exile on main street
i avoided it for years, or rather i avoided the stones in general. this was based on the occasionally flawed philosophy that just because it's hailed as a classic album anyone who claims to be a rock n roll fan must own, i'm not in the habit of buying records just because they're supposed to make my cd collection look more complete. not much annoys me more than people who own a copy of dark side of the moon, for instance, not because they enjoy listening to pink floyd, but because they think they should have it for its reputation. it sits, collecting dust, on the shelf for more an ornamental purpose than anything else. for a while i sort of felt EOMS fell into that category--something people buy because they erroneously believe they should have at least one stones album in order to consider themselves music fans. then i listened to it and realized everything i knew was wrong (EYKIW! i know. lame joke intended). it exists outside of a place and time that some of the other stones albums do--the early stuff that takes up where early beatles albums left off, or the way sticky fingers has "can't you hear me knocking" meandering off into solos. i do like that stuff quite a bit as well, but exile's combination of catchy pop melodies, blues-based rock n roll, and general awesomeness could have been released yesterday alongside any garage rock stuff and sound just as great.