In my enlightened circles, there’s no debate about the best rock ‘n’ roll album of all time. It’s “Exile on Main Street,” a two-record set originally issued in 1972 by the Rolling Stones. What one music writer called Keith Richards’ talent for producing “the triple-distilled essence of raunch” shines in track after track of in-your-face, loud and dirty rock ‘n’ roll.
Indeed, I like it so much that I bought it several times, starting with the LP. Then I got it on 8-track back in the day. And then a cassette after 8-track went the way of the steam locomotive. Lastly, a CD, which is playing as I write.
But much as I enjoy “Rip this Joint,” “Sweet Virginia” and “Happy,” I don’t plan to buy the special remixed and augmented version that came out a couple of days ago. Over the years, the Stones have acquired enough of my money for “Exile.”
Even without me, though, the re-issue will doubtless sell pretty well, and it inspires a catalog of other ways to re-market material to nostalgic baby boomers:
• Join our special 60th anniversary sale of rebuilt Volkswagen T-1 Transporters, also known as the “Microbus,” painted in psychedelic splendor and starting at only $55,000.
We found an extensive inventory of these old hippie vans in a salvage yard in Salida. Local legend is that many young people from the Midwest headed to the West Coast around the time of the Summer of Love, but ended up in Salida because the 25-hp engine couldn’t move the loaded vans and their loaded passengers up Monarch Pass.
After finding this hitherto hidden cache — well preserved by the dry climate — our skilled restoration technicians lovingly brought them to original factory specs. Our custom finishes feature daisies, mushrooms, butterflies, mandalas and peace symbols for discerning connoisseurs.
• Who says print is dead? We’re bringing it back with bound volumes of those provocative papers of our formative years. Just $200 will get you the entire 1967 run of the Berkeley Barb, which includes the infamous psychedelic banana hoax. And for only $750, you can get not only the Barb, but the 1969 collection of the Los Angeles Free Press and the East Village Other, plus a genuine authentic replica of the first edition of Zap Comix.
• Miss that romantic crash pad? Relive those magical moments with our special, $350-a-night getaway. It’s first-come first-served for the bed, followed by the fold-out couch, and the floor will sleep at least 18 guests. We also throw in special medical brownies for breakfast along with vintage Boone’s Farm Strawberry Hill wine.
Enjoy leaking pipes and noisy neighbors as you put a scratchy Yardbirds LP on the Girard turntable and crank up the refurbished 64-watt Sherwood vacuum-tube amplifier feeding mellow Rectilinear Lowboy speakers. It’s a night you won’t forget — especially when the cops come knocking at 3 a.m.
• And if a cozy overnight interlude isn’t enough, check out our four-day love-in, be-in, sit-in cultural festival, complete with tribute bands, inadequate sanitation, miles of walking because there’s not enough parking, panhandlers, downpours, undercover narcs, speed freaks, brown rice (when there’s any food at all), and much, much more to rekindle that special time in your life.
Tickets start at only $1,000, and your Frisbee-fetching dog is welcome. Call now and make your reservation for all the peace, joy and love you can handle.
It would be easy to come up with more ways to profit from boomer nostalgia, but somebody besides the Rolling Stones may have already done so. The more I think about it, the more it sounds like a pledge week promotion for a PBS station.
Ed Quillen (ekquillen@gmail.com) of Salida is a regular contributor to The Denver Post.
