"Exile On Main Street" Re-Issue

con struct

Platinum Member
For my birthday my wife gave me the new re-issue of my favorite rock 'n roll album. It's a big package. Not only does it have the original album-sized sleave, one of the best album covers of all time, it has real vinyl records along with the the three CDs. There are ten un-released songs from those sessions and also included is a big hard-cover book with photos from the sessions in France. It's very impressive.

When I was a kid I listened to this record over and over. It was a real "sixties is over" record, dark and messy, drug-addled and nervous and a little paranoid. It really fit the mood of those times. But it's solidly great rock 'n roll, the best work the Stones ever produced in my opinion. It also has some of Charlie Watts' best playing on it.

So I'm going to have a few beers and listen to some of it tonight, take a trip down memory lane back to the time when all young musicians wanted to look like Keith Richards and the Rolling Stones owned rock n' roll. I saw them in Charlotte when they toured the states on that album and it was just bloody great. They had Jim Price on trumpet, Bobby Keyes on sax and Nicky Hopkins on piano. The first song they played was "Rocks Off." Wow! Their opening act was Stevie Wonder.

Has anyone else heard it yet?
 
No I sure haven't, but I bet it would be awesome!!! I liked the Stones' older stuff as well...what are the names of the songs that are first time session releases?
 
No I sure haven't, but I bet it would be awesome!!! I liked the Stones' older stuff as well...what are the names of the songs that are first time session releases?

I don't know, actually, I haven't delved into it that much. Tonight I'm going to put it on and look over the stuff that came with it.

Back in the "old days" the album covers were a big part of the experience. It was fun to listen to the music while looking at all the pictures and what-not that came with the record. Album cover design was a real art back then.
 
I've been listening to it for a couple weeks. It's awesome. You won't hear a ton of difference from the original, but some of the backing vocals have been brought up especially on 'tumbling dice'. Some of the unreleased stuff is pretty strong also. I really like the tune 'I'm not signifying'...cool blues song with Mick doing some campy vocals.

Did you get the documentary? Dying to see it.
 
I've been listening to it for a couple weeks. It's awesome. You won't hear a ton of difference from the original, but some of the backing vocals have been brought up especially on 'tumbling dice'. Some of the unreleased stuff is pretty strong also. I really like the tune 'I'm not signifying'...cool blues song with Mick doing some campy vocals.

Did you get the documentary? Dying to see it.

Yeah, she got the deluxe package, man. I just finished watching the DVD. Damn those guys were good back then. The live footage of them doing "Happy" and "All Down the Line" is just terrific. Charlie's playing his ass off. The Stones at the peak of their game. They were never better before or since. Makes me really glad that I got to see them on that tour. There just wasn't anybody around who could touch them for pure rock 'n roll grit and grease.
 
Exile is my favorite Stones album. I bought it when it was originally released and I continue to love it. I also think this era personifies their apex.

GJS
 
J you haven't given us your review. what did you think?

Terribly sorry, I've had things to do and deal with and haven't been able to give it a listen. Right now, this very minute, seems like a likely time to put it on and crank up the volume. Yes, I'm going to give this thing a play now, and I'll be back with my impressions.
 
I've just listened to the reissue of "Exile On Main Street." What Don Was did was take a very weird mix and jack it up, bringing out a lot more noise and weirdness and greatness. For some reason the horns seem to be lower in this mix, which is too bad but it's not a deal killer.

Overall the whole thing is a lot "louder," which makes the thing more powerful, more visceral. All the twistiness, all the grunge and dirt of the thing is thrown right in your face.

In other words, this is just just f*****g great. You should hear the remixed version of "All Down The Line." It's crazy! It's...maniacal! These guys were way into it. The energy is...it's almost insane, totally unhinged rock 'n roll abandon.

Charlies Watts' drums are mixed way too loud, the whole mix is crazy and dense and wrong, wrong, wrong, but somehow it all works. There will never be another record that sounds like this one, baby.

What can I say? This is really dirty rock 'n roll, all over the place jamming inspired rock 'n roll. It's a bloody masterpiece. You look at the Stones now and it's amazing to think that they were once capable of doing something this truly magnificent. Really, it's staggering how deep this thing is. It's just simply amazing.

I was dancing around the house like a damn fool, me at fifty six years old. Look here, you youngsters. If you love rock 'n roll this record, this reissue, will open your eyes. Listen to it and marvel at the magnificence of the real thing.

Other than a few minor disagreements with how the remixing was done I have no problem with saying that this is the definitive version of the greatest rock 'n roll album of all time. Both thumbs way up.
 
In other words, this is just just f*****g great.

Of course it is, me old mate.....it's the god damn Rolling Stones', Exile on Main Street......not the greatest hits of bloody Nana Mouskouri!! :)

Seriously Jay, I'm lead to believe there's a hell of a lot more (numerous extra tracks and what-have-you) included on the re-issue. I've had the original CD for years. What's included in the bonus material?.....any and all comments on additional material welcome. In fact the more the merrier.

I'm guessing I need this, yeah?
 
I saw the "Exile...." doco on t.v. a couple of weeks ago and it was very entertaining - some good editing to mix the old footage with more recent commentary from the band members (and hangers on....).

As far as the recording / mix goes....well, as much as I like the stones I could never say that their recording clarity is that good.... for years they had (probably) the best mobile studio in the business and continually come out with muffled recordings - always made my fingers twitch as I wished I could get my hands on the console....

It's very hard to say which is the best stones album - personally I would vote for either "Satanic Majesties", "Let It Bleed", "Sticky Fingers" or "Goats Head Soup" but they have such a wealth of material up to about 1975 that all deserves mention - after "Its Only Rock and Roll" (for me) they just lost it (unfortunately I add).

Good to hear someone praising Charlie Watts - one of those great players who played "the right thing at the right time" and always seemed like he was doing it easy with far more ability than he showed. :)
 
Seriously Jay, I'm lead to believe there's a hell of a lot more (numerous extra tracks and what-have-you) included on the re-issue. I've had the original CD for years. What's included in the bonus material?.....any and all comments on additional material welcome. In fact the more the merrier.

I'm guessing I need this, yeah?

The ten unreleased tracks...well, two of them are just alternate takes, inferior to the ones chosen for the original album in my opinion. The rest are unreleased for a very excellent reason: they're really not up to much. No big revelations there at all.

The most interesting one is a little instrumental ditty called "Track 5." It sounds like a surf tune almost, sort of like something you'd expect from the Ventures. Very un-Stones-like, but I could imagine hearing it in a Quentin Tarantino film soundtrack!

So nothing much going on with those, unfortunately. As far as needing it goes, if you were around back when the album first came out and you fell in love with it and practically worshiped it as I did then the deluxe package with the book and DVD is definitely something you'll want. Otherwise I guess I'd just go for the far less expensive CD version.

Either way you'll be hearing the Stones in all their dirty-slinky-sloppy-bluesy glory! Everybody who's ever loved rock 'n roll just has to have this music, no two ways about it. And turn it up!
 
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