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pricepittsburgh

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kleermaker

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drbryant

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i Know, somebody will disagree! Its a great album --for sure. but---where is a song like "Midnight Rambler" Or "Sympathie"?.. Casino boogie--"turd on the run--i just seen his face---soul survivour--are "fillers" --I mentioned "Beggars" and "Bleed"-but what i like most is "Aftermath" and "out of our heads".

Hah. "Casino Boogie" would seem uto be the ultimate "filler", with nonsense lyrics just cobbled together from news headlines and scraps of paper. But, it's got Keith's bassline and Charlie's casual shuffle, Bobby's nasty two-note sax solo, and lines like "Dietrich movies, close up boogies, Kissing @#$%& in Cannes" and it's suddenly a great track. The stars just happened to line up for the band on Exile.

Not to forget the great ending of Casino Boogie, that is much too short and makes one longing for more and more.

. There is absolutely zero filler on Exile. The reason for this is because every song that sounds like filler when you play it by itself, actually blends perfectly into the album as a whole. Sure there are certain songs that if you were to seek them out individually, might sound like a filler. However when exile is played in its entirety those songs fit the jam session vibe, or the feeling of just having a great time listening to a band on a stage in a bar. Once you get used to the album as a whole, then those individual songs can be played out of context, because you know the original context in your mind. But regardless of that, I don't think any of the songs listed as possible filler are even close the filler, because the band is clearly attempting to cover multiple genres in a certain type of atmosphere. The intent on none of those songs is to be filler. Filler is just a song you throw together for the sake of literally filling up space. But in the feel of this album it wasn't about filling up space, or they would have just made it a single album and kept the most traditional stuff on there. They wanted to create a longer album with the running feel or mood.

i agree.

No not overrated. This all comes down to personal taste, but in my opinion it's
their best. At least TODAY Exile is my fave.

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GasLightStreet

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The only true filler on the album is I Just Want To See His Face and maybe, just maybe, Let It Loose.

However, it is not their greatest album to me. It is a great record, absolutely. But there are others that are better.

Blasphemy!

One of the things that make Exile so great, imo, is that it seems to hold up and just get better after many many listens. I'm one of those who was not impressed when I first heard it, it didn't have much of an impact but many years later it's one of the records I not only love, but never get tired of. It's like there is no upper limit to the enjoyment factor of Exile. Always something new to catch my ear and delight me after hundreds of listens.

Ha ha. Nice name change.

If you remove X amount of tracks and go with more up tunes, Let It Loose is one of a few that could be missed off. IJWTSF is absolutely filler.

That is the context. Does Let It Loose suck? No. I love EXILE. I listen to it often. And I like Let It Loose. But there are songs I tend to tune out. Sometimes I don't. It's a 5 star LP but there are times when, in context to LIB and SF, it's not. And sometimes even good songs that are not upbeat or in a certain vibe could be thought of as being left off. There's nothing wrong with that. But for some people... objectivity seems to be missing. That doesn't lessen EXILE.

Great album. One of their best. Indeed. And an absolute must have.

The thing about Exile is that people don't agree on what the "filler" is, and every cut has these amazing moments that you just remember. I mentioned "Casino Boogie", and "Let it Loose" is no different - Keith's Leslie'd guitar riff, Nicky's piano runs, Mick filling the spaces with wordless vocals (who's that woman on you ar-um ooh ooh), the unconventional song structure, the washed-out horns, and that girl repeating "let it loose, let all come down" in the fade. Damn, what an album.

I was using Let It Loose in context with the more up beat tunes if making EOMS into a single album... I wouldn't qualify Let It Loose as filler like Sweet Black Angel and I Just Want To See His Face are. The filler on EOMS is still miles above anything on DIRTY WORK onward, with exception to How Can I Stop.

I was already listening to Stones albums when Exile was released. The most important reviewer of one of Holland's most important quality papers and a specialist on pop/rock music considered Sweet Black Angel as the best song of the whole album. That's what I recall very well because I found it remarkable. Still, I don't think that song is filler at all, but neither "the best song of Exile".

You have to laugh at some of these reviewers. I wonder what credentials they had or have sometimes to review album's such as this. some times it's like, are they playing the same album to the one i'm listening to.
Agreed kleermaker as nice as sweet black angel is, it does not come close to ten other outstanding tracks on exile..



