The World of: The Rolling Stones’ ‘Exile on Main St.’
51 TracksThe mythology of rock ’n’ roll had been codified as teen rebellion by the late 1950s, but in the summer of 1971, when the Rolling Stones recorded in the basement of a fading mansion on the French Riviera, a new kind of lore began to define the concept of rock stardom: darker, druggier, more menacing and legendarily decadent. Exiled from their native U.K. for tax troubles, the members of the Stones took up in different pockets of France and got to work – kind of, sort of – in the steamy, labyrinthine basement of that notorious villa Nellcôte, where Keith Richards and his partner Anita Pallenberg were sinking deeper and deeper into heroin addiction. Mick Jagger, immersed in his international-celebrity mode with new wife Bianca, was drifting further and further from his Glimmer Twin. The sessions, ostensibly led by producer Jimmy Miller, who was also using, were almost comically haphazard, a revolving door of Stones members and their collaborators. So how did a sprawling double-album masterwork come out of this libertine fete? The truth is, it didn’t. ‘Exile on Main St.’ is almost a compilation of sorts; it includes recordings stretching back to the late-’60s sessions for ‘Sticky Fingers,’ as well as music captured at more professional sessions in L.A. But why let go of a good rock ’n’ roll folktale? In barroom chatter, ‘Exile’ is that weird, woolly collection of roots-rock and other American obsessions that the Stones tracked as drugged-out outlaws in the South of France; even if it ran low on hits (“Tumbling Dice,” “Happy”), it remains the definitive document of Stones-style danger, another death knell for the naivety of the ’60s. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of a landmark double-LP, we’ve assembled this storytelling playlist including album tracks, covers, rip-offs, source recordings, music that surrounded the album on the charts and radio playlists of the day, tracks by Nellcôte guests or featuring ‘Exile’ personnel, the Stones’ live support acts of the period and more. In full, it presents an evocative, whirlwind portrait of a time of transformation for both the Stones and global counterculture.