Exile was one of the most "non commercial" records the Stones had ever released at that point.

Let's start with Aftermath. Aftermath, Buttons, Majesties, Beggars, LIB all were very much commercial albums for their respective periods, but also supported with very popular singles either before or during release.

EG, Beggars was given hype with JJF/COTM preceding it,

then SFM and Sympathy as singles.

LIB was preceded by HTW, YCAGWYW, and the compilation Through the Past Darkly and had the title track and You Got the Silver as the A and B side single

Sticky Fingers had Wild Horses, and Brown Sugar, both very radio friendly songs

Then comes Exile. It's only real single was Happy which doesn't even have Mick on vocals until the final verse.

It's got a very murky and muddy mix that was very uncommon in 1972; some have called it grungy. The songs are good but they're buried below layers of dirt - no Stones album had ever sounded like this, even the self-produced Majesties. This didn't sound like much in popular music or even rock (outside of early punk) in 1972

So my question is, while it is a legendary record today, what was the initial reception?