          0:00
                          0:00
                          Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention: Over-Nite Sensation

                          Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention: Over-Nite Sensation

                          Album #223 - September 1973

                            0:00
                            0:00