Question of the Week: What’s your favorite Rolling Stones album and why?

Local Spins’ Question of the Week (Sept. 7, 2023)

The Rolling Stones will release their 31st studio album in October. What’s your favorite Rolling Stones album and why?

Last week’s winner from email subscribers who responded to the Question of the Week was Charles (C.E.) Sikkenga. To be placed in drawings for a Local Spins gift pack or concert tickets, sign up for email updates and the weekly newsletter here: https://localspins.com/subscribe-local-spins-mailing-list/

THE READER RESPONSES:

Erin Ellis – “Sticky Fingers.” Every song is amazing!

Kyle Brown – I gotta go with “Exile on Main Street.” That and “Sticky Fingers” are absolutely perfect albums. However, my favorite Stones song of all time, “100 Years Ago” was on” Goats Head Soup.” The Mick Taylor era was just the best.

Don Clapham – “Let It Bleed.” This album is bookended by my two favorite Stones songs, “Gimme Shelter” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”, so naturally, this is my favorite Stones album. Throw in “Midnight Rambler”, “Monkey Man” and the title song, “Let It Bleed” and you truly have one of the greatest rock albums of all time.

Dale Atwater – “Beggar’s,” “Bleed,” “Sticky Fingers” – tough to choose – I usually say Beggar’s, though. Some top-notch songwriting on all three. Some underrated gems and some chart toppers too. Great band, great chemistry, great guests. Brian’s last, Mick Taylor’s first and some of his best contributions.

C.E. Sikkenga – Depends on the day. “Sticky Fingers” is the most concentrated blast. “Exile” takes more effort and almost has to be played start to finish. Both are perfect. I probably listen to “Between the Buttons” the most. The Britpop Stones were so much fun.

Matt de Heus – I probably spun “Tattoo You” more than any of them, honestly.

Rich Emerson – Still say “Some Girls” is my fave.

Phil Walter – “Let It Bleed.” Great songs. Or “Exile on Main St.” or “Sticky Fingers” or “Out of Our Heads” or “Some Girls,” “Tattoo You” or “Steel Wheels.” Why the music is great.

Todd Wicks – “Tattoo You.” Side One is a sustained blast of riffage while Side Two is a trippy dreamscape.

Timmy Rodriguez – I probably go back and forth between “Beggars Banquet” and “Let it Bleed.” Although “Some Girls” is a close third.

Michael Kroll – “Let it Bleed.” Seven of the nine tracks are excellent, and the additional personnel (Nicky Hopkins, Ian Stewart, Bobby Keys, Ry Cooder, Al Kooper, and Merry Clayton) contribute greatly to the tracks. Also Mick Taylor’s first recordings with the band, as Brian Jones replacement.

David May – “Exile on Main Street”

Steve Sly – For many years, I wrote the Stones off as a glorified bar band and never delved into their music that much. I finally changed my mind on them and discovered that many of their albums are great stuff. If I had to pick one, I would probably go with “Exile On Main Street.” Considering that it was a double album it is really all killer and no filler as every song on it is good.

Richard B. Kelley – “Exile'” finishes just ahead of the rest of the Jimmy Miller years albums which was the Stones at their apex, ergo I think it’s their best. It was patched together from pieces and parts recorded over several years beginning in 1969 with “Loving Cup.” Contrary to legend, it wasn’t entirely done in a steaming den of hedonism in the south of France. A few key tracks were done there while a lot of new rough cuts and instrumentals were ferried across the planet to LA where Jagger (who didn’t participate much in the south of France debauch) cracked the whip and brought in outside players to finish the tracks. I think the specter of danger and hard drugs hung over the whole proceedings which unites the album with that lurid, murky vibe. This was further accentuated by the cover art which looked nilhilist / punk five years before there was such a thing. I tend to think of “Exile'” as two different albums. Imagining if they’d been released 7-8 months apart they’d have been better received at the time. The 2-LP set was a lot to unwrap, sounded muddy and was not entirely well received or reviewed at the time. By the next year it was being compared to the (vastly underrated) “Goats Head Soup” album and had, in that time, miraculously evolved into the greatest rock and roll album ever made.

Tim Motley – My favorite is actually the soundtrack of the movie “Ladies and Gentleman The Rolling Stones “.

Brian Kelly Rampenthal – I have so many favorites. So many of their songs bring back wonderful memories throughout my life. I always seem to come back to “Tumbling Dice.” I’ve seen them 13 times.

Mark DeWitt – “Tattoo You.” It was peak college years. Other albums have better material.

John Loader – “Sticky Fingers.” Lots of diverse music. Always my go to Stones album.

Kevin Fein – “Let It Bleed” has a special place for me, probably just because I had it and wore through a copy on vinyl.

Paul Brown – “Tattoo You.” All the songs I grew up on. Used to listen to the album with my large wired headphones as a kid.

Daniel W Dawe – “Black and Blue” is always a fun spin.

Steve Middendorp – “Exile on Main Street” with “Sticky Fingers” a close second, the Mick Taylor era. “Tumbling Dice,” “Sweet Virginia,” “Torn and Frayed” all just have the perfect tone and vibe that draws me in. Nothing else matters when these albums are playing.

Mark Sellers – “Sticky Fingers,” “Exile,” and “Let It Bleed” are tied. No way I can say which I like better, I would bring them all to my desert island.

Paul Jendrasiak – “Exile.” The Stones at their rawest.

Joel Schultze – “Exile” by far, but “Beggars Banquet” is my favorite one-LP.

Don Drury – I’ve always liked the first album (ER, 8 track tape) of theirs I ever bought, “ Goat’s Head Soup.”

