Doobie Brothers - Long Train Running

Without love. Where would you be now?

Boston - Don’t Look Back

Some songs can help to save your life...

Pete Shelley

Heard the terribly sad news last night that Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks had died of a heart attack at the age of 63.

He wrote and sang some of the best songs of the late 70s and beyond. Originally a punk band, The Buzzcocks transcended categorisation and created some of pop music's finest moments. I had the pleasure of seeing them in concert in early 1980 with Joy Division as the support group.

Rest In Peace Pete, and thank you.

Daft Punk - Lose Yourself To Dance

Those were the days...

Arctic Monkeys - Four Out Of Five (Official Audio)

It's such an easy flight...

Band On The Run (Remastered 2010)

If we ever get out of here...

Abba - Summer Night City (Unreleased Full Length Version)

It's a dream, it's out of reach.  Scattered driftwood on the beach...

Songs of the Seventies - Sly & The Family Stone

You're wearing out your shoes...

Songs of the Seventies - Elton John

It's a little bit funny...

Songs of the Seventies - The Isley Brothers

Ernie Isley bringing Jimi Hendrix back to life...

Songs of the Seventies - America

“Alligator lizards in the air”...

Songs of the Seventies - The Doobie Brothers

Hang on to your dreams...

Songs of the Sixties - Richard Harris

MacArthur Park is one of the greatest songs of the 20th Century, let alone one of the best of the 1960s. Taking in lost love, regret and despair, Jimmy Webb's masterpiece makes most other songs seem so ordinary. The fact that Richard Harris strains to reach some of the notes makes it all even more poignant...

Songs of the Seventies - Harold Melvin and The Bluenotes

Stupendous song. Perhaps the greatest of all 70s hits...

Songs of the Seventies - Boz Scaggs

Sweet soul music from 1976...

Songs of the Seventies - X Ray Spex

A true gem from 1978...

Songs of the Seventies - Steely Dan

Sublime song from The Royal Scam LP...

Songs of the Seventies - Focus

Just about my favourite memory of the Old Grey Whistle Test...

Beatles Band - The End

Britain and The Beatles had changed dramatically since this story began in 1962.  Hair had grown longer, music had exploded and television was now in colour.  Amongst many stand out shows that included Dr Who, Man In A Suitcase and The Prisoner, The Avengers with Linda Thorson as Tara King replacing Diana Rigg’s Emma Peel was my favourite, with John Steed and Tara regularly encountering a range of villains and foiling their dastardly plots.

The Beatles followed their tumultuous 1967 by going to India in February 1968.  They visited Rishikesh in northern India to take part in an advanced Transcendental Meditation training course at the ashram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.  Other musicians and celebrities joining them there included Donovan, Mike Love and Mia Farrow.  The course was for three months, but Ringo left after only ten days complaining of boredom and that it was apparently “just like Butlin’s”.  McCartney followed him home soon afterwards and Lennon and Harrison departed in early April following stories that the Yogi was more interested in certain women there than in meditating!

In March, Lady Madonna had been released as the group’s new single.  An exuberant boogie-woogie song, it features well known jazz musician Ronnie Scott on tenor saxophone and seemed to indicate the band were moving back towards more “traditional” sounds following their psychedelic experiments of recent times.

The fab four had been writing a lot of songs in India and sessions began soon afterwards for what was to become The Beatles LP (or the ‘White Album’).  During these sessions, Ringo walked out for a fortnight after Paul got on his nerves resulting in McCartney playing drums on a few tracks.  Ringo returned to much love and contributed his first song (Don't Pass Me By) to a Beatles album.  Starr was not the only trouble Beatle though. George Harrison had been thinking of leaving the group since 1966 and was becoming more frustrated with Paul in particular.  Meanwhile John had brought Yoko to the studios which broke the band’s prior agreement that no wives or girlfriends should attend recording sessions.

It was clear that tensions were rising and the double LP was in effect a collection of solo performances augmented by other band members when required.  But what a collection it was!  Thirty songs that ranged from the opening rocker Back in the USSR to the highly personal Julia and from the haunting Cry Baby Cry to the closing lullaby Good Night.  However,  lurking on on Side Four was Revolution 9 which was indeed a revolutionary (for pop music) soundscape collage of tapes to which Yoko Ono contributed greatly.

