50 Years of Exile:
How It's Still The Greatest Stones Album of All Time
By Frank Hamedl on 12 May 2022
This year, The Rolling Stones reached a milestone that no other mainstream band achieved: 60 years together. As fans celebrate their upcoming “Sixty” tour, it’s time to look back over their monumental career and highlight their greatest musical accomplishment. Fifty years ago today, on May 12th, 1972, The Stones released Exile on Main St. While it got middling reviews upon its release, over time, it gained the status as one of the best albums of all time. Exile acquired unanimous perfect scores on numerous music critic websites including AllMusic, Entertainment Weekly, Metacritic, and Rolling Stone Magazine Album Guide. To this day, Exile consistently ranks highly on many ‘greatest albums’ lists. In 2012’s Rolling Stone Magazine’s iconic 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, it peaked at #7. Exile also got inducted into the prestigious Grammy Hall of Fame the same year; and eventually gained the status as a certified triple platinum record, by selling more than three million copies.
“No list of rocks most important albums is complete without Exile on Main St.” – Anthony Decurtis, Rolling Stone
“The greatest, most soulful, rock and roll record ever made” – Bill Janovitz, Buffalo Tom
“When we discovered Exile, we called it the Bible. In our infancy, we wanted to capture that magic and mystery.” – Chris Robinson, The Black Crowes
How does a fifty-year-old album not only maintain its praise but has gotten better over time? Most albums only have a popularity for a few years and then fall by the wayside. However, Exile lives on and ages like the finest wine. Its influence can still be heard even today. It tackles not just traditional rock & roll, but also blues, country, gospel, and soul. With influences from 1930-50s music, African American soul/blues, and good old rock & roll, make it a well-rounded piece of art. To help understand why it’s the best, let’s first analyze the fruition of the album.
“The rock and roll bible... Perfect marriage of electric blues, tenge of country, and soul music. The highs of The Rolling Stones for me.” – Sheryl Crow
“When the Stones are at their best, they’re an incredible blues band. And this is them doing that. It’s a perfect portrait of them.” – Jack White
“For me, it was a kind of rock'n'roll heaven." – Dominique Tarle
The early 1970s went down as the most exciting time in music history. The Rolling Stones took advantage of the ever-changing music climate and were at the height of their golden age trilogy of greatest material: Let it Bleed, Sticky Fingers, and Exile on Main St. (Exile, becoming their Return of the Jedi, or John Wick Chapter 3). However, there were many challenges at this time, including incredibly high taxes and messy former record contracts. The Stones embarrassed their rebel persona and decided to flee England to avoid these challenges; and it developed into an incredibly tense period for the band. As Mick Jagger described it, they converted into "runaway outlaws using the blues as its weapon against the world,” while creating a "feeling of joyful isolation, grinning in the face of a scary and unknown future.” They became literal exiles from their homeland and landed in the South of France. Many more issues came, including finding a proper studio to record. With no other option, the band settled on recording in Keith Richard’s new mansion: Villa Nellcôte.
“In fact, Exile is the very definition of a great album; a whole that is much more significant than the sum of its individual parts. It is not replying with hits, but rather what songs that got a strength from the dynamic proximity to each other” – Anthony Decurtis
“But this is just a tree of life – this record is the watering hole” – Tom Waits
“Exile on Main Street is definitely going to take its place in history. It is, I think, the best album they've every made." - Richard Williams, Melody Maker
Working under the tentative title ‘Tropical Disease,’ recording the album in the basement of Villa Nellcôte became chaos – even though the result was a perfect beauty. The band members recorded tracks at the same time in different rooms. Many musicians, including Charlie Watts, drove over five hours every day; forcing the recording process not to start until after the sun went down. The parties with other celebrities – including John Lennon and Gram Parsons - seemed endless. While drug usage among the team peaked at an all-time high, it sparked their music creativity. The true miracle of this era was that everyone survived! While reflecting on the time in 2010, Mick Jagger stated: “We recorded the album in this disgusting basement, which looks like a prison. The humidity was incredible. I couldn’t stand it. As soon as I open my mouth to sing, my voice was gone. It was so humid that all the guitars were out of tune.” Tracks like “Turd on the Run” and “Ventilator Blues” captured this perfectly. On the former, listeners hear the sweat running down their faces in the basement through Jagger’s screaming and growling. Audio engineer Andy Johns once described the origins of the darkest song on the album, “Ventilator Blues: “Sometimes, Mick Taylor would stop because he was out of tune. There was one little tiny fan in the window up in the corner, which didn’t work very well. Therefore, ventilator blues. It’s one of my favorite turns; it’s about the fan in the window.
“It was sort of a science project, but it worked” – Bobby Keys
“This is not just a band at the top of its game. It’s the world’s best rock ‘n’ roll band on top of everything, singing and playing their hearts out” – Bill Janovitz
“It’s not particularly commercial, but it’s elegant and beautiful. Mick Jagger’s lyrics are fantastic. It’s not a good times record. It’s questioning and paranoid. It sounds like they’ve been through a kaleidoscope.” – Martin Fry
Some songs, including the signature Keith Richards tune, “Happy,” ended up recording without the entire band. Keith Richards, along with the infamous Bobby Keys and influential Jimmy Miller, cut the track while waiting for the rest of the band to show up one day. The Stones ventured out more than the traditional 5-piece band, and recruited the talents of Bobby Keys, Jim Price, Nicky Hopinks, and Jimmy Miller – who Robert Greenfield describes as “one of the greatest rock producers who ever lived.” Reflecting on this, Charlie Watts stated: “It was a peak period for the band, we had everything covered.” The extra talent elevated the band to a new height – one that was never reached again. Regardless, The Stones demonstrated perfect teamwork, trust, and dedication as they ventured out into the unknown. Most importantly, they had the time of their life. “Sweet Virginia” sounds like the band sitting around a campfire jamming out, as everyone slowly joins in one at a time. This showcases how the environment created the studio at Villa Nellcôte as an important character in the Exile story. So much so, that it’s embedded in the sound. Keith Richards declared: “When I listen to the album, I can smell the basement.” While many fans believe the entire album was recorded in France, recording began before their exile in Olympic Studios in London, and after in Los Angeles. During this time, the artwork for the album was captured, which helped tell the Exile story. The album packaging and pictures painted a time of despair and helped mold the themes of Exile: hedonism, time, depression, sex, and aspiration.
