Exile on Main St.

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Template:Album infobox Exile on Main St. is a 1972 double album by The Rolling Stones. Initially greeted with lukewarm reviews, the album has since been critically reappraised and is now commonly considered one of the best albums in The Rolling Stones' entire catalogue, and one of the most revered albums of the rock era.

Legend has it that the album was recorded in the basement of Keith Richards' new home, Nellcôte, at Villefranche-sur-mer, near Nice, France. In reality, most backing tracks were recorded in 1969 and 1970 at Olympic Sound Studio and Mick Jagger's Stargroves country house in England during sessions for Let It Bleed and Sticky Fingers. These tracks, together with a few new backing tracks recorded at Keith's villa in June 1971, were taken to Sunset Sound studio in Los Angeles and numerous overdubs were added during sessions from December 1971 until May 1972. The numbers for which backing tracks were recorded at Nellcôte are "Rip this Joint", "Shake Your Hips", "Casino Boogie", "Happy", "I Just Wanna See His Face", "Turd on the Run" and "Ventilator Blues". The basic band consisted of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Mick Taylor, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman and Nicky Hopkins, although Bill Wyman only plays on eight tracks. Contrary to legend, Gram Parsons can not be heard on the album. Many studio musicians were used, most notable Bill Plummer on upright bass, Billy Preston on keyboards, Al Perkins on pedal steel, and a 'who's who' of background vocalists.

The album itself was recorded during a jet-set period for the band. Mick Jagger had married first wife Bianca de Macias resulting in their only child, Jade, being born during the sessions. Keith Richards was firmly ensconced with partner Anita Pallenberg, yet both were in the throes of heroin addiction, which Richards wouldn't overcome until 1977.

Released in May 1972, having been preceded by the Top 10 hit "Tumbling Dice", Exile On Main St. was an immediate commercial success, hitting #1 worldwide just as the band embarked on their first action-packed US tour in three years. "Happy", sung by Keith Richards, would be a Top 30 US hit later that summer. Although its initial critics considered Exile on Main St. to be a ragged record, its legend grew steadily over time and has since been considered by many as The Rolling Stones' finest hour. It is currently certified triple platinum in the US alone.

In 1998 Q magazine readers voted Exile on Main St. the 42nd greatest album of all time while in 2003, it was listed as number 7 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Also in 2003, the TV network VH1 placed it at number 12 on their best albums survey, and Pitchfork Media ranked it number eleven on their Top 100 Albums of The 1970s.

In 1994, Exile on Main St. was remastered and reissued on one CD by Virgin Records.

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