6. The Rolling Stones Frank ZappaExile On Main Street
Exile On Main Street for me is basically the greatest rock & roll album ever made bar none. When I say rock & roll I mean that this album captures every aspect of it; it’s got country music on it, it’s got rockabilly, it’s got soul. It’s almost like a compilation of different periods of the band’s history. Most people are aware of how it was recorded. It was recorded in a chateaux in the south of France when they were tax exiles. And if rumours were true they basically stole electricity and powered the basement in the Nellcôte villa at Villefranche-sur-Mer, recorded under very unusual circumstances. And what with Keith’s drug problems and general unhappiness with each other it was recorded in very fractious circumstances. They were unhappy with the way that they felt they had to leave England because of the level of tax that they were expected to pay. It was almost like they were out of their depth in a way, but it just creates this perfection. It’s obviously still the Rolling Stones but there’s something about this record that separates this from the rest of their canon. And it’s them at their most adventurous and experimental too. With Jimmy Miller at the helm, maybe they were happy to go out of their comfort zone. There was definitely some gold there that they never mined ever again. It was their last truly great album.
