Exile on Main St.
The double album made in a French basement, now rated among the greatest rock records.
The Rolling Stones, 1972
- Released
- 12 May 1972
- Recorded
- 1969 to March 1972
- Studio
- Nellcote, Villefranche-sur-Mer (Rolling Stones Mobile); Olympic Studios and Stargroves; Sunset Sound, Los Angeles
- Label
- Rolling Stones Records
- Producer
- Jimmy Miller
- Length
- 67:07
Sessions began in 1969 at Olympic and Stargroves, but most of the record was made at Nellcote, the villa Richards rented near Villefranche-sur-Mer, with the Rolling Stones Mobile parked outside, from mid-1971. Overdubs followed at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles between December 1971 and March 1972. Robert Frank took the cover photographs.
Richards called the basement Hitler's bunker. Wyman remembered patchy attendance, and Jagger led the Los Angeles overdubs and said he finished much of the album himself because Miller was struggling. A 2010 reissue added ten unreleased tracks.
It reached number one in the UK and the US. The 2010 reissue also topped the UK chart and reached number two in the US. Rolling Stone ranked it number 7 in 2003 and 2012. Robert Christgau named it the best album of 1972 and called it a fagged-out masterpiece, and in 2003 Jagger said he was not sure the songs were great and felt the mixes sounded poor. Bill Janovitz, in the 33 1/3 series, called it the greatest, most soulful rock and roll record ever made. It entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2012.
Track listing
- Rocks Off4:31
- Rip This Joint2:22
- Shake Your Hips2:59
- Casino Boogie3:33
- Tumbling Dice3:45
- Sweet Virginia4:27
- Torn and Frayed4:17
- Sweet Black Angel2:54
- Loving Cup4:25
- Happy3:04
- Turd on the Run2:36
- Ventilator Blues3:24
- I Just Want to See His Face2:52
- Let It Loose5:16
- All Down the Line3:49
- Stop Breaking Down4:34
- Shine a Light4:14
- Soul Survivor3:49
Personnel
- Mick Jagger vocals
- Keith Richards guitars, lead vocal on Happy
- Mick Taylor guitar
- Bill Wyman bass
- Charlie Watts drums
- Nicky Hopkins keyboards
- Bobby Keys saxophone
- Jim Price horns
- Billy Preston keyboards
- Jimmy Miller producer, percussion
- Bill Plummer bass
- Al Perkins guitar
- Venetta Fields backing vocals
- Clydie King backing vocals
- Dr. John overdubs
- Glyn Johns engineer
- Andy Johns engineer
More from The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones (1964), Out of Our Heads (1965), Aftermath (1966), Beggars Banquet (1968), Let It Bleed (1969), Sticky Fingers (1971), Goats Head Soup (1973), Some Girls (1978), Tattoo You (1981), Hackney Diamonds (2023)
Sources
- Exile on Main St., Wikipedia
- The Stones remember making Exile on Main Street, Rolling Stone