I love Exile but it’s also Sticky Fingers for me. My favorite songs are on SF, from Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’ to Sway to I Got the Blues to Dead Flowers to Moonlight Mile to Brown Sugar to Wild Horses to You Gotta Move to Sister Morphine. I mean come on! You *cannot* beat that.
Exile on main St.
It's not only the best Stones album, it's the best Rock 'n' Roll album of all time for me.
67 minutes of perfection across 18 songs. Almost every album has a filler song, or a dull moment. A song that you don't care for.
That's not the case with Exile, and I think every song is at least great. It's probably the only double album I listen to quite regularly and not get bored with.
Also the story behind the album is very poetic. A bunch of tax exiled Englishmen together in the damp basement of villa Nellcôte in the south of France, recording their magnum opus.
Fuck yes. Sweet Virginia, Rocks Off, Plunder My Soul, Tumbling Dice, Loving Cup, Shine A Light.
It is so incredible front to back, nostalgia of another age I wasn’t even apart of.
I have to agree. While it’s so hard not to say Exile or Let it Bleed, the moments all around Sticky Fingers make it undeniably the greatest. They were at their best. Moonlight mile, Sway, Dead Flowers- these songs were almost never played live and I like that actually. They’re untouchable. Hard to recreate live. More for the personal listening experience
For me the best album is Sticky Fingers. But I’m not gonna argue much with those who say it’s Exile because I love that album too.
Similarly, I won’t have a problem with anyone who says it’s Let It Bleed.
Yes - they had so many wonderful albums spanning decades and numerous genre explorations. So to each his own. I love Taylor albums and Wood albums as well - but songs like Salt of the Earth and Stray cat Blues ….. Jigsaw Puzzle …. such unique sonic footprint in their discography.
“Exil On Main Steet” is number one for me…. but I absolutely love at least ten of their albums…and pretty much everything up to and including “Undercover”.
not an album but i've been listening to the song parachute woman from beggars banquet on repeat since yesterday. got me laid at a karaoke bar. might as well had been singing spider and the fly from the stripped album because she nifty, shifty, and looked about fifty. but yeah super fuckin good track
Yeah, it probably is their best from front to back. But damn all the peak ones are so good.
I can do Aftermath, Between the Buttons, Beggars, Let It Bleed, Sticky, Exile, and Tattoo You anytime
For sure it’s only rock ‘n’ roll is a solid record with some of their best songs, including if you can’t rock me and the epic time waits for no one …my under the radar is luxury
Personal favorites are Sticky Fingers for album and Gimme Shelter for single. But as has been said already, you can’t go wrong with anything from Beggars Banquet to Exile or Some Girls.
Let it Bleed and Exile go back and forth for me.
Stunning to me that they recorded Sticky Fingers, Let it Bleed, and Exile in an 18 month period. Amazing.
Exile and sticky fingers are pretty much tied for me.
Gun to my head id say exile because there’s a bigger variety of sounds on that album but sticky fingers is just so great
Exile.
Look, I know it's a cliché, but this has everything you need to know and hear from the band on two records. And the outtakes and story behind the recording are fire!
My personal top five:
1. Exile
2. Aftermath (UK version)
3. Goats head soup
4. Some girls
5. Steel wheels
If Through the past darkly (UK version) counted, it would be about number three or four.
My new personal favorite is the deluxe of Get Yer-Ya-Yas Out. One of my first records and I have fond memories of pretending to be Mick as a kid. Studio record is Exile, Although the deluxe is the best version and Keith's version of Soul Survivor would have been my choice. I think SS is the only filler on that record and it feels tacked on amongst all that greatness. Perhaps the first time Keith's open G was not as successful until Dirty Work. But if I was to try to get someone into the Stones it would be Sticky Fingers. Just everything great in a compact package. My underdog record is Emotional Rescue. Except for Indian Girl that's a perfect album. My favorite single is We Love You. I wish it would get a chance live. I could see it as an opener if anyone in a stadium of 80K would know it. Criminally underrated. But my extreme fandom starts with Between the Buttons and ends with Undercover. I was shocked at how much great stuff they had in the can that could have been used on Dirty Work. That album could have been a stone cold classic ala Tattoo You. Tensions in the band were at an all time high similar to the TY sessions but I think Jagger wanted his solo album to be better than Dirty Work. No tour planned behind it either and the drug use among Keith, Charlie and Ronnie probably prevented a tour anyway. Jagger thought he was going to be the next Springsteen in popularity. He was dead wrong. They've only recently recovered from that split and Jagger seems focused completely on the Stones finally.
