Band: The Rolling Stones
Album: Exile on Main Street
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: An epic double album, most believe it to be the Rolling Stones' greatest achievement. It marked a changing of eras within the Stones, from their single-based accessible blues rock to a harder-edged sound. It's considered a landmark in hard rock, partially because of its "vox low in the mix" production style.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: I guess I just don't see it. It's somewhat hard, but none of the songs really hit me. It's like "Highway 61," only with one tenth of the intellect and six years later.
Best song: A lot of people like "Rocks Off," but I'll go with the one you all know: "Tumblin' Dice."
Worst song: "Loving Cup" is dreck.
Is it awesome?: Not in my opinion. I prefer other Stones albums, but people seem to adore it.
Though I didn't mention it in the "my biases" piece, I'm not the biggest Stones fan. I am firmly in the Beatles camp and the Stones has some real blue collar rock tinges to them. Nowhere is that more evident than on this record. Certainly, it spawned "Exile in Guyville," which is good, but I prefer "Beggars Banquet." The Stones, in my opinion, are simply considered great because they hung around a long time. Kind of like music's Jamie Moyer.
1 comment:
I think of this as the end of an era for the Stones. Their last really good record. After Exile, there's just a few decent songs, but they continually go downhill to their lowest point in the late 80s. While albums like Voodoo Lounge and Bigger Bang are more palatable, they're really just the Stones as a Stones cover band. Both Mick and Keith have released very good solo albums, but the Stones haven't done that since Exile.
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