Exile on Main St. (Remastered)

by

The Rolling Stones

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I came to terms with Exile when asked by a friend what I thought the five all-time greatest Stones songs were - songs that will still be alive 50 years from now. My response was fairly quick - Satisfaction, Gimme Shelter, You Can't Always Get What You Want, Wild Horses, and Sympathy for the Devil. Just my opinion. But I realized immediately none were from Exile, which I think is the Stones' all-time best album. Yes, Tumbling Dice and Happy are up there, and some cuts on Exile are, IMHO, absolutely awesome (viz their cover of Robert Johnson's Stop Breaking Down) - but clearly Exile is not not rich in standout hits. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Like few other albums, Exile is a world, a place I immerse myself in - a distillation of American blues and gospel and country and rock - a funky smokefilled bar or afternoon fishfry or steamy bordello, with beer and bourbon, pianos and slide guitars and hard-partying working people letting it loose, shining a light, shaking their hips, boogieing, scraping the sh*t off their shoes, rocking the joint all down the line. Exile critics cite no outstanding hit songs and too much "fill" and murky production/garage band sound. But that's the point, the genius of the album. The album IS the song - I love that murky sound - I listen more to my scratchy old vinyl than to the new cleaned up CD I just bought from Amazon - Exile is where the Stones perhaps peaked, where, catalyzed by Taylor's sinuous guitar playing off Richard's rythmn funk and Hopkin's/Stewart's honky tonk piano, they finally came home to the country blues where they began, when Brian Jones, God rest his soul, alias Elmo Lewis, played slide guitar in a London bar and 18 year-old Keith actually thought he was seeing Elmore James - smokey, funky, rockin, wailing, torn and frayed poor white trash and juke joint black, the soundtrack of Saturday night, til my late night friends leave me in the cold grey dawn. Hang out in Exile. Accept it on its own terms. It will be, I firmly believe, the Stones ALBUM (not song) that will stand the test of time. Pass me the bourbon - quick- the band's coming on for another set and the night's still young.

With much respect to the album (among my favorites) and without causing any offense to those who like the sound of the reissued disc---the sound is not so much to my liking. Heavily compressed, just like the other 2009 Stones remasters. I have done back-to-back comparisons of the 1994 Virgin remaster and this one with good equipment. The dynamics have been squeezed out, and I found myself reaching for the volume knob to turn the 2010 disc *down*--which is a real travesty for such a good-time rock record. Perhaps due to the compression and EQ choices, there seems to be a tad more detail, with more emphasis on the mid-range (this does bring out Mick's vocals quite well, as others have said), but to my ears, the sound is harsh and fatiguing and a tad lifeless. I do wish this album would have been treated as lovingly as the 2002 ABKO re-issues, which are mind-blowingly good. I cannot comment on the bonus tracks just yet.