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-03 14:35 by keefriffhards.

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But... it is a double album and no band has ever had a flawless double album...

Your argument is fundamentally flawed.

You make two errors:


1) You erroneously assume the length of an album enjoys correlation to an unverifiable measure of 'flawless[ness].'

A double album is no more or less likely to achieve 'flawless[ness]' than a single one.


2) You employ an unverifiable means by which to judge the value of an album.

Can any album by the Stones be characterised as 'flawless'?

Can a single song?

Can a single note?

No.

Mick's view of EOMS is more skewed than Keith's. Keith admits it's a great body of work but he's also in touch with reality.

Just think, Olly - there are people that think DIRTY WORK is better than EOMS... they even like Winning Ugly.

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GasLightStreet
Just think, Olly - there are people that think DIRTY WORK is better than EOMS... they even like Winning Ugly.

No. i did not say DIRTY WORK was better than EOMS. that would clarify me as clinically insane. but i like it. especially keiths tracks on dirty work. i was so hungry for a stones album at the time it came out, i would of enjoyed them singing an album of Christmas carols..

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keefriffhards

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GasLightStreet
Just think, Olly - there are people that think DIRTY WORK is better than EOMS... they even like Winning Ugly.

No. i did not say DIRTY WORK was better than EOMS. that would clarify me as clinically insane. but i like it. especially keiths tracks on dirty work. i was so hungry for a stones album at the time it came out, i would of enjoyed them singing an album of Christmas carols..

You weren't by any chance hungry for a Bob Dylan album in October 2009 were you?

.....

Olly.

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Olly

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keefriffhards

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GasLightStreet
Just think, Olly - there are people that think DIRTY WORK is better than EOMS... they even like Winning Ugly.

No. i did not say DIRTY WORK was better than EOMS. that would clarify me as clinically insane. but i like it. especially keiths tracks on dirty work. i was so hungry for a stones album at the time it came out, i would of enjoyed them singing an album of Christmas carols..

You weren't by any chance hungry for a Bob Dylan album in October 2009 were you?

now that would be hungry!!
what ever possess them..
Bah Humbug

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The only true filler on the album is I Just Want To See His Face and maybe, just maybe, Let It Loose.

However, it is not their greatest album to me. It is a great record, absolutely. But there are others that are better.

Blasphemy!

One of the things that make Exile so great, imo, is that it seems to hold up and just get better after many many listens. I'm one of those who was not impressed when I first heard it, it didn't have much of an impact but many years later it's one of the records I not only love, but never get tired of. It's like there is no upper limit to the enjoyment factor of Exile. Always something new to catch my ear and delight me after hundreds of listens.

Ha ha. Nice name change.

If you remove X amount of tracks and go with more up tunes, Let It Loose is one of a few that could be missed off. IJWTSF is absolutely filler.

That is the context. Does Let It Loose suck? No. I love EXILE. I listen to it often. And I like Let It Loose. But there are songs I tend to tune out. Sometimes I don't. It's a 5 star LP but there are times when, in context to LIB and SF, it's not. And sometimes even good songs that are not upbeat or in a certain vibe could be thought of as being left off. There's nothing wrong with that. But for some people... objectivity seems to be missing. That doesn't lessen EXILE.

Great album. One of their best. Indeed. And an absolute must have.

The thing about Exile is that people don't agree on what the "filler" is, and every cut has these amazing moments that you just remember. I mentioned "Casino Boogie", and "Let it Loose" is no different - Keith's Leslie'd guitar riff, Nicky's piano runs, Mick filling the spaces with wordless vocals (who's that woman on you ar-um ooh ooh), the unconventional song structure, the washed-out horns, and that girl repeating "let it loose, let all come down" in the fade. Damn, what an album.

I was using Let It Loose in context with the more up beat tunes if making EOMS into a single album... I wouldn't qualify Let It Loose as filler like Sweet Black Angel and I Just Want To See His Face are. The filler on EOMS is still miles above anything on DIRTY WORK onward, with exception to How Can I Stop.

I was already listening to Stones albums when Exile was released. The most important reviewer of one of Holland's most important quality papers and a specialist on pop/rock music considered Sweet Black Angel as the best song of the whole album. That's what I recall very well because I found it remarkable. Still, I don't think that song is filler at all, but neither "the best song of Exile".

