What is arguably the last great Stones album came about as a fluke. Tattoo You was largely compiled from leftovers, some from the recent Emotional Rescue sessions and others going back as far as Black And Blue and even Goats Head Soup, some given modern vocals by Mick. But if you didn’t know this, you’d think they’d gone into the studio and banged it out as is, a testament to co-producer Chris Kimsey, engineer Bob Clearmountain, and mastering guru Bob Ludwig.
It’s even divided into fast and slow sides, making for easy replaying depending on your mood. “Start Me Up” was the perfect single, anchored by that open-G tuning and happy vocals. “Hang Fire” is a joyful doo-wop song over words that make nearly no sense. Speaking of which, “Slave” is a five-minute jam (extended another two minutes on the eventual CD) left over from Black And Blue that sounds better in your speakers than it does on paper. Keith gets his moment to garble in “Little T&A”, which really is about what you think it is. “Black Limousine” is fairly straightforward R&B, while the noisy “Neighbours”, wherein poor Charlie’s snare sounds like someone smacking a basketball, got more notoriety for its video.
The slow side is stellar, but it didn’t get as much radio play—with one exception. “Worried About You” resurrects another idea as well as Mick’s dangerous falsetto from Black And Blue. “Tops” has a similar tempo with ordinary lyrics from the point of view of a casting couch, but still rises above it all. “Heaven” is more of an experimental track, and not very Stonesy at all, while “No Use In Crying” piles on the harmonies. But “Waiting On A Friend” is one of their gems. Dating from 1972, as did “Tops”, it features Billy Preston on piano (Nicky Hopkins was on “Tops”), an uncredited Mick Taylor on guitar, and jazz legend Sonny Rollins contributing a perfect sax solo, both on the bridge and over the fade.
Since they had a tour booked, Tattoo You did the job of keeping the Stones in high profile. Its concurrent appearance alongside MTV’s debut gave them reason to make some silly videos, exposing them to a new generation of fans. Four decades later, the album still brings a smile, despite the chintzy packaging. And to think it was all just a fluke.
Because they could, and because their M.O. in the 21st century was to overdub onto old tracks, the fortieth anniversary of Tattoo You was celebrated with an expanded edition that added another album’s worth of reworked leftovers to an album of reworked leftovers. The Lost And Found: Rarities disc offered tracks culled from the same basic ‘70s pile by engineer Chris Kimsey. But while 1981 Mick sounded enough like 1972 Mick, if anyone told him 2021 Mick didn’t sound like either, he didn’t care, so the songs don’t sound as vintage as they could be.
The emphasis is mostly on rock for these. “Living In The Heart Of Love” has a good “If You Can’t Rock Me” feel with lots of guitars, and “Fiji Jim” piledrives one chord into submission until the welcome choruses. The next three tunes are covers: the Chi-Lites’ “Troubles A’ Comin” doesn’t quite live up to its riff but it’s still fun; Jimmy Reed’s “Shame, Shame, Shame” links their earliest albums with Blue & Lonesome many years later; and, notoriously, Dobie Gray’s “Drift Away” is taken straight, but mixed with too much of Mick’s modern posturing drowning out Keith’s vintage harmony.
Even when you can overlook the vocals, the reference to “eBay” sinks the otherwise promising “It’s A Lie”, which was probably originally set aside for being too close to “Luxury”. A staccato intro belies the locomotive momentum of “Come To The Ball”, with Nicky Hopkins keeping up in there somewhere. There’s finally a slow one (not counting “Drift Away”) in the form of “Fast Talking, Walking”, a song that’s much better than its title—obviously taken from the first line. Along with lots of rolling Billy Preston piano driving the dynamics, there are wonderful guitar touches and the simple statement that should be the title: “I’m feeling lucky/‘cos I’ve got the dearest friends of all.” The key track is the closer, an early version of “Start Me Up” with hints of the reggae approach that still predict how the song would eventually turn out.
Despite the faults in the mixing, the “new” tracks don’t detract from the experience. But best of all, the booklet actually assigns musician credits where long overdue, and even includes more info about the album’s original lineup. (Those who shelled out the shekels for the Super Deluxe Edition got a nice book, a picture disc vinyl version of the original album, the two remastered CDs from the Deluxe Edition, and two further CDs confusingly titled Still Life: Wembley Stadium 1982, which not only had nothing to do with the live album of similar name, but was another show with nearly identical setlists to the two archival releases already released from the same tour. Outside of Mick’s exaggerated Cockney asides, the only real difference was rare version of “Chantilly Lace”, and for good reason.)
The Rolling Stones Tattoo You (1981)—4½
2021 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition: same as 1981, plus 9 extra tracks (Super Deluxe Edition adds another 26 tracks)
Nice read, as always. I'm sure you're aware of the bootleg "The Real Alternate Album" which has some worthwhile stuff. Tattoo You (the original, which wasn't even original at the time) is a Great Stones Album, no question, and pairs nicely with Some Girls.
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