TATTOO YOU



Archived recordings used from:

November 25-December 13, 1972: Dynamic Sound Studios, Kingston, Jamaica
January 22-February 9, 1975: Rolling Stones Mobile Unit, Rotterdam, Netherlands
October 10-December 15, 1977: Pathé Marconi Studios, Paris, France
January 5-March 2, 1978: Pathé Marconi Studios, Paris, France
January 22-February 12, 1979: Compass Point Studios, Nassau, Bahamas
June 10-October 19, 1979: Pathé Marconi Studios, Paris, France

New INDIVIDUAL OVERDUB recordings:

October 11-November 12, 1980: Pathé Marconi Studios, Paris, France
November 25-mid-December 1980: Pathé Marconi Studios, Paris, France

Overdubbed & mixed:

April-May 1981: Rolling Stones Mobile Unit, warehouse, Paris, France
May-July 1981: Atlantic Studios, Electric Ladyland, Hit Factory and Power Station, New York City
Producers: The Glimmer Twins
Associate producer & chief engineer: Chris Kimsey
Mixer: Bob Clearmountain
Released: August 1981
Original label: Rolling Stones Records (on WEA & EMI)

Contributing musicians:

Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, Ron Wood, Ian Stewart, Sonny Rollins, Chris Kimsey, Nicky Hopkins, Mike Carabello, Mick Taylor, Wayne Perkins, Billy Preston, Ollie Brown, Pete Townshend, Barry Sage, Jennifer McLean, Susan McLean.

Start Me Up
Hang Fire
Slave
Little T&A
Black Limousine
Neighbours
Worried About You
Tops
Heaven
No Use in Crying
Waiting on a Friend

What are your thoughts on this album?



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2015-09-11 16:32 by DandelionPowderman.

OH BOY!

A real deliever-album between those sleepy Undercover and Emotional..

No fillers at all (very comparable to Goats head soap) and my fave 'Waiting on a friend' with that Amazing video...

2 1 2 0

Yep, Love waiting on a friend and the video :-)

Heaven was for me the big surprise when I got this album. I had heard about half of it, but I loved Heaven from the first time I heard it. I wouldn't have thought the album went that deep as far as quality tracks. Heaven is a great showcase for Mick and the band.

I must say, I never guessed that this was a compilation album until I realized it at least 10 years later. They did a good job of hiding it.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2015-09-11 11:27 by Turner68.

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Turner68
Yep, Love waiting on a friend and the video :-)

Heaven was for me the big surprise when I got this album. I had heard about half of it, but I loved Heaven from the first time I heard it. I wouldn't have thought the album went that deep as far as quality tracks. Heaven is a great showcase for Mick and the band.

I must say, I never guessed that this was a compilation album until I realized it at least 10 years later. They did a good job of hiding it.

It took me some time to appreciate Heaven, but it grew on me, and today I love it.

If the band is Kimsey, Wyman (only according to himself...), Watts and Jagger - yeah it's a great showcase

Love this album. My first Stones album. I never get tired of it.

I was very surprised to learn that the album was stitched together, mixing old and new recordings and overdubbed recordings. Always thought of it as an original album recorded in 1981, until the www told me the truth about the way the album was created.

The album is well produced, sounds fantastic and has lots of great/good songs. I prefer the rocking, fresh-sounding and energetic A-side and consider the all-ballad-b-side a bit boring.

The real highlights are: Start Me Up, Slave, Worried About You, Tops.

Hang Fire, Little T And A, Neighbours, Black Limousine are also very enjoyable Stones-songs with a light hearted feeling, but have not as much impact as SMU, Slave or WAY. Unfortunately the album closes with three rather disappointing, pale and boring songs, Heaven, No Use In Crying and Wainting On A Friend are average at best. To me personally these three songs mean nothing. I dont skip these tracks but they dont move me at all.

The album is slightly better then Some Girls and quite as good as Emotional Rescue, but not as good as Undercover. And it certainly cannot match their last all-the-way masterpiece, the fantastic Dirty Work. Tattoo You offers not more highlights than any other post-Black And Blue-production, but is overall quite solid. The Hit-single Start Me Up lifts the album to a higher level, otherwise it would probably considered to be just another average Stones-album.