You have to laugh at some of these reviewers. I wonder what credentials they had or have sometimes to review album's such as this. some times it's like, are they playing the same album to the one i'm listening to.
Agreed kleermaker as nice as sweet black angel is, it does not come close to ten other outstanding tracks on exile..

You don't dig Bill's bassline, or the end where Mick and Keith are singing "not a gun toting teacher, not a Red lovin' school marm; ain't someone gonna free her, free de sweet black slave, free de sweet black slave" as the harmonica comes in?

That reminds me of another thing I love about Exile - Keith's vocals on the four tracks on side 2. He's very prominent on vocals on those tracks, and he's just wailing - you can picture him sharing the mike w/Mick in the studio. Man, he had such a great voice in those days.

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keefriffhards

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The only true filler on the album is I Just Want To See His Face and maybe, just maybe, Let It Loose.

However, it is not their greatest album to me. It is a great record, absolutely. But there are others that are better.

Blasphemy!

One of the things that make Exile so great, imo, is that it seems to hold up and just get better after many many listens. I'm one of those who was not impressed when I first heard it, it didn't have much of an impact but many years later it's one of the records I not only love, but never get tired of. It's like there is no upper limit to the enjoyment factor of Exile. Always something new to catch my ear and delight me after hundreds of listens.

Ha ha. Nice name change.

If you remove X amount of tracks and go with more up tunes, Let It Loose is one of a few that could be missed off. IJWTSF is absolutely filler.

That is the context. Does Let It Loose suck? No. I love EXILE. I listen to it often. And I like Let It Loose. But there are songs I tend to tune out. Sometimes I don't. It's a 5 star LP but there are times when, in context to LIB and SF, it's not. And sometimes even good songs that are not upbeat or in a certain vibe could be thought of as being left off. There's nothing wrong with that. But for some people... objectivity seems to be missing. That doesn't lessen EXILE.

Great album. One of their best. Indeed. And an absolute must have.

The thing about Exile is that people don't agree on what the "filler" is, and every cut has these amazing moments that you just remember. I mentioned "Casino Boogie", and "Let it Loose" is no different - Keith's Leslie'd guitar riff, Nicky's piano runs, Mick filling the spaces with wordless vocals (who's that woman on you ar-um ooh ooh), the unconventional song structure, the washed-out horns, and that girl repeating "let it loose, let all come down" in the fade. Damn, what an album.

I was using Let It Loose in context with the more up beat tunes if making EOMS into a single album... I wouldn't qualify Let It Loose as filler like Sweet Black Angel and I Just Want To See His Face are. The filler on EOMS is still miles above anything on DIRTY WORK onward, with exception to How Can I Stop.

I was already listening to Stones albums when Exile was released. The most important reviewer of one of Holland's most important quality papers and a specialist on pop/rock music considered Sweet Black Angel as the best song of the whole album. That's what I recall very well because I found it remarkable. Still, I don't think that song is filler at all, but neither "the best song of Exile".

You have to laugh at some of these reviewers. I wonder what credentials they had or have sometimes to review album's such as this. some times it's like, are they playing the same album to the one i'm listening to.
Agreed kleermaker as nice as sweet black angel is, it does not come close to ten other outstanding tracks on exile..

You don't dig Bill's bassline, or the end where Mick and Keith are singing "not a gun toting teacher, not a Red lovin' school marm; ain't someone gonna free her, free de sweet black slave, free de sweet black slave" as the harmonica comes in?

That reminds me of another thing I love about Exile - Keith's vocals on the four tracks on side 2. He's very prominent on vocals on those tracks, and he's just wailing - you can picture him sharing the mike w/Mick in the studio. Man, he had such a great voice in those days.

Well as i said, sweet black angel is nice, its a great song on an even greater album. there are 10 tracks i Prefer. Exile is my second favourite album.

forgot to say drbryant, yeah the harmonies are fantastic on Exile.
i do like the way Keiths voice has grown as well. i think he sings stronger these days but of course he cant get the pitch he had on exile. he and jagger harmonize so well together dont they



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-03 22:37 by keefriffhards.

Exile over-rated by me? Nope.

- just one of the the most mysterious, raw, rocking distillations of Americana in the history of rock and roll. The nightmare journey from the adrenalized highs of Saturday night to the inevitable lows of the cold gray dawn - and all points in between. Many great albums out there - nothing like this one.

