Ben Ratliff has a sobering review of the latest reissue of Exile on Main Street, the classic Rolling Stones album from 1972, over at The New York Times.

One of the selling points for the reissue is its 64-page booklet, which features tons of photographs by French photographer Dominique Tarlé. Tarlé had incredible access to the private world of the Stones during that very crazy, very hedonistic, very creative time in their career.

Crazy? Hedonistic? Creative?

Yep. Ratliff writes:

[Exile on Main Street] is often called one of the best rock records ever made, and framed as an after-the-fact concept album: a wise horror show, an audio diary of rock stars finally facing the rigors of marriage, children and addiction. (“‘Exile’ is about casualties, and partying in the face of them,” the critic Lester Bangs wrote in 1972. “The party is obvious. The casualties are inevitable.”)

Tarlé shows us a little of what Ratliff and Bangs write about and a whole lot more.

See more of Tarlé's photographs and go back and listen to Exile on Main Street. Neither are perfect, but they each capture a very important time in rock and roll history.