Eagle Rock Entertainment recently released, with some great fanfare – including a nearly complete re-broadcast on the Jimmy Fallon show with Mick Jagger guesting – a video chronicle of the Rolling Stones recording of Exile On Main Street. To critics, Exile is generally regarded as the Stones’ high-water mark, featuring some of their most spirited and bluesy playing (particularly the rich interplay between guitarists Keith Richards and Mick Taylor). Stones in Exile presents a great opportunity for fans of the record to intimately revisit the making of as the Stones and several other talking heads assemble to comment on the recording and impact of that album.
Stones in Exile is more than just a simple recounting of the making of a classic album. Stones in Exile provides a window into the Stones creative process and shows how songs and albums get made. It is interesting to learn that songs that began in London’s Olympic Studios were embellished in France and overdubbed in Los Angeles. That’s how we get “Tumblin’ Dice” and many others from Main Street. This musical element, and peeking into the process was, at least for me, was the best part of the documentary.
There was also a cultural “time capsule” component of Stones in Exile. Those early seventies’ years were wild times for the Stones (and everyone else). This is the whole, “if you remember it, you weren’t there!” sentiment. Seriously, hanging out in a mansion in the south of France with Keith Richards had to be pretty freaking wild – and this film captures some of that. People were walking out the front door stealing heavy equipment right in front of everyone. Heck, it was even too much for Mick who left to go marry Bianca!
Hardcore Stones’ fans are already familiar with this era courtesy of footage (some reused here) from the widely bootlegged documentary C*cksucker Blues. There was a whole lot of debauchery going on at that time and Stones in Exile does not shy away from showing some of this. Fortunately the documentary, directed by Stephen Kijak, doesn’t focus entirely of this element and provides a more balanced assessment of Exile on Main Street.
I am personally am not a huge Exile fan. I much prefer Let it Bleed, Some Girls, and Sticky Fingers as superior, having better songs and being more representative in understanding the Stones as a counter to the Beatles. Exile on Main Street always seemed sloppy and unfocused. Stones in Exile shows that this assessment has grounding in reality. Those were chaotic times. Mick seems a bit baffled by the albums popularity.
What is important to take away from this review is that none of that matters when it comes to evaluating the documentary. Irrespective of where Exile on Main Street sits in music history Stones in Exile is a fascinating and a must watch/own for any classic rock music fan. There is nothing quite like it, except maybe the Beatles Let it Be, that captures the music making process for a band as seminal as the Stones. Until Let it Be is released from the vaults (unlikely anytime soon), Stones in Exile may be the best documentary of that magical time in music where it all came together – music mattered, people had incredible talent, and on top it all, everyone was beautiful.