“It’s not just about popular songs. It’s about a body of work” – Will. I. Am
“It's the first album with no particular single on it, you know? There was no ‘Brown Sugar’ or whatever. We made it as an album, rather than looking for a hit single.” – Keith Richards
“The whole album is an amazing work.” – Dick Taylor
The lyrics of Exile frequently conquer deeper meanings, while not being direct and facing many different interpretations. Songs like “Rocks Off” come across as a heroin trip, but lines like “Is he gonna close the door on me? I’m always hearing voices on the street, I want to shout but I can hardly speak” showcase that more underneath the lines: that the struggles of life are too hard, and we feel alone, but true pleasure can be found only in our dreams. The Stones were able to create an emotional impact while attempting to solve the pains of this world through music. While a strong impact, the lyrics were not all masterly crafted. While creating the lyrics of “Casino Boogie,” Jagger and Richards wrote random lines on pieces of paper, cut them out, and threw them out of a hat. But it worked and created a fantastic blues boogie! Jagger sang in a mumbled tone, which adds to the mystery of Exile. It generates listeners to pay attention closely and re-listen to decipher the lyrics. Exile was never designed to be a polished album – the noise it conceives is swampy and the notes float through listeners’ ears like ghosts. While reviewers who became null to glossy modern pop tracks may criticize this, this perfectly fits into the atmosphere and vibes of Exile. If the audience can survive Jagger’s raw vocals, multiple guitar lines, horns on full blast, piano chiming in, steady drum line, elevating background singers, and all the other hidden notes and parts in between, then listeners can withstand anything they encounter in life.
“It’s just one of the most emotional moments on any record. The horns just elevate the song to almost sacred level” – Bill Janovitz on “Let it Loose”
“If you don’t know Sweet Virginia, you should go home” – Sheryl Crow
"Exile on Main St. does feel like a perennial in my life. I first heard it when I was maybe 14. What it does for me since then, it sets up a mood that just doesn't let go for its entirety. Its been accused of being a murky recording, but when I put it on, each time of the six million times that I have listened to it, the mood’s there, you're in Nellcote, caught down the basement” – Tim Rogers
However, not all the songs on the album sound like this. Later songs, including “Sweet Virginia” and “Let it Loose” (the ultimate breakup song) mark Jagger’s greatest vocal achievement and his ability to emerge as more than just a rock singer, but a phenomenal blues and soul artist. While some tracks, like “Sweet Virginia” or “Soul Survivor” were not designed with mainstream intentions, (however, the former landed during the credits for the film “Knives Out”), the focus was on creating a solid album, over hit singles. The Stones were not concerned about dishing out endless singles, but rather collecting opportunities to throw in well-established songs. Quality over-popularity. If they were in any other album, songs like “I Just Want to See His Face” and “Torn and Frayed” would have been forgotten about. The tracks of Exile became similar to the island of misfit toys: individually, they are weak, but together, they are an unstoppable force. In 2010, the island grew stronger, as The Stones dropped the Remastered Deluxe Edition, which featured 10 new tracks. While some of these were simply fun outtakes, songs like Plundered My Soul,” “Following the River” and “I’m Not Signifying” continue to add more value and act as a golden bow ontop of a perfect gift.
“It's absolutely perfect. It's a perfect record.” – Don Was
“Exile may be the best thing we ever did” – Keith Richards
“Overall, it’s a great project of period music that withstood the test of time… It’s a very good album, and it shows a lot of The Stones’s breadth of what they wanted to take on. It includes things you probably have second thoughts about putting out now, but you glad you did” – Mick Jagger
As a result, Exile spawned a distinct sound and atmosphere that sounds ancient and nostalgic, but experimental and futuristic at the same time. There’s nothing else truly like it that captures the same feeling. Somehow, the sound continues to change and evolve, and musical diversity is its #1 strength. Some albums sound the same with not much difference: it’s hard to tell sometimes when the track changes. However, with most Stones records, especially Exile, each song, and each side is different. Listeners embark on a journey through upbeat rockers, gospel ballads, country-soul outakes, and bluesy bangers. Exile knows exactly what it was, is, and needs to be. It’s not an album intended to be #1 on the billboards and jam out with friends; but to listen to when you’re alone, isolated, and lost in this world. Exile provides hope for the future and helps many of us get through the most difficult times. As Bill Janovitz perfectly stated, “Exile on Main Street is a masterpiece in part because, as with many classic rock ‘n’ roll records, it makes us feel that we’re not so alone… most of us, after all, have felt like exiles on our own hometowns Main Street.”
“Let this music relax your mind”
“Just as long as the guitar plays, let it steal your heart away”
“May the good Lord shine a light on you; warm, like the evening sun"