Like a lot of music fans I'm constantly making lists in my head of "greatest ever" albums. My top two are, pretty consistently, "Blonde On Blonde" and "Exile On Main Street". Throughout most of my life Mr. Dylan's opus was my no. one, and I've probably played it more than anything else in my collection. However in recent years I've gravitated towards "Exile".
On this album the Stones cover all the fundamental basics of post-Elvis music. It is a totally American album, embracing rock'n'roll, R'n'B (by which I mean hard, souped-up blues, not the soft porn which goes by that name now), blues, gospel, and country. It is unlike any other Stones album in that each track has the raw, basic, yet intricate Stones groove. There's no "Angie" or "I Got The Blues" to soften it up. Nor are there knockabout tracks in the "Country Honk" vein. Instead there are hard rockers ("Rocks Off", "Soul Survivor", "All Down The Line"), outright rock'n'roll ("Rip This Joint"), classic Stones lurchers like "Tumbling Dice" and "Soul Survivor", and wierd, angular blues riffs such as "Casino Boogie" and "Ventilator Blues".
In amongst all the great rockers is a "slow side" which is an absolute gem. "Sweet Virginia" is the best country Stones track ever and is genuinely encouraging and uplifting. "Torn And Frayed" is, on one level the story of the Stones in the early Seventies, yet also applies universally to anyone who's been through the mill.
"Sweet Black Angel" is an anomaly for the Stones - an explicit piece of political comment - yet stays current through its refusal to make propaganda. It's also kept musically simple and has an element of Stones humour on it. "Lovin' Cup" is an older song but fits right into context, and also has a sense of relief and euphoria about it which balances the darker mood of much of the album. Nicky Hopkins' playing here is a musical highlight of the album.
Four other tracks merit particular attention - "Rocks Off" is a song of boredom and desperation, and a simply brilliant arrangement. The blaring horns carry the cry of the chorus; the middle section is full of murk, matching the confused tone, before we jump out into "The sunshine bores the daylights out of me". "Happy" and "Turd On The Run" is an incredible sequence of songs; the former is a pure Keith rocker with nods to Creedence and carries one of the album's key messages ("I need a love to keep me happy"). The latter has a raw blues riff with braying harp and picks over the scars.
Finally there is "Shine A Light", probably the most compassionate song in the Stones repertoire along with "You Can't Always Get What You Want". The lyrics tell of a drugs casualty and hold a prayer for Grace. They could be about Brian Jones, Gram Parsons, or Janis Joplin, but more importantly they show Jagger at his absolute sharpest in terms of surveying the culture around him. The music is uplifting in the manner of the very best gospel music, and features Billy Preston's finest contribution to the Stones. The track pulls together all the key themes of the album - decay, stoicism, the need for love but also the hassle - into a prayer for strength for a 60s generation entering the fragmentation of the seventies. After this track, "Soul Survivor" is a defiant expression of the will to press on.
There's one further factor here - the sheer rythmic complexity and subtlety in the music makes the album endlessly playable. It works in all contexts - the many brilliant rockers make it great driving music, yet it also rewards close listening on headphones. There is not an inch of sentimentality or sloppy thinking on this record, and not a wasted moment. Even "Blonde On Blonde", for all its lyrical wildness and virtuoso Dylan vocals, has the sloppy "Sad Eyed Lady" on it (albeit the performance rescues the song). "Exile On Main Street" is hard stuff - pure, essential American-based music with a twist. And that's rock'n'roll.
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