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Re-Issue of Stones Album Spawns Cannes Documentary

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The intoxicating blend of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll never spoils, particularly if it's of an early '70s vintage. And it never hurts to use film and TV to sell it, particularly if the film makes its debut at Cannes.

“Exile on Main Street," the Rolling Stones' down-and-dirty double album that was reviled upon its 1972 release -- then later hailed as a masterpiece -- appears to grow ever more complex with age. Event-scaled activity is swirling around the album's digitally remastered reissue May 18, which includes 10 freshly unearthed tracks from the period.

The Universal Music Group has spared no expense to create three lavish packages: from the original 18-track release to a “super deluxe" edition that includes vinyl, a 30-minute DVD and a 64-page collector's book. In addition, UMG has enlisted its merchandising company, Bravado, to create an extensive line of “Exile"-inspired products -- t-shirts, caps, leather jackets and the like, all outfitted with the Stones' iconic tongue-wagging logo.

At the time “Exile" first came out, double LPs represented outsized ambition, hubris or an artist's creative peak. For the Stones, “Exile" qualified as all-of-the-above, and its place in the rock firmament is secure, not only for it's raunchy mix of party-hearty rock classics and Delta blues-inspired ballads, but also for the chaotic circumstances under which it was made.

Recalls then-president of Rolling Stones Records, Marshall Chess, in “Stones in Exile": “I was coming from (the approach that) you had to make three sides in three hours. These guys were taking two weeks to get one track down." Or, as saxophone player Bobby Keys describes it, “It was about as unrehearsed as a hiccup."

The group had chosen Nellcote more out of convenience than necessity. Instruments were placed in various basement nooks and crannies -- a kitchen, a hallway -- to achieve some semblance of separation and desired acoustics.

“The place was atrocious," reveals recording engineer Andy Johns in Kijak's film. “It was so humid, and the guitars would go in and out of tune all the time and the gear wasn't working properly and the lights would go on and off and there were fires. It was just insane."

The situation wasn't helped by the fact that band members were spread out all over the countryside, and as far away as Paris, where Jagger attended to his newlywed wife Bianca, who cast a wary eye on his band mates and their motley crew of groupies and hangers on.

Personality differences also took their toll. “I never plan anything, which is probably the difference between Keith and myself," says Richards in “Stones in Exile." “Mick needs to know what we're going to do tomorrow and I'm just happy to wake up and see who's hanging around."

The film's footage is mostly culled from outtakes from Robert Frank's infamous doc, “Cocksucker Blues," which chronicled the Stones' 1972 American tour (Frank also shot the “Exile" cover art using a Super 8 camera), and a treasure trove of images from the French photographer Dominique Tarle, who spent six months with Richards, his girlfriend Anita Pallenberg and the band during the making of the album at Nellcote.

“We worked really hard to get people to feel like they were in the basement," says Kijak (pronounced “kayak"), best known for the acclaimed music documentary, “Scott Walker: 30 Century Man." “Between Dominique's photos and Robert's footage, we just tried to let those two things steer us."

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