Exile on Main St.: A Season in Hell with the Rolling Stones - Hardcover

Greenfield, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0306814331 ISBN 13: 9780306814334

Publisher: Da Capo Press, 2006

Synopsis

Recorded during the blazing summer of 1971 at Villa Nellcote, Keith Richards' seaside mansion in the south of France, Exile on Main St. has been hailed as one of the Rolling Stones' best albums-and one of the greatest rock records of all time. Yet its improbable creation was difficult, torturous...and at times nothing short of dangerous.In self-imposed exile, the Stones-along with wives, girlfriends, and a crew of hangers-on unrivaled in the history of rock-spent their days smoking, snorting, and drinking whatever they could get their hands on. At night, the band descended like miners into the villa's dank basement to lay down tracks. Out of those grueling sessions came the familiar riffs and rhythms of Rocks Off,” Tumbling Dice,” Happy,” and Sweet Virginia.”All the while, a variety of celebrities-John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and Gram Parsons among them-stumbled through the villa's neverending party, as did the local drug dealers, known to one and all as les cowboys.” Villa Nellcote became the crucible in which creative strife, outsize egos, and all the usual byproducts of the Stones' legendary hedonistic excess fused into something potent, volatile, and enduring.Here, for the first time, is the season in hell that produced Exile on Main St.

About this title

About the Author:

Robert Greenfield's latest books include Timothy Leary: A Biography, and S.T.P.: A Journey Through America with the Rolling Stones. An award-winning novelist, playwright, screenwriter, and journalist, he lives in California.

Review:

"Anyone who thinks heroin enhances musical performance should read Exile on Main Street, Robert Greenfield's fly-on-the-syringe account." -- New York Daily News, 9/18/2006

"As omniscient narrator, [Greenfield] manipulates the tumultuous moments and rampant rumours into an entertaining tragicomedy." -- Chart, November 2006

"Compelling...One hit of Greenfield's Exile and you'll be hooked." -- Vanity Fair, December 2006

"Excellent...Greenfield holds nothing back with his razor-sharp observations." -- (Harp, November 2006)

"Greenfield divulges the decadent, dark secrets surrounding the making of the iconic double album." -- (San Francisco Bay Guardian, 11/1/2006)

"It's about as close as you can get to a literary hashish-cocaine-heroin contact buzz through reading nonfiction." -- Cleveland Plain Dealer, 10/6/2006

"Portrays the scene quite brilliantly...One of the most compelling books on music you'll read this year." -- Philadelphia Weekly, 10/4/06

"[A] dusky and gossipy eyewitness account of the kinky sex and toxic drugs behind the ferocious rock and roll...Addictive." -- (Miami Herald, 10/17/2006)

"[Greenfield] eloquently recounts the scene...Fills in the missing pieces of the puzzle that many Stones volumes just touch on." -- (Relix, November 2006)

"[Greenfield] tells the story with the awe of a Stones fan while still having that critical eye." -- (Medford Transcript, 10/26/2006)

About this edition

• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0306814331
• ISBN 13: 9780306814334
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272