The reason there are no clunkers or fillers on Exile is because every songs fits the mood created by the album. That's why Zeppelin I is so good and liked by so many non Zep fans. It has a dark dramatic thing going on all the way through.

EXILE is not overrated but some of the songs are...

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pricepittsburgh
The reason there are no clunkers or fillers on Exile is because every songs fits the mood created by the album. That's why Zeppelin I is so good and liked by so many non Zep fans. It has a dark dramatic thing going on all the way through.

Except for the fact that I think all but 3 of the songs on that album were not written by LZ...

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pricepittsburgh
The reason there are no clunkers or fillers on Exile is because every songs fits the mood created by the album. That's why Zeppelin I is so good and liked by so many non Zep fans. It has a dark dramatic thing going on all the way through.

This doesn't make sense to me.

Surely every album creates a mood of its own, inherently created by and adhered to by every track contained therein.

How can a song contradict the mood of an album it is included on?

Your point also suggests that a diverse album cannot be a high quality one.

.....

Olly.

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Olly

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pricepittsburgh
The reason there are no clunkers or fillers on Exile is because every songs fits the mood created by the album. That's why Zeppelin I is so good and liked by so many non Zep fans. It has a dark dramatic thing going on all the way through.

This doesn't make sense to me.

Surely every album creates a mood of its own, inherently created by and adhered to by every track contained therein.

How can a song contradict the mood of an album it is included on?

Your point also suggests that a diverse album cannot be a high quality one.

I only said that the feel of Exile prevent the songs from being filler. Certainly many albums that don't have a running feel may lack fillers. Revolver by The Beatles is a good example. But exile lacks filler to me and it has a running feel while actually being diverse. Exile is many diverse types of Americana music, while creating a jam session mood.

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pricepittsburgh

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Olly

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pricepittsburgh
The reason there are no clunkers or fillers on Exile is because every songs fits the mood created by the album. That's why Zeppelin I is so good and liked by so many non Zep fans. It has a dark dramatic thing going on all the way through.

This doesn't make sense to me.

Surely every album creates a mood of its own, inherently created by and adhered to by every track contained therein.

How can a song contradict the mood of an album it is included on?

Your point also suggests that a diverse album cannot be a high quality one.

I only said that the feel of Exile prevent the songs from being filler. Certainly many albums that don't have a running feel may lack fillers. Revolver by The Beatles is a good example. But exile lacks filler to me and it has a running feel while actually being diverse. Exile is many diverse types of Americana music, while creating a jam session mood.

But if the term 'filler' has been defined in relation to quality, aren't quality and mood distinct entities? One doesn't necessarily effect the other.

I can appreciate your sentiment though.

.....

Olly.

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Olly

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Olly

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pricepittsburgh
The reason there are no clunkers or fillers on Exile is because every songs fits the mood created by the album. That's why Zeppelin I is so good and liked by so many non Zep fans. It has a dark dramatic thing going on all the way through.

This doesn't make sense to me.

Surely every album creates a mood of its own, inherently created by and adhered to by every track contained therein.

How can a song contradict the mood of an album it is included on?

Your point also suggests that a diverse album cannot be a high quality one.

I only said that the feel of Exile prevent the songs from being filler. Certainly many albums that don't have a running feel may lack fillers. Revolver by The Beatles is a good example. But exile lacks filler to me and it has a running feel while actually being diverse. Exile is many diverse types of Americana music, while creating a jam session mood.

But if the term 'filler' has been defined in relation to quality, aren't quality and mood distinct entities? One doesn't necessarily effect the other.

I can appreciate your sentiment though.

Well, filler doesn't actually pertain to quality. A lot of intended filler turns out to be signature tracks. Even if the Stones intended there to be filler on Exile (That is just rushing to feel up space) they at least made sure the filler sounded fit the context. It would be like an early Beatles song sound just like the Beatlemania era but just maybe not being as good as the other songs but not being crap either.

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GasLightStreet
EXILE is not overrated but some of the songs are...

I think I understand what you mean. There are 7 songs on Sticky Fingers that are better than anything on Exile (at least they're catchier) but the 'scholarly' Stones fan generally rates Exile higher because of its unrestrained rootsiness, Nellcote, and the nostalgia it evokes. It probably is overrated. My ex-wife surely thought so. I remember playing Let It Loose for her and then waiting with breathless anticipation for her life to change. It didn't, of course. 'Yeah, it's nice,' was all she said.

