To the Rolling Stones, Exile On Main Street was merely another album housing music. They recorded it, toured behind it and then moved on creating Goats Head Soup, It's Only Rock 'n' Roll, Black and Blue and Some Girls without ever giving Exile a second thought. Fortunately for them, the rest of the world did. At eighteen songs, four sides and a battery of genres and styles embraced, it's not an easy album to love on first listen. A newcomer to the Stones isn't going to get it, neither will someone who doesn't understand country music, the blues or Chuck Berry. However, these eclectic torrent of influences all helped permeate and give birth to what many consider the greatest rock n' roll record ever. If we only ever had the music, which in itself would be enough, but the legacy behind Exile On Main Street is so much more. The tour that followed was documented by Robert Frank on the still unreleased (but heavily bootlegged) Cocksucker Blues The 33⅓ book series (written by Bill Janovitz) covers the history of the recording and influences of the record while Robert Greenfield just recently published Exile on Main St.: A Season in Hell with the Rolling Stones, a book uncovering the dirty secrets, the unspoken stories and the chaos surrounding the writing, recording and aftermath of the Stones during this time period. Despite all of these wonderful resources, the Rolling Stones have always been a forward thinking machine never looking back. You could snag bits of information here and there in interviews, but they've never sat down and taken a deep look at their past opening it up for dissection and discussion, until now. With a new contract with Universal Music, the company wanted the band to mine their vaults which resulted in a bonus disc of never before heard outtakes and rarities. Little did anyone realize this would merely be the tip of the iceberg for Exile fans. Pulling back the curtain for the first time ever, the Rolling Stones take you into their world circa 1971-1972 courtesy of their new documentary Stones In Exile. The sixty-minute documentary pulls you in as the Rolling Stones reminisce about their lives and their music during this time. Escaping England for tax reasons, they headed to the south of France where the group splintered and were living in some cases six-hours apart from one another with Ground Zero being Nellcτte, where Keith Richards was renting a luxurious house where the majority of Exile would be recorded. Without a suitable studio to record in, a remote truck was brought to Nellcτte and instruments and amps were shuffled to the damp and dreary basement where magic began to unfold. The chaotic nature of not just the recording but the Stones lives at this given moment is what makes the story so rich. Rebellious boys were growing up, getting married and having children. Despite being broke and losing much of their net worth to their former manager, Allen Klein, the Rolling Stones had no other choice but to hunker down and create the dirtiest, rawest and most eclectic record of all time.
The film digs deep into the music, how it gestated and grew into the classic album it became. Shifting between current interviews, old radio interviews, classic video footage and a deluge of pictures (some we see for the first time) as people who were there for the recording and subsequent tour narrate over these images. Mick Taylor, Bill Wyman, Marshall Chess, Bobby Keys, Anita Pallenberg and even Jake Webber (the actor from the TV show Medium) all give insight into the lore and history behind the album. Webber's voiceovers may be the most illuminating. You see Jagger playing with him and his eight year old self hanging in the basement. Why was Webber there? His father provided the Rolling Stones with drugs of course. As Webber recalls in the film how an eight year old saw much and as long as they could stay awake, they could venture to the basement where the music was being created. His voice provides a new layer to savor because instead of a journalist writing or discussing the weight of Exile we get wide-eyed wonderment in the form of Jake Weber. Despite thefts, love affairs and complete and utter chaos, the Stones managed to finish recording and headed off to Los Angeles to finish and mix the record. We see the band return to old haunts and reminisce where consoles used to be. To some this may sound as interesting as watching paint dry, but the speed and editing of the film makes it flow by as quick as an evening breeze. If there is one criticism of the film, it's that it isn't long enough. However, to their credit, whatever may have been lacking on the DVD is made up for in three extended pieces found in the supplemental materials.
"Return To Stargroves and Olympic Studios" (10-minutes)
Jagger and Watts walk through a pair of the studios where work was done. Both are in chummy almost tongue-in-cheek moods. It's a brief look into the past, but considering this is an act who has never been fond of looking backward, it's intriguing to see these two walk in the shadows of their past.
"Extended Interviews" 33-minutes
Keith Richards/ Bill Wyman/Mick Taylor/Anita Pallenberg/Charlie Watts/Ronnie Wood
In the film, we only hear Wyman's and Taylor's voices and briefly see them. Here we get partial interviews about their experiences. I'm not entirely sure why they weren't in the film more. For my money, all of these interviews should have found a way into the film. Even Ron Wood chimes in on where he was when he first heard Exile. Like any great interview, it takes the viewer deeper into the grit of the album. It should also be noted that this is the first project that all living members of the Rolling Stones have ever worked on. Some missed their Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction and the It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (which Wood helped assist on the title track) only slightly had all of them involved. This alone makes the DVD worth owning.
"Exile Fans" (40-minutes)
Will.i.am (Black Eyed Peas)/Don Was (Producer)/Liz Phair/Caleb Followill (Kings of Leon)/Sheryl Crow/Jack White (White Stripes)/Martin Scorsese (Director)
This section has 40+ minutes of interviews with the likes of Don Was, Sheryl Crowe, Liz Phair and Martin Scorsese. They talk about the magic and mystery of why this record continues to resonate to this very day.
Don Was provides the greatest revelations. Was (in my opinion) gets a bad rap from Stones fans. He's created two almost classic records with the band (Voodoo Lounge and A Bigger Bang) yet he's often vilified as not pushing the Stones harder. After watching his interviews, you'll be surprised at just how much just doesn't know about the band's history, but understands. His ability to translate this for the casual listener is transfixing. The Stones are nowhere to be found, but you feel closer to the record than you did before it started.
To the cynical obsessive fan, Stones in Exile may be too brief, but in time, they'll return to it as the band lowers the sheets and lets us into their bed. The film may not be definitive in its lore of legend, but that's part of the point. Some legends are better left unspoken. Stones In Exile documents a turning point in the band's career highlighted by eighteen tracks that despite not being FM staples, are among the greatest ever in recorded music. In the end, Stones In Exile doesn't just do the band justice, but it provides justice to the legacy of Exile On Main Street and that's all anyone can ask for.
Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network. His daily writings can be read at The Screen Door. He can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com and can be followed on Twitter
