Why is Exile on Main St. held in higher regard than Sticky Fingers?

Duh!
Give others then!!
i wont even make you have them have "Rolling Stone" in the title!!!

 

Let it Bleed, beggars and Sticky Fingers are all better albums than Exile on Main St.

At first, Exile is just a collection of badly recorded, muffled songs, nowhere near as good as their other albums.

Then, if you listen again, its something else.

Like a 3d picture that you can only see on the tenth try. Then you see something dissolute, corrupt, enticing. Then you may understand that Exile is not just a Stones album. Its a voodoo spell, its a place. You can move in, and stay for months. Its next to the Harry Smith albums, along the crossroads from Robert Johnson, and festering beneath the dark sub basement of the basement tapes.

Then play Its Only Rock n Roll. The spell is broken, all the lights are turned on, its all just cardboard and greasepaint. The pills are just fakes! But it seemed so real!

 

I think there's something disjointed about Sticky Fingers. I love the dream-like sound of Exile, and the rambling nature allows it to absorb the weaker tracks more easily. I think the Santana-lite jam at the end of the otherwise amazing "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" kills some momentum, with the embarassing "You Gotta Move" ensuring side one grinds to a halt. Similarly, "I Got the Blues" after "Bitch" is a bad idea, and, while I like "Dead Flowers," it needlessly kills the vibe between "Sister Morphine" and "Moonlight Mile." -E

 

I think the pills were real.

 

I can remember vividly when Exile was released in Australia and I played the album non stop throughout the summer of 72/73.
It was great when the Stones 1973 tour was announced and I had the opportunity to see the Stones live in Melbourne in February '73 as an 18 year old.
Live the Stones sounded very similar to their sound on Exile.

 

not sure, i like them both

 

For them, but for the listener? The contact high from that album is very strong, but you can also sense the fear. But its an illusion. It wasn't recorded in a scummy bar in the deep South, on one sweltering night, with the ac chugging its last. It was recorded in France, and overdubs added in LA. So why does it sound like the devil has got up to dance with them?

 

Equal in my book, what a fantastic closer on Sticky.

 

Better album cover is the only explanation.

 

Because decadent scuzziness is the universal language?

 

I meant the pills you took before you composed your post.

 

Also a more artsy fartsy album title.

 

The trick is to play Goats Head Soup after Exile - the perfect come down album for Exile.
It's Only Rock n Roll is a big disappointment for me.

 

Yep, but that particular potent brew is elusive. The Stones never caught it again. The Cramps spent a career trying. Dr John got it, with Night Tripper.
But it only happens...when it happens.

And then only on vinyl heh heh heh

Mwahahaha!

 

Good suggestion. Its Only is more than a disappointment. Its so close to Exile, but has none of its power. It makes me doubt myself for liking Exile. Until i play it again.

 

Only good old alcohol my friend!

That and a love of the kind of bs Greil Marcus comes out with....

 

This is it. Both great albums, but Exile is greater. Those who said Exile has filler are absolutely crazy!

 

For every one time I reach for Sticky Fingers, I reach 5 times for Exile. There is some cheese on SF I don't much like (Brown Sugar, Dead Flowers, Wild Horses), not to say there isn't some on Exile, but double albums always get a bit of leeway. It's part of the warts-and-all thing associated with them. The dirtier sound on Exile works in it's favor too. Dirt is a necessary Stones ingredient.

 

people frequently mistake bloat for quality

 

Any dummy can appreciate Sticky Fingers. Exile requires a higher level of musical sophistication to truly appreciate because the songs aren't as good.

 

Right. It's like scratching and clawing to get to the top of a mountain, and then looking around and saying 'now what do we do?'
Hence the immense drop-off on Goats Head Soup.

 

would take beggars banquet over either.

 

Sticky Fingers is great but sounds more ... restrained, more focused.

Exile is great but sounds more ... comfortable, more adventurous.

imho.

 

How else can you explain Prog?

For me, EXILE is a slurred, sleazy tour of all the musics that coalesced into rock and roll, performed by imitators who've been at it long enough to sound like the real thing, or at least a legitimate take on the real thing.

 

Sticky Fingers - short trip.
Exile - grand journey.
Both wonderful.