Track Listing

1. Start Me Up
2. Hang Fire
3. Slave
4. Little T&A
5. Black Limousine
6. Neighbours
7. Worried About You
8. Tops
9. Heaven
10. No Use In Crying
11. Waiting On A Friend

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3445 in Music
• Released on: 2009-06-08
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .19 pounds
• Running time: 44 minutes

CD Description
By the late seventies, The Rolling Stones were unquestionably the world’s greatest rock’n’roll band, a tag they thoroughly deserved and have yet to lose. They had moved effortlessly into open-air stadiums but also began a tradition of performing more intimate shows in theatres and clubs alongside their groundbreaking concerts in arenas. To the delight of their millions of fans, they have continued with this policy to the present. The world really was The Rolling Stones’ oyster in the late seventies, as their Canadian escapades made headlines around the world. They partied at Studio 54, came up with dancefloor favourites "Miss You" and "Emotional Rescue", and recorded in Paris, Nassau and New York. The eighties saw the band stretch the envelope further still, working with jazz great Sonny Rollins, film directors Julien Temple and Michael Lindsay-Hogg, and producers Chris Kimsey and Steve Lillywhite. Amazingly, the Rolling Stones topped these achievements with ever-more ambitious tours in the nineties and noughties, and recorded three more classic studio albums with acclaimed producer Don Was, in Dublin, Los Angeles, France and the Caribbean. Tattoo You is another undisputed classic and rightly topped the US charts for nine weeks on its original release in 1981. Its opening track and first single, "Start Me Up", remains one of the band’s best loved songs and a mainstay of their live set. The cleverly sequenced Tattoo You comprises six rock tracks, including the US Top 20 hit "Hang Fire", the fast blues of "Black Limousine", Richards’ lead vocal on "Little T & A", and the sneering "Neighbours," but the five ballads which follow--and formed the second side of the original vinyl--really lift it into another league. The sweet soul of "Worried About You", "Tops" and the sublime "Waiting On A Friend", featuring jazz great Sonny Rollins on saxophone, in particular show what a fine singer Jagger is. Corriston’s cover design won a Grammy Award for best album package.

Customer Reviews

"...I Don't Need The Aggravation...I'm A Lazy Slob...Hang Fire..."
With the old Virgin 1994 remaster and this new 2009 Polydor version 'both' clocking in at exactly 44:26 minutes, I immediately had my suspicions about this latest rehash masquerading as something new for soppy Stones fans like me and a million others. But this 2009 Polydor CD is a FANTASTIC IMPROVEMENT in sound over its 1994 predecessor - it really is...

If I were to nail down what's different - it would be the BASS and DRUMS. They're suddenly so clear now - and in some cases like "Worried About You" - it's truly startling how good they sound. In fact if feels like every single track has been uplifted out of its former rhythm section muddiness. The clarity and punch is great on everything really. STEPHEN MARCUSSEN and STEWART WHITMORE at Marcussen Mastering in Hollywood, California did the transfers and they're to be praised for their work...

As you've no doubt already read, "Tattoo You" was a ragbag of outtakes from previous albums with a few new tunes thrown in - Rockers on the A with Ballads on the B. Yet it worked - I played it to death on release - loved it - especially the soulful Side 2.

Unfortunately, the new packaging is a bit of a joke. The 'furry boot' inner sleeve that came with the original LP is reproduced in a paltry gatefold inlay, but there's no lyrics (there's a European LP that has a lyric sheet insert - they could have used that). The startling Christian Piper tattooed 'Three Paintings' are reduced to a point where the credits on the green-coloured rear sleeve are barely legible. The inlay beneath the see-through CD tray is blank - wow - push the boat out boys! But much worse - and like so many Stones LPs - guest musicians who contributed incredible work at the time are now not mentioned on reissues at all. So with all that in mind, here's a detailed breakdown to get a better lay of the land...

