ENERGEIA

The Rolling Stones are re-releasing one of their best albums of all time, Exile on Main Street. This album was originally released in 1972. The band had to steal away to the south of France and record portions of it in Keith Richards’ villa due to drug allegations and tax problems back in England.

Do many of you know or like this album? Personally, I have always loved it. It’s one of my favorites.

But I have been a Stones fan for so much my life, that my favorite songs aren’t the ones that everyone knows. I’ve heard “Satisfaction“, “Get Off My Cloud“, and “Start Me Up“, etc. so many times that I sometimes forget how great these songs were when they were new.

My favorite Stones songs are the hidden gems – the 3rd or 4th on the back side of an album – the ones no one ever really talks about. “Indian Girl” on the back side of Emotional Rescue speaks of the civil war in Angola and Fidel Castro, and a little girl that has no food to eat cuz the soldiers ate it. “Highwire“, track 16 off of the 1991 live album release Flash Point speaks about watching the first gulf war on prime time while eating TV dinners. These are great songs.

Exile On Main Street has some of these hidden gems as well. Exile is a wonderful album that has songs ranging from gospel to blues to rock-n-roll. If you want to read more about the album re-release, check out this article here. Trust me, it’s worth the read.

As for me, this album has one of my favorite Rolling Stones songs of all time, “Loving Cup“.

“I’m the man on the Mountain, come on up
“I’m the plough man in the Valley, with a face full of mud
“Yes I’m fumblin’, and I know my car won’t start
“Yes I’m stumblin’, and I know I play a bad guitar

“Gimme little drink, from your Loving Cup
“Just one drink, and I fall down, drunk

I would love to have some excuse to dress up like Mick, in the old 1972 garb, feather boa, gangster hat, tight-fitting black pinstripe suit, ankle-boots, ruffled shirt, and a little eye make-up….and go sing some of those songs. That would be Sweet Virginia.

A publicity shot for “Exile on Main Street,’’ in 1972. (Norman Seeff)