There was one song that had been a part of the sessions that was not included on the LP as it had been released as a single in August that year.  Hey Jude had evolved from a ballad called Hey Jules that Paul had written for Julian Lennon to comfort him during his parents divorce.  The final version was over seven minutes long and featured the famous four minute fade out at the end.

Here is their performance of the song which was broadcast on Frost On Sunday on 8th September 1968:

The Beatles next gathered together in January 1969 to record songs for Let It Be.  Originally titled Get Back, the idea was primarily Paul’s attempt to encourage the band to perform a one off live concert.  The sessions were filmed for a motion picture that came out (like the eventual album) in May 1970.  The film shows the group gradually disintegrating as disagreements surface at various points.

George actually left the band in early January following a row with John.  He was persuaded to return a week later on the condition that the live concert be cancelled.  Despite this atmosphere, there are some very good songs on the album including the title track, Two of Us, Get Back and The Long and Winding Road.  On 30 January, The Beatles performed together publicly as a group for the final time on the rooftop of the Apple building (with Billy Preston on keyboards).  They finished with Get Back:

On 22 February 1969, the group got together to start recording what would be their final album, Abbey Road.  It took six months to complete and was overall a happier experience than the Let It Be sessions.  Released in late September, the LP was a fitting end to the band that had helped to shape much of the decade’s pop music and culture.  John’s acerbic Come Together starts things off and the album also features George’s lovely Something, Paul’s frightening Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, Ringo’s charming Octopus’s Garden and of course the famous ‘Long Medley” on Side Two.

The Medley consisted of sixteen minutes of eight short songs featuring the exquisite You Never Give Me Your Money followed by Sun King, Mean Mr Mustard, Polythene Pam, She Came in Through the Bathroom Window, Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight and finally The End.  Except it wasn’t quite the end as after some seconds of silence, Her Majesty crashes in and really does complete The Beatles career together.

Here are the final three songs of the Long Medley:

The Beatles had helped make the 1960s an unforgettable decade.  Their legacy lives on through the marvellous music they made.

Beatles Band - A Magical Mystery Tour

1966 was a memorable year in many ways. Harold Wilson called a General Election and increased Labour’s majority to ninety six!  The World Cup came to England and the hosts actually won it!  And a dog called Pickles became a national hero…

Meanwhile, The Beatles released Revolver. Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys had convinced the Fab Four to up their game even further and their seventh album was indeed a landmark in pop music. Recording began in April and the first song attempted was Tomorrow Never Knows which actually ended up as the final track on the LP.  Featuring tape loops, backward guitars and a constant and unchanging drum beat, it was a whole new world.  Revolver also included classics such as For No One, Got To Get You Into My Life, And Your Bird Can Sing, Good Day Sunshine, Here,There and Everywhere and Eleanor Rigby.

One of the greatest songs of the 1960s, Eleanor Rigby was a sad and moving tale of a woman who   “Waits at the window, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door”. When she dies, nobody comes to her funeral.   At the time of its release, the UK was in the middle of the ‘Swinging Sixties’, but the decade was far from swinging for everybody.  Eleanor Rigby was a stark reminder of the lives of many people who tried to lead good lives and do their best in very difficult circumstances.

The Beatles toured the United States for one final time soon after Revolver was released, before announcing they were giving up live performances for good.

A few months later in February 1967, Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever were released as a double A-sided single.  Originally meant to be part of the upcoming Sgt. Pepper album, the group’s record company pressured The Beatles for new product.  Penny Lane was a cheerful tale of Paul McCartney’s Liverpool childhood memories, but although Strawberry Fields Forever was John Lennon’s take on the same, it sounded like a whole new type of pop music.  Kept off the top spot by Englebert Humperdink’s Release Me, the single was the band’s first since Love Me Do to not reach Number One.

However, Strawberry Fields especially signaled that The Beatles were again exploring new soundscapes and setting new trends.  Within four months, this was confirmed by the release of what many consider to be their finest LP..Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Beginning with the title track, the album takes listeners on a journey like no other.  From the down to earth With a Little Help From My Friends to the poignant She’s Leaving Home; from the thoughtful Getting Better to the cynical Good Morning, Good Morning; from the psychedelic Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds to the whimsical When I’m Sixty-Four; and from the exotic Within You Without You to the hopeful Lovely Rita, the songs take the form of a carnival.  The band members all later admitted that drugs such as marijuana and LSD influenced the dreamlike quality of their work, but it is also clear that such a focused set of songs was also the result of much hard work and discipline.  

