No rock group with the talent and passion to create all-time greats such as 'Jumpin' Jack Flash', 'Street Fighting Man', 'Honky Tonk Women', 'Brown Sugar' and 'Can't You Hear Me Knocking' will ever dwindle into obscurity ? as this thumping album proves.

Not that you will hear any of the above classics here. Nope, this is all newly remastered stuff, mercifully free of the false bonhomie that comes when bands try to re-invent themselves towards the end of a dwindling career by moving into musical fields far removed from their original sound-style that made them famous in the first place.

'Exile on Main St.' is pure platinum Rolling Stones at their primeval musical best ? just as they were when this album was first released in 1972. Their 1 000-watt rock and roll, with its strong links to the blues, is a sound so unique that no other band has ever managed to imitate it.

And that's what makes the iconic Stones still one of the best groups the world of rock has known. They created the formula and they stick to that formula, no matter what the worlds of rap-hip-hop, garage or any of the other musical drift-offs demand.

Like all Stones albums, the songs on 'Exile on Main St.' ? which features 10 all-new tracks ? vary from so-so good to so-so great.

'Rocks Off', the very first track, holds very little excitement, but from then on the party is on with the twangy, weepy blues beat of 'Ventilator Blues', the blow-away rock and roll of 'Rip This Joint' (which also features one of the most awesome wailing sax solos I've heard in yonks) all the way to the mumbling, crowded out closures of 'Shine a Light' and 'Soul Survivor', in which Richards takes over the mike from Jagger to produced an inspiring rasp which sounds as though it was recorded during a breathalyzer test.

As one would hope for, the driving force for this album comes, as usual, from two fronts ? Jagger's wild voice and Charlie Watts' snare drum being beaten to death with the help of a shrieking lead guitar and lots of seriously sexy saxophone snares.

It is astonishing that a group we danced to as teenagers (that's the collective "we" who are now growing old disgracefully) is still capable of thundering out five star rocking and roll that is as good ? if not even more exciting ? than way back then.

If you were ever a Rolling Stones fan, even in the distant past, don't hesitate for one second ? go and buy this album NOW. Then go home, pump up the volume to maximum revs and let your mind kick back to those wild rebel years ? and to hell with the neighbours if they get pissed off.