ROLLING STONES - Exile On Main St 2LP

180 gram vinyl.

Half-speed mastered audio.

Highly recommended.

The charm of Exile: the production is really unique, and gives this album its dirty sound that the Stones have always strove to hit, but never did as successfully as they do here. It's mostly due to a lack of Jagger involvement, who would always express disdain towards it, “Exile is not one of my favourite albums, although I think the record does have a particular feeling. I'm not too sure how great the songs are, but put together it's a nice piece. However, when I listen to Exile it has some of the worst mixes I've ever heard. I'd love to remix the record, not just because of the vocals, but because generally I think it sounds lousy. At the time Jimmy Miller was not functioning properly. I had to finish the whole record myself, because otherwise there were just these drunks and junkies. Of course I'm ultimately responsible for it, but it's really not good and there's no concerted effort or intention” (Jagger, 2003). It's so unfortunate that Jagger is missing the point here: it's the whole charm of the album that keeps it the most unique album in the Rolling Stones discography. (To say nothing about his confusion about people liking the record given that it has none of the Stones’ big hits.)