"Exile On Main Street" is a classic, but not the best Rolling Stones album (2023)

Bridges to Babylonit fell during a mostly dormant decade for the band, in which the embalming legacy of the Rolling Stones collided with the heyday of indie rock, backpacker hip-hop, electro and other genres that made the Stones sound painfully irrelevant. Finding this with a schizophrenic album that distills some old tricks with hints of the aforementioned genres was probably the worst decision the Stones could have made (even with the Dust Brothers on board). Other options: 1) No and 2) Seriously, take a break!

Looking and sounding more like the pop hype than the rock 'n' roll quacks they were, the Stones answered the question, "How can you make a phone call while you're still foaming at the mouth? ". It's less lifeless and more aimless and aimless, with every bad choice (from production to songwriting to performances) compounded by suffocating oblivion. "One Hit to the Body" is a serviceable opening track, as is their cover of the 1963 Bob & Earl hit "Harlem Shuffle."

I remember trying to remove the stickers on this LP back in the '80s when I was going through my dad's record boxes. I wish that was all I remembered. Watching it also reminds me (in hindsight, of course) of the ambitious but clumsy mix of reggae, rock and pop, and its soulless, cynical tracks that stick to or bang on your head when they should be moving nimbly or cracking jokes. ear. Embarrassing work from a band that is not easily embarrassed.

With producer Don Was (Rick Rubin of The Aging White Dude) at the helm, the Stones tried to keep up the momentum of their 1989 near-return.steel wheelsI take off my clothes and focus on Songcraft. The results are mixed, with a muddy streak and a bloated track selection that could have gotten there with three or four fewer detours, mostly in the clichéd and dropped half. Still, there's something endearing about Jagger embracing the big bad Stones, even as he was in his 50s and in his fourth decade as a billionaire. Imagining a late '60s rendition of the chunky "Sparks Will Fly" is a bit of mental processing, too.the phantom menaceto eliminate Jar Jar Binks.

UNDERSTOOD? HA HA. What a clever title from a bunch of older misogynists who aren't scary. the difficulty isa bigger banghe's often not good enough to play dad because it's a long, boring call you'll never want to take again. There are serious moments of inspiration, but they're hard to find when you're just trying to stay awake or preoccupied with songs like "Streets of Love." "Rough Justice," at least, sounds like the kind of unapologetic white boy blues the Black Keys could do if they stopped sounding committed.

The Stones' second full US LP is a hodgepodge of singles, live tracks, outtakes, and enduring hits like "Get Off of My Cloud" and "As Tears Go By." The fact that it's at least partially covered up relegates it to the realm of perfection, but there are minor joys to be found in the Stones' searing versions of Chuck Berry's "Talkin' About You" and Hank Snow's "I'm Moving On."

Exhausted of interesting ideas and in general, the Stones began to take hesitant steps towards disco.black and blue, but the results were marred by a transitional lineup and lack of focus. Reggae is here, of course, but overall Jagger and Richards seem more interested in meeting another contract term and still being famous. The Good: If he hasn't heard "Hand of Fate," "Memory Motel," or "Fool to Cry" in a while, he'll find them more welcoming and upbeat than his last visit.

The Stones' debut always ranks on a curve, given the innocent, straightforward atmosphere and the fact that it opens with a cover (Buddy Holly's 'Not Fade Away'). With only one original single ("Tell Me"), it's more about introducing the band (and the brand) than breaking new ground, butHitmacherat least it gave the Stones a base of operations in the United States.

As with most of their early work, there are songs that appeared on other releases (including the brilliant "Heart of Stone"), but overall, the Stones' third US LP remains a solid take on the R&B classic from British invasion. When the Beatles woke up, the Stones began writing better songs and hinting at themes of violence amid heartbreak. It's like hearing the crackle of a power cable lying in the branches and knowing that something is about to catch fire.

what is more adorablesteel wheelsit's that it sounds like a real band of people who have been playing together for decades. Presented as (one more and not the last) reunion,steel wheelsfound the band energetic on tour and in the studio, reveling in their status as veteran statesmen while performing respectable AORs like "Mixed Emotions," "Sad Sad Sad" and the heavy "Rock and a Hard Place" (all from which date ofget tattooedfor vocal tics and riffs). It's one of the few Stones albums to benefit from their demure, uptight production (Mick and Keith have slapped each other before) and it helped define what the band could do as the 20th century slowly came to a close.