Their producer George Martin must also take huge credit for the stunning arrangements that contribute to the overall success of Sgt. Pepper.  The LP of course finishes with what many consider to be their finest ever song, the staggering A Day in the Life

Soon after this release, The Beatles contributed their new single All You Need is Love to Our World which was the first live and international satellite television production, which was broadcast on 25 June 1967. Basically a sing-a-long, it was a marked deterioration in quality from their recent songs.

In late August that year, the group’s manager Brian Epstein died of an overdose of sleeping tablets. The band were understandably shocked by this and reportedly wondered whether this could be the end for them.  However, McCartney managed to persuade the others back to the recording studio to produce the Magical Mystery Tour double EP.  It was the soundtrack  to their film of the same name which was first broadcast on BBC1 on Boxing Day 1967.  Most critics hated the film, but I enjoyed it and the music was back to their best.  Stand out songs included the title track, Hello Goodbye, The Fool on the Hill, Your Mother Should Know and the incredible I Am the Walrus which took Lennon’s surrealism to new heights.

The Beatles were now indeed the “toppermost of the poppermost”.  They had taken pop music into different and exciting areas that set a new standard for their peers.  We shall see, however, in the final part of this tale how the fab four slowly fell apart before finishing with a final flourish.

Beatles Band - In My Life

Britain in the early 1960s. A land still recovering from the cataclysm of World War Two. Searching for a role as the Empire slipped away, the UK seemed trapped between the United States and the European Common Market.

Elvis had come out of the army and gone into the movies. The Shadows were duelling guitars and Cliff was on a Summer Holiday. And in Northern England, a four piece group were swapping drummers.

“Love, love me do…

At Abbey Road studios, George Martin gave The Beatles the chance to respond to his criticisms of their audition performances “I’ve laid into you for quite a long time,” he said. “You haven’t responded. Is there anything you don’t like?” “Well, for a start,” replied George Harrison, “I don’t like your tie.”

…You know I love you”.

The Fab Four’s first hit was a starkly simple song that is memorable mainly for John Lennon’s haunting harmonica sound.  Released on 5th October 1962, it reached Number 17 in the UK Singles Chart and is one of the first songs I remember hearing on the radio.  Just over three months later, their second single Please Please Me came out. 

This was undoubtedly a step up from their debut and in some charts (though not the “official” one) reached Number 1. The start of a run of fantastic singles that carried on throughout the decade, Please Please Me seemed almost like an electrical storm lighting up the country with its relentless rhythm and canny chord changes. John Lennon’s peerless lead vocals complemented by Paul McCartney’s higher notes (that remain high as the melody descends) were a wake up call to the rest of the pop music industry that suddenly seemed as old fashioned as the rapidly fading Conservative government of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.

March 1963 saw the release of the band’s first LP Please Please Me, which as well as their two singles, featured twelve other “poptastic” songs. The final track on the album was Twist and Shout. Originally an Isley Brothers hit, the Beatles version was a barnstorming performance that featured Lennon’s screaming and shouting the chorus. I saw the fab four in Llandudno in August 1963, and the song brought the concert to a climax in more ways than one as teenage girls screamed their approval!

With The Beatles was the group’s second LP which like their first, featured a mixture of Lennon & McCartney original songs and cover versions. A fine follow up that was released in November 1963, it again showed a band growing in confidence.

However, their next album A Hard Day’s Night was a true milestone. It consisted of thirteen self penned songs ranging from the peerless title track to the stupendous Can’t Buy Me Love, which were both Number 1 singles in their own right. The LP’s A Side was the accompanying  feature film’s soundtrack and the album and movie confirmed The Beatles position at the toppermost of British pop music and culture.

Later that year (1964), Beatles For Sale was released. The cover showed the foursome looking a bit tired and the songs seemed somewhat more downbeat than previous releases. The lead song No Reply was another Lennon classic that set the mood for a more thoughtful set of songs.

The group’s second film Help! came out in 1965, again with an album soundtrack. The movie was a zany tale involving a tale conceding a jewel of Ringo’s wanted by different people. My favourite track remains You’re Going To Lose That Girl, and the LP of course also featured the famous Yesterday.

