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BBC Radio 2, 19 May, 2010, Exile Of The Stones












Paul Sexton tells the tangled tale of one of the most celebrated albums in rock history, the Rolling Stones' epic Exile On Main Street.

The album was re-issued, 38 years after its 1972 release, and Paul speaks to Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts. He finds out how, and why, the celebrated rock 'n' roll band became rock's first tax exiles, and wound up making an album with producer Jimmy Miller in the dingy basement of Keith's villa in the south of France.

Amid over indulgence, technical problems and the presence of endless hangers-on, the sessions dragged on for months, before the whole project was transported to Los Angeles for final mixing. What emerged, at last, was what some fans call the greatest album the Rolling Stones ever made.

"There's no flim-flam on this record," observes Richards. "It's a bunch of guys trying to say 'Hey, we're more than just pop stars.'"

The programme features classics from the original album, such as Tumbling Dice, Happy and Rocks Off; plus more recently-discovered outtakes and newly-completed tracks such as Following The River.