Mick Jagger, My Father (Part One)

This all began with very intense research. When I was fourteen, I earned enough money to go out and buy a copy of “Exile on Main Street” by the Rolling Stones. I knew what I was looking for and why that particular album had to be in my collection. According to Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the top 100 albums of the last twenty years, this was the best album ever released by the band. It was described as sludgy, grimy and a true representation of their love of blues and country music.


Importantly, I listened to it on vinyl. Do you remember vinyl? Those black discs covered in grooves hypnotised me and made me feel that music truly was mysterious (gleaning sound from them seemed like the ultimate form of magic meeting technology). It was true that the album’s sound was not great (most basement recordings are like this; Dylan had the same problem) but it worked on me. It was first introduction to an entire Stones album and I feel fortunate that I was wise enough to start with a masterpiece.

Years later, I found “Goat’s Head Soup”, their next release after “Exile” and experienced the strangest sort of disappointment. It was not the individual songs that bothered me or the album cover (if Mick wanted to cover his face in a veil, it must have been a fashion statement in line with the times). Not even the sound production that was so clean it sucked out the energy from the songs aggravated me. What bothered me was coincidence.

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• All roads lead to Rolling Stones' 'Main Street' - Chicago Sun-Times (news.google.com)