http://www.examiner.com/x-13296-Phoenix-Rock-Music-Examiner~y2009m8d12-25-Inductees-Exile-on-Main-St
August 12, 2009
by Patrick Trevellyan
If I've got to pick a favorite [Stones' album], I'll sayand you can
take this with a large dose of saltExile, because of its amazing
spirit, the incredible amount of enthusiasm and screw-you-ing. You
can throw us out, but you can't get rid of us."
- Keith Richards, 2002
In the spring of 1971, the Stones truly were in exile. On the run
from tax collectors, drug police and the intense media scrutiny, they
abandoned their homes in England for the south of France. Most of
their 1972 classic Exile on Main St. was recorded that summer in the
humid, labyrinthine basement of Nellcote, Keith Richard's rented
villa, which had previously served as the headquarters of the Nazi
Gestapo during World War II.
The recording sessions for Exile were sporadic and unorganized,
occurring at all hours of the day and night, often without all
members of the band present. Mick Jagger would often spend extended
periods of time in Paris with his pregnant wife Bianca. Likewise,
drummer Charlie Watts and bassist Bill Wyman missed several sessions
due to either too great a distance between his home and Nellcote or a
general dislike of the villa's atmosphere. Even Richards, whose
growing heroine addiction was beginning to affect his ability to
play, failed to make every session despite living upstairs.
Consequently, some of the credit for the album actually being
finished must go to producer Jimmy Miller and engineers Glyn and Andy
Johns, who, according to Richards, were able to maintain an "element
of controlled chaos."
Furthermore, the lax atmosphere and shifting personnel meant that,
more so than on any previous Stones album, the sidemen and women
were really able to step into the spotlight. Nicky Hopkins'
thundering piano powers "Loving Cup," Bobby Keys and Jim Price add
mesmerizing brass flourishes to "Rocks Off," and the female
vocalists, who shine throughout the entire album, reach angelic
heights (and notes, in someone's case) on "Let It Loose."
And while the band eventually shifted to a proper studio in Los
Angeles, recording some new tracks, adding nearly all of the overdubs
and mixing the entire album there, Exile on Main St. still sounds
like it was recorded in a dark basement. The album maintains its
rough-around-the-edges feel and raw beauty, which are perfectly
complemented in Robert Frank's photography used on the album's sleeve.
Taken from his influential series The Americans, Frank's photography
was meant to get to the heart of America, even its grittier aspects.
Similarly, Exile explores the roots of American music. The Stones had
successfully done this before, especially on their previous three
albums: Beggar's Banquet, Let It Bleed and Sticky Fingers. But by
1972, they had become experts. Rather than sounding like an excellent
imitation, the music now sounds effortless and lived-in. Exile on
Main St. takes the listener on a journey through some murky swamp
where the blues, gospel, country, rock and soul all coalesce into
something unquestionably brilliant and undeniably Stones.
The record begins with the hard-nosed rock of "Rocks Off," which
opens with a classic, cat-scratch guitar riff from Richards, the
steady snare drum beat from Watts, and a sleazy "Oh yeah" from
Jagger, and perfectly sets the mood for the debauchery to follow.
Without skipping a beat, the band tears into "Rip This Joint," a
frenetically-paced rockabilly track with hard rock guitars that kicks
the band into full gear as they begin their journey through the heart
of American roots music. Case in point, the cover of Slim Harpo's
"Hip Shake" shows the Stone's mastery of obscure blues numbers while
"Casino Boogie," with its swinging rhythm section and saxophone solo,
proves that they could boogie too.
Side one, deemed the "rock and roll side," ends with one of the
album's only tracks that has gained the status of classic in and of
itself: "Tumbling Dice." Surrounded by casinos in the south of
France, Jagger added lyrics about gambling and women to a loose,
shuffling groove expertly played by Richards and the rest of the
band. But the song truly becomes a classic in the last minute and a
half, as the majestic gospel vocals, provided by Clydie King and
Vanetta Fields, drive the coda forward as it fades into rock and roll history.