The Beatles were undoubtedly still at the pinnacle of pop music and had conquered the United States, but since A Hard Day’s Night their songs had in many ways not moved on. However, in late 1965, the band’s sixth album Rubber Soul reaffirmed their desire to explore new and different forms of music. 

Drive My Car was indeed a driving, funky start to the LP, with McCartney’s bass mixed to the fore. Norwegian Wood, Nowhere Man and You Won’t See Me followed on and confirmed the group were indeed progressing in terms of quality and performance. It was on the second side though that the best song on the album (and one of their best ever) was to be found. In My Life was a reflective and extremely moving song that showed Lennon and the band at the peak of their powers.

It had been only three short years since The Beatles had first hit the charts and they had come a very long way. However, little did we know what would come next…

David Bowie - The Golden Years

“Where have all poppa’s heroes gone? Living in New York, everyone” - Ian MacDonald in the New Musical Express, March 1975.

It had been a mighty long way from Brixton to Broadway, but David Bowie had finally made it in America. His Diamond Dogs/Philly Dogs tour of the US in 1974 had cemented his fame Stateside and Aladdin Sane had changed into.....???

Bowie himself called his Young Americans LP “plastic soul”, but what plastic it was! The title track alone was a masterpiece, telling the story of two youngsters who discover that the “American Dream” is not attainable for all. Including references ranging from Sgt Pepper to President Nixon, it was a big change from his earlier songs. Apart from Bowie’s voice, the most startling sound on the single was David Sanborn’s rasping saxophone. 

Other soul searching songs on the album included Fascination, Somebody Up There Likes Me, Win, Can You Hear Me and Right. The two other tracks, however, had a John Lennon connection. The news that Bowie was recording a (frankly awful) version of Across The Universe had stirred the ex Beatle's interest which eventually resulted in the extremely funky Fame collaboration between Bowie, Carlos Alomar & Lennon that finished the LP.

In January 1975, the BBC aired a documentary in their Omnibus series called Cracked Actor. The programme made by Alan Yentob, featured David Bowie in America throughout the latter half of 1974 when he was taking copious amounts of cocaine and seemingly living on milk and chillies! 

Soon afterwards a new career in a new town called when Nicolas Roeg wanted Bowie to play the role of Thomas Jerome Newton in his film of Walter Tevis’s outstanding novel, The Man Who Fell To Earth. The story concerned an alien who comes to Earth in an attempt to save the people left on his home planet which is dying from a lack of water. Bowie was perfect for the role of the alien who is ultimately driven insane by humanity.

Following this film, Bowie returned to Los Angeles to record his next album, Station To Station. Apparently, his already prodigious cocaine habit worsened yet he created some of his finest songs of the decade. The title track is a ten minute tour de force based lyrically on the Stations of the Cross. 

Starting with the sound of a speeding train, the song gradually builds by adding piano, bass and Earl Slick's remarkable feedbacked guitar before Dennis Davis's drums signal the slow march towards Bowie's memorable first line: 

"The return of the thin white duke, throwing darts in lovers eyes."

The first half of the song is a relentlessly circular, almost hypnotic five minutes before Davis’s drum break ushers in the second half which is faster and more upbeat. The crucial lines here seem to be:

“It’s not the side effects of the cocaine. I’m thinking that it must be love.” 

The hit single Golden Years follows and is a fine mixture of funk that featured on the American TV show Soul Train at the time.

Word On A Wing finishes Side One and is a cascading ballad to God asking for possible salvation. TVC15 kicks off Side Two and at the time was referred to as being about a television set that ate Bowie’s girlfriend! The funk factor almost overloads with the next song Stay as the singer croons his doubts about commitment, but is overshadowed by the final couple of minutes where Carlos Alomar and Earl Slick trade guitar licks underpinned by George Murray’s bass. The lovely ballad Wild Is The Wind completes the album and is probably the best cover song that Bowie ever recorded.  The song was originally sung  by Johnny Mathis, but Nina Simone’s version seems to be more of an inspiration for David.

I saw Bowie and his band at Wembley Arena in May 1976 when he was touring as The Thin White Duke, and can attest to how great the songs and band were. However, it did seem a somewhat cold and emotionless evening, but of course this was before David finally decided to kick his coke habit and return to Europe to live.

