The Glimmer Twins dug into the vaults and came up with this solid album of rockers and ballads. The Rolling Stones were set to go on a worldwide tour in 1981; but they needed an album to support and didn't have enough time to record. Mick and Keith were not getting along or writing new material; so producer Chris Kimsey (who had been the band's engineer for ten years) helped them put together these tracks left over from sessions from their last five albums with two new songs. Mick says, "It wasn't all outtakes; some of it was old songs... I had to write lyrics and melodies. A lot of them didn't have anything, which is why they weren't used at the time - because they weren't complete. They were just bits, or they were from early takes". 'Tattoo You' became their eighth consecutive (and last) number one album on the American charts.
'Start Me Up' started out as a reggae rock song during the sessions for 'Black and Blue' and revisited during 'Some Girls' and 'Emotional Rescue' where it took on the more familiar rock sound. It became the leadoff single for 'Tattoo You' and was a number one hit in Australia and on the US Mainstream Rock chart. It went to number two on the pop charts and was a top ten hit around the world; their last in their native England. Mick says, "It was one of those things we cut a lot of times; one of those cuts that you can play forever and ever in the studio. Twenty minutes go by and you're still locked into those two chords... Sometimes you become conscious of the fact that, 'Oh, it's 'Brown Sugar' again,' so you begin to explore other rhythmic possibilities. It's basically trial and error. As I said, that one was pretty locked into a reggae rhythm for quite a few weeks. We were cutting it for 'Emotional Rescue' , but it was nowhere near coming through, and we put it aside and almost forgot about it."
"You make a grown man cry"
'Waiting On A Friend' was a leftover from the 'Goats Head Soup' sessions in Jamaica and retains Mick Taylor's guitar track. It features jazz great Sonny Rollins on saxophone. The single went to number eight on the Mainstream Rock chart and thirteen on the pop chart. Michael Lindsay-Hogg directed this video, which includes a cameo from Peter Tosh sitting on a stoop with Mick at 96-98 St. Mark's Place in Manhattan (the same building on the cover of Led Zeppelin's 'Physical Graffiti').
"Don't need a whore
I don't need no booze
Don't need a virgin priest
But I need someone I can cry to
I need someone to protect
Making love and breaking hearts
It is a game for youth"
The overtly political doo-wop rocker 'Hang Fire' was written during the 'Some Girls' sessions in Paris. It went to number two on the Mainstream Rock chart and number twenty on the pop chart; but was not released as a single in England.
"We've got nothing to eat
We got nowhere to work
Nothing to drink
We just lost our shirts
I'm on the dole
We ain't for hire
Say 'What the hell?!'"
'Tattoo You'
full album:
All songs composed by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards,
except "Black Limousine" and "No Use in Crying" co-written by Ronnie Wood
Start Me Up 00:00
Hang Fire 03:33
Slave 05:56
Little T & A 10:51
Black Limousine 14:14
Neighbours 17:50
Worried About You 21:25
Tops 26:44
Heaven 30:31
No Use In Crying 34:58
Waiting On A Friend 38:25
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