This thread sort of reminds me of the Wandering Spirit vs Talk Is Cheap death match. Like treaclefingers, I think many of us were surprised that song for song Keith got clobbered since most 'true' Stones fans have generally rated TIC higher. I still do. I enjoyed Wandering Spirit when it came out but in the end it's really just a collection of decent Stonesy songs but listening to TIC in university with Jack & weed was almost a transcendental experience.

Which three Sticky songs are not better than anything on Exile ?

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shortfatfanny
Which three Sticky songs are not better than anything on Exile ?

I Got The Blues (love the first two verses but then I get bored), You Gotta Move and Sister Morphine.

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Swayed1967

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shortfatfanny
Which three Sticky songs are not better than anything on Exile ?

I Got The Blues (love the first two verses but then I get bored), You Gotta Move and Sister Morphine.

Surprising...your thesis and your picks.
As usual it's always a matter of taste.
Beside the nellcote/nostalgia factor Exile and SF are the albums I like the most with BB and LIB coming close.
The term "overrate" doesn't fit at all in this context.
Maybe it's used by some to describe one's dislike or non-preference towards an album,song or whatever which is highly regarded by many or a certain group of people to whom one feels connected because of a common interest.
Or simply the opposite - to stress a deep dislike towards an existing or assumed common sense.

''Exile'' is a tad overrated.

Shine a Light
All Down The Line
Tumbling Dice
Happy
Loving Cup
Let It Loose
Rocks Off
Sweet Virginia

Those eight tracks are as good as anything on Sticky Fingers IMO. It's just that Exile does not have those 2 ''hit'' tracks which SF has. There is no equivalent to ''Brown Sugar'' and ''Wild Horses'' on Exile, if there was then Exile would be as good as or better than Sticky Fingers.

Now we're stuck with eight A+ tracks and then 10 other tracks which are below ''Sticky Fingers'' standard.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-07 09:51 by TheBlockbuster.

I received my first copy of Exile as vinyl of course, as a gift bought back from the UK to Perth about 2 months after its release. But about 2 weeks before its release in Australia!

I went to my parents friends house (they bought it back for me) and before going home, gave it a spin on their really nice Pye (!) Stereogram.

I had not read any reviews.

This is after living with Sticky Fingers for about a year or so.

As it played I thought.... WHAT IS THIS? This is a great record player...I had thought at the time...yet this sounds so muddy... Dense... Thick.... Awful.

Despondent, I repackaged it, apologised to my parents friends for having made them suffer through THAT, AND WENT HOME.

IT took me another 2 or so weeks to play it again. After then having read a couple of reviews, one sort of complimentary, the other a pasting.

This time round, on my parents Grundig, it still sounded wrong. Yet, I could hear something. I persevered. Much to my parents dismay. Shine A Light. Yep. Let it Loose. Yep. Tumbling Dice. Oh yes. Happy. I was. Ventilator Blues. Yep. Soul Survivor. Oh yes. Hmmmm, not too bad. Casino boogie... Yes, thats ok. Sweet Black Angel, oh that's nice too. Turd on the Run. Gee, that's got a nice feel. All Down the Line... That's GREAT. SWEET Virginia. Sorry about THAT word Mum! Nice little track though, right? Let's try the beginning again. Rocks off...hmmm maybe, but Rip this Joint, Shake your Hips. Woo yeah. I AM shaking them! Loving Cup... Oh that's nice too. Stop Breaking Down...yep, dig that too.

WHAT was it I didn't like about this when I first played it, I asked myself? The songs are uniformly great. The playing so intuitive, the sound? It actually sounds like they are... right there in front of me. That's no bad thing. Yes, it's thick, full, and rich. It's dense. It's Rock and Roll. Jesus song? Grown on me thru the years.

But that song, the Jesus song, was the song on my first few listens that just made me ambivalent towards the whole record. Thank goodness that did not last!

Over rated? You're kidding. Under rated if anything!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-07 13:37 by bitusa2012.

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Swayed1967

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shortfatfanny
Which three Sticky songs are not better than anything on Exile ?

I Got The Blues (love the first two verses but then I get bored), You Gotta Move and Sister Morphine.