Regardless of the perpetually bad title and cover art (what's that, Captain Beefheart?)goat head soupCoasts thanks to above average songwriting and some true classics, with "Angie" leading the charge. What keeps it out of the top 10 is a combination of its oily, downbeat style and the fact that it immediately followed the biggest string of studio albums in rock history. If the Stones were physically capable of producing a better product at the time (Keith was in the throes of a heroin addiction),sopait was still a lukewarm, unsatisfying meal.

Winners can make history, and the Stones certainly do, but this album gets unfair criticism for many sins, from its bizarre psych-rock contortions to its eye-rolling smugness to the pervasive feeling that it wasSargento PfefferTo cheat. And honestly, most of the album falls short of the best composition in the Stones' catalogue. But between the intrepid and occasionally transcendent experiments (including the band's craziest arrangements) and Summer of Love's standout hits "2000 Light Years from Home" and "She's a Rainbow," any self-respecting fan will be stubborn if they don't. you do. I don't have it on vinyl.

However, the first two years after the Stones' US debut saw a flurry of activity and releases.12x5, their second proper US LP, has an undeniably high proportion of great covers and increasingly impressive originals. Jerry Ragovoy's "Time Is On My Side," which the Stones popularized, still swings like a rough wooden pendulum, while "Under the Boardwalk," "Susie Q," and "It's All Over Now" pave the way to the success. music each finalist includes travel playlist. Boost = Collected.

"Time Is One My Side" was the Stones' first top ten hit, but the Jagger/Richards original "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" heralded the band as a vigorous and uninhibited force in the culture. pop. The sexual overtones only helped set the Stones apart from the messy British group like "The Last Time," and covers like "Hitch Hike" (a portmanteau of Sam Cooke) and "I'm Alright" (Elias McDaniel) sounded more like the Stones. classics that as the material is borrowed.

How can a new album be so high on this list? Of course, sentimentality helps fill out the tracklist here, but the best Stones albums have always been about finding complementary talents. Age helps Jagger sound more comfortable and sadder on this collection of Chicago blues covers recorded in Mark Knopfler's studio, and not even high-profile guests (hey, that's Clapton playing guitar!) can't. overshadow Jagger's clear and unprotected emotions.

Similar,rescueis one of the lightest, most relaxed albums in the Stones' catalog - much of it tempered bysome girlssessions Considering how good this album is, we're not complaining. The upbeat drumming on Pollyanna tracks like "Summer Romance" belies typically sinister lyrics like "You're trying to hide your makeup and you're trying to show your legs / Yeah, no sympathy from your smeared friends," even if the basic moves are stolen. of theChicaDestroyer of "lies". (See also "Let Me Go.") Lush and collegiate in a way the band would soon find impossible, as would Jagger, who plays the best falsetto of his career on the title track.

The last great album in the band's timeline,get tattooedwas not drastically different in design or production thanEmotional Rescue, but the quality of the songs sets it apart immediately. "Start Me Up" and "Waiting on a Friend" are deservedly anchored, but the group's modern rhythm section has rarely howled like it has on "Slave," a stripped-down track.black and blueRemains that demonstrate the trajectory of the Stones with an exultant boogie. The "Black Limousine" fried chicken is also an underrated honkytonk classic that deserves to rule the jukeboxes below the Mason-Dixon line.

While some artists have revived, renewed, or kicked out rock's broken promise (including Bowie Chief), the Stones did what they do best: scrape broken glass, blood, and wet cigarette butts onto the floor as the title track to this wobbly but occasional Thriller album lies below. FollowingExilewith something remotely this good it was impossible, but every Golden Age expansion has a rewind, and at leastes solo rock'n'rollit sank a bit before being swallowed by the huge black hole that was the fate of the Stones in the mid-'70s.

Not only is this the album that brought "Ruby Tuesday" and the (at the time, at least) bawdy "Let's Spend the Night Together" to American audiences, it's a triumph from start to finish oozing equal parts hype, high harmony. and dizzying tube amp texture. "Yesterday's Papers" is a quintessential non-rock song that still scratches that garage itch, while "Connection" is one of the band's most incisive and compelling vocal eights. "Something Happened to Me Yesterday" closes on a different note from Kinks, proving that the Stones can (almost) outplay their rivals.

Another album showcasing the skills of a talented and rapidly developing team of songwriters,resultMick and Keith strike oily gold on the melodic "Paint It Black" and "Under My Thumb," while the sweeping (read: 11 minutes) "Goin' Home" packs blues references across its pasty white foreheads. It's great through and through (minus "Stupid Girl"), but the aforementioned key tracks are so strong that they dominated the record then and now. It's also worth asking how far Brian Jones might have taken George Harrison-style pop music if he had survived the decade.