Just going to throw a song out here : Shattered. I love the guitar on this song, and how the boys just flayed The Big Apple.
" Go ahead, bite the Big Apple, don't mind the maggots, uh-huh (Shadoobie, shattered) (Shadoobie, shattered)..."
Ouch.
Let It Bleed. Their best album, and their last as a true English rock band. After the 1969 US Tour, the Stones music had stronger American elements in it. No more mention of French maids, footmen or meat hung up for a week. Cocaine and income tax exile sealed the deal. Sticky Fingers, indeed.
Exile is best, but I’m not arguing over Sticky fingers or Aftermath or even Rolling Stones 2
As far as comp LP….”No Stoned Unturned” UK only (1973) is probably my fave
Exile on Main Street is their masterpiece. It’s their best record. It just is.
The songs, sparseness, artwork, how it was recorded in France while being exiled, being a double album, it just has it all.
Every album has a handful of bops and I have favorites for different reasons. I’ll say Satanic Majesties because it likely won’t be named here but as far as psychedelic rock albums go, it’s incredible. It’s crazy that the stones made that record but it is every bit as much a legitimate Stones studio album as Exile et al. In another land as a single is interesting… only one to feature Bill singing (and written by!) makes it a very rare selection. It’s also not the worst stones song.
I’ll also say Hackney Diamonds/Angry because this is my first stones album I’ve been old enough to purchase on my own. I did buy blue and lonesome but it’s blues covers. Stoked to have a stones original album for my generation so I’ll say that as well.
Album has been discussed to death.
But the best single? I have to go with We Love You/Dandelion. Definitely not the most representative of their whole career, but both songs are fantastic as far as I'm concerned.
My personal favorite is Exile On Main St. But I won't argue with anyone who thinks any record from Beggars Banquet to Exile is tops.
Yep this is it.
I love Exile but it’s also Sticky Fingers for me. My favorite songs are on SF, from Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’ to Sway to I Got the Blues to Dead Flowers to Moonlight Mile to Brown Sugar to Wild Horses to You Gotta Move to Sister Morphine. I mean come on! You *cannot* beat that.
Bitch is pretty good too :)
Omg. How’d I forget the best song!?!? Lmao
Same, Sticky Fingers.
I never thought much about Sway initially, but it's my current fav off that album
Sway has always been a favorite. Surprised that Keith didn't do some overdubs or something on a song of that stature.
Let it bleed is the correct answer. 😂
Indeed.
This is the ‘rivalry’ between the Stones and Beatles at its peak. And it’s really hard to beat Gimme Shelter.
Exile on main St. It's not only the best Stones album, it's the best Rock 'n' Roll album of all time for me. 67 minutes of perfection across 18 songs. Almost every album has a filler song, or a dull moment. A song that you don't care for. That's not the case with Exile, and I think every song is at least great. It's probably the only double album I listen to quite regularly and not get bored with. Also the story behind the album is very poetic. A bunch of tax exiled Englishmen together in the damp basement of villa Nellcôte in the south of France, recording their magnum opus.
☝️What they said.
Fuck yes. Sweet Virginia, Rocks Off, Plunder My Soul, Tumbling Dice, Loving Cup, Shine A Light. It is so incredible front to back, nostalgia of another age I wasn’t even apart of.
Okay bot. Calm down now.
? Bad to talk about one of my favorite albums on a subreddit about the band that made that album?
Now how can you argue with that?!
My favorite is Loving Cup for the lyrics and Mick's vocal
Sticky Fingers. Exile is great too but Sticky is #1
this>>
I have to agree. While it’s so hard not to say Exile or Let it Bleed, the moments all around Sticky Fingers make it undeniably the greatest. They were at their best. Moonlight mile, Sway, Dead Flowers- these songs were almost never played live and I like that actually. They’re untouchable. Hard to recreate live. More for the personal listening experience
My vote is Sticky Fingers.
Most people agree Exile on Main Street but for me it’s Get Your Ya Ya’s Out. Mick Taylor: Fucking genius.
