Exile on Main Street

I just finished reading “Exile on Main Street” by Robert Greenfield. My friend Denise gave me the book as a going away present. What a great present. I love this album, and have always been intrigued by the stories of how it was created. The Stones recorded the album in the basement of Keith Richards Villa in the south of France. I couldn't put the book down. It focuses on the people and the whirlwind of heavy drug use that was going on around the band during that summer of 1971. I only wish Greenfield had written about the creative process and how the songs where constructed, but he purposefully stays away from that.

To me this album represents everything that was great about rock and roll, and the Stones. It’s raw, messy, chaotic and visceral. This is Mick and Keith as full grown rock and roll panthers on the hunt. I remember when I first heard it, I didn’t get it. But like most great albums, you need to spin it a couple of times {kids ask your parents what ‘spin’ means}, great art is complex. This album is pure, undistilled, rock and roll.