Today we have the Rolling Stones' twelfth studio album Exile on Main St. Released in 1972, the album was at first met with mixed reviews from critics but as since gone on to be considered one of the greatest albums of all time and is "basically everyone's favorite Stones album," according to Rob Sheffield. For these reasons, it has been my most anticipated album to listen to this entire year (2020). Recorded in France as the band were avoiding taxes from England (hence the title), the album's sessions took place in Keith Richard's basement and were sporadic and unorganized with the band playing whenever and whatever they felt like. Richards, who was a heroin addict at the time of the recording, is generally considered to be the main creative force behind the album.
What more is there to be said of this masterpiece? Well, much like The Basement Tapes (there are so many parallels), it doesn't at first sound like a masterpiece. Jagger's voice sounds more raw, irritated, and lustful than ever before and lyrics about sex aren't exactly new to the Stones--remember "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" back in 1965?--but these guys are close to age thirty and they adjust their lyrics and sound accordingly. Although Richards was already in tip-top shape on Sticky Fingers, his playing here is left in all its menacing, untouched glory, matching the lust of Jagger and adding yet another layer of grime to the album. But let’s not overanalyze; Exile on Main St. is simply the world's greatest rock'n'roll band having fun in a basement, singing and playing whatever they want, and without the production of a conventional studio to screw anything up for sixty-seven glorious minutes. Any of its four sides could be the best side the Stones ever put together and the fact that the saxophones and female vocalists were overdubbed onto the songs later doesn't change anything. What matters is that it sounds like they were all there during a crazy, drugged-out weekend, evading authorities and using love to keep "Happy." A+
