Rolling Stones Showdown: Which LP From Their Classic Four-Album Stretch Is Best?

It is one of the finest four-album stretches in the history of rock and roll. Over a period that stretched from 1968 to 1972, The Rolling Stones released the albums Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, and Exile On Main St.

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All four of those LPs are bona fide classics. But which comes out on top in a four-way melee? We make the case for each below before rendering our humble judgment.

‘Beggars Banquet’ (1968)

The most important album in Rolling Stones history, for sure. Why? Because they reaffirmed their commitment to bruising blues-based rock after losing their way in the wilds of slower power on Their Satanic Majesties Request. Preceding single “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” pointed the way before “Sympathy For The Devil” introduced Beggars Banquet as unrelenting and unflinching. “Street Fighting Man” gave them an ambivalent anthem, while slower material like “No Expectations” and “Salt Of The Earth” dug just as deep.

‘Let It Bleed’ (1969)

You’d call this a transitional album if you just looked at the circumstances surrounding its creation. The band fired Brian Jones (who died shortly after), and his replacement, Mick Taylor, arrived too late to make much of an impact. Guests like Ry Cooder and Al Kooper help fill in the gaps. Still, the album sounds confident and assured, in large part because Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were at their songwriting apex. Let It Bleed also wins points for having the monumental, decade-summarizing “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” as its closer.

‘Sticky Fingers’ (1971)

Mick Taylor found his sea legs on Sticky Fingers, and the band’s new guitarist helped kick things into overdrive. His ability to weave in and out of the lines of Keith Richards would help define the band’s sound even after he left in the mid-70s. But Sticky Fingers really stands out on the strength of its songs and the variety of styles tackled within them. The band proved adept at soul (“I Got The Blues”), country (“Dead Flowers”), folk (“Wild Horses”), Chuck Berry-styled R&B (“Brown Sugar”), and, as a final flex, mystical balladry (“Moonlight Mile”). Brilliant from start to finish.

‘Exile On Main St.’ (1972)

Burned out and on the run from tax officials, the band holed up in Keith Richards’ French villa, turning a basement into a recording studio. From these ramshackle sessions came two albums’ worth of music that somehow feels both semi-improvisational and highly assured. Jimmy Miller’s production captures the circumstances of the recording, dense and inspired. The Rolling Stones make their way through the history of American roots music over 18 tracks. Even for as long as it is, you never want this record to stop.

The Verdict

This is a brutally tough call to make. Let It Bleed comes up a notch below the rest, if only because it’s not quite as cohesive as the others. Beggars Banquet suffers only because The Rolling Stones were just rounding into peak form and not quite at the levels that they would reach a few years down the road.

Exile On Main St. is disheveled, discombobulated, and glorious. But it falls short of the precise brilliance of Sticky Fingers, the finest Stones’ album in this stretch and one of the very best in all rock history.

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