''Exile on Main St.'' is an album by American
noise rock band
Pussy Galore, released in December 1986 by Shove Records.
The album itself is a
cover album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
. The entire project was an attempt at re-interpreting
The Rolling Stones' 1972 album ''
Exile on Main St.
''Exile on Main St.'' is the 10th British and 12th American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 12 May 1972 by Rolling Stones Records. Recording began in 1969 in England during sessions for ''Sticky Fingers'' a ...
'' in its entirety. Its only official release format was the
cassette tape
The Compact Cassette or Musicassette (MC), also commonly called the tape cassette, cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ottens ...
, in a limited run of only 550 hand-numbered copies.
Background
While Pussy Galore's version is an intentionally deconstructionist approach to remaking the original album, most of the songs on the album remain recognizable and reconcilable to their original versions. One notable exception is Pussy Galore's performance of "
Shine A Light", which, while itself an actual recording of that song, was purposefully distorted essentially beyond recognition. On a bootleg which circulates among fans, titled "Exile On Main Street (Unmixed Version)" or simply "Exile Unmixed", many performances that were purposefully obscured on the official release are clearly audible and it seems that the group did make somewhat of a sincere attempt to learn all eighteen songs from the original LP.
In addition to the general chaos, purposeful distortion, and incomprehensible mixing and editing, the record also contains bits of dialog from the band members arguing and yelling at one another, as well as some original Rolling Stones versions of tracks from "Exile..." bleeding through the mix at points. One notable appearance comes from what appears to be a copy of The Velvet Underground's song "Heroin", though it sounds as if it is skipping on a damaged vinyl record.
Reception
''
NME'' ranked the album number 253 in "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in October 2013.
David Browne called the album "the symbolic passing of the irreverent torch."
Track listing
Personnel
Adapted from the ''Exile on Main St'' liner notes.
Pussy Galore
*
Bob Bert –
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
,
percussion,
vocals
*
Julie Cafritz –
electric guitar, vocals
*
Neil Hagerty – electric guitar,
violin, percussion, vocals,
mixing
*
Cristina Martinez – electric guitar, vocals
*
Jon Spencer
Jon Spencer (born February 5, 1965) is an American singer, composer and guitarist. He has been involved in multiple musical acts, such as Pussy Galore, Boss Hog, Heavy Trash and The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.
History
Jon Spencer was born ...
–
lead vocals
The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...
, electric guitar, percussion, mixing
Production
* Rick Hall –
mixing,
cover art
Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game (box art), music album (album art), ...
*
Pussy Galore –
production
Release history
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Exile on Main St (Pussy Galore album)
1986 albums
Pussy Galore (band) albums
Covers albums
The Rolling Stones tribute albums