Charlie Walmsley – “Let It Bleed,” a diverse mix of songs that I never tire of hearing. “Gimme Shelter” No. 1.

Ronnie Torres – I absolutely love “Sticky Fingers.” Great songs. “Sister Morphine,” “Sway.”

Timmy Lee Vandyke – For me it’s a toss-up. “Let it Bleed” will win, but “Beggars Banquet” is a close second. There are so many great scattered songs in the Stones bibliography. There was a lot of crap, too, but I assume turning out that much music you will have that..

Steve E. Dee – “Let it Bleed” was spinning when my kid took her first steps, so that one. (“Sticky Fingers” is a close second.)
John Nowak – “Exile.” The grit and no fuss rock n roll

Rick Wilson – “Sticky Fingers.” “Can You Hear Me Knocking.”

Dave Adams – “Let It Bleed.” Has my favorite track, “Monkey Man,” along with “Gimme Shelter,” :”Honky-Tonk Woman,” “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” and “Midnight Rambler.”

Matthew Borr – Tie between “Sticky Fingers”/“Let It Bleed”

Bill Seppla – All the Mick Taylor records.

Isaac Powrie – “Beggers Banquet”

Brian Haik – “Exile On Main St.” It’s The Stones at their creative peak! It’s so raw and soulful. Covering country, blues, gospel, soul and rock. It also has some of my favorites tunes by them, “Sweet Virginia,” “Loving Cup,” “Happy,” “All Down the Line,” “Tumbling Dice” and “Shine Light,” but every single song on the album is a gem. Remember when Hazy Past performed all 18 songs at Founders Brewing Co. & Fifth Third Ballpark in 2012?

Austin Whipple – “Sticky Fingers.” I like the songwriting. The instrumental outro on “Knocking” is also great.

John Wood – The versatility of “Let it Bleed” makes it my favorite. I love the hits and the bits of twang on that album.

Lee Chase – Favorite LP: “Sticky Fingers.” Why? Possibly because I was an impressionable 18 when it was released and the social/cultural climate in 1971 was off the hook. This album at once rocks, charms and alarms. Tied for a (very) close second: “Let it Bleed” and “Exile on Main Street.”

Thomas Leonard Saxe – “It’s Only Rock and Roll.” Mick Taylor’s guitar and “Time Waits for No One” sealed it for me.

AJ Dunning – +1 for “Exile.”

Andrew Ogrodzinski – Almost everything up until “Exile” is essential. “Aftermath” has a lot of material that defined their career, so I’ll go with that one.

Scott Steiner – “Exile”

Roger Pam Kintner – This is kinda like picking your favorite child.

Stephen Aldrich – “Satanic Majesties,” not kidding, you could make a case that it’s the greatest real psychedelic album ever, utterly brilliant! Prolly my most played one is the U.S.-only, “Flowers,” which didn’t seem to make much sense when it arrived in ’67, but it’s a fun listen, a great slice of the post-blues era. Speaking of blues, “Blue And Lonesome” is so baddass, a stupidly great throwback to their earliest work, and how comfortable they sound doing it.

Terry Lewis – “Blue and Lonesome” is a great record but I fear not a lot of folks are even aware of its existence..

Doug Chesnut – “Beggars Banquet,” “Let It Bleed” and “Exile On Main Street”
Craig Calvert – You can’t be better than “Sticky Fingers.” It’s beyond brillant, but, for me it’s “Exile,” two albums set of music and it never repeats or gets old. KEEF!

Mitch Meleen – “Exile On Main Street”

Richard App – The already mentioned records are great, however, I will add “Some Girls.” Great record. Huge fan of the country twang in a few of the songs on this record.

Mary Ellen Murphy – I remember sitting on the porch on a hot Summer night discussing each track (of “Some Girls”). Someone’s brother had it and we borrowed it for the night.

Jeff Brinn – “Exile On Main Street”

James R. Murphy Jr. – For me, it’s “Beggar’s Banquet,” “Let It Bleed,” “Exile on Main Street,” “The Rolling Stones Now,” “Sticky Fingers.” Also “Between the Buttons,” “Aftermath” and “Get Yer Ya-Yas Out.” Plus “Some Girls” and the Allen Klein comps.

Dave Jaconette – “Voodoo Lounge” is underrated.

David Marin – It’s a toss-up between “Sticky Fingers” and “Let It Bleed.” There isn’t one I don’t revere, however.

Farrer Coston – “Sticky.” “Exile” overrated, has too many clunkers. Love “Bleed,” “Ya-Yas,” “Goats Head,” “It’s Only RR” and “Satanic.” Mick Taylor fan here.
Jeff Martin – Playing devil’s advocate here, the British edition of “Between the Buttons,” an underrated, eclectic collection of songs that serves as a Brian Jones showcase.

Barry Bazza Crawford – I bought “Between The Buttons” at the military PX in Chicago in 1967 when I was stationed there after coming back from Nam. It was the only Stones album I ever bought. Love that album!

Marty Lighthizer – I know I’m in the wrong thread, but “Let it Bleed,” because it’s the first and only Stones album I bought (no joke), and was a treasured memory in my 1st year of college. Actually bought another (“Get Your Ya-Ya’s Out”) as a cut-out for 25 cents, and it remains one of my all-time favorite live albums. Love: Ian Stewart’s piano and the almost telepathic guitar interplay between Taylor and Richards. Also has two amazing Chuck Berry covers, Carol and Little Queenie.

John Sinkevics – I came up with this question and I still find it exceptionally difficult to pin it down to one fave. But I have to go with “Let It Bleed” – an absolute gem – followed by “Sticky Fingers” and “Exile.” As for most underrated, I’d lean toward “Goat’s Head Soup” followed by “Blue and Lonesome.”

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