Number 7: Exile On Main St. (Revised)

Album: Exile On Main St.

Artist: The Rolling Stones

Year: 1972

Information: The last album in a string of what is considered to be the band's best work, it covers a lot of ground in a little over an hour. Keith Richards once called it the "first grunge record." A claim easy to back up, once you listen to it. With muddy sounds and lines like "the sunshine bores the daylights outta me," it very well may be the first, or one of the first grunge records. This album is a lot like a brief history of the band. It has blues covers ("Shake Your Hips" and "Stop Breaking Down,") there's a psychedelic part in "Rocks Off" and the album makes use of choruses, like on Let it Bleed.

High Points: I find the best song on this album to be the first one (like so many of the previous albums,) "Rocks Off." I usually like odd intros to songs, like Taxman, where they count "One, two, three, four." You can also hear them coughing and tuning their guitar. This song has another odd intro, which probably makes me like it more. It starts off a bit slow, but soon kicks it up a notch. Adorned with a brass section and an injected, psychedelic breakdown, it is one of the more unique songs on the album. The other great song is "Tumbling Dice," which has a great back beat and eventually dissolves to a call and response of "you got to roll me," and "keep on rollin'."

Low Points: The low points are few and far between and are so minor that none are worth mentioning. However, I do find the lyrics of "Loving Cup" a bit stupid. Revision: Upon thinking about this album, a lot of the songs aren't really spectacular. Naturally, this is a double album, so there is likely going to be filler. However, this album has a lot of sub-par songs.

Is it Great? I do think it's a pretty good album, but I think number seven is too high. Revision: This album is overrated on this list. The album is alright, but it's certainly not number seven. 

My favorite song on this album is "Sweet Virginia." Although, I don't particularly enjoy the lines "you got to scrape that shit right off your shoes." Just not a good image in an otherwise good song.

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I do think that The Rolling Stones released better albums than this, and I'm not sure I would place either in the top 10, however, they are quite good. Those albums being Beggar's Banquet and Let it Bleed. Revision: Sticky Fingers is also a very good album and deserves to be mentioned with the other two.

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I find this album to be a tad weird when I look back on it. I enjoy the songs, but I don't find the album as great. It's almost as if the parts are greater than the sum. Maybe it's the combination of all the songs, maybe it's how long it is, I am unsure. 

Something else that I find odd about this record, is that when I think about listening to this record, I really dread doing so. However, when I do, I usually end up enjoying it.

This album has the weird effect of degrading with each listen.