THE ROLLING STONES - EXILE ON MAIN STREET @ 50

 

Released on the 12th of May, 1972, The Rolling Stones’ Exile On Main Street celebrates its 50th anniversary today! Considered one of the bands all time best albums, it marked a creative peak for the long running band.

The album was a bit of a hodgepodge of songs recorded over an extended period going back as early 1969 during sessions for Sticky Fingers. This resulted in it sprawling into becoming the band’s first double LP set by the time the dust settled. Much of it was recorded in mid-1971 using their mobile studio at the rented villa Nellcôte in the South of France. At the time, the band were living abroad as tax exiles, thus inspiring the album’s title and the collage graphics on its cover, which Mick Jagger described showing the band as “runaway outlaws using the blues as its weapon against the world". The sessions in France were noted as being something of a chaotic shambles with them going basically all night, every night. Unlike previous album sessions, the discipline was lacking as band members tended to show up at irregular intervals, with not everyone being present each day. Part of this had to do with Keith slipping into a daily heroine habit by this time. Bill Wyman simply didn’t like the atmosphere at the villa and sat out many of the sessions there. Yet from all that madness, the band somehow managed to stitch it all together into something that made sense once all the pieces of the puzzle were in place. Final overdubs and mixing were done in LA in March of 1972. This is where most of the vocals and guitar overdubs ended up being recorded.

Other than the regular band members, the sessions in France also featured a large rotating array of guest musicians popping in and out for sessions throughout their time there. These included the likes of pianist Nicky Hopkins, saxophonist Bobby Keys, drummer Jimmy Miller and horn player Jim Price. The resulting musical stew cooked up by all these players crossed boundaries between blues, rock and roll, swing, country and gospel, while the lyrics explored themes related to hedonism, sex and time. Many of the songs contained on the album ended up becoming concert staples for years after the album’s release. It spawned the hit songs "Happy", which featured a rare lead vocal from Keith Richards, country music ballad "Sweet Virginia", and worldwide top-ten hit "Tumbling Dice".

Upon the album’s release, while it shot to the number one chart slot in the UK, US, Canada and other countries, the critics were initially mixed in their reaction. Some found the song quality inconsistent, something to be expected given the fact it was recorded over so many years. Also, as a double disc set, it tended to meander through its palette of genres. But as time has given context to the album, it quickly took on the perspective as one of the band’s greatest achievements and, for some, the high watermark of their career.