What followed was perhaps his finest piece of work - Low. Originally titled New Music: Night and Day, the album was unlike most anything else I had heard when it was released in January 1977. The first side consisted of seven short songs (two of which were entirely instrumental) and Side Two contained four longer experimental soundscapes. There was also a big hit single taken from Side One that featured Mary Hopkin on backing vocals:

The last track on Side Two, Subterraneans remains one of Bowie's greatest achievements. Apparently a lament for the people of East Berlin left behind the Berlin Wall, the song features lyrics that seem almost like "normal" words, but not quite. One interpretation of one line could be perhaps "Shine bright failing star", but others may disagree.

Later that same year, Bowie released his next LP "Heroes". The title track was a huge success as a single and refers to a couple of lovers sharing an illicit kiss just outside the studio. Brian Eno had helped with the Low album and brought in Robert Fripp to play guitar on this one. His playing enhanced many of the songs, especially this one:

In 1979, the Lodger album came out. Although there are some fine songs featured, this LP still seems to be a step back from his previous works although the lead single, Boys Keep Swinging had a memorable video:

1980 saw the release of Scary Monsters and Super Creeps. A fine album that again showcased Fripp's guitar, it was also notable for being the final time Bowie would use the fantastic rhythm section of Carlos Alomar, George Murray and Dennis Davis. The LP also contained arguably his finest ever song:

Ashes to Ashes revisited Major Tom who was now "hitting an all time low". A big hit in the Summer of 1980, it was a fitting finale to a decade of brilliance.  It would be three years before his next album (Let's Dance) came out. Produced by Nile Rodgers, it was his best selling LP and the title track, Cat People (Putting Out Fire) and China Girl were all top quality. However, 1984's Tonight marked a deterioration in quality overall and Never Let Me Down in 1987 really was an all time low. 

Bowie took time out to record two albums as a part of the Tin Machine band before his next solo album (Black Tie, White Noise) was released in 1993.  He made a number of good albums following this until Reality in 2003 seemingly marked the end of his studio output.  However, a full decade later, David Bowie came out of "retirement" to release The Next Day. A fine return to form, it took most people by surprise and featured the wonderful song, taken as the first single from the album, Where Are We Now? which was released on his 66th birthday.

Three years later, Bowie's 25th studio LP came out on his 69th birthday.  However, two days later, David Bowie died of liver cancer. The album is another adventurous departure from his previous work, encompassing jazz and many other genres, reflecting his desire to musically never stay still and is a emotional epitaph to the man himself.

However, we shall end this particular tale with that single from The Next Day. Bowie moved to Berlin in 1976 to escape the mad world of Los Angeles that was killing him. It was in the German city that he made some of his finest songs and it seems clear that he always looked back on those three years as some of his happiest times:

"The moment you know. You know, you know."

David Bowie - The Glam Years

Success had come late to David Bowie in the Summer of 1972 when he made his famous appearance on Top Of The Pops singing Starman. This was three years after his first hit with Space Oddity which had coincided with the Apollo 11 moon landing. Following this his career had largely been on hold, with the release of The Man Who Sold The World and Hunky Dory LPs failing to at first make any great impressions on the pop buying public as a whole.

However, the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars had been released the month previous to the TOTP performance and became his big breakthrough. Touring incessantly with his band of Spiders (Mick Ronson, Trevor Bolder and Mick “Woody” Woodmansey), Bowie as Ziggy took the pop world by storm for the next year before announcing that their performance at the Hammersfield Apollo in early July 1973 would be their last. The LP itself is a kind of concept album about an androgynous pop star who arrives from Mars (!?!) together with his band, rising to incredible fame before burning out in a big way. The title track offers clues to who Ziggy is based on, with Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Jimi Hendrix and Marc Bolan all being definite candidates:

Three months prior to this Aladdin Sane had been released. Some critics though it a lesser album than Stardust and although it has some standout songs on it, yours truly has always tended to agree. Bowie described Sane as “Ziggy goes to America”, and most of its tracks are indeed reflections on the United States that were written when he travelled through the country on tour in late 1972. My favourite song is Panic In Detroit where the dive bombing guitar of Mick Ronson and the frantic singing of Linda Lewis and Juanita “Honey” Franklin add lustre to Bowie’s Bo Diddley beat tale of John Sinclair and recent riots in the Motor City:

.  

