270. The Rolling Stones | Exile on Main St. (1972)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. Rocks Off
2. Rip This Joint
3. Shake Your Hips
4. Casino Boogie
5. Tumbling Dice
6. Sweet Virginia
7. Torn and Frayed
8. Sweet Black Angel
9. Loving Cup
10. Happy
11. Turd on the Run
12. Ventilator Blues
13. I Just Want to See His Face
14. Let It Loose
15. All Down the Line
16. Stop Breaking Down
17. Shine a Light
18. Soul Survivor

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Exile on Main St. is a singular album. The music is rock and roll with songs that extend to its roots, country and blues. While the album reaches back to the beginning, it extends forward with use of backing singers and horns. It's impressive to have so much going on while maintaing so much clarity. And it's not that backing singers and horns haven't been used before, I just haven't heard it with straight up rock and roll.

I think this is one of the best albums I've ever heard. The Rolling Stones have always been plagued by inconsistency. Despite having many good albums, their catalogue is not unblemished. And even among the good albums, there are many songs that just don't resonate.

This album is different. Every song belongs and works to improve the others. It's true that this album doesn't have very many big hits on it as other of their albums do and it's true that it takes a while to warm up to the album. But it's worth the effort because these songs are some of their strongest. So, it's certainly worth listening and does belong in every serious album collection. It also deserves to be on the 1001 Albums list for being the gold standard of modern rock and roll albums.

All the songs are excellent. The stand-outs are: Rocks Off, Rip This Joing, Shake Your Hips, Casino Boogie, Tumbling Dice, Sweet Virginia, Torn and Frayed, Sweet Black Angel, Loving Cup, Happy, Turd on the Run, Ventilator Blues, I Just Want to See His Face, Let It Loose, All Down the Line, Stop Breaking Down, Shine a Light and Soul Survivor. Yep, that's all of them!

★★★★★★★★★★