May 13, 2010: Stones dish out the jive with 'Exile' reissues

Like every other geezer on the block I've been caught up in Exile On Main Street-reissue fever lately, hawking the pricey super-mega-deluxe edition to be released next Tuesday like the good little capitalist stooge I am. But before you punt over your hard-earned bread for this very-hyped release, you should get all the facts. First of all, that new Stones in Exile DVD included in the set is a 30-minute excerpt culled from a feature-length doc of the same name that will be released on June 22. Huh? There really is no explanation for that other than the standard cynical cash-grab, but whatever. Secondly, some of those rare unearthed tracks on the bonus disc, like "Plundered My Soul" and "Following the River", feature newly recorded vocals by Jagger, which is unfortunate since the guy no longer sounds anything like he did 38 years ago. In '72, Jagger sang with a naturalness that has long since been replaced by a chewy, overly affected yowl. Hell, Jagger in '82 sounded nothing like Jagger in '72, so anyone looking for outtakes that genuinely recapture Exile's inimitable atmosphere of low-fi funk (i.e.: everyone) might be disappointed by such tracks. Thirdly, there's that massive price tag. Obviously, the "super-deluxe" edition is being marketed toward the obsessive collectors, but even they may be turned off by the failure to include the full-length Stones in Exile DVD. If you were to purchase the 2-disc deluxe CD, the vinyl LP, and the full-length DVD on Amazon individually, the total would come to less than 70 bucks. The super-deluxe thingy, which again includes a heavily truncated DVD, only adds a bit of fancy packaging and a 50-page picture book to the deal, but costs nearly twice that amount.

I'm sure there are collectors who will still want the "super-deluxe" package, as well as the full-length DVD, and more power to them if they have the cash to spare. Less wealthy fans might want to consider some alternative of their own devising.

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