For Part II of Exile, the band chose to offset the rock-heavy first
side with a series of mainly acoustic songs that showcase their
country and folk influences. "Sweet Virginia" and "Torn and Frayed"
continue the theme of gritty characters, wearily scraping the "shit
right off [their] shoes" and carrying on with their lives. Much like
the Stones themselves, they'll be okay "as long as the guitar plays."
Momentarily switching to a more folk mindset, Jagger offers a rare
foray into political songwriting with "Sweet Black Angel," which
deals with the story of Angela Davis, who had been all over the news
in the early '70s. Davis, a civil rights activist and University of
California professor who was associated with the Black Panther Party
as well as the Communist Party USA, was the subject of a two-month
manhunt after a gun registered in her name was used to kill Judge
Harold Haley. After finally being arrested in New York City, Davis
was put on trial and eventually acquitted of all charges. The
politics don't always work (this is, after all, the same man who
declared that his only option was to "sing for a rock and roll
band"), but the music does. And the Stones keep it simple, with
steady, rhythmic guitar plucking, various percussion instruments and
some harmonica tagged onto the end by Jagger.
Side three opens with the album's other single, Richard's "Happy,"
which, as Lenny Kaye said in his original review for Rolling Stone,
"lives up to its title from start to finish." With its driving guitar
riff and lyrics like "never want to be like poppa / working for the
man every night and day," the song perfectly depicts the defiant
swaggeran essential part of rock and rollthat Richards had come to embody.
Further justifying their American roots music prowess, the Stones
hustle through "Turd on the Run," then slow down a bit for
"Ventilator Blues, whichwith the help of Mick Taylor's dirty slide
guitar and Watt's intermittent snaregradually builds tension until
something finally gives and the song fades into the purest gospel
song on the record, "Just Wanna See His Face." Surrounded by primal
drums and bluesy Wurlitzer electric piano, Jagger sings/mumbles about
finding solace in times of trouble: "Sometimes you ain't got nobody
and you want somebody to love. / Then you don't want to walk and talk
about Jesus, / you just want to see His face."
Continuing the gospel-infused mood, the Stones close side three with
"Let It Loose," one of the best soul numbers they have ever recorded
and one of Jagger's most impassioned vocal performances on the album.
Rather than adopt the voice of some inhabitant in America's musical
landscape, as he does on much of Exile, Jagger opens up with lyrics
about personal weaknesses that sound like they come from experience.
The final side consists of "All Down the Line," a straight-ahead
rocker that has since become a live favorite, followed by a cover of
Robert Johnson's "Stop Breaking Down." "Shine a Light" opens with a
soulful, chill-inducing vocal from Jagger about a character who, much
like Exile itself, possesses a kind of squalid beauty. She lies drunk
in an alley as flies buzz around her like "angels beating all their
wings in time," but the gospel chorus sounds like a ray of light
bursting through the storm clouds as Jagger ultimately bestows his
blessing on her: "May the good Lord shine a light on you."
The record's final track, "Soul Survivor," may sound out of place at
first. Some have suggested that "Shine a Light" or "Let It Loose,"
may have sealed the bottle a little better. But "Soul Survivor"
actually sums up the record quite nicely with an emphatic closing
statement: In the end, the Stones will survive.
And survive is exactly what they would have to do.
Upon its release, Exile on Main St. received mixed reviews, most
considering it a bit of a let down. The band would soon fall into a
period of rock and roll excess and decadence that led to a creative
slump, but the Stones survived, making one of their many comebacks
with 1978's Some Girls.
Likewise, Exile has survived and has since become generally regarded
as the band's masterpiece. One reason for the delay in this
realization is that the album is a quintessential "grower." Not all
of it is immediately pleasing to the ear at first, and there are few
obvious Greatest Hits selections. Yet to look for the hit singles in
Exile is to miss the point. There is no "Sympathy for the Devil" or
"You Can't Always Get What You Want." Instead, the record must be
taken as a whole, and it takes a while before the brilliance shines
through the bleak atmosphere. But climbing out of the muck is an
album that is truly greater than the sum of its parts. After all,
Exile on Main St. is still a record by the World's Greatest Rock and
Roll Band and, in a word, it rocks.
--
Note: Coinciding with the recent remastering of the band's Virgin
catalog, Universal Music is releasing a deluxe edition of Exile on
Main St. sometime in early 2010.
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