Exile
on Main Street was a 1972 release (on Atlantic Records) by The Rolling
Stones, with cover artwork & design by John Van Hamersveld. When the
Rolling Stones released Exile in 1972 - a double album of songs
representing the many different genres of music that shaped Stones music
at the time - fans and critics found themselves having to spend a lot
of time trying to “get it”. It required a number of listens to gain an
appreciation of what, on the surface, often seemed to be a collection of
studio out-takes and Richards/Taylor/Watts jams than a freshly-recorded
musical offering.
Super rare promo poster featuring 3-Ball Charlie.
Rare Exile record store display.
Many
critics of the era failed to appreciate the Stones’ explorations of
R&B, Soul, Country and roots Rock that were spread over the 4 album
sides. In fact, the record was comprised of a series of recordings done
during the previous four years and, as such, they featured a variety of
mixes (some better than others) and showed the band building on top of
these influences in their own inimitable style to the point that, now
over 35 years later, the package is considered by many to be the band’s
most-authentic offering. It is always listed near the top of most of the
“Best Of” and “Greatest” lists (#7 on the Rolling Stone Magazine 2003
list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”, #22 on VH-1’s survey, and
even impressed the younger generation enough to be ranked #11 on
Pitchfork’s 2003 list of Best Albums of the 1970s).
In
a similar fashion, when the buying public took their first look at the
design and imagery of the sprawling record cover, most people admitted
that they didn’t “get it”. Having just soaked in Warhol’s
ultimately-iconic zipper cover for Sticky Fingers, fans should have been
ready for anything, but John Van Hamersveld’s designs seemed to
confound them, asking them to digest a rough, anti-establishment,
punk-before-there-was-punk collage of images that may have, initially,
combined with the unfamiliar musical stylings to impact sales (don’t
worry, as the record was supported by the now-famous 1972 American
concert tour and songs such as “Happy” and “Tumbling Dice” got some
significant radio play, the record went on to top the charts in the U.S.
and the U.K.).
And
so when Van Hamersveld, who’d established his industry cred via his
poster and package designs for Hendrix, The Beatles (Magical Mystery
Tour), Jefferson Airplane (Crown of Creation) and others, was approached
by the Rolling Stones (who were in a studio in LA putting the finishing
touches on this new album) to work on the graphics and packaging for a
songbook project the band wanted to release, an interesting series of
events on the day of their initial meeting had a profound impact on the
course of album art history.
Below
is a rare printers proof of the 12 card set included in Exile double
album, shot by famed South African photographer, Norman Seeff. Here he
writes a note on the reverse of the card set to John Van H. expressing
his displeasure with the quality of the reproduction.
The
next two items might be two of my favorite Exile period pieces. Flyers
for the lost live album. You can see the proposed design above.
These are two unused flyers of both Mick and Stevie Wonder printed on newsprint. The art is beautiful art deco 1920's style.
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