Peter: This album feels like a concert to me. It has a certain pacing and flow, and we’re headed toward the big finish.
Do we need an intro first? We’re back, baby! Don’t call it a comeback. We’re finally finishing Exile on Main St.! First up is the last song on the first side of the second LP, “Let It Loose,” a gospel blues that Mick called “difficult.”
Tyler: Oh yeah?
Peter: He said it’s hard to sing. He attributes the lyrics to Keith adding, “I don’t think that song has any semblance of meaning.” Keith responded by saying he does not trust Mick’s recollections of anything.
Tyler: Team Keith! Team Keith!
Peter: Also, Wikipedia tells me that they’ve never performed “Let It Loose” live!
Tyler: This song is used to memorable effect in Martin Scorsese’s The Departed. Jack bashing up Leo to prove that DiCaprio’s character isn’t a rat.
It’s early in the movie! No spoilers!
Peter: Poor Leo! He’s not wearing a wire!
Great backing vocals on this track. Really help with the gospel feel. Good one.
Tyler: Oh, there’s a moment toward the end where one of the backing vocalists riffs kinda like “Let it loose let it ohhhh” and it sounds sublime.
Back to your concert analogy—this could be the closer of the main set. Grandiose. Climactic.
Peter: Exactly! Yes, it’s closing the main show. We’ve got encores coming up.
Tyler: Damn straight we do. And they come right the hell outta that gate with “All Down The Line.”
Peter: It’s got a lot of energy. They play this one in concert a lot. Presumably Mick does not find it “difficult.”
Tyler: Man, available on streaming is a Some Girls concert release from 1978. Can you imagine a rip-roaring full-bore run-through of Exile from, I dunno, 1973?
Peter: You can imagine them really sinking their teeth into it.
Tyler: Full chorus, horns, all of it. I’ve long figured my go-to early-’70s dream show is Van Morrison with his Caledonia Soul Orchestra, but seeing those Stones do this album in that era, boy, it’d be a pleasure.
Peter: Agreed.
I always thought “All Down The Line” was about long-haul trucking, but apparently the diesel references and whatnot are about a train, not a big rig. You learn something new every day.
Tyler: Gotta presume there might be some drug allusions in there, no?
Peter: Yes, that too! Right. It’s a rich tapestry.
Love the “Be my little baby” outro.
Tyler: Oh, so much!
Peter: Allen Klein sued the Stones over this song because it was composed whilst he was managing the band. He won the publishing rights to this and four other songs of the era. Bastard.
Tyler: That dude was toxic swill in a suit.
Peter: 100%.
He was the Suge Knight of his day.
Tyler: We’ve got a honking left turn coming up next.
“Stop Breaking Down.”
Peter: Another cover, this one is a Robert Johnson song from 1937!
Tyler: Sweet Jesus. I was unaware!
Peter: Sonny Boy Williamson covered it as well. Also, The White Stripes.
Tyler: Man, the Stones crush it.
Peter: Absolutely. It’s just dripping with Mick Taylor’s juicy slide guitar. Love it.
Also, Mick on harmonica! I love Mick’s harmonica playing. And yet, I don’t care for Blues Traveler. It’s good the Stones didn’t lean into it too much.
Tyler: I was thinking the same—his tone on that harmonica is pretty unique, at least in rock ‘n roll circles. I love it too.
Peter: The Beatles almost became a harmonica band. John plays it on their first three singles. Luckily they pivoted away from it, but just imagine what might have been.
“Stop Breaking Down” feels like the end of the first encore. Everybody knows they’re coming back out.
Tyler: Hell yes. They’ve paid fitting tribute to the father of the blues. Let the audience simmer in it for a few while Mick drinks still water and Keith loads himself up on some substance or another.
Peter: “Shine A Light” feels like a real tentpole. So much of this album bleeds together, but this one stands out for me. It’s a big closer.
Apparently it’s about Brian Jones. I did not know that. Also, Mick wrote all of it.
Tyler: That’s remarkable. I wonder how often those guys think about Brian.
Peter: He’s such a tragic figure. But, it has to be said, he sounds like a miserable cunt. He used to hit Anita.
Tyler: Oh.
Man, men are trash.
Peter: We really are. I don’t know how I missed that this is about Brian. Lyrics like, “Berber jewelry jangling down the street/Making bloodshot eyes at every woman that you meet,” suddenly make so much sense.
Tyler: I gotta give credit to Mick. It’s an effectively reflective song.
Peter: Yeah, I like it. The first bit where it’s just Mick and the piano is great.
Jimmy Miller’s on the drums. Mick Taylor’s on bass.
Bill Wyman says he played bass on it, but he’s a pedophile so it’s probably hard for him to remember.
Tyler: Have you ever seen the cover of Bill’s solo album, the horrifically-titled Monkey Grip?
Peter: Oh god, no. I’m scared to look.
Tyler: On occasion it surfaces as I flip through stacks at the record store.
Peter: Wow. Just wow.
“Soul Survivor.” A sort of mid-tempo rocker that grinds along as Exile throttles down, readying to land. “Shine a Light” feels like the proper closing track of Exile. “Soul Survivor” is more of just a vibe.
In my opinion! That’s what we’re doing here, Tyler! Spilling hot takes!
Steaming piles of hot takes!
Tyler: These takes are scorching!
“Soul Survivor” is, shall we say, the denouement. The comedown.
Peter: The second half of the song transitions to a gospel-tinged rave-up driven by Nicky Hopkins on the piano.
Tyler: Nicky!
So we have at long last concluded our look at the frontrunner for your all-time number one LP. I hope we’ve done your devotion justice.
Peter: It was interesting to revisit it like this. It holds up!
You heard it here first, folks! Exile on Main St. is still great!
Where does Exile land for you? Ranking Stones albums.
Tyler: It’s at the top of the heap for me, too.
I don’t know the Stones as well as I could, but I know this album, and I return to it when I need that special Exile oomph. Pure rock ‘n roll run through with soul, country, blues, and heart to boot.
