Rolling Stones In ‘Exile’
With the deluxe reissue of the Rolling Stones’ 1972 recording Exile on Main Street, much praise is being lavished upon an album which has heretofore been primarily the province of heads alone. Despite the presence of ‘Tumbling Dice’ (a classic rock radio staple to this day), and the Keith Richards’-helmed ‘Happy’, Exile is four sides of obscure tracks that I always felt were undiscovered gems, known only to me and my fellow rock nerds. Dark, drug-addled blues rock this pure, devoid of the undeniable commercial appeal of the Stones’ earlier work, surely couldn’t be appreciated by that many people. The ownership I and so many others have felt for this band and this record attests to the Stone’s ability to speak to people through their music, to make them experience such a close kinship with the fables they give us that the very notion that anyone else might relate to the songs like we can seems preposterous. Much like the Beatles, the Stones wrote music from an elite perch that nonetheless spoke to the populace.
Of course I have come to realize that with as much attention as the Rolling Stones albums have continued to receive, there are rarely undiscovered gems. And it turns out that Exile On Main Street is considered one of their best–-some say their very best. But it rarely gets mentioned in the same breath as Let It Bleed or Sticky Fingers, which harbor several signature tracks each. So why all the renewed interest? As Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly says,
Over the years, so much has been written and jabbered about Exile…that it’s been turned into almost too much of a monument.
I couldn’t agree more. Of course this ‘jabber’ has mostly been endemic to the pages of magazines catering to niche audiences. Ask a casual Stones fan about Exile and you might get a blank stare. Despite its place in the pantheon of ‘best records of the 70s’, it’s such a shambolic affair that it always seemed too inaccessible for the masses. Upon its release, the critics disagreed on its merits. Robert Christgau exclaimed:
Incontrovertibly the year’s best, this fagged-out masterpiece is the summum of Rock ’72. Even now, I can always get pleasure out of any of its four sides, but it took me perhaps twenty-five listenings before I began to understand what the Stones were up to, and I still haven’t finished the job. Just say they’re Advancing Artistically, in the manner of self-conscious public creators careering down the corridors of destiny. Exile explores new depths of record-studio murk, burying Mick’s voice under layers of cynicism, angst, and ennui: You’ve got a curtthroat crew / I’m gonna sink under you / I got the bell bottom blues / It’s gonna be the death of me.” A +.
Lenny Kaye, guitarist for the Patti Smith Group and rock critic writing for Rolling Stone magazine felt differently: “[t]here are songs that are better, there are songs that are worse,…and others you’ll probably lift the needle for when the time is due.” But history has been kind to this album, and despite any suspicions that this deluxe reissue by Virgin records is more an attempt to make money than actually reappraise and re-introduce, the new attention is something to rejoice. Never mind that there are gratuitous, newly-recorded tracks we needn’t bother with.
As Michael Klausman, a buyer for Other Music in New York uttered in a 2006 Times article, ”we’re living in the age of the reissue”. Indeed, many albums that hardly saw the light of day when they were first released have been given new life through reissue labels like Light in the Attic, 4 Men With Beards, and Sundazed. Of course the major labels have been reissuing for a long time. When new releases aren’t bringing in the sales like they used to, the back catalog must be plumbed.
While there is some consternation about this reissue, there is a significant undiscovered gem in the form of video footage (included on the accompanying DVD) from the recording sessions that took place in the dank basement of Keith Richards’ chateau in the French countryside. This was a common locale for British rock stars to escape their country’s exorbitant taxes. Hence the Stones’ feeling that they were living in exile. Of course all they suffered through were endless parties. Nevertheless, they were away from their homes, and this displacement led to an incredible, landmark recording. I write this having seen only portions of this unearthed footage of the Stones at their youthful peak, so I cannot speak to its overall quality, but by most accounts it is a revelation. The nerds have waited a long time for this.
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“Much like the Beatles, the Stones wrote music from an elite perch that nonetheless spoke to the populace.”
An elite perch? In what regard? Musically, their tunes make Stephen Foster’s simplest ditties sound like Mendelssohn. Please.
I use ‘elite’ in the social and economic sense. Members of both bands were wildly successful, famous and rich, yet were able to make music that resonated with millions of people around the world from all walks of life. As for the Stephen Foster/Mendelssohn quip, pop music has always been more about the emotional content than the compositional prowess. You could also argue that Roy Liechtenstein made Bob Kane look like DaVinci, but I don’t see the purpose in making such a comparison other than to gratuitously belittle the merits of the first.
In response to another comment. See in context »“…but I don’t see the purpose in making such a comparison other than to gratuitously belittle the merits of the first.”
In rock criticism, the Stones, Clapton, Pink Flyod, et al. are very often presented as today’s answer to Beethoven, so I made the comparison to make a point. Sorry for misinterpreting “elite perch”–I read it in a standard rock-critical context, wherein rock is art and all other pop is frivolous (and Bartok too serious). I’m so used to that take, I’ve taken to assuming its presence.
No, of course pop music doesn’t have to aspire to Schubert. I’m the last person to argue that!
Of course of course. I appreciate the comment and the opportunity for a lively debate. Indeed, the Stones are no Beethoven or Schubert, but it might be said that theirs, the Beatles’, and Bob Dylan’s catalogs are the baby boomers’ answers to the Songbooks of the 20s and 30s. While Rodgers and Hart’s hit ‘Blue Moon’ was known by everyone in 1934 and recorded many times over, ‘Yesterday’ by the Beatles or ‘Blowin In The Wind” by Dylan had a similar effect only several decades later.
In response to another comment. See in context »Wonderful article. You are talking about my generation and I had never heard of the Stones’ “Exile on Main Street”. I look forward to listening to it thirty years later. I like the way you sum up different generations and what each one liked.