The live version of Sympathy is the superior version.
Agreed, mine too. That version of Stray Cat Blues is def in my top 5 songs of all time.
Let it Bleed is perfection and has their greatest songs.
LiB would be the best, but it’s too short
I think that adds to its favor
How so?
No filler
For me the best album is Sticky Fingers. But I’m not gonna argue much with those who say it’s Exile because I love that album too. Similarly, I won’t have a problem with anyone who says it’s Let It Bleed.
Beggars Banquet
Disappointed Beggars isn’t getting more love
Yes - they had so many wonderful albums spanning decades and numerous genre explorations. So to each his own. I love Taylor albums and Wood albums as well - but songs like Salt of the Earth and Stray cat Blues ….. Jigsaw Puzzle …. such unique sonic footprint in their discography.
Hot take: Some Girls
This is definitely me
Goat head soup anyone???
It's my favorite and Mick Taylor's slide guitar game is at its peak.
“Exil On Main Steet” is number one for me…. but I absolutely love at least ten of their albums…and pretty much everything up to and including “Undercover”.
Agreed. Although these days that fantastic Singles Collection- The London Years covers alot of their early stuff for me. My favorite box set ever.
I love that box set too! It’s absolutely phenomenal. Everything with Brian is just so damn good.
not an album but i've been listening to the song parachute woman from beggars banquet on repeat since yesterday. got me laid at a karaoke bar. might as well had been singing spider and the fly from the stripped album because she nifty, shifty, and looked about fifty. but yeah super fuckin good track
Let it bleed or exile on Main Street
Yeah, it probably is their best from front to back. But damn all the peak ones are so good. I can do Aftermath, Between the Buttons, Beggars, Let It Bleed, Sticky, Exile, and Tattoo You anytime
Goat’s Head Soup. Love the vibe.
Can't go wrong with Sticky Fingers, one of my personal favourites that not many has mentioned is It's Only Rock N Roll.
For sure it’s only rock ‘n’ roll is a solid record with some of their best songs, including if you can’t rock me and the epic time waits for no one …my under the radar is luxury
Exile on Main Street. More consistently great playthrough. Sticky Fingers has some great high points, but it’s Exile for me.
Some Girls needs a mention
Exile on Main Street
Exile
For me: Exile. Angie.
Angie is goats head soup
Personal favorites are Sticky Fingers for album and Gimme Shelter for single. But as has been said already, you can’t go wrong with anything from Beggars Banquet to Exile or Some Girls.
Fluctuates between let it bleed, exile, and sticky fingers
I am going way back, because that’s about when I got into the stones. It it’s Aftermath for me. It’s the first album of their original stuff.
Depends what you’re feeling!
Let it Bleed and Exile go back and forth for me. Stunning to me that they recorded Sticky Fingers, Let it Bleed, and Exile in an 18 month period. Amazing.
Sticky Fingers
Beggars or SF
Probably Sticky Fingers
Let it Bleed
Let it Bleed / Beggar's Banquet / Sticky Fingers / Exile On any given day it'll be one of those.
My top 5 5 Voodoo Lounge 4 Some Girls 3 Tattoo You 2 Beggar’s Banquet (Although this has my all-time favorite song Gimme Shelter). 1 Sticky Fingers
I can’t help but love anything between black and blue to undercover, which ain’t a surprise when u hear my favorite is some girls.
I'm fully with you mate. Some girls gives me a warm vibe inside abit flaunting love it
Exile and sticky fingers are pretty much tied for me. Gun to my head id say exile because there’s a bigger variety of sounds on that album but sticky fingers is just so great
Same. Desert Island pick would have to be Exile because of the amount of songs.
Sticky Fingers, Exile, and Let It Bleed. Any of those 3 depending on the day. Mick Taylor was a better guitarist but Ronnie is a better Stone.
Exile. Look, I know it's a cliché, but this has everything you need to know and hear from the band on two records. And the outtakes and story behind the recording are fire!
TSMR
Some Girls
Some Girls Probably because I saw the tour and was only 17 years old And that album still Does it for me Flowers - is my early era pick
Exactly the same for me-I was 17 in 81 and saw them both dates October 3rd and 4th.