1. Start Me Up [begun in 1975, returned to in 1978 as a "Some Girls" possible]
2. Hang Fire [another "Some Girls" outtake, features IAN STEWART on Piano]
3. Slave [This is an Extended Version - see PS below]
4. Little T&A [Lead Vocals and Bass by Keith Richards, Ian Stewart on Piano - T&A is street slang for certain parts of a woman's anatomy]
5. Black Limousine [the only track on the album co-credited to RONNIE WOOD, it features Mick Jagger on Lead Vocals and Harmonica with Ian Stewart on Piano - backing track dated as far back as "Exile" in 1972]
6. Neighbours [features' both' the legendary SONNY ROLLINS and BOBBY KEYES on Saxophones]
7. Worried About You [features BILLY PRESTON on Piano, WAYNE PERKINS on Lead Guitar and SOLO and OLLIE BROWN on Percussion]
8. Tops [features MICK TAYLOR on Guitar with NICKY HOPKINS on Piano; a Mick Taylor "Exile" outtake - wasn't given a writers credit - sued and won]
9. Heaven [co-producer CHRIS KIMSEY plays Piano on this]
10. No Use In Crying [features Nicky Hopkins on Piano]
11. Waiting On A Friend [features Mick Taylor on Guitar, Sonny Rollins on Saxophone and JIMMY MILLER of "Sticky" fame on Percussion]

The clarity of the guitar solo on "Slave" is awesome as is the swirling magic of "Heaven", but best of all is the beautiful axework by Wayne Perkins on the Side 2 opener "Worried About You". I think it's the best guitar solo on a Stones album anywhere and its clarity now is fabulous.

To sum up - I know the packaging and presentation leave a lot to be desired, but as I listen to the lovely Piano tinkering of Nicky Hopkins on "No Use In Crying" and the three lads harmonising on Backing Vocals - I don't care - I love it. The sound is wonderful and a major improvement over what went before.

The buggering truth is that once you hear these remasters, you're screwed - you'll have to have them all... Damn!

Despite niggles, it's recommended - big time.

PS: there's an anomaly worth noting...

When "Tattoo You" was originally released on Vinyl and Cassette in August 1981 (Rolling Stones CUNS 39114 in the UK and COC 16052 in the USA), the 3rd track on Side 1 "Slave" clocked in at about 3:20 minutes. So when the first ever CD version of it came out on CBS in 1989 it naturally reflected that timing.

However the May 1994 Virgin remaster put out an anomaly without telling anyone - their CD version was inexplicably extended to 6:31 minutes - that error is repeated here - and very much to the benefit of fans because the "Extended Version" of "Slave" is sensational. With the legendary Sonny Rollins playing on Saxophone and Billy Preston on Keyboards, the lengthy mix now sounds like "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" Part 2 from "Sticky Fingers". A huge chunky guitar riff throughout, great Jagger vocals, Sax wailing - it absolutely rocks (apparently there's a version with Jeff Beck on guitar in the can somewhere too).

What should have happened here of course is that the original LP timing be used on this CD - with both the Jeff Beck mix and the Extended Version put on as bonus tracks at the end, but that's for another day and another reissue...

Making their mark
So this is the album that consisted of tracks that were left over from other albums and a couple of new ones, a filler perhaps in the bigger scheme of things. But it all hangs together so well, so well, in my humble opinion, that as an album it was the last great Stones album. There is not a track on it that I do not like, or rate as being amongst the best 30 they ever wrote(how many rock bands have so many to pick from?).

Start me up, a clarion call to the male undead, well not quite,(how did this get past the BBC censors?), an instantly recogniseable classic with an intro as good as any ever written. Slave, a leftover from Black and Blue as far as I remember, a great lolling funky number. Black Limousine, a great bluesy rocker and one of the very few songs with a writing credit to someone other than the Glimmers themselves-well done Woody!

The last five numbers are stunning slow numbers, possibly the strongest tracks on the album. I love them. Great soulful singing and emotive playing by all. Waiting on a Friend - a stunner!! The sax solo by Sonny Rollins just tops off what is already a truly wonderful song and makes it essential.

The remastering has really brought out every last drop of music from an already super sounding album. Bills bass playing has tune rather than thud and is a relevation in certain numbers. Charlies brushwork on Heaven is sublime, the jazzer in him really pays off here.

The artwork is the most disappointing aspect of this release. The green chosen for the back cover is too dark to easily read the track listing, unlike the original, or even the Virgin reissue, and the image of Keef resplendant in tribal tattoo pattern looks like fourth generation photocopy, all nasty pixelated noise and stuff. The attention to the artwork has been less than average across this series of remasters. I would have done better myself if they had asked!

A sonic masterpiece! Only just pipped at the post by Some Girls.

LAUGHABLE
The world's greatest rock n roll band, and amazon, or indigo starfish, are out of stock on the new remasters. Pathetic ! I pre-ordered this and Emotional Rescue and Undercover.