Maps of Music

Exile on Main St. (1972)

Where the lyrics of Exile on Main St. take you, and where it was really made.

Much of this album was recorded in a rented villa in the South of France, where the band's mobile recording truck was parked in a basement.

Key places

Olympic Studios, London (1972)

Recording site Olympic Studios — Early tracks for Sticky Fingers were recorded here in 1969, and the sessions continued into the work that led to this album. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Stargroves country house, East Woodhay (1972)

Recording site Stargroves — Jagger's Stargroves country house was used for recording some tracks between 1969 and 1971 during sessions for Sticky Fingers. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Nellcôte villa, Villefranche-sur-Mer (1972)

Recording site Nellcôte — The main sessions began in mid-1971 at Nellcôte, and Richards' basement there became a makeshift studio using the mobile recording truck. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Sunset Sound, Los Angeles (1972)

Recording site Sunset Sound — Recording was completed with overdub sessions at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, adding vocals and guitar and bass overdubs to the basic tracks. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Exile on Main St.: tenth studio album by the Rolling Stones
• Released 12 May 1972 by Rolling Stones Records
• Tenth release in the UK, twelfth in the US
• Viewed as a culmination of the band's run of critically successful albums
• Known for a wide stylistic range and strong influence of Delta blues, gospel and country rock
• Released as a double album, the band's first

Background

• Written and recorded between 1969 and 1972
• Early tracks recorded at Olympic Studios and Stargroves during sessions for Sticky Fingers
• Spring 1971: band discovered grossly underpaid taxes caused by financial mismanagement
• Band forced to leave England before the British government could seize its assets
• Jagger settled in Paris; Richards rented the Nellcôte villa near Nice
• Richards' basement at Nellcôte became a makeshift studio

Recording

• Main sessions began in mid-1971 at Nellcôte
• Sessions ran for hours into the night, with personnel varying greatly from day to day
• Overdubs completed at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles
• Additional musicians included Nicky Hopkins, Bobby Keys, Jimmy Miller and Jim Price
• The results produced enough songs for the band's first double album

Cover

• Cover image: a collage of circus performers and sideshow freaks
• Image taken from an outtake of Robert Frank's 1958 book The Americans
• Norman Seeff's pictures used as 12 perforated postcards inside the sleeve

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Disc 1

Disc 2

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in London in 1962 as an English rock band; their first stable line-up was Brian Jones, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts.
• Jones named the band after a Muddy Waters song; they were rooted in blues and rock and roll.
• Manager Andrew Loog Oldham encouraged them to write their own songs, and the Jagger–Richards partnership became their main creative force.

Members

• Current: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood (joined 1975).
• Former: Brian Jones (died 1969), Mick Taylor (1969–1974), Bill Wyman (1962–1993), Charlie Watts (1963–2021, died 2021).
• Steve Jordan became their drummer after Watts' death.

Career

• Hits included "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (1965), "Paint It Black" (1966) and "Start Me Up" (1981).
• Their 1969 Hyde Park show and Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St. are key points of their career.
• Formed Rolling Stones Records in 1970, whose tongue-and-lips logo became their band logo.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989; the band has sold more than 250 million albums.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Original reception was mixed; some contemporary critics found the quality of the songs inconsistent
• Lenny Kaye reviewed it in July 1972 for Rolling Stone and said it kept a tight focus on the basic components of the Stones' sound
• Richard Williams of Melody Maker was more enthusiastic and deemed it the band's best album
• Geoffrey Cannon of The Guardian agreed and called it the band's classic album
• Roy Carr of NME praised the styles, the band's performances and the lyrical content
• Christgau named it the best album of 1972 in a year-end list for Newsday

Reappraisal

• Critics later reassessed the album favourably
• By the late 1970s it had become viewed as the Rolling Stones' greatest album
• Many critics later regarded it as the band's best work and one of the greatest albums of all time
• Janovitz described it as the greatest rock and roll record ever made

Records

• Topped the charts in six countries, including the Netherlands, Norway, Canada, Sweden, the US and the UK
• Reached number 1 worldwide during the band's 1972 American tour
• Ranked 7th on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums list in 2003
• Inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2012, the band's fourth album to receive the honour

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The band discovered in spring 1971 that Klein's financial mismanagement had led to grossly underpaid taxes, which forced them to leave England.
• Allen Klein sued the band after release because five songs on the album were composed while Jagger and Richards were under contract with his company, ABKCO.
• Liz Phair's debut album Exile in Guyville was described by Phair as a song-by-song response to this album.
• The Departed, a 2006 film by Martin Scorsese, features a scene in which an Exile on Main St jewel case carries an incriminating recording.
• Industrial rock band Chemlab named a track on East Side Militia Exile on Mainline in reference to this album.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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