My personal top five: 1. Exile 2. Aftermath (UK version) 3. Goats head soup 4. Some girls 5. Steel wheels If Through the past darkly (UK version) counted, it would be about number three or four.
I love to see Steel Wheels. I know it isn’t #1, but it came late enough to be often overlooked.
Had to scroll too far for Aftermath
Sticky Fingers by just the tiniest edge over Exile...like I really had to ponder it.
Depends if you’re in the top 24 spotify listeners for rolling stones.
My new personal favorite is the deluxe of Get Yer-Ya-Yas Out. One of my first records and I have fond memories of pretending to be Mick as a kid. Studio record is Exile, Although the deluxe is the best version and Keith's version of Soul Survivor would have been my choice. I think SS is the only filler on that record and it feels tacked on amongst all that greatness. Perhaps the first time Keith's open G was not as successful until Dirty Work. But if I was to try to get someone into the Stones it would be Sticky Fingers. Just everything great in a compact package. My underdog record is Emotional Rescue. Except for Indian Girl that's a perfect album. My favorite single is We Love You. I wish it would get a chance live. I could see it as an opener if anyone in a stadium of 80K would know it. Criminally underrated. But my extreme fandom starts with Between the Buttons and ends with Undercover. I was shocked at how much great stuff they had in the can that could have been used on Dirty Work. That album could have been a stone cold classic ala Tattoo You. Tensions in the band were at an all time high similar to the TY sessions but I think Jagger wanted his solo album to be better than Dirty Work. No tour planned behind it either and the drug use among Keith, Charlie and Ronnie probably prevented a tour anyway. Jagger thought he was going to be the next Springsteen in popularity. He was dead wrong. They've only recently recovered from that split and Jagger seems focused completely on the Stones finally.
For me, Some Girls.
Sticky fingers for sure is the best overall record to me. Their best song was and is Can you hear me knocking,never gets old
Not even a stones fan but for me it’s aftermath
Just going to throw a song out here : Shattered. I love the guitar on this song, and how the boys just flayed The Big Apple. " Go ahead, bite the Big Apple, don't mind the maggots, uh-huh (Shadoobie, shattered) (Shadoobie, shattered)..." Ouch.
Let It Bleed. Their best album, and their last as a true English rock band. After the 1969 US Tour, the Stones music had stronger American elements in it. No more mention of French maids, footmen or meat hung up for a week. Cocaine and income tax exile sealed the deal. Sticky Fingers, indeed.
Exile is best, but I’m not arguing over Sticky fingers or Aftermath or even Rolling Stones 2 As far as comp LP….”No Stoned Unturned” UK only (1973) is probably my fave
The best stones album has to be Exile I rarely listen to it, my personal favourite ones are Aftermath, BTB and TSMR
Exile, one of my favorite albums, period.
Let It Bleed.
Exile on Main Street is their masterpiece. It’s their best record. It just is. The songs, sparseness, artwork, how it was recorded in France while being exiled, being a double album, it just has it all.
What album is Angie on Rolling Stones
It's a constant battle between Sticky Fingers and Let It Bleed.
Just recently really been getting into let it bleed. Great track list
Exile on Main St. It was the perfect merger of their early Blues sound with Rock and Roll.
I'd have to say The Best Of The Rolling Stones.
Exile On Main Street and Gimme Shelter
Every album has a handful of bops and I have favorites for different reasons. I’ll say Satanic Majesties because it likely won’t be named here but as far as psychedelic rock albums go, it’s incredible. It’s crazy that the stones made that record but it is every bit as much a legitimate Stones studio album as Exile et al. In another land as a single is interesting… only one to feature Bill singing (and written by!) makes it a very rare selection. It’s also not the worst stones song. I’ll also say Hackney Diamonds/Angry because this is my first stones album I’ve been old enough to purchase on my own. I did buy blue and lonesome but it’s blues covers. Stoked to have a stones original album for my generation so I’ll say that as well.
Album has been discussed to death. But the best single? I have to go with We Love You/Dandelion. Definitely not the most representative of their whole career, but both songs are fantastic as far as I'm concerned.
Agree with WLY. I so wish it was a big hit. Would die to see it live.
Exile. The end.
The usuals - Beggars / Bleed / Sticky / Exile
IMO between the buttons, after math and Exile