This song is one of the highlights of Tattoo You and they never made it a single... believe me i like the singles released from this album but this gem has hit song material written all over it..

Was it cause of Taylors contribution issue on the recording from 72?

It has "filler" written all over it.

I usually agree with your posts margate (as I live about 15 miles away from Margate, I always look at your stuff), but I've got to agree with RankOutsider here. Always loved this toon. Definitely should have been a single. Top notch material.

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Sleepy City
It has "filler" written all over it.

Man I totally disagree with you on this sleepy. This is one of those quintessential Stones soul songs, and a highlight on Tattoo You. It is more gritty and soulful than most the stuff on a somewhat overly polished album. Some excellent progressions and a wonderful segue into a killer lead break. Great song, and The Stones doing their best British soul.

The same could be asked about other Stones songs as well. I've always liked Tops.
I understand the point about it being filler for some, but I still like it.

I came to the Tattoo You album years after its release. Of course, I knew Start Me Up but I was pleasantly surprised that it is an album to be played all the way through. As such I usually don't listen to it unless I have the time to play it through.

Do the Stones just not issue as many singles once a tour gets going? It seems there are other songs like Worried About You that should be better known outside of the Stones core fan group.

weakest track on the album

It had nothing to do with Taylor on it because Waiting on A Friend was released as a single. It was 1981- stadium rock was returning to the scene after a 4 year period of punk, disco, and lite rock. Tops just didn't fit the period.

Tops is an absolute gem....just one huge reason to love The Rolling Stones.

It´s not a single, because of it´s slow pace.

And it´s definitely NOT a filler.

TOPS is a great, great album song. Nothing more or less.

Priest

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Send It To me
weakest track on the album

Impossible. Not one weak track on Tattoo You.

Filler

Because Start Me Up and Waiting on a Friend were more obvious single choices?

Maybe they did not want to risk being compared to the Bee Gees

no use in crying and heaven

Filler



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-11-20 22:50 by normanplace.

Nah, not a filler, but wouldn't have done well as a single release.

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Max'sKansasCity
Maybe they did not want to risk being compared to the Bee Gees

That obviously was something they thought long and hard about when choosing the lead single from their previous album!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-11-20 23:09 by Gazza.

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ImDeRankOutsider
This song is one of the highlights of Tattoo You and they never made it a single... believe me i like the singles released from this album but this gem has hit song material written all over it..

Was it cause of Taylors contribution issue on the recording from 72?

As mentioned earlier, WOAF has Taylor on it - and was the second single from the album.

It wasnt a single because there were several far bigger potential hits on the album. Start Me Up's success (plus its enduring legacy as their last bonafide 'warhorse' proves that)

Additionally, back then the arrangement with the record label was that the Stones chose the lead single and the label chose subsequent ones.

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Gazza

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Max'sKansasCity
Maybe they did not want to risk being compared to the Bee Gees

That obviously was something they thought long and hard about when choosing the lead single from their previous album!

Good to see they learn as they go along!

I believe Hang Fire was also released as a single... trust me that is another great tune... but if you look up Tops in youtube its got about half a million hits... i don't know how well HF did, though i know it don't got as many hits on youtube the way Tops does...

And i thought Waiting On A friend was released with Taylor credits at the time and Taylor only claimed to be acknowledged for Tops...

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WeLoveToPlayTheBlues

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Send It To me
weakest track on the album

Impossible. Not one weak track on Tattoo You.

Hang Fire and Little T&A....nuff said

the shoot 'em dead, brainbell jangler!

There werent any credits when the record came out. That was the problem!

Tops is a better song than Hang Fire. Its also a better song than Start Me Up. That - and a few facebook hits three decades later - doesnt make it a potentially more successful single.

They didnt make a promo video for Tops, so they had clearly no intention of releasing it as a single. They made them for SMU, Waiting on a Friend, Hang Fire and Neighbours (edit : And 'Worried About You' - thanks for reminding me)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2011-11-21 14:38 by Gazza.

'cuz there really was too much to choose from. Worried About You is another one, Little T&A could have been as well.

They just didn't milk it the way they could have.

No filler on this LP.

Narrr... Tops ain't a single .... well maybe a B-side ...



ROCKMAN

Definitely not a single. It's a fine album track, what radio people would call a deep cut.

Stones made promo videos for Worried About You, Hang Fire, Waiting On Friend, Start Me Up, Neighbors... half the album has videos!! and They just couldn't have made one for Tops... ...jeeeezz...

Some are bashing this song calling it a filler.. makes me wonder if your even listening to the same song...

WOAF is a slow paced ballad, and it fit in pretty well imo to this period...

I bet that if this song would have been released as a single, it would be Known as much as Beast Of Burden... i even bet they would have played it live more than just the two times it was performed....

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ImDeRankOutsider
Stones made promo videos for Worried About You, Hang Fire, Waiting On Friend, Start Me Up, Neighbors... half the album has videos!! and They just couldn't have made one for Tops... ...jeeeezz...

Some are bashing this song calling it a filler.. makes me wonder if your even listening to the same song...

WOAF is a slow paced ballad, and it fit in pretty well imo to this period...

I bet that if this song would have been released as a single, it would be Known as much as Beast Of Burden... i even bet they would have played it live more than just the two times it was performed....

Yes...a case of too much material to choose from.

There is 3 weak tracks on Tattoo You:

Black Limousine
Tops
Heaven

then you have 8 songs that could be successful singles...



2 1 2 0

As usual Come on shows that he has little knowledge about good music whatsoever.

Black and Tops weak?!?!?!?!?!

Heaven is a f&%¤ing GEM!

Guess there are 2 sides of every coin and opinions as many as there are drops in the ocean but this....?

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treaclefingers
'cuz there really was too much to choose from. Worried About You is another one, Little T&A could have been as well.

They just didn't milk it the way they could have.

The era of milking an album by releasing half a dozen singles from it (a la 'Thriller', 'Born in the USA', etc) was still in the future.

Only one Stones album before Tattoo You had three singles - Some Girls - and for that one, the third single was a US release only (and only a minor hit at that).

they put three singles out from Tattoo You (two in the UK, which was now the norm and which was enough as Waiting on a Friend only reached no.50). 'Hang Fire' got to number 20 in the US, so there wouldnt have been a lot of mileage in putting out more singles.