Start Me Up ----- great
Hang Fire ----- enjoyable
Slave ------ great
Little T&A ----quite enjoyable, but a bit flat
Black Limousine ---- very enjoyable
Neighbours ---- enjoyable
Worried About You ---- great
Tops ---- great
Heaven ---- boring
No Use in Crying ----- boring
Waiting on a Friend ----boring

Side 2 f_cking rules. It's right up there with side 2 of Exile. A cohesive piece of music right through that just blends perfectly together like grandma's best apple pie, the flow of the songs, Jagger's vocals, simply put incredible.

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Bashlets
Side 2 f_cking rules. It's right up there with side 2 of Exile. A cohesive piece of music right through that just blends perfectly together like grandma's best apple pie, the flow of the songs, Jagger's vocals, simply put incredible.

Agreed; the album as a whole I think is fantastic, Side 2 is in itself a wonderful piece of music. 'No Use in Crying' I thought perhaps wasn't quite as good as the 4 surrounding tracks; but I can't imagine Side 2 without it.

One of the best Sides of a Stones album ever methinks.

Overdubs by Jagger (and supposedly some by Keith) were done in 1980 and Jagger, Rollins, Mike Carabello etc in 1981. There were no band new recordings done in either of those years as you have listed, Dande! All of the bottoms to this album are from the 1970s!

Great album. Not a bad track on it. And to think they still have more tracks like these waiting to be finished and released, some that were finished and not released on TY even.

Easily in their best of all time Top 5 LPs.

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GasLightStreet
Overdubs by Jagger (and supposedly some by Keith) were done in 1980 and Jagger, Rollins, Mike Carabello etc in 1981. There were no band new recordings done in either of those years as you have listed, Dande! All of the bottoms to this album are from the 1970s!

Did I state there were new band recordings?

«New recordings» are the first overdubs by Jagger (not Keith, I think).

«Overdubbed and mixed» is the last overdubs by Rollins, Carabello etc.

This is taken from McPherson @ timeisonourside.com, though.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-09-11 16:05 by DandelionPowderman.

The album with the last real Stones single hit (Start Me Up). In general an above average album with some great moments like Black Limousine, Waiting on a Friend, but there is no matching by far with the great albums from 68-74. The subdivsion in a Rhythm and Blues section and a ballad section is interesting, but not very convincing. The ballad side (with exception of Waiting on a Friend) lacks a touch of genius, the songs get boring if you hear them more than a minute. Anyway, the best album in the eighties.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-09-12 12:11 by RobertJohnson.

I don't care how this album was stitched together, this was the last great stones album with the exception of Voodoo Lounge
My second album and all the others followed within a year as soon as i could afford the guy them
Tattoo for me was the Stones growing up in hindsight
Mick never sounded better IMHO
Love Tops, Black limousine, T & A, and Start Me Up best.
I wonder why they never reached these heights again, maybe down to production,
who knows, but i never tire of it..

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DandelionPowderman

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GasLightStreet
Overdubs by Jagger (and supposedly some by Keith) were done in 1980 and Jagger, Rollins, Mike Carabello etc in 1981. There were no band new recordings done in either of those years as you have listed, Dande! All of the bottoms to this album are from the 1970s!

Did I state there were new band recordings?

«New recordings» are the first overdubs by Jagger (not Keith, I think).

«Overdubbed and mixed» is the last overdubs by Rollins, Carabello etc.

This is taken from McPherson @ timeisonourside.com, though.

Ah yes, I see that. However, you did post it!

New recordings, in this case, is the band laying down bottoms (aka tracking or, ha ha, recording), and according to nzentgraf, that's not the case!

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GasLightStreet

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DandelionPowderman

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GasLightStreet
Overdubs by Jagger (and supposedly some by Keith) were done in 1980 and Jagger, Rollins, Mike Carabello etc in 1981. There were no band new recordings done in either of those years as you have listed, Dande! All of the bottoms to this album are from the 1970s!

Did I state there were new band recordings?

«New recordings» are the first overdubs by Jagger (not Keith, I think).

«Overdubbed and mixed» is the last overdubs by Rollins, Carabello etc.

This is taken from McPherson @ timeisonourside.com, though.

Ah yes, I see that. However, you did post it!

New recordings, in this case, is the band laying down bottoms (aka tracking or, ha ha, recording), and according to nzentgraf, that's not the case!

Happy now?

I always think of it as their outstanding great album. Their best since Exile. The weakest song is T&A, and it still is very good.

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beno
I always think of it as their outstanding great album. Their best since Exile. The weakest song is T&A, and it still is very good.

