Exile on Main St. (1972)

Exile on Main St. is the tenth studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 12 May 1972, by Rolling Stones Records. The 10th released in the UK and 12th in the US, it is viewed as a culmination of a string of the band's most critically successful albums, following Beggars Banquet (1968), Let It Bleed (1969) and Sticky Fingers (1971). Exile on Main St. is known for its wide stylistic range and the strong influence of Delta blues, gospel music, and country rock. The album was originally met with mixed reviews before receiving strong reassessments by the end of the 1970s. It has since been recognized as a pivotal rock album, viewed by many critics as the Rolling Stones' best work and as one of the greatest albums of all time.

The album was a commercial success, topping the charts in six countries, including Netherlands, Norway, Canada, Sweden, the US and UK. Recording began in 1969 at Olympic Studios in London during sessions for Sticky Fingers, with the main sessions beginning in mid-1971 at Nellcôte, a rented villa in the South of France, after the band members became tax exiles. Due to the lack of a professional studio nearby, they worked with a mobile recording studio and recorded in-house. The loose and unorganised Nellcôte sessions went on for hours into the night, with personnel varying greatly from day to day. Recording was completed with overdub sessions at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles and included additional musicians such as the pianist Nicky Hopkins, saxophonist Bobby Keys, drummer and producer Jimmy Miller, and horn player Jim Price. The results produced enough songs for the Stones' first double album.

The band continued a back-to-basics direction heard in Sticky Fingers, yet Exile exhibited a wider range of influences in blues, rock and roll, swing, country and gospel, while the lyrics explored themes related to hedonism, sexuality, and nostalgia. It included the singles "Happy", which featured lead vocals from Keith Richards, the country ballad "Sweet Virginia", and the worldwide top-ten hit "Tumbling Dice". The album's artwork, a collage of various images, reflected the Rolling Stones' prideful rebellion. After its release, the Stones embarked on an American tour, gaining infamy for riotous audiences and performances.

Rolling Stone magazine ranked the album number 7 on its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2003 and 2012, with it dropping to number 14 in the 2020 edition, consistently as the highest-ranked Rolling Stones album on the list. In 2012, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, the band's fourth album to be inducted. A remastered and expanded version of the album was released in 2010 featuring a bonus disc with 10 new tracks. Unusual for a re-release, it also charted highly at the time of its release, reaching number one in the UK and number two in the US.

Recording

Early sessions

Exile on Main St. was written and recorded between 1969 and 1972. Mick Jagger said, "After we got out of our contract with Allen Klein, we didn't want to give him [those earlier tracks]", as they were forced to do with "Brown Sugar" and "Wild Horses" from Sticky Fingers (1971). Many tracks were recorded between 1969 and 1971 at Olympic Studios and Jagger's Stargroves country house in East Woodhay during sessions for Sticky Fingers.