DVD of the Week - "The Rolling Stones: Stones In Exile"

DVD of the Week
The Rolling Stones: "Stones in Exile" (Eagle Vision/ST2) 2010

Directed by Stephen Kijak
145 minutes - Region 0 - Widescreen - Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo - English
Subtitles - English, French, Spanish
Bonus Material: "Extended interviews," Return to Stargroves and Olympic Studios" and "Exile fans"

The story behind the making of the Stones' masterpiece "Exile on Main Street" is told in their own words through new interviews with the band and extensive footage and photographs from the time of the recording. The DVD features over an hour of additional bonus footage not included in the TV broadcast version.
The recording sessions that produced The Rolling Stones' "Exile on Main Street" have become mythic in rock history. This documentary, made to coincide with the 40th anniversary remaster of that double-album (reissued last May as an enhanced 2-CD set produced by Don Was, Jimmy Miller & The Glimmer Twins), features new interviews with the band members alongside archival footage that attempts to demystify the sordid tales of sex and drugs that have surrounded this beloved album since its initial release.

Still inspired by their "Sticky Fingers" recording sessions in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, "Exile on Main Street" found the Rolling Stones sounding more like a Southern fried juke-joint band than ever before. That "Exile..." was recorded in a basement is no surprise, either--much of it sounds as if it was recorded live at a gospel revival, with a final mix that gives no hierarchy to specific instruments. The result is a swampy, most exhilarating chunk of rock & roll euphoria.

"Exile" sharpens the country, blues, and gospel tendencies the Stones began exploring in the late '60s on albums like "Beggar's Banquet." Here, armed with an assortment of backing musicians and vocalists, the band virtually inhabits the spirit of each style, distilling the whole to a ragged, soulful perfection. From the escalating, horn-driven vamps of "Rocks Off" through the back porch singalong "Sweet Virginia" to the mean blues stomp of "Ventilator Blues" and the church-like strains of "Shine a Light," Exile's double-album length plays like a weary, boozed-up sermon on the very meaning of rock music. This is the closest the band ever came to religion, and it still has the power to convert.

Collective Personnel: Keith Richards (vocals, guitar); Mick Jagger (vocals, percussion); Mick Taylor (guitar); Bobby Keys (saxophone); Jim Price (trumpet, trombone); Nicky Hopkins (piano); Charlie Watts (drums).
Audio Mixer: Bob Clearmountain.

Recording information: Henson, Los Angeles, CA; Mix This!, Los Angeles, CA; Nellcote, Los Angeles, CA; Olympic, Los Angeles, CA; One East Studio, NY; Stargroves, Los Angeles, CA; Village, Los Angeles, CA.
Editor: Krish Sharma.

In the album -
The Rolling Stones: Mick Jagger (vocals, guitar, harmonica); Keith Richards (vocals, guitar, piano, bass); Mick Taylor (guitar, bass); Bill Wyman (bass); Charlie Watts (drums).
Additional personnel: Al Perkins (steel guitar); Bobby Keys (saxophone, percussion); Jim Price (trumpet, trombone, organ); Ian Stewart, Nicky Hopkins (piano); Billy Preston (keyboards); Amyl Nitrate (marimba); Bill Plummer (acoustic & electric basses); Jimmy Miller (drums, percussion); Clydie King, Vanetta, Jerry Kirkland, Tammi Lynn, Shirley Goodman, Joe Green, Kathi McDonald (background vocals).