The American pianist Mike Garson contributed greatly to this album and would become one of David’s main collaborators over the next four decades. The Spiders, however, had fractured by the time Bowie’s next LP Pin Ups was released with Mick Woodmansey replaced on drums by Aynsley Dunbar. An album of cover songs by British bands from the 60s, it was noticeable for the striking cover photo featuring David and the gorgeous Twiggy.

By the time of Diamond Dogs release in 1974, all remaining Spiders had gone. Bowie played guitars, saxophones and keyboards in his own raucously energetic style along with top session musicians on other instruments. The album’s theme was a cross between George Orwell’s 1984 and Bowie’s own post apocalyptic vision, with the Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing(Reprise) section being particularly brilliant musically and lyrically:

I think it was Charles Shaar Murray of the New Musical Express who remarked at the time that the single Rebel Rebel was the final hit being played in the last discotheque left in the ruins of the city. Diamond Dogs was a fitting end to David Bowie’s Glam years. His next move would be to soul and funk and America, before ending up in Berlin. Here is that aforementioned “final hit song”:  

Rebel Rebel

David Bowie’s farewell to Glam. Young Americans, Station To Station and the Berlin “Trilogy” would follow, but this is where Ziggy said farewell 😊

Soul Survivors

In the end, there was The Stones. The Beatles had split, Ray Davies of The Kinks was to soon say he had had enough and The Hollies had fractured.

Musically, Exile On Main St. in many ways was where the Sixties ended and the Seventies began. Released in 1972 only three years after Brian Jones had died, it is a  testament to the rest of the band’s survival of the previous decade. In Britain, Marc Bolan was riding the crest of the wave and David Bowie was about to become famous when the Rolling Stones finest LP hit the shops and stores. I remember buying the New Musical Express when the flexi disc featuring tracks from the upcoming album was offered free with the periodical,  Around the same time, Tumbling Dice rose up the singles chart.

A sprawling and at first seemingly ramshackle double LP – Exile had actually passed me by when it came out. I’d thought that Tumbling Dice was the best single they’d ever made but being in the middle of my Beatles/Glam Rock stage, Telegram Sam and Strawberry Fields were the songs most regularly on my turntable. However, in ’73 or ’74 Nick Kent wrote a massive re-appraisal of the album in the NME which had apparently had mainly lukewarm reviews in many music papers on its release. He called it the Stones’ finest hour. That was enough for me to go out and get it.

Side one starts with Rocks Off and Rip This Joint, two high octane rockers.  Apart from the songs and energy, it was immediately noticeable that the brass section of Bobby Keys and Jim Price added to and enriched the overall sound.  Shake Your Hips keeps the energy level high before Casino Boogie recalls the blues origins of the band. Dice ends the side and is still their greatest ever single release. Sweet Virginia begins a Side Two which is more country tinged with Torn and Frayed and Sweet Black Angel (referencing Angela Davies) being my favourites of the four featured songs. Loving Cup ends the fist disc in a somewhat earthy yet also slightly spiritual way.

The second LP starts with Keith’s Happy which rocks along really fine. Turd On The Run and Ventilator Blues are both unsettling yet compelling songs before we reach the ethereal I Just Want To See His Face. From here on in, the LP just gets better and better.  Let it Loose rounds off side three and is one of the band’s finest ever moments.  It grows from slow beginnings to a truly uplifting and almost spiritual climax with Tami Lynn, Dr John (who also plays piano on the song),  Clydie King, Vanetta Field, Shirley Goodman and Joe Green providing backing vocals to Mick’s soulful lead singing.

The final side begins with All Down the Line, one of their greatest rockers.  Robert Johnson’s Stop Breaking Down is next with Mick Taylor on incredible slide guitar and the other Mick on harmonica.  Shine a Light features one of Mick Taylor’s finest performances on lead guitar and the album ends with Soul Survivor. which takes the energy level to the outer limits. Jagger wails, Keith’s rhythm cuts right through and Charlie just keeps on keeping on.

From then on, there would be a noticeable decline in the band's music. Much of the following album Goats Head Soup was second rate Stones, and although It's Only Rock n Roll was a better LP, Mick Taylor left the band on its completion complaining that he had not been given song writing credits for the fantastic Time Waits For No One. Ronnie Wood was his replacement and while the group has made some excellent songs since then, the late 60s and early 70s remains their peak.

Never bettered by the band, Exile stands as one of Rock n’ Roll’s greatest achievements.