This is going to sound weird, and I can hardly believe it myself, but nearly 17 years of delaying the inevitable came to a crashing halt this morning. After years of holding out, I caved and bought my first ever Rolling Stones album.
I feel a bit odd about it myself, especially as someone who co-manages a music blog and considers himself to be an avid appreciator and gatekeeper of sorts when it comes to rock music. And yet here I am, 26 years old, and I’m only now getting around to buying Exile On Main Street after years spent extolling on the virtues of bands like Lagwagon, Nomeansno and a whole host of indie approved underground punk and garage rock. It’s like that weird Seinfeld episode that started from the end and worked its way to the beginning. It’s kind of backwards.
And yet I have my reasons for putting such a purchase off for as long as I have. Everyone knows the Stones, and even the most casual of music fans can name or sing along with an armful of their songs. You don’t have to have seen them live to recognize the patented Jagger strut. When you hear the names Mick and Keith, you immediately get the reference without qualification. They’re so ubiquitous and omnipresent, their songs popping up on radio and in countless films, car commercials and soundtracks, that you don’t have to actively engage in following the band to feel like you’re already in on the secret. In fact, I don’t think the phrase “Have you heard of the Rolling Stones?” has been uttered anywhere in the civilized world since 1969.
So with that being said, I’ve never felt the urgency or need to buy a Rolling Stones record, not because they’re not good, but because they are EVERYWHERE. They’re completely inescapable, so why pay the money to get these songs on a disc when I hear the good majority of them at every turn? It seemed impossible that I’d find anything surprising or unexpected on a Stones album.
But eventually my walls of resistance wore down slowly, and I finally just bit the bullet. The classic Stones records have all more or less been rereleased, many with additional bonus material, so now seemed about as good a time as any to get on board. Plus, to be perfectly honest, I was starting to feel like a bit of an asshole not owning at least one Stones disc.
Ok, so I’m now owner number 167,983,046 or so of the legendary Exile On Main Street record, and I have to say it’s by and large what I expected. It’s the Rolling Stones in all their primal glory: raw, girthy soulful blues rock that gave rise to modern rock and roll. It’s got a number of Stones staples, including Tumbling Dice, Happy and Shine A Light among others. Then there were those lesser known songs that fill the album out, songs like Sweet Black Angel and I Just Want to See His Face that didn’t slash and burn up the Billboard charts but are every bit as good as their innumerable classics. It was familiar but far from boring.
The Stones get a lot of credit for their singles, which are plentiful and ageless, but listening to Exile through for the first time really gave me an appreciation for the art of sequencing. A lot of the songs on the record stand up on their own right, but when strung together and listened to as a whole it’s insanely consistent. From the start of Rocks Off right on through to Soul Survivor, there’s sparsely a dull moment, stomping along with fierce bluesy abandon but cooling down just enough in the right spots to keep from wearing you out too early. It’s a delicate balancing act, but as it turns out the Stones are pretty fucking good tightrope walkers.
Final verdict: Good overall, very good in specific spots. If it took me 15 or so years to come around full circle, it was ultimately worth the wait. Better late than never, as they say.
RB
