Release and Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | |
| BBC Music | (favourable) |
| Blender | |
| Robert Christgau | A+ |
| Pitchfork Media | 10/10 |
| PopMatters | (favourable) |
| Rolling Stone | (positive) |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
| Sputnikmusic | (4.0/5) |
Preceded by the UK and US Top 10 hit "Tumbling Dice", Exile on Main St. was released in May 1972. It was an immediate commercial success, reaching #1 worldwide just as the band embarked on their celebrated 1972 American Tour. Their first American tour in three years, it featured many songs from the new album. "Happy", sung by Richards, would be a Top 30 US hit later that summer.
Many critics judged Exile on Main St. to be a ragged and impenetrable record at the time of its release. Lenny Kaye, writing in Rolling Stone magazine, was typical of contemporary critics who did not consider the album as anything special. According to Kaye, "here are songs that are better, there are songs that are worse, and others you'll probably lift the needle for when the time is due." Kaye concludes by assuring his readers that "the great Stones album of their mature period is yet to come".
However, the Melody Maker review by Richard Williams praises the album highly. The review was titled The Stones: Quite Simply the Best. He states the album "is definitely going to take its place in history" and "it's the best album they've ever made". He states: "This is an album which utterly repulses the sneers and arrows of outraged put down artists. Once and for all, it answers any questions about their ability as rock 'n' rollers."
On the initial critical and commercial reaction, Richards said, "When came out it didn't sell particularly well at the beginning, and it was also pretty much universally panned. But within a few years the people who had written the reviews saying it was a piece of crap were extolling it as the best frigging album in the world."
Other critics praised the album's rawness and different styles, from blues to country to soul. The music critic Robert Christgau concluded in 1972: "Incontrovertibly the year's best, this fagged-out masterpiece is the summum of Rock '72. Exile explores new depths of record-studio murk, burying Mick's voice under layers of cynicism, angst, and ennui."
Exile on Main St. featured a gatefold cover and included a series of 12 perforated postcards with a sequence of images inserts, all of which were shot by photographer Norman Seeff. The back cover features various photos of the Stones; the "mystery woman" pictured in the lower left side is Chris O'Dell, their personal assistant. The album photography and concept was by Robert Frank and includes images from his seminal 1958 book The Americans.
Read more about this topic: Exile On Main St.
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