So the 2 disc version of Exile has been in my possession for 2 days now. Let me say first that the original album sounds great. I don't really hear anything new - good, bad or otherwise - just a solid remastering. Just in case I of course will hang onto all of my old ones.

As for the bonus disc. I wasn't blown away on first listen - a couple of spins and I kind of regarded it as a pleasant but non-essential novelty. But it's really growing on me. The production is good - not as dirty as the original but not too shiny and pristine either. Thoughts on some of the songs:

"Pass The Wine" - definitely grows on me. Mick's vocal is distractingly post 1989 Jagger, but the groove is cool and I like the lyrics. Does anybody else notice that after the 2-minute mark, a slide guitar shows up that sounds almost identical to the slide lines on 'Happy'? At one point I wondered if they had actually lifted the licks from that song and slowed it down.

"Plundered My Soul" - plenty said about this song on here already, and to me it is basically a rehash of 'Tumbling Dice'. The lyrics are typical modern-day Mick, but his singing is game. The treat here is of course the groove from the rhythm section, and Mick Taylor's leads. They're not exactly inspiring, but what else could he have played here? Probably did the best with what he had to work with.

"I'm Not Signifying" - I love it more with each listen! Mick sounds almost like young Jagger here, and it's got all the great Exile calling cards: groovy slide, funky horns and a rolling piano.

"Dancing In the Moonlight" - Mick's singing is great Keith puts in a nice, twangy solo in the middle that, while not terribly inspired, shows he can still put out some classic licks.

"Soul Survivor" - There's a reason why Mick is the lead singer, and not Keith. But this is still pretty interesting, and it's cool hearing a different mix as well (notice the horns). And I love what the article in the new Rolling Stone said about Keith sounding angry on the vocal, like he recorded it just after he stood up from being beaten to the ground.

"Following The River" - at first I kind of dismissed it as a schmaltzy ballad. But further listening opened my ears up, and I like it. The kind of ballad people don't really make anymore. The piano sounds appropriately distant and analog-y, glad they didn't tinker too much with it. Honestly, if Mick had polished this one off instead of the horrid 'Streets of Love", it would have made ABB stand out so much more.

Anyway, more could be said about the other tracks but this was just what was sticking out in my mind.

i agree with almost all you said
about following the river in fact my feeling is: should I compare it with Streets Of Love or with Let It Loose?
on the other hand stuff like danicing in the light make me reconsider a song like she saw me coming and think: somewhere these guys still have it!
all in all is a solid compilation and, for all you can say about modern jagger lyrics/voice i think the man nailed the "hybrids"

Some of them sound a touch Mick Jagger solo. I think the best 3 or 4 are the best material the stones have put out since Tattoo You. Plundered my soul, Alladin, Following the river are quite something. The others are good too. I look at is as a new stones album. A shortish one. forget whats its supposed to be (a bonus disc), think of it as a stones album and u think to yourself, this is not bad at all for these old bastards.

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maumau
i agree with almost all you said
about following the river in fact my feeling is: should I compare it with Streets Of Love or with Let It Loose?

...maybe you shouldn't compare it at all...?

But I admit I had to give it a few spins too before I could really enjoy it (the video helped a lot). Maybe we were all expecting a little bit too much Exile from these tracks. But these aren't scientists creating some exact Exile clones, but musicians. Maybe Exile was the starting point, the inspriation so to speak, but at some point the performance took over...

And in this case it's a fine performance, as heartfelt and "loose" as one can expect from the Mick Jagger of today. It hasn't got the most Exile-ish outfit, no (I guess that honour would go to I Ain't Signifying), but it can touch a heart. Don't fight it ;-)

And theimposter, just as maumau, I can plainly confirm most of your impressions!



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 2010-05-17 13:24 by Greenblues.

My one main criticism of the new tracks would be the missing of Jaggers vocals.

To me, they seem a lot higher in the mix and to the fore than the original exile tracks. One of the beautiful things about exile for me is the original Jaggers vocals are part of the group and deep in the middle of the maelstrom that is occurring. With the new tracks, they appear pushed right out front, If Was and Jagger had intertwined the new vocals with the music then for me it would have been a huge improvement on the bonus tracks, and more in-line with the legacy of Exile.

Ah, well, can't always get what you want and all that.