Why is T+A weaker than Hang Fire or Black Limousine?

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DandelionPowderman

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GasLightStreet

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DandelionPowderman

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GasLightStreet
Overdubs by Jagger (and supposedly some by Keith) were done in 1980 and Jagger, Rollins, Mike Carabello etc in 1981. There were no band new recordings done in either of those years as you have listed, Dande! All of the bottoms to this album are from the 1970s!

Did I state there were new band recordings?

«New recordings» are the first overdubs by Jagger (not Keith, I think).

«Overdubbed and mixed» is the last overdubs by Rollins, Carabello etc.

This is taken from McPherson @ timeisonourside.com, though.

Ah yes, I see that. However, you did post it!

New recordings, in this case, is the band laying down bottoms (aka tracking or, ha ha, recording), and according to nzentgraf, that's not the case!

Happy now?

HA HA!

for me its the best album of the ron wood era, it stands out on its own which other albums of a similar time dont as they are often compared unfavourably to exile, sticky, let it bleed etc. tattoo you is different from these albums and is cohesive in its own right, i first heard it in 1989 around the same time as i was buying most other stones albums, so it was a great surprise to find that a latter day album could be as good as the early ones. i also didnt know at that time that the album was stitched together with songs from different era,s.

best songs for me are

slave
little t and a
heaven
waiting on a friend
no use in crying
black limo
neighbours

Ronnie is not playing a lot on Tattoo You. He is missing in action on Hang Fire, Slave, Worried About You, Tops, Heaven and Waiting On A Friend.

But he more than weighs up for it with the lovely solos on Black Limousine

A great album, I enjoy the fact that it brings together the best of both post 60s worlds in Stonesland. The concise no-frills of the Wood era, and the majestic and stretched out material from the MT era. With no MT now and a neutered Wood songwriting-wise, a nice look back at some great possibilities.

Before I leave my office at work and the PC, I enter a post about songs of TATTOO YOU, that I like, without reservation.

I love "Waiting on a Friend", superb enough to be on any album, only on condition of its stylistically fitting in. That may possibly mean only a few albums, but that is not an objection to the song itself.

Apart from that, I subjectively do like "Black Limousine" and also quite much "No Use in Crying".

In a tone of unreserved positivity, I stop there and leave the office for my weekend.

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DandelionPowderman
Ronnie is not playing a lot on Tattoo You. He is missing in action on Hang Fire, Slave, Worried About You, Tops, Heaven and Waiting On A Friend.

But he more than weighs up for it with the lovely solos on Black Limousine

Ronnie plays bass on Hang Fire. Slave is obvious - he wasn't at the session for that in 1975, Tops and Waiting On A Friend (which, last I knew, is actually Mick Taylor-less regarding the LP version) - well, ha ha, he wasn't there for the GHS sessions...

Ronnie plays guitar on 5 songs and bass on one. Kind of like some of the recent albums...

One of their best album not just a compilation of great songs thanks to the great mix by Bob Clearmountain. Tops is my favourite.

Tattoo and Exile are my favourite Stonesalbums. Side B (vinyl)is my favourite side of any album.

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GasLightStreet

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DandelionPowderman
Ronnie is not playing a lot on Tattoo You. He is missing in action on Hang Fire, Slave, Worried About You, Tops, Heaven and Waiting On A Friend.

But he more than weighs up for it with the lovely solos on Black Limousine

Ronnie plays bass on Hang Fire. Slave is obvious - he wasn't at the session for that in 1975, Tops and Waiting On A Friend (which, last I knew, is actually Mick Taylor-less regarding the LP version) - well, ha ha, he wasn't there for the GHS sessions...

Ronnie plays guitar on 5 songs and bass on one. Kind of like some of the recent albums...

True, but he played guitar on all the songs on SG and most on ER, save Let Me Go and perhaps Where The Boys Go.

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DandelionPowderman

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GasLightStreet

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DandelionPowderman
Ronnie is not playing a lot on Tattoo You. He is missing in action on Hang Fire, Slave, Worried About You, Tops, Heaven and Waiting On A Friend.

But he more than weighs up for it with the lovely solos on Black Limousine

Ronnie plays bass on Hang Fire. Slave is obvious - he wasn't at the session for that in 1975, Tops and Waiting On A Friend (which, last I knew, is actually Mick Taylor-less regarding the LP version) - well, ha ha, he wasn't there for the GHS sessions...

Ronnie plays guitar on 5 songs and bass on one. Kind of like some of the recent albums...

