Exile On Main Street by The Rolling Stones 1972 on Rolling Stones Records, value £150 with postcard inserts, without postcards £40

FORMED in 1962, no other band has defined rock music like The Rolling Stones. In the beginning they were inspired by the music of Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley, and despite having success with their first six releases, including two number one hits, they were all cover versions of other hit records. Their manager Andrew Oldham decided that to further their career they had to write their own material. So he put Mick and Keith into a room and told them to stay there and not come out until they had put some songs together and promptly locked the door. The ploy worked, a few hours later they came out with six songs, including a left over one that they gave to Marianne Faithfull As Tears Go By, which became a top ten hit for her. All six songs eventually became big hits, (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction became their first US number one hit which established them as major rock stars on a par with The Beatles. Almost from the very beginning they adopted the persona of non conformist rebels which prompted the media to ask parents: "Would you allow your daughter to go out with a Rolling Stone?"

This album - which includes songs such as Tumbling Dice and Loving Cup - is highly regarded as one of the pinnacles of their formidable career. This was the first double vinyl album and 10th studio album and is recognised as containing their best work. At the end of the sixties prompted by Britain's exorbitant tax laws which took 90 per cent of their earnings, they moved to Villefranche-sur-Mer in southern France, rented a chateau, installed a recording studio and made the album there. It eventually sold eight million copies worldwide and ranks as their fourth best seller behind Some Girls, Sticky Fingers, and Tattoo You.

It features the band as 'runaway outlaws grinning in the face of a scary and uncertain future.'

Now all in their seventies, they are acknowledged as the greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world, and are shortly to embark on a sold out European tour.