Surprising...your thesis and your picks.
As usual it's always a matter of taste.
Beside the nellcote/nostalgia factor Exile and SF are the albums I like the most with BB and LIB coming close.
The term "overrate" doesn't fit at all in this context.
Maybe it's used by some to describe one's dislike or non-preference towards an album,song or whatever which is highly regarded by many or a certain group of people to whom one feels connected because of a common interest.
Or simply the opposite - to stress a deep dislike towards an existing or assumed common sense.

Yes, I think that's what's going on here (regarding your last point). As is often testified to (see bitusa2012 above), Exile is disappointingly impenetrable the first few listens but if the listener is patient enlightenment eventually comes. It becomes a point of pride, I think. The album is almost imbued with a religious significance for some fans which makes it easy to sound pretentious when talking about it (at least for me). Hence the occasional backlash.

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TheBlockbuster
''Exile'' is a tad overrated.

Shine a Light
All Down The Line
Tumbling Dice
Happy
Loving Cup
Let It Loose
Rocks Off
Sweet Virginia

Those eight tracks are as good as anything on Sticky Fingers IMO.

Shine A Light, All Down The Line and Sweet Virginia were recorded for SF...

Then again so were Shake Your Hips, Stop Breaking Down and Sweet Black Angel.

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bitusa2012
I received my first copy of Exile as vinyl of course, as a gift bought back from the UK to Perth about 2 months after its release. But about 2 weeks before its release in Australia!

I went to my parents friends house (they bought it back for me) and before going home, gave it a spin on their really nice Pye (!) Stereogram.

I had not read any reviews.

This is after living with Sticky Fingers for about a year or so.

As it played I thought.... WHAT IS THIS? This is a great record player...I had thought at the time...yet this sounds so muddy... Dense... Thick.... Awful.

Despondent, I repackaged it, apologised to my parents friends for having made them suffer through THAT, AND WENT HOME.

IT took me another 2 or so weeks to play it again. After then having read a couple of reviews, one sort of complimentary, the other a pasting.

This time round, on my parents Grundig, it still sounded wrong. Yet, I could hear something. I persevered. Much to my parents dismay. Shine A Light. Yep. Let it Loose. Yep. Tumbling Dice. Oh yes. Happy. I was. Ventilator Blues. Yep. Soul Survivor. Oh yes. Hmmmm, not too bad. Casino boogie... Yes, thats ok. Sweet Black Angel, oh that's nice too. Turd on the Run. Gee, that's got a nice feel. All Down the Line... That's GREAT. SWEET Virginia. Sorry about THAT word Mum! Nice little track though, right? Let's try the beginning again. Rocks off...hmmm maybe, but Rip this Joint, Shake your Hips. Woo yeah. I AM shaking them! Loving Cup... Oh that's nice too. Stop Breaking Down...yep, dig that too.

WHAT was it I didn't like about this when I first played it, I asked myself? The songs are uniformly great. The playing so intuitive, the sound? It actually sounds like they are... right there in front of me. That's no bad thing. Yes, it's thick, full, and rich. It's dense. It's Rock and Roll. Jesus song? Grown on me thru the years.

But that song, the Jesus song, was the song on my first few listens that just made me ambivalent towards the whole record. Thank goodness that did not last!

Over rated? You're kidding. Under rated if anything!

This is such a great post -- and it is what I mean from what I said way back ... There is that special feeling among Stones fans that had this same experience. I'm glad you emphasized the time period, as someone tried to imply we had this experience based on a bias from internet postings of others -- most of us that went thru this did so independently of knowing that others went thru the same thing, and way before there was ever an internet.

**edit** btw, in my case, it was at least many months, and possibly up to a year before I gave Exile another real chance, and grew to like more & more, and then all of a sudden, I realized that I loved the entire thing!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-07 22:29 by LeonidP.