True, but he played guitar on all the songs on SG and most on ER, save Let Me Go and perhaps Where The Boys Go.

nzentgraf says he played guitar on Let Me Go as well as guitar and bass on Where The Boys Go.

I find it funny that Keith stated that they didn't have time to record a new album even though for all of 1980 and 1981 The Rolling Stones did not record any new music. Of course Mick was working on what would become ER in late 1979 and possibly January 1980 but they still could've recorded a new album.

Mick finished TATTOO YOU in May, the tour started in late September, the album came out in late August.

Certainly TATTOO YOU is fine.

Well, this is one like Some Girls I was old enough to distinctly remember the release and reception of. In the case of Tattoo You it was more surreal as I actually bought the record and listened to it endlessly. For awhile it replaced the older Stones vinyl albums I'd inherited from my older brothers and sisters.

Listening to it again (as I did with Some Girls and Emotional Rescue albums) my feelings about have not changed. I don't care that it was stitched together, it is simply put a good album and comparable with at least Some Girls (so I also feel none of the albums released after Tattoo You are as good).

Whole first side is strong and core of the album. Second side tracks are strong too but lags a bit towards the second half of 'Worried About You,' which could've bit cut down by at least two minutes (a strong enough song without it having to be 5+ minutes). The rest of the side unfortunately are all ballads (all OK but too many back to back) and spell not broken finally till the great 'Waiting on a Friend' (one of my favorites). This album could've been a worthy follow up to Some Girls, imo, in fact I think it is almost equal to it musically and quality of songs but not in terms of impact.

The biggest songs are obvious but I like the whole album and it is amongst my favorites.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-09-11 21:33 by nightskyman.

A good record overall. Certainly the sound is awesome. The last Stones record that really made notice and keep new Stones music close to my heart. Kind of represents the end of an era both for the Stones and rock music in general.

I think T&A is one of Keith's best compositions, wish he would have done it instead of BTMMR or Happy as one of his songs on recent tours.

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DandelionPowderman

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GasLightStreet

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DandelionPowderman
Ronnie is not playing a lot on Tattoo You. He is missing in action on Hang Fire, Slave, Worried About You, Tops, Heaven and Waiting On A Friend.

But he more than weighs up for it with the lovely solos on Black Limousine

Ronnie plays bass on Hang Fire. Slave is obvious - he wasn't at the session for that in 1975, Tops and Waiting On A Friend (which, last I knew, is actually Mick Taylor-less regarding the LP version) - well, ha ha, he wasn't there for the GHS sessions...

Ronnie plays guitar on 5 songs and bass on one. Kind of like some of the recent albums...

True, but he played guitar on all the songs on SG and most on ER, save Let Me Go and perhaps Where The Boys Go.

Seems to me that the issue is they didn't come together as a band to record TY. It was more an exercise in overdubs, adding vocals to backing tracks, etc. because of this it seems natural that you'd see Ronnie not on as many tracks. He wasn't in the studio for much of the finishing touches.

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GasLightStreet

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DandelionPowderman

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GasLightStreet

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DandelionPowderman
Ronnie is not playing a lot on Tattoo You. He is missing in action on Hang Fire, Slave, Worried About You, Tops, Heaven and Waiting On A Friend.

But he more than weighs up for it with the lovely solos on Black Limousine

Ronnie plays bass on Hang Fire. Slave is obvious - he wasn't at the session for that in 1975, Tops and Waiting On A Friend (which, last I knew, is actually Mick Taylor-less regarding the LP version) - well, ha ha, he wasn't there for the GHS sessions...

Ronnie plays guitar on 5 songs and bass on one. Kind of like some of the recent albums...

True, but he played guitar on all the songs on SG and most on ER, save Let Me Go and perhaps Where The Boys Go.

nzentgraf says he played guitar on Let Me Go as well as guitar and bass on Where The Boys Go.

I find it funny that Keith stated that they didn't have time to record a new album even though for all of 1980 and 1981 The Rolling Stones did not record any new music. Of course Mick was working on what would become ER in late 1979 and possibly January 1980 but they still could've recorded a new album.

Mick finished TATTOO YOU in May, the tour started in late September, the album came out in late August.

Certainly TATTOO YOU is fine.

I forgot about the bass on WTBG. Ronnie on guitar on LMG? Which one? That must surely be a mistake by Nico?

They were busy drinking and partying in 1980