I don't get it...Exile on main Street-Blue

I’ve always felt "Let It Bleed" was the Stones greatest album and easily the best Rock and Roll album of all time. Only thing that could have made it better was to have had the original "Honky Tonk Woman" on it instead of that lame "Country Honk" version they include instead. I never could figure why "Exiles on Main Street" was considered by many to be their best.

I do think Joni Miitchell’s "Blue" was a great album though. I now have her entire catalog and still play her records with some frequency. She was an acquired taste though. My sister used to have and play the "Blue" album and I thought it was too girly then. My mistake.

On a related note, many critics point to Sgt. Pepper as being the Beatles best album. I was always a Beatles fan, but thought that record was much too contrived. Like "Exiles" I never could understand what prompted anyone to like it so much. But different strokes for different folks. (By the way, Clapton and Duane Allman’s "Layla" is still the second best album of all time after "Let It Bleed" Accept no substitutes.

Nice thread krelldog,

Mike

@grislybutter right on, might be interested. Any chance you can share the catalog number?  How is the condition?

Let is Bleed is the best Stones album in my mind, but best of all? Impossible to choose...

My 1 cent

  I listen primarily to Classical but I was a huge Stones fan in my teens.  I disliked Exile when it came out and for the most part hated it, and never bought a Stones album again.  I tried streaming it a few months ago and could only get about a third of the way through before boredom set in.  I can still listen to Beggars Banquet and Let It Bleed with enjoyment.

  My wife is a huge Joni fan but dislikes Blue

@skyscraper ,

It's 'Honky Tonk Women', not woman.

I'm an annoying stickler about stuff like that.

I love the Stones and Joni..... Hate to say it but my favorite of Joni's is Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm.... So different from any of her other work, which is why I like it.. Very well recorded with some excellent guest stars singing backing vocals....

Hard to beat the Stones' albums Some Girls and Let It Bleed..... Their release of Forty Licks is also very good!

@dsrobert I don’t have the album cover, just the sleeve. I remembered something was amiss. Otherwise the album is in superb condition.
st-sr-722507-mo / COC 2-2900

message me if you are interested but I understand, without the cover, it's a non-starter. I responded here because I can't add links or photos in the message part.

@tylermunns 

"If something doesn’t move you, it doesn’t move you. There’s nothing wrong with that, and it’s entirely possible that at some point in life, it will"

...and it's equally possible it won't, but as the man says, "there's nothing wrong" with this, so why worry about it, OP? 

Thecarpathian, I stand corrected. 

Mike

Until recently, I spent my life thinking they were saying "She's A honky tonk woman" instead of "All the honky tonk women". 

Until recently, I spent my life thinking they were saying "She's A honky tonk woman" instead of "All the honky tonk women". 

And up until quite recently I thought there were lyrics about Maxwell Madison, not Maxwell Edison, who was majoring in medecine. 

I was class of 72, NO on both the Stones and Joni. We were doing King Crimson, Yes, Jethro Tull. No offense intended. Just the way it was.

@grisleybuter. Appreciate it but yeah I would want a copy with the cover.

thanks for the info though. 

@dsrobert absolutely, I understand

If you like Female vocal.....The best there is.....Is Karla Bonoff IMHO.

I'm a "fossil unit" compared to many on the forum.  74 trips around the sun for this one.  As a younger listener, when we used to light up the Borkum Riff and strap ourselves down in the "sweet spot" to make sure our heads didn't bobble more than a couple of millimeters, Classical. With a little Beatles, Moody Blues, LZ, Floyd,, Who, etc. thrown in. And, a sampling of various Stones and Joni tunes.  I have to admit that I never felt the compulsion to place the stylus at the very beginning and listen to a complete Stones and/or Joni album from start to finish.  It was just me, being me.

Fast forward a few decades.  Strapped myself into the "sweet spot" with something a little more domestically friendly in hand (wine) and listened to Exile and Blue from start to finish.  Was waiting for that subtle hint from above that reminded me that I was a mere Neadertweak and what I had been missing for all these years...

.. I'm with the OP on this one.

Borkum Riff??!

Sound like something Mr. Spock would say;

"Captain, we are now entering the Borkum Riff..."

EOMS was a grounbreaking release for rock music at the time much like Sergeant Pepper was earlier.   Both have some good songs.  SP holds together better from start to finish both musically and thematically.  But I have never been inclined to listen to entire EOMS from start to finish.   It was groundbreaking in its own way back then but not as engaging a listen as a whole anymore.   The production is dirty and murkey...one of the unique things about it at the time, and influences from various musical genres are present,  another unique thing at the time, but not so much anymore these days.  EOMS is more than ever a landmark  release but its overall appeal these days continues to be on the wane.

Lyrics about Maxwell Madison? They were about Oscar Madison...

i don't think exile is the greatest ever rock album (that honor, depending on my mood, might go to "ok computer" or "dark side of the moon" or "ziggy" or "the who sell out," among many others). however, i do think it's the greatest double album--except for "rip this joint", which i never cared for, there's not a duff track. "london calling" comes close, while "layla" should have been pared down to a single record.

I get what OP is saying. Every so often I read some recommendation  of Blue, or I see it's offered on Acoustic Sounds as a 45rpm Ultradisc & I think I  should revisit it & see if like it. Each time I try I get about 3 songs in  & have to turn it off. And I like female vocalists, honestly. But I just can't. And then I wonder why. 

@chrisoshea  , Oscar Madison was not majoring in medicine.

I thought it was Dolly Madison staying at the Radisson...