Sticky Fingers may be equal (Not Better) than Exile. However, I look at the idea, or at least the vibe behind each album as totally different. Sticky is chalk filled with a lot of tracks that stand on their own. It’s one of those classic albums where you can actually sample a few segments off an online store and tell they are great songs, or they are songs that if you had to introduce someone to the Stones, you could play many of those and make a fan out of them. From that standpoint, Sticky Fingers is the better album and one of the best ever. Exile is a different creature. It’s almost a concept album. Maybe not in the sense of it having a story, but it’s a concept album in the form of a mood. Back in the 50s Frank Sinatra created concept albums based on certain moods. That’s what Exile does. Not many songs on Exile can even stand alone if you aren't already familiar with the feel of the album. I don’t even know how to adequately explain Exile. It’s like a jam session, of a feeling of sitting in a bar listening to a band. The vocal mix of Mick’s voice not being so upfront, adds to that feeling. It’s also a concept album because it covers so many different Americana musical genres. I don’t know this will sound like a contradiction but Sticky Fingers is the best Stones album, while Exile is the best album ever. What I mean by that is that Sticky Fingers sounds like the Stones hitting their peak for what their sound is. But Exile sort of transcends the Stones. It may sound like a contradiction but you've heard people say Revolver is the Beatles best album, while Pepper is the best ever. I feel the same way about Sticky and Exile.

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Swayed1967

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GasLightStreet
EXILE is not overrated but some of the songs are...

I think I understand what you mean. There are 7 songs on Sticky Fingers that are better than anything on Exile (at least they're catchier) but the 'scholarly' Stones fan generally rates Exile higher because of its unrestrained rootsiness, Nellcote, and the nostalgia it evokes. It probably is overrated. My ex-wife surely thought so. I remember playing Let It Loose for her and then waiting with breathless anticipation for her life to change. It didn't, of course. 'Yeah, it's nice,' was all she said.

This thread sort of reminds me of the Wandering Spirit vs Talk Is Cheap death match. Like treaclefingers, I think many of us were surprised that song for song Keith got clobbered since most 'true' Stones fans have generally rated TIC higher. I still do. I enjoyed Wandering Spirit when it came out but in the end it's really just a collection of decent Stonesy songs but listening to TIC in university with Jack & weed was almost a transcendental experience.

Wow........I don't think ANY track on SF is "better", than everything on Exile. The songs on Exile are of consistently high quality. I NEVER, have been in the middle of a side and thought, "Damn, I wish Brown Sugar was next!" Dead Flowers is awesome, but it's"country lite" compared to T&F, SV or LC. But it is all opinion.....

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Thrylan

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Swayed1967

Quote
GasLightStreet
EXILE is not overrated but some of the songs are...

I think I understand what you mean. There are 7 songs on Sticky Fingers that are better than anything on Exile (at least they're catchier) but the 'scholarly' Stones fan generally rates Exile higher because of its unrestrained rootsiness, Nellcote, and the nostalgia it evokes. It probably is overrated. My ex-wife surely thought so. I remember playing Let It Loose for her and then waiting with breathless anticipation for her life to change. It didn't, of course. 'Yeah, it's nice,' was all she said.

This thread sort of reminds me of the Wandering Spirit vs Talk Is Cheap death match. Like treaclefingers, I think many of us were surprised that song for song Keith got clobbered since most 'true' Stones fans have generally rated TIC higher. I still do. I enjoyed Wandering Spirit when it came out but in the end it's really just a collection of decent Stonesy songs but listening to TIC in university with Jack & weed was almost a transcendental experience.

Wow........I don't think ANY track on SF is "better", than everything on Exile. The songs on Exile are of consistently high quality. I NEVER, have been in the middle of a side and thought, "Damn, I wish Brown Sugar was next!" Dead Flowers is awesome, but it's"country lite" compared to T&F, SV or LC. But it is all opinion.....

Yes, it's all subjective. And perhaps I wasn't clear but I actually prefer Exile to SF because it's the epitome of an album where - as Aristotle famously said - the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. But I stand by my assertion that, to my ears anyways, the tracks on SF are better than anything on Exile.

Dead Flowers is country lite? I don't think you'd say that if it were sandwiched between Torn and Frayed and Loving Cup. It would fit perfectly there IMO. Which of those songs is best is certainly debatable but I would choose Dead Flowers if only from a commercial standpoint - it's single material. However, in a contest between Dead Flowers and Side 2 of Exile, obviously Side 2 wins by a landslide. Now you might think that, say, Loving Cup, on its own, is better than Dead Flowers. Fine. I couldn't argue with that...except to say that it's probably impossible to isolate any of the tracks on Side 2 of Exile and objectively evaluate them on their own merits because each song on that side, after repeated listens, forever resonates in your brain and in a sense they become inseparable from one another. That's Exile's power.