Posted by Sir Stonesalot on October 24, 1999 at 10:20:13:
In Reply to: If EXILE had been only ten songs.... posted by Vacendak on October 23, 1999 at 15:19:08:
: Greetings, weekend Stone warriors! Ya know, after reading all the disputes/discussions/opinions/flames/B.S./etc. about EXILE ON MAIN STREET, especially the view that it contained "filler" songs, my warped brain cells got together and caused me to wonder: if EXILE had only contained 10 songs, which is around the same number their other albums around the time contained, could it have been a better album, and possibly better recieved? And which songs would you cut? Here's my shortened lineup: ~~SIDE ONE: 1) Rocks Off ~~ 2) Tumbling Dice~~3) Sweet Virginia~~4) All Down The Line~~5) Stop Breaking Down~~~SIDE 2: 1) Happy~~2) Shine A Light~~3) Rip This Joint~~4) Sweet Black Angel~~5) Torn & Frayed ~~Of course, it would sound wrong somehow if you heard this lineup now, cause you get used to hearing them in the same order. And certain songs see to blend into the following song on the album. Hopefully this subject hasn't been examined this way, I hate to be the last to know......ROCK Onnnnnn....~~Vacendak~~
Well you can slice and chop Exiles all you want, I still think that the album was made to be listened to from begining to finish. Shortening the album to 10 songs wouldn't do justice to the finished product. Exiles should be taken as a whole, not as a sum of it's parts. Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon is like that also. If you pick it apart song by song, it's not that strong of an album. However, when taken as a whole it is quite remarkable. No offense Keno, but that's where your album rating system breaks down. It fails to take into consideration the objective of the whole album, as opposed to each individual song. I know a lot of Stonesaholics think Sticky Fingers is the best album because all of the songs are so great. You are correct in saying that the individual songs on SF are better than the individual songs on EOMS. Yet the overall effect of the Exiles album, I feel, is better than Sticky Fingers. I guess it's just a matter of how you look at an album. Is it just a group of songs, or is it an entire piece of art?
SS