This Day in Music
Michael Fitzgibbon
Two stone-cold classics, a souvenir from the road, and Elvis is a degenerate gambler, on this day in music.
Exile on Main St.
1972: Legendary British Rock and Roll band The Rolling Stones release their 12th studio LP, the seminal double-album, “Exile on Main St.” The first of today’s “stone-cold” classics, because it’s The Rolling Stones.
Work on the album began in 1969 during the same sessions that produced “Sticky Fingers” in 1971, at Olympic studios in London, and at Mick Jagger’s countryside manor, Stargroves. However, by mid-year 1971, the band had to de-camp to a villa named Nellcôte in the South of France to avoid severe tax liabilities, becoming tax exiles as it were. With no professional recording studio nearby, they continued the sessions with a mobile studio inside the manse itself.
This environment contributed to the one criticism of the album, its murky and inconsistent sound quality. The band then had to again de-camp, this time to Los Angeles, to avoid the arrest of Keith Richards, the lessee of the property, for drug possession. Overdubs were done at Sunset Studios, which included brass arrangements and vocal parts. The Nellcôte sessions were legendary for their non-musical antics, and can be discovered in detail through the excellent Apple+ documentary series, 1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything, which dedicates an entire episode to the making of this record.
Though the sound quality wasn’t perfect, it contributed to the atmosphere of the great music. Dark, raunchy, and dirty Rock and Roll performed by a group of young, yet road-weary composers at the height of their creative abilities. A record of pure rock with a hard edge and not-so-subtle inclusions of country, blues, soul, and gospel, the music is modern, but anchored in the roots of 1950’s Rock and Roll.
The most popular track from the album would be the classic “Tumblin’ Dice,” though every song is among the best ever produced by the band, including the tracks “Rocks Off,” “Rip This Joint,” “Torn and Frayed,” “Loving Cup,” “Happy,” “All Down the Line,” “Sweet Virginia,” and “Shine a Light.”
Universally acclaimed by critics, the LP is rated 5-stars at AllMusic, Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Q, The Rolling Stone Album Guide, and Uncut; it was rated 10/10 by NME and Pitchfork; graded A+ by Robert Christgau of The Village Voice (what!?); and an A+ from Entertainment Weekly, producing a rare MetaCritic score of 100/100.
Music fans were as excited about the work as the critics, sending it to No. 1 on the Billboard 200, No. 1 on the U.K. Albums List, No. 1 on the Canada RPM Top Albums Chart, and No. 1 in Netherlands, Norway, and Spain, plus Top-Five almost everywhere else. Typical for a Stones’ record, though it topped the charts and received massive radio play, it did not sell a commensurate number of copies for a No. 1, shipping just under 1.5 million. This is likely because the Stones are perceived as a singles band (not by me, though), with most audiences focusing on their compilations when purchasing their music. In fact, three of the band’s ten-highest selling packages are compilations.
I find it hard to rank the top albums of my favourite artists, so I can’t decide if “Exile on Main St.” is my favourite Stones’ record, but when I listen to it today it will be my favourite!
Are You Experienced
1967: “Are You Experienced,” the debut studio album by American-British psychedelic power-blues trio, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, is released. The second of today’s “stone-cold” classics, because the song “Third Stone from the Sun” appears on the record, the LP was an immediate and immense commercial success.
Widely considered as one of the Rock and Roll oeuvre’s greatest albums of all time, it achieved top marks from all critics, including 5-stars from AllMusic, Blender, DownBeat, Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Q, and The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Even Robert Christgau, who wrote the 5-star review for Blender, considered it one of the great debut records. No doubt it would achieve 100/100 at MetaCritic if it was tracked.
The LP peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, No. 2 in the U.K., and only No. 15 in Canada. However, its massive popularity is responsible for its total sales of over five million copies, earning 5x Platinum certification in the U.S. That’s no surprise, as the record features some of Hendrix’s most-classic songs, including “Foxey Lady,” “Manic Depression,” “Hey Joe,” “Third Stone from the Sun,” “Fire,” “The Wind Cries Mary,” “Purple Haze,” and “Are You Experienced,” on the U.S. release.
In the U.K., “Red House” is included instead of “Purple Haze,” along with “Can You See Me” instead of “Hey Joe,” and the proper spelling of “Foxy Lady.” “The Wind Cries Mary” was a non-album single in the U.K. and did not appear on the LP.
A legacy and influential recording, it makes the cut on many greatest lists, including Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (c) 2020 at No. 30, the No. 1 Greatest Guitar Album of All Time by Mojo (c) 2013, Larkin’s 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, and it was chosen for inclusion in the Library of Congress National Recording Registry in 2005.
I simply adore this album, from start to finish, and will of course put it on the ol’ Victrola right after “Exile on Main Street” today.
Can’t Forget: A Souvenir of the Grand Tour
2015: Legendary Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, and novelist, Leonard Cohen releases his eighth and final contemporary live album, “Can't Forget: A Souvenir of the Grand Tour.”
Taken from performances and sound checks on his massive 2012-2013 world tour, it is a collection of 10 live versions of both well-known and lesser-known Cohen compositions, along with covers of the songs “Choices,” a 1997 country number by Mike Curtis and Billy Yates, and “Le Manic,” by Québécois songwriter George Dor, which he performed in Québec City. The set also includes the new compositions, “Got A Little Secret” and “Never Gave Nobody Trouble.”
Other standout tracks include “I Can't Forget” from his 1988 album, “I'm Your man,” “Night Comes On,” from 1984's “Various Positions,” and “Field Commander Cohen,” from “New Skin for the Old Ceremony,” his fabulous album from 1974, and also the title of his third contemporary live album.
“Can’t Forget: A Souvenir of the Grand Tour” went to No. 8 in Canada, and broke into the Top-20 all across Europe.
The Daily Elvis
1965: Elvis begins recording sessions for the Frankie and Johnny movie soundtrack. The film would be released on March 31, 1966 and see Elvis playing Johnny, a riverboat performer and compulsive gambler, alongside Frankie, played by Donna Douglas, his performance partner, but not a gambler, setting the scene for tension!
