Babs' Bootleg Bonanza - 'Exile On Main Street Sessions'

Torn and Frayed in London, 
the French Rivera, and Los Angeles

This is a 2CD compilation, in chronological order, of the best quality recordings of all the early versions, unreleased material, etc. that are currently available from the sessions that produced 'Exile On Main Street'.

After Brian Jones’ untimely departure in spring 1969, the Stones embarked on a new chapter.  They recruited Mick Taylor and engaged in intensive sessions at London’s Olympic Studios. During these sessions, they rehearsed their repertoire and composed new songs, including "Dancing In The Light", "I Ain’t Signifying", and "Gimme A Little Drink".  The latter song was performed at July’s Hyde Park concert, which served as a poignant memorial to their beloved founding member.  Throughout 1970, the Stones continued recording 'Sticky Fingers' and other tracks that would eventually appear on 'Exile On Main Street'.  These recordings took place at Olympic Studios and Stargroves, Mick Jagger’s country estate near Newbury, Berkshire.  The Stones also utilized the newly customized Rolling Stones Mobile for these sessions.

In 1970, the world’s biggest rock ’n’ roll band, the Rolling Stones, found themselves broke and trapped in a restrictive contract.  With Prince Rupert Lowenstein now taking charge of their finances, the band was informed that to evade the punishing UK tax laws, which imposed a staggering 93% tax on earnings exceeding £15,000 annually, they would be compelled to reside abroad for two years.  This meant they could only visit their home country for a maximum of 90 days each year.  Since the relocation deadline in April 1970 was too short, they opted to move a year later, coinciding with the launch of their own record label.

The Stones’ exile commenced with their relocation to the French abodes that their team had arranged for them.  Bill Wyman resided in Vence, Charlie Watts purchased a château in Provence (which his family still owns), and Mick Taylor and his wife Rose settled in Grasse.  Initially, Stones’ assistant Jo Bergman envisioned a sprawling, Roman-style mansion called Villa Nellcote as an ideal residence for Jagger.  However, his wife-to-be, Bianca, found it too public, leading them to temporarily reside in the Plaza Athenee Hotel in Paris and a villa in Biot.

Keith, accompanied by girlfriend Anita Pallenberg and their 18-month-old son Marlon, moved into Villa Nellcote.  Keith initially settled well into the Riviera lifestyle, taking his family to the beach, going to the zoo and buying a speedboat he called "Mandrax" (Quaalude to Americans).

After spending a fruitless month looking for a suitable location to record their new album, the Stones realized that the answer was staring them in the face; for better or worse, they would try to record in Keith’s dingy, clammy basement at Nellcote.

The Mobile arrived on June 7 after a four-day drive.  Built at a cost of £65,000 (roughly £580,000 ($777,635) in today's money), it was equipped with a talk-back system and a black and white camera for communication between studio and band.

For Keith, Nellcote seemed like a paradise, where he could freely express his ideas at any time of night. Within weeks, the villa transformed into one of his hotel rooms, adorned with decorations, debris, and a constant influx of eager participants for the most extraordinary party on the planet. However, the ‘Tropical Disease’ sessions, as they were affectionately called (another working title was 'Eat It'), were in full swing.  Locals grumbled, the music could be heard echoing across the harbor.

Bill Wyman’s amp was parked under the stairs.

The brass section of Bobby Keys and Jim Price played at the end of an underground corridor.

The 120 degree (49°C) temperature plus 100% humidity made guitars go out of tune mid-song.

There was a hold-up when Keith had a Go-kart accident, leaving him with a nasty laceration on his back.  This required quite a few stitches, time to recover and opiates to numb the pain, which took a one-way spiral when Corsican drug dealers from the nearby smack epicenter Marseilles turned up with pure pink heroin (christened "Cotton Candy") from Thailand.  Keith and Anita piled in, while engineer Andy Johns, Bobby Keys, Mick Taylor and Jimmy Miller also developed healthy habits, thus setting the tone for the druggy chaos which would dominate the next few months.

A darker mood was creeping in as the junk took further hold.  Visitors to Nellcôte included, William S. Burroughs, Terry Southern, John Lennon, Marshall Chess, and Gram Parsons who was asked to leave Nellcôte as a result of his obnoxious behavior.  Other unwanted presences increased, like the Corsican smack dealers who took nine of Keith’s beloved guitars (including the Flying V he played at Hyde Park) in lieu of Keith's heroin bill.  They also took Bobby Keys’ saxophones, Bill Wyman's bass, and Mick Taylor's main guitar, a 1959 Sunburst Les Paul (nicknamed the "Keithburst"), which he bought from Keith.

There was a fire after Keith and Anita nodded out in their bed with a spliff.  "Fat Jack" the junkie cook blew up the kitchen and tried to blackmail Keith and Anita; alleging they shot up his teenage daughter with heroin.  By now, the local police force were keeping a watchful eye on Nellcote.

Mick Jagger complained he couldn’t use a microphone because someone was tying off to find a vein with the cable. 

"Charlie's looking good tonight, ineee...."

In November, the entire Stones entourage relocated to Los Angeles, in fear of the inevitable bust.  Nellcote was finally raided on December 14; The Stones long gone, but large quantities of drugs left behind. The court case wouldn’t come up for another year but, in the meantime, Keith had to continue paying rent.  Eventually, most charges were dropped.  The Stones attended the hearing, except Keith, who was fined 500 francs, given a year’s suspended sentence and banned from France for two years.

The sessions at Sunset Sound, ran until the following February.  It became a mission to construct a finished album out of what had been spawned in Keith’s dank basement and tracks in various stages of completion from Stargroves and Olympic studios.

After Nellcote’s opiated bubble, LA was like reentering civilization, with a dry, airy studio and normal working facilities.  Andy Johns handled much of the mixing as Jimmy Miller was pretty burnt out from his Nellcote experience.  Keith was now firmly in the throes of his own addiction, so Mick stepped up to take control and bring the album home.  He had hated trying to work at Nellcote, while Bianca and Jade had been the priority then anyway, along with supervising the upcoming US tour and the Allen Klein situation, which had only just been resolved.  Mick now took the reins with single-minded determination to meet the deadline, starting with overdubbing his vocals.

Final mixing was finished as February turned into March.  After ruling out 'Tropical Disease', the Stones decided to call the album 'Exile On Main Street'.

'Exile On Main Street' was released on May 12th 1972, it was the first album that was released on the Rolling Stones Records label.  The Stones would never sink so low, or rise so high, again…

For me, 'Exile On Main Street' was the soundtrack to the summer of 1972, and has been in regular rotation ever since.

(With apologies to John Milton)
A postcard from Pandemonium

This picture has always struck me as somewhat troubling on a number of levels.

This is William T. Simpson, aka "Three Ball Charlie", he was a 1930s sideshow performer from Humboldt, Nebraska. 

Denise "The Grease" had a boyfriend, who she referred to (in private) as "One Ball Gino", for a different reason.  But that, as they say, is another story for another day.

For the freeload, caption the picture below.