Stones In Exile
DVD Review
By Anthony Kuzminski
Writer's note:
This is not my final review on this DVD. A more detailed one will be posted over at antiMusic later this week.
This DVD is insanely good. If you think the special edition of Exile on Main Street released last month was the best thing to come out from the Stones camp, then you haven’t heard about this film/DVD. Every classic album should be given this treatment. For those of you who saw edited versions here in the US and the UK, have no fear, there is more to this release than we saw. What we saw on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon was approximately thirty-seven minutes of the doc, which means the DVD has another twenty-three minutes to it. While watching the documentary on television last month, it felt disjointed and all over the place with commercial breaks. That feeling here is non-existent and the overall story arc works incredibly well. It’s astonishing to think of the footage they have along with pictures. Getting the sign off for these had to be a legal nightmare, but the film benefits from the meticulous nature of their overall drive.
The dig deep into the music, how it gestated and grew into the classic album it became. Shifting between current interviews, old radio interviews, classic video footage and a deluge of pictures (some we see for the first time) as people who were there for the recording and subsequent tour narrate over these images. Mick Taylor, Bill Wyman, Marshall Chess, Bobby Keys, Anita Pallenberg and even Jake Webber (the actor from the TV show Medium) all give insight into the lore and history behind the album. If there is one criticism of the film, it’s that it isn’t long enough. However, to their credit, whatever may have been lacking on the DVD is made up for in three extended pieces found in the supplemental materials.
“Return To Stargroves and Olympic Studios” (10-minutes)
Jagger and Watts walk through a pair of the studios where work was done. Both are in chummy almost tongue-in-cheek moods. It’s a brief look into the past, but considering this is an act who has never been fond of looking backward, it’s intriguing to see these two walk in the shadows of their past.
“Extended Interviews” 33-minutes
Keith Richards
Bill Wyman
Mick Taylor
Anita Pallenberg
Charlie Watts
Ronnie Wood
In the film, we only hear Wyman’s and Taylor’s voices and briefly see them. Here we get partial interviews about their experiences. I’m not entirely sure why they weren’t in the film more. For my money, all of these interviews should have found a way into the film. Even Ron Wood chimes in on where he was when he first heard Exile.
“Exile Fans” (40-minutes)
Interviews with:
Will.i.am (Black Eyed Peas)
Don Was (Producer)
Liz Phair
Caleb Followill (Kings of Leon)
Sheryl Crow
Jack White (White Stripes)
Martin Scorsese (Director)
This section has 40+ minutes of interviews with the likes of Don Was, Sheryl Crow, Liz Phair and Martin Scorsese. They talk about the magic and mystery of why this record continues to resonate to this very day.
Don Was provides the greatest revelations. Was (in my opinion) gets a bad rap from Stones fans. He’s created two almost classic records with the band (Voodoo Lounge and A Bigger Bang) yet he’s often vilified as not pushing the Stones harder. After watching his interviews, you’ll be surprised at just how much just doesn’t know about the band’s history, but understands. His ability to translate this for the casual listener is transfixing. The Stones are nowhere to be found, but you feel closer to the record than you did before it started.