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theimposter

"I'm Not Signifying" - I love it more with each listen! Mick sounds almost like young Jagger here, and it's got all the great Exile calling cards: groovy slide, funky horns and a rolling piano.

.

It IS a young Jagger here. This is an original vocal from the time - unless I'm mistaken?

I thought new vocals were only done on five of the bonus tracks (Pass the Wine, Plundered, Following the River, So Divine and Dancing in the Light)

to me it sounds a bit different from the botlegged version i have... similar but different... re-recorded or just remixed/remastered? i can't tell

one really nice thing about the FTR video is how it is made as a journey thru america (specifically from chicago to new orleans as the train table shows at 00:49) that is the journey thru american music that exile is.

i think this key is well kept also exspecially on pass the wine and i am not signifying. The latter is magnificent as it seems to cross the mississippi from alabama to new orleans the very moment the horns enter. Brilliant

i am very happy that for once mick seems to have worked on the whole picture of the "new" album and not just on each song as a separate unit, which seems to me his usual attitude.

Of course the taste, the flavour, the atmosphere is not exactly that of exile, how could it be? this for me is a plus as he made a "new" coherent whole of those outtakes, inpired by exile but different yet consistent

bravo

I really like the bonus tracks, but they got pretty boring after a while though almost all of them were pretty slow.. But me likey! Hope to order some box-set or something when I have cash and when they get (hopefully) cheaper

Roll73, at first I thought it was an old Jagger vocal, but the more I hear "Signifying" it sounds like modern-day Jagger doing a good impression of his younger self. The way Was and Clearmountain tweak the vocal helps give it a murky quality like the old recordings. Then again, maybe I am wrong! ANyone else have an opinion on when the vocal was cut?

Oh and one more track I forgot to mention is "Good Time Woman". I LOVE it. Not like I haven't hear it before, but never in this good a quality. It simply does roll beautifully, even if it's not the epic soul number that Tumbling Dice is.

Its f***ing excellent.

The historian/purist in me is screaming 'you shouldnt have done any overdubs' but the fan in me is dancing on his head to shut him up because I'm just enjoying the songs on their own merits.

'I'm Not Signifying' is my favourite track. The bootlegged version never did much for me, but this completed take (and its all 1971-72 from what I can tell and the harmonica overdub suggests it was a serious contender for inclusion on the original album) is simply wonderful.

Pass the wine has that unique Stones groove, it is so simple, but nobody else performs like that. It sounds like a collage, that is inevitable if a song is recorded within 38years. It shows that the guitars became the Stones' weak point, I do not know why they did not finsh it earlier, Mick can still do a fantastic job, but he obviously needs to rely on old recordings to do song like that.

I read the ads from Sunday this morning and Best Buy was pushing a 3cd version with an interview disc? Anybody know when or what this is? $19.99

I'm Not Signifying: no Keith Richards and it shows. such a damn shame! on the other hand the horns at the end are so damn wonderful...!

Title 5: great little oddity. the Stones going back to the roots! could be longer and more adventurous, but man this Keith guitar is so good! and it's good they released it after all. so easy to overlook

So Divine (Alladin Story): great lyrics, ideas... I like Mick's vocals... the backing track is amazing but we've known it for years! liner notes don't say who played organ... or what the hell is it... and it seems out of place. it's lacking good production. but it's great, possibly the best of all new tunes - mesmerizing, hypnotizing.

Soul Survivor: it's great they got Keith's vocal there! I didn't think they'd do it. but it should've been a little bit better, or at least more different. or more ready, later stage of the song development? on the other hand Keith screaming that he just can't fvck it (or whatever it is) is amazing.

great great great but I have to complain

Love 'em ....

I find it amazing that the music to Soul Survivor is pretty much complete -- the middle piano bit and everything -- and there are literally no lyrics.

How often does that happen? I would think most times there is some music, but a song then grows creatively with lyrical ideas/jamming?

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redsock
I find it amazing that the music to Soul Survivor is pretty much complete -- the middle piano bit and everything -- and there are literally no lyrics.

How often does that happen? I would think most times there is some music, but a song then grows creatively with lyrical ideas/jamming?

I'd think it may happen a lot actually. Listen to the "Keith vocal" of the outtake of Love Is Strong. The lyrics are barely there, but the track is totally finished. I could see something like this happening as well with a song like 'Paint It Black', though that is conjecture on my part and not a fact.

This probably happens more with guys who write like Mick and Keith. They (Keith especially) are less writers in the classic singer-songwriter mode like McCartney. The Stones' process of writing has always seemed to be that of one that involves evolution, cutting and pasting, or pure luck. That said, I am sure they're not all like that. Didn't Keith say he basically came up with the music and lyrics to Gimme Shelter in one short sitting?

"In the spirit of ‘Exile’ we added some girl background vocals on ‘Tumbling Dice’ and ‘Shine a Light.’ " Good Time Women became Tumbling Dice but which one is Shine A Light?

>> which one is Shine A Light? <<

none of them - Mick merely misspoke, and the interviewer was too shy or too uninformed to correct him

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theimposter

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redsock
I find it amazing that the music to Soul Survivor is pretty much complete -- the middle piano bit and everything -- and there are literally no lyrics.

How often does that happen? I would think most times there is some music, but a song then grows creatively with lyrical ideas/jamming?

I'd think it may happen a lot actually. Listen to the "Keith vocal" of the outtake of Love Is Strong. The lyrics are barely there, but the track is totally finished. I could see something like this happening as well with a song like 'Paint It Black', though that is conjecture on my part and not a fact.

This probably happens more with guys who write like Mick and Keith. They (Keith especially) are less writers in the classic singer-songwriter mode like McCartney. The Stones' process of writing has always seemed to be that of one that involves evolution, cutting and pasting, or pure luck. That said, I am sure they're not all like that. Didn't Keith say he basically came up with the music and lyrics to Gimme Shelter in one short sitting?

Isn't the outtake of Keith singing Gimme Shelter pretty much fully formed as well?

And Mick on You Got The Silver



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-05-17 23:14 by still ill.

I think So Divine is by FAR the best of the bunch and a great song on its own. As for the others, I Ain't Signifying is cool, Pass the Wine has a nice groove. The other songs were outtakes for a good reason I think. Good to have them anyway

Loving Cup is a totally differnt version...

The original on the Exile has been an underrated overlooked gem to me for years..

the Drunk Version/Hillside Blues version I prefer even more than the official...just for the weaving jangling guitars..

but this take is totally different.

the shoot 'em dead, brainbell jangler!

> but this take is totally different.

no it's not - it's as close to the drunk version as it can get!

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Amused
> but this take is totally different.

no it's not - it's as close to the drunk version as it can get!

close yes, but not the same one....lyrics, order are different...the guitars are much further back in the mix...and you can hear Keith very clearly.

the shoot 'em dead, brainbell jangler!

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rattler2004

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Amused
> but this take is totally different.

no it's not - it's as close to the drunk version as it can get!

close yes, but not the same one....lyrics, order are different...the guitars are much further back in the mix...and you can hear Keith very clearly.

same "take," though.

I bought the download mp3 of Plundered My Soul from iTunes but when comparing it to the CD version today the mix seems totally different. The mp3 has guitars far higher in the mix which I'm used to now and absolutely love but it's ruining the CD version to me. Anyone else noticed it??

Yep. Taylor's guitar is more prominent from early on in the 'single' version.

Can't really fathom why they buried it lower in the mix on the album version.

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rattler2004
Loving Cup is a totally differnt version...

The original on the Exile has been an underrated overlooked gem to me for years..

the Drunk Version/Hillside Blues version I prefer even more than the official...just for the weaving jangling guitars..

but this take is totally different.

Isn't it a 'composite' version? Some of it sounds like it's the same take as the bootlegged version, and other bits sound new to me ('new' as in presumably a different take from that era, not 'new' as in 'overdubbed in 2009/10').

Just love the tracks of the bonus disc.

I´m Not Signifying being the favourite at the moment it could easily change
to Pass The Wine...even that river I´m willing to follow !

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Gazza

The historian/purist in me is screaming 'you shouldnt have done any overdubs' but the fan in me is dancing on his head to shut him up because I'm just enjoying the songs on their own merits.

.

exactly...originally i was unsure..thought it might be like adding paint strokes to the Mona Lisa...but I
quickly took the attitude to treat them as new & separate. Will get my "new" Stones tracks on Tuesday.


IORR............but I like it!

So Divine is just that. Love the 'snake